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PREHISTORIC MAN AND HIS STORY
A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MANKIND FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES
BY
PROF. G. F. SCOTT ELLIOT
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. THE
PREPARATION OF THE EARTH
CHAPTER IV. THE LIMIT OF HUMANITY
CHAPTER VI. THE ORIGIN OF FIRE AND THE USE OF
TOOLS
CHAPTER VIII. THE FIRST EUROPEANS
CHAPTER IX. THE MAN OF NEANDERTHAL
CHAPTER X. THE OLD MAN OF CROMAGNON
CHAPTER XII. THE FIRST HERDSMEN
CHAPTER XIII. THE FIRST HARVEST
CHAPTER XIV. THE OCCUPATION OF THE WORLD
CHAPTER XV. THE OCCUPATION OF AFRICA AND ASIA
CHAPTER XVII. THE AMERICAN PUZZLE
INTRODUCTION
Even the most primitive people in the world
have their theories on the origin of mankind, and the same elusive problem still
has its fascination even for ourselves. We take, a sort of fatherly interest in
the struggles and hardships of our early ancestors, and the story itself is a
record of fine achievements by which man, who was once hardly so comfortable as
a squirrel or a chipmunk, rose to the peacefully luxurious condition which
prevails, now and then, in most of Europe and in the United States. It is the
most complicated of all stories, for in it is involved almost every science and
the history of almost every art and craft in which man has every exercised
himself. In consequence, the literature of the subject is enormous, and seems
yearly to increase both in amount and in complexity.
The convenient word “anthropology” includes
geological, anatomical, zoological, archasological, and ethnological questions
or problems which are of extremedifficulty, and on many of which there is a
radical difference in opinion; moreover, these are but a few of the sciences
concerned. No one, however omnivorous his reading, could possibly learn and
digest all the available literature.
However, during the last few years, the mists
which obscured the story of mankind seem to be beginning to clear away, and it
is now possible to trace more or less clearly the general course of his ascent.
Naturally only a sort of large scale-map can be outlined, for undue persistence
on unnecessary details would obscure the general scheme. It has often been
impossible in the following pages to do justice to views and theories which are
of great importance, partly for want of space and partly because mention of
conflicting opinions would have hopelessly confused the narrative. But it
seemed to me that the story of humanity was becoming quite incomprehensible to
the ordinary educated reader, because of the very abundance of technical and
often quite unintelligible information.
Mr. Waterman has an interesting legend
current amongst the Diequeno Indians of California. These people were collected
together to listen humbly and obediently to the Great Serpent. This snake, who
had swallowed all learning, was going to teach them how to dance. But as he
came coiling in through the roof, and continued to come in with an apparently
endless series of coil after coil, they became thoroughly frightened at the
indefinite amount of him, and hastily set fire to the house, and him.
It would surely be a great pity if ordinary
intelligent readers could no longer follow comfortably the most interesting of
all sciences, and we have therefore avoided technical terms wherever it was
possible, and we have tried to keep the main outline clear and consecutive. I
have endeavoured, as far as possible, to avoid repeating what has already been
given' in full detail in books of the same nature, and preferred foreign
authorities as being less accessible to the general reader. It must also be
remembered that to every question discussed in the following pages, there are
not merely two, but several sides. The solution is always a matter of
probability and balance of evidence. I have selected that solution which seems
most satisfying, and which best explains the facts as at present known.
I have also to express mv sincere thanks for
kind permission to use various illustrations especially to M. Frobenius, M. l’Abbé Henry Breuil, Professor Rutot, Dr. Smith Woodward, M. Dharvent, M.
Decent. Dr. Duckworth, Mr. Fisher Unwin, the Editor of the Illustrated
London News, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and of L’Anthropologie,
the Geological Society, Messrs. Pratt, Seler, Gomes, Hutton, and Swann. Also to
Mr. Hitchcock of Laurieston School, and his young pupils McNeil and Proudlock.
G. F. SCOTT ELLIOT.
February, 1914.
CHAPTER I
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