If we could accept the view
that it was the Eskimo-like race of the Palaeolithic that
cultivated this art, and that they retreated north with the
reindeer and the ice, and survive in our Eskimo, we should have a
plausible explanation. In point of fact, we find no trace
whatever of this slow migration from the south of Europe to the
north. The more probable supposition is that a new race, with
more finished stone implements, entered Europe, imposed its
culture upon the older race, and gradually exterminated or
replaced it. We may leave it open whether a part of the old race
retreated to the north, and became the Eskimo.
Whence came the new race and its culture? It will be seen on
reflection that we have so far been studying the evolution of man
in Europe only, because there alone are his remains known with
any fullness. But the important region which stretches from
Morocco to Persia must have been an equally, if not more,
important theatre of development. While Europe was shivering in
the last stage of the Ice-Age, and the mammoth and reindeer
browsed in the snows down to the south of France, this region
would enjoy an excellent climate and a productive soil.
Pages:
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488