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THE 

CAMBRIDGE 
ANCIENT HISTORY 

EDITED BY 

J. B. BURY, M.A., F.B.A. 
S. A. COOK, LITT.D. 
F. E. ADCOCK, M.A. 

4448 

VOLUME I 

EGYPT AND BABYLONIA 

TO 1580 B.C. 



SECOND EDITION 



CAMBRIDGE 

AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 
1928 



FIRST EDITION 1923 
SECOND EDITION 1924 .J 
REPRINTED 1928 



|fi!W^ l>r * V&M8Y 

4 v 

~ '- '*"" 



3PJRINTEI) IN GREAT BRITAIN 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 



Cambridge Ancient History is designed as the first part 
JL of a continuous history of European peoples. The last part, 
the Cambridge Modern History^ has long since been complete, and 
the middle section, the Cambridge Medieval History^ is in course 
of publication, Starting with the remote and dim beginnings, 
upoh which some new rays of light fall every year, the Ancient 
History will go down to the victory of Constantine the Great in 
AD. 324, the point at which the Medieval lakes up the story, 

-The history of Europe begins outside Europe* Its civilization 
is so deeply indebted to the older civilizations of Egypt and 
south-western Asia that for the study of its growth the early 
history of those lands is more important than the barbarous life 
which Celts, Germans, and others lived within the limits of 
Europe* Europeans, who wish to follow the history of their own 
development from its origins, must first of all become acquainted 
with the civilizations of Egyptian, Sumerian, Hittite, Semitic and 
other peoples of north-eastern Africa and south-western Asia, and 
therefore our first volume is concerned mainly with these peoples, 

Behind the civilizations of Babylon and Egypt lies a vast and 
still little known tract of time during which man was gradually 
toiling up towards that relatively high stage of civilization he had 
reached when he first appears to us in his written records* The 
discoveries which have rewarded the geologists, geographers, 
*md anthropologists of the last few decades have made it feasible 
to attempt a reconstruction of the story of man in Europe and 
its environs throughout those prehistoric millenniums. The story 
of the land-masses prior to the formation of the present con- 
tinental system can in some measure be written down and its 
significance apprehended. It is not out of place to recall -that the 
written history of one of the peoples of Palestine, which represents 
only the unscientific ideas of an Dearly age, was up to very recent 
1|mes thought by learned tfaejx to furnish an authentic account of 
the beginnings of the earth and the 'human race, 

To-day a large though scattered mass of geological and archado^ 
logical facts supplies us with a little genuine knowledge p^Sit 
our ancestors were doing and making at a time wheii; ifta and 
water and climate differed appreciably from what th^^te how, a 
time long anterior to that once commonly thougfit to be the date 



VI 



PREFACE 



of the creation of the universe itself. To ignore what is now 
known, little as it is and precarious as it may be, about palae^- 
lithic and early neolithic man, would be indefensible in a work 
which aims at explaining how Europe came to be what it is 
to-day. The activities of the palaeolithic age have helped to build 
modern Europe, and its effects persist; individuals of 'Ami- 
gnacian' descent, physically true to type, are among us stilL The 
first two chapters of this volume, by Professor Myres, show how 
the story of primitive man may be read by his latest descendants, 
and how the darkness before the 'dawn of history* may be 
illuminated by a brilliant interpreter. 

Chapter m, on the history of Exploration and Excavation, is 
designed to give the reader some notion of the arduous, qjid some- 
times romantic, work of a century which has revolutionized cmr 
knowledge of the Near East, In an account, necessarily brief, of 
archaeological discoveries in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Syria, the 
Hittite and Aegean areas, and Cyprus, the writer, Professor 
Macalister, shows how archaeological data have been classified 
and interrogated, and how unknown scripts have been deciphered 
and forgotten languages recovered. 

It seemed desirable to state the fundamental chronological 
problems which face the historian in regard to the early history 
of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Palestine, and Greece; to show how 
archaeological and historical evidence have been co-ordinated; and 
in the case of conflicting systems of chronology to explain which 
has been adopted and why. Chapter iv will help the reader who 
is not familiar with prehistoric research to understand how it has 
been possible to frame a definite chronological scheme, especially 
when the data, as in the case of Crete, are purely archaeological, 

Thus the first four chapters are preliminary. In chapter v 
Dr S. A* Cook gives a general account of the Semitic area, famous 
as a stepping-stone between three continents and as the home of 
three great religions. This chapter is a prelude to the later history 
of the Semites* It describes generally the mind of the Semite as 
revealed in his beliefs and practices, in his history and his treat- 
ment of history, while it tells what is known about the early 
history of Syria and Palestine down to the close of the Hyks ix), while the his- 
torical events, and the historical sources, the administration and 



PREFACE 



vn 



the social conditions., of these two kingdoms, are dealt with by 
Dr H, R. Hall (chapters vn and vm). 

Three chapters (x to xn) on the earlier period of Babylonian 
history, by Professor Langdon, include an account of the interest- 
ing culture of ancient Susa and a discussion of the problem of the 
Sumerian invaders, and portray the history of the notable con- 
querors Sargon and Naram-Sin, in what may be called the Golden 
Age of the Sumerians. Mr Campbell Thompson (chapters xin to 
xv) continues the story, and also contributes a full description 
of the Golden Age of the Semitic Babylonians the age of 
Hammurabi and his Code of Laws, the discovery of which (in 
the winter of 19012) threw a brilliant light on the character of 
society in that part of the Near East, four thousand years ago. 

* Ifi the chapter (xvi) on early Egyptian and Babylonian Art 
Dr HalPs wide knowledge of ancient art and his familiarity with 
the collections in the British Museum have enabled him to 
illustrate the aesthetic temperaments of the peoples concerned, 
to discriminate the periods of artistic freshness and decline, and 
to throw light on the difficult problems of borrowing and foreign 
influence. The Editors regret that it was impossible to provide 
illustrative plates without unduly increasing the price of the 
volume; but in the Bibliography to this chapter the reader will 
find references to illustrated books. 

Finally, Mr Wace has contributed the chapter on the early 
civilization of Aegean lands. Thirty years ago the chapter would 
have been a blank, because there was absolutely nothing to say. 
One of the finest triumphs of archaeological research has Jbeen 
the discovery in Crete of a wonderful and unsxispected civilization 
in contact with Egypt and Asia. This ancient meeting of ea$ft and 
west offers problems which unite the classical and the Sepiitic 
scholar, the Egyptologist and the student of 'Bible-lands/ \ 

Our first volume, then, while it contains a survey of the &arly 
history of a large network of inter-related lands, down to the 
occupation of Egypt by the Hyksos and of Babylonia by the 
Kassites (events which may perhaps be associated with sweeping 
movements in Indo-European lands to the north), may also be 
Regarded as a general introduction to those that will follow it. In 
the next volume a new age opens up, an age characterized by 
what we may perhaps call internationalism : Greeks whose names 
were well remembered in Greek records will come upon the $tage 
and the curtain will rise upon Old Testament history. 

Any exposition of the history of early ages down to 3000 years 
ago and even beyond, must be in a very hig|i degree provisional* 



viii PREFACE 

This is due to the fortunate circumstance that new evidence is 
continually and rapidly accumulating- Conclusions historians 
draw to-day from the records at their disposal about Babylonia", 
Egypt, Asia Minor, and the Aegean may be upset, corrected, 
amplified, or transformed by a new discovery to-morrow. Since 
the writing of this volume was begun, writers who had completed 
their contributions have seen cause to change some of their state- 
ments in the light of new evidence which happened to be revealed 
in the meantime. Obviously there is a limit to this and experts 
must not expect to find a reference in every case to the npwyettes 
de Ijt^derniere heure* Even as we are writing, Sir Arthur El^ans 
publishes the news that his latest excavations at Cnossus (the 
spring of 1922) have disclosed the fact that the end of the second 
phase of the c Middle Minoan ' civilization was due to lin efrtih- 
quake. We may note that this disaster was not contempor- 
aneous with the volcanic eruption which wrought ruin in Them 
and Therasia (see below, p. 603) 1 . 

The appearance of some new evidence, to enable us to decide 
finally between conflicting views of the chronologies of Egypt 
and Babylonia, is much to be desired. In accordance with the 
opinion of the great majority of scholars we have adopted the 
* shorter' dates (see chapter iv, i, iii). It is desirable to impress 
upon the reader that the precision with which the dates are 
assigned is based partly upon ancient lists and computations 
assumed to be tmstworthy, but partly also upon modern calcula- 
tions of a few crucial dates as to which there is no definite 
unanimity. The date adopted here for Hammurabi is not accepted 
by some high authorities. And as to Egypt, Dr Hall is unable to 
accept the view of Professor E. Meyer and other historians who 
follow him, that the Xllth Dynasty ended in 1788 B.C*; and 
he puts back the date by more than two centuries. This view 
affects both the earlier Egyptian dates and the chronology of the 
early Aegean periods which depend on Egyptian synchronisms* 
'Early Minoan HI/ which the latest investigations of Sir Arthur 
Evans have shown to extend from the Vlth to the Xlth Dynasty,, 
is on our chronological scheme 200 years earlier than it is on the 
scheme which he has adopted. See pp. 173, 656 syy, 

In a co-operative work of this kind, no editorial pains coma 
avoid a certain measure of overlapping; and in fields, where there 

* Weidner's recent discussion of Sargon's expedition to the west, and of 
the oldest historical relations between Babylonia and the Hittite area, may- 
be mentioned as another example of the progressive character of studies in 
this field (see p. 647, 6). 



PREFACE 



IX 



Is so much uncertainty and such wide room for divergencies of 
Xiews? as in the first two volumes, overlapping must mean that 
occasionally different writers will express or imply different 
opinions. It has not been thought desirable to attempt to eliminate 
these differences, though they are often indicated or discussed. 
Such inconsistencies may sometimes be a little inconvenient for 
the reader's peace of mind, but it is better that he should learn 
to take them as characteristic of the ground over which he is 
being guided than that he should be misled by a dogmatic con- 
sistency into accepting one view as authoritative and final. 

It will easily be understood that it is not possible to give 
chapter and verse for every statement or detailed arguments for 
every opinion, but it is hoped that the work will be found service- 
able to professional students as well as to the general reader. 
The general reader is constantly kept in view throughout, and 
our aim is to steer a middle course between the opposite dangers, 
a work which only the expert could read or understand and one 
so * popular' that serious students would rightly regard it with 
indifference. 

In this connexion, the problem of transliterating occurs, and 
a quite satisfactory solution has not been found. Conventional and 
accepted spellings have been retained, but where usage varies 
the more correct are used (for Instance Mohammed, Nebuchad- 
rezzar), For classical Greek names the Latin forms are adopted 
(as in the yournal of Hellenic Studies). In regard to oriental names, 
we have thought it reasonable to assume that general readers are 
indifferent to what experts know; and experts do not always 
agree as to the precise spelling. We have followed generally 
Breasted, Hall, and King, and the Encyclopaedia Biblica, but 
attention has been paid to the lists drawn up by the Royal 
Geographical Society, and to the transliteration of Arabic recom- 
mended by the British Academy (vol. vm). The difficulty of 
transliterating unvocalized Egyptian names and of Interpreting 
names in cuneiform is commented on below (pp. 119, 126), Some 
modern technical transliterations are as formidable-looking as the 
hieroglyphs themselves. In Egyptian and in the other languages 
}h is adopted instead of s or the like; s for , ts, etc.; k for q, etc.; 
and kh for the harder guttural fc, &. But Hatti and Habiru haye 
been written because *Hittite* and * Hebrew* are so familiar; a$d 
Hammurabi is now well enough known to dispense even ^ith a 
diacritical point. Names when they first occur are sometimes 
written with their proper vowel-lengths, etc.; but as a rule dia- 
critical marks have been avoided (although :, Kaahshi may be 



x PREFACE 

thought clumsier than Kassi), and more or less conventional 
spellings (e.g. Ashur) have been freely employed. On the? other 
hand, an attempt is made in the Index to register some of the 
more correct spellings which for one reason or another deserve 
attention, but could not be introduced into the text without 
making it unduly technical 1 , 

We wish to express our indebtedness to contributors for their 
readiness in carrying out editorial suggestions, in avoiding 
archaeological and other technicalities and in restricting the use 
of footnotes; for advice on questions of transliteration and on 
other difficult questions which arose from time to time; and foFthe 
preparation of the bibliographies and the lists of kings, 

Mr Wace is indebted to Sir Arthur Evans for his kindness in 
reading the chapter on the Aegean and Early Greece,, imcr the 
Aegean section of the chapter on Chronology. Professor Myres 
wishes to express obligations to Professor H. J. Fleure, to Mr 
Harold Peake, F.S.A., and to Mr L. H, D. Burton. Dr Cook 
wishes to thank Dr H. R. Hall, Professor Kennett and Dr 
Nicholson for help in revising chapter v. He is particularly 
indebted to Professor A. A. Bevan, who read two proofs, and 
made many valuable criticisms and suggestions. But for the views 
put forward in that chapter the writer has sole responsibility. 

Special thanks are due to Professor Myres for the Table facing 
p. 660, and for the preparation of Maps i 6* For permission to 
use Maps 7, 8 and 1 1 we are indebted to the publishers of the 
Encyclopaedia Biblica^ Messrs A. & C, Black; to Messrs Chatto 
& Windus for Maps 9 and 10 (from the first and second volumes 
of the late Dr Leonard W. King's A History of Babylonia and 
Assyria from Prehistoric Times to the Persian Conquesi)\ and to 
Messrs Methuen & Co. for the plan of Babylon on p. 504 (from 
Dr H. R, Hall's The Ancient History of the Near East from the 
Earliest Times to the Battle of Salamis)* The index has been made 
by Mr W. E. C, Browne, M.A., former scholar of Ernmamiel 
College. 

The design on the outside cover represents Hammurabi, king 
of Babylonia, and is from the head of the stone monument on 
which is inscribed the famous code now known after his namdt 
on the original he is depicted standing in the conventional 
attitude of adoration before the sun-god, Shamashu, the god of 
righteousness and justice* 

J. B- B, 
8. A. C. 
F, E. A. 
* See the letters a, c, d, g, h> j, k, q, s, t and z in the Index. 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION 

^ ||" ^HE demand for a new edition of the first volume of the 
JL Cambridge Ancient History has come much sooner than the 
Editors ventured to anticipate, and they have not been able to do 
more than make some corrections and modifications which could 
be effected without disturbing the paging* 

TSe remarks which they made at the top of page viii of the 
Preface have been amply justified since the volume was first sent 
to press. j[n Egypt, the Aegean, Babylonia, Palestine and Syria, 
excavations have continued and interesting discoveries have been 
made. At Byblus, for instance, new information has been gained 
touching the extensive relations between Egypt and Phoenicia 
during the Middle Kingdom (see below, p. a 2 6), The successful 
diggings at el-'Obeid and Kish have supplied archaeological and 
historical data, of which the bearing on the period covered in 
this volume cannot yet be justly estimated. We may point to 
Mr C. L. Woolley's report (The Times^ Jan. 19, 1924) of a monu- 
ment of A-an-ni-pad-da, son of Mes-an-ni-pad-da (on whom see 
below, p. 367), and Professor Langdon's addition to the kings 
of Kish (tb. Jan. 22, 1924). But the information which is thus 
being accumulated must be submitted to a careful criticism, and 
that takes time, as experience shows that the full significance of 
fresh material cannot be evaluated at once. This is especially true 
of the problems of chronology, which for the early Sumerian period 
have assumed a new aspect through Professor Langdon's publi- 
cation of a very important list of the early kings. Although, with 
the ever-present prospect of other historical inscriptions coming to 
light, we cannot treat this document as decisive, yet, as its im- 
portance is unquestionable, it seemed desirable that some account 
of it should be given in this edition, and on page xiii sq* 
will be found a statement drawn up on the basis of Professor 
Langdon's publication and of some notes which he has kindly 
sxijpplied. 

A fly-sheet containing all the more important corrections 
and additions to this volume will also be issued separately with 
volume ii. 

Some reviewers made the justifiable criticism on volume i that it 
suffered from the absence of illustrations. The Editors are glad 
to be able to state that the Syndics of the University Press have 



Xll 



agreed to publish a volume of plates which, it is hoped, will 
appear in the course of I fit,, 

It remains for the Editors to express their cordial thanks to 
the contributors for help in the preparation of the new edition, 
particularly to Mr A, J, B.Iace in the account of excavations in the 
Aegean (Chap, in Section vi), and to Mr Campbell Thompson for 
the translation of the Kassite names thich is given on p. xv. 

JIB, 
SIC, 
Fl'i 



NOTE ON THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE EARLY 
SUMERO-BABYLONIAN PERIOD 

PROFESSOR LANGDON has recently published an important inscription, part of the Weld- 
Blundell collection 1 in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. It is a large prism with 
eight columns of closely-written chronological material which gives the entire 
Sumerian lists of dynasties before and after the Flood to the end of the Isin dynasty 
in 2076 B.C. A small tablet in the same collection contains the names of the ten kings 
who reigned before the Flood, for which period it gives 456,000 years. The dynastic 
prism aas only eight kings before the Flood and assigns to them a duration of 241,200 
years. Other important dynastic lists in fragmentary condition have been found in 
the Nippur Collection. These agree with the Oxford prism in giving twenty dynasties 
from t&e Fld%d to the Isin dynasty inclusive, and 125 kings. 

The first dynasty reigned at Kish (p. 365, 1. 18 from end). It included 23 kings, 
who are said to have reigned 24,510 years, 3 months and 3^ days. The figure recalls 
the 'World-year' of 25,920 years, the approximate period of the sun's apparent 
revolution through the twelve signs of the zodiac; but it is unlikely that the precession 
of the equinoxes was known even in the age of the most advanced Babylonian 
astronomical knowledge (Langdon, op, tit* p. 3, n. 6, cf. Kugler, Stsrnkunde und 
Sterndienst in Babel, u, 2432). The longest and shortest reigns of this dynasty are 
1500 and 140 years respectively; the names differ somewhat from the list on p. 665, 
and the name of Zukakipu (the 'scorpion') is replaced by Daggagib. The first 
dynasty of Erech (p. 366) counted twelve kings, reigning 2310 years. The name 
of the second king of the dynasty of Ur (p. 367, 1. 19) may preferably be read 
Meskem-Nannar. The dynasty of Awan (the identification with Awa& should be 
omitted on pp. 366, L 21 sf. 9 438, L 14, from end) had three kings ruling 3 56 years. 

The details on p. 367 (lower half of the page) are considerably affected by the 
new prism. A list of seven kingdoms now intervenes between the semi-historic period 
and the northern Semitic kingdom of Akshak. The second dynasty at Kish, which 
succeeded that at Awan, may be placed about 3700 B.C.; to its eight kings the prism 
assigns 3195 years. The next dynasty ruled at Kharnazi and its king Khadanish is 
said to have ruled 360 or 420 years, the figures are presumably errors for six: or seven 
years* The sovereignty then returns to Erech in the south (c* 3400 B*C.), where the 
name of only one king, Enugduanna, is known. It is probable that the names of 
Lugalkigubnilakh and Lugalkisalsi are to be inserted here. After this second kingdom 
of Erech we reach the second kingdom of Ur, where four kings ruled 1 08 years. 
The capital now shifts to Adab for a period of 90 years, and then far to the north at 
Maer, where a dynasty of six kings (Ansir, [Lugaltar]zi, the rest are mutilated) 
reigned 136 years. It seems evident from the texts that the two succeeding kingdoms 
of Kish (the third) and Akshak were contemporary. 

If, therefore, we may follow the new source, it may be computed that these 
djpiasties were founded about 29676 B.C., in which case the first approximately 
fixed date in Sumero-Babylonian history will have to be placed more than 200 year* 
lower than that given on p. 367, L 4 from end. 

Moreover, it would now seem that the old third dynasty of Kish disappears (sec 
p. 667 [8], and n. 4); the two kings Urzaged and Lugal-tarsi belong to the second 
dynasty of Erech, and Mesilim possibly to the Awan dynasty (Langdpn, op f cit. 

1 Oxford Editions of Cuneiform Texts, n. The Weld~$lundett collections, vol. ki. Historical 
inscriptions, containing principally the chronological prism, W-B 444. Oxford, 1923. 

C.A.H.I. 



xiv CHRONOLOGY OF SUMERO-BABYLONIAN PERIOD 

p. 6 /f.). The first kings of ELish of whom we have contemporary records apparently 
belonged to other kingdoms, and claim the title because of its dignity. Oa p. 3^3,^ 
L 9 jf. read: who followed the second kingdom at Kish and the brief dynasty of 
Khamazi (r. 3400). 

The third (not/0r/j) dynasty of Kish was founded by Kug-Bau, as the name 
should now be read instead of Azag-Bati (p. 370 last par., and 1. 7 from end). 
Ur-Nina was contemporary with the rulers of Maer, not Akshak (p. 379, L 14 from 
end). On p. 380, 11. 9o ? omit the words: convincing evidence. * * dynasty, and 
ib. 1. 6 from end, for Uruazagga the better reading now is Uru-kugga, 

Rimush (p. 408, L 19 from end), according to the Oxford prism, reigned nine 
years. Manishtusu was his elder brother (p. 409, L 21 Jf.). Naram-Sitx was his son 
(contrast /^,), although Babylonian tradition calls him son of Sargon (p. 4r^foot) 1 . 
For 22 read 24 (/<.last line); and note that the prism gives a much lower figure for 
his reign probably 38 years (p. 413, L 6). 

The fifth dynasty of Erech contains only one king, Utukhegal, to whom is ascribed 
a reign of 7 years, 2 months and 7 days (p. 434, last par.). T o Dungi^p. 43^, L 6) 
is ascribed a reign of 47 (not 58) years, and Langdon reduces all the figures in his 
reign (11. 418, and also p. 456, 1. 21 from end) by eleven. The length of the reign 
of Bur-Sin (p. 4575 L 20) is given as nine (not  but he definitely rejects the much lower dates for the dynasty 
which are held by Weidner (viz. 2057, see p. 672, xu i) and Kugler (viz. 2049), 

Langdon maintains the date 2357 for the beginning of the dynasty of Isin (pp* 
471, 672); but, besides the modification of the earliest approximately fixed date 
(viz. 29676, see above), other important changes are suggested arising out of the 
Oxford prism. Thus, the Maer-Akshak-Kish domination (p. 373^ L 14) may be 
dated 3 103-2777, For the Kug-Bau dynasty (/ L 7) he suggests 2967-2873, and 
a similar reduction of about 120 years becomes necessary on p, 378, L 12 (viz. 
2967-2873)* So the date of Sargon becomes 2752 (pp. 368, L 16 from end, 403, 
1. 8). Lugal-zaggisi begins to reign in 2777 (pp. 39 5, L 21, 402, L %), The fourth 
dynasty of Erech Is dated 2571-2542 (p, 423, L 9), and that of Gutium becomes 
2541-2416 (pp. 423 f$. 9 670). Ur-Bau's date is 2620 (p. 373, L 26). The end of the 
last dynasty of Ur is fixed at 2328 (p. 377, L 13), and Dungi and Bursin are dated 
respectively 2391 and 2345 B.C. ,(pp, 437, 1 5, 457, L 19), 

These dates indicate the complexity of the chronological problems, and the 
difficulty of obtaining conclusive results, owing to the serious differences among tfce 
ancient souf ces themselves and the frequently very intricate character of the astro- 
nomical and other questions. They are not to be regarded as final, but it seemed 
desirable that a general statement of the evidence published by Prof* Langdon should 
be made accessible in this edition. 

1 Prof. Lang-don adds that Sargfon claims to have collected ships from Melukhkha, 
Magan and Diknun at the quay of Agade (addition to p, 404, L 14), 




ON 






i i ^ i 

ring is a translation of the Babylonian renderings of the names 
of tie twenty-one kings, diiefly Kassites, mentioned on p, ^ of volume i; 




'J) 



"Traeiin" 





'Offspring of k Lord of Us' 





'Servant o or 
'Help of Bel 



" 



s 




Jil 



<( 



U 



Protect(ion) of [Stall] 11 
ion)oftkLordofknJs]' 

eiiDotieW 








TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 
PRIMITIVE MAN, IN GEOLOGICAL TIME 

BY JOHN L. MYRES, O.B.E., M.A., D.Sc., F.S.A. 
Wykeham Professor of Ancient History, Oxford 

PAGE 

I. JUKE SETTING OF THE STAGE i 

Definition of History I 

Nature and Man ..,.,.. 2 

IL PRE-GLACIAL GEOGRAPHY 3 

Theseaof 'Tethys* 4 

Tertiary mountain-building 6 

Crust movements ..,,,.... 8 

Beginning of the Mediterranean * 9 

Tertiary flora and fauna . . , . . . . . r I 

Africa separated from Asia 13 

The Highland Zone 14 

Relation to the Southern Flatland 16 

African fauna , . . . . . . * * 17 

III. THE GLACIAL CRISIS 1 8 

Effect upon flora and fauna . . . , . . . 19 

IV. THE PRINCIPAL HUMAN RACES 21 

Mongoloid man ,..,.. 22 

His extension 24 

African fauna and African man * . * , * 2 5 

Sequence of human types 27 

The white races , ,..,,.. 28 

V. PALAEOLITHIC MAN IN THE SOUTH AND EAST , , * . 31 

The Nile Valley ......... 33 

Domesticated plants and animals . * , . . * 35 

Links between Egypt and Europe 36 

Man in Syria and Arabia 37 

The Semites 38 

Palestine 39 

The Euphrates and Mesopotamia ...... 40 

V L THE ICE AGE IN THE NEAR EAST ,,..., 42 

Conditions in Armenia and Iran .43 

VII. THE ICE AGE IN EUROPE 45 

Mousterian man ......... 4^ 

Later types * ... .*.. 48 

Later palaeolithic cultures * S 

VIII. THE CLOSE OF THE OLD STONE AGE . . 5 2 

The kitchen-middens . - * , , * , S3 

Swamp and forest in north-west Europe 54 



xviii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER II 

NEOLITHIC AND BRONZE AGE CULTURES 
BY J. L. MYRES 

PAGE 

L THE HIGHLAND ZONE AND ALPINE MAN . . . 57 

The forests . 58 

Varieties of man .*...... 59 

Forest culture and polished implements . ... - 63 

II. CHARACTERISTICS OF NEOLITHIC CULTURE . 5 5 

Inventions ......... $7 

Eurasian and Eurafrican cradle-lands . . . ^9 

Pottery and pottery styles ....... 70 

III. REGIONAL TYPES OF NEOLITHIC CULTURE: ALPINE EUROPE . 71 

The lake-dwelling 73 

IV. REGIONAL TYPES: THE DANUBE BASIN . , . . . 75 

Daimbian pottery ......... 77 

South-eastern Europe and Asia Minor 79 

V. REGIONAL TYPES: THE TRIPOLJE CULTURE . .... 80 
VI* TKE CULTURE OF THE NORTH-EASTERN STEPPE . . , . . 82 

Waggon-dwelling culture; languages ...... 84 

VII* THE CULTURE OF ANAU AND SUSA . , . * . . . 85 

Contact with the west 4 88 

VIII. THE RE0-WARE CULTURE OF THE NEARER EAST .... 89 

The influence of Cyprus and Syria *... 90 

IX. THE CULTURE OF THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN . * . . 92 

Early Aegean culture ..... 93 

X. THE CULTURE OF THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN AND ITS OFFSHOOTS * 94 

'Megalithic* origins . <, * . * * 95 

XI. THE CULTURE OF THE BEAKER-FOLK: . , * . . xoo 

XII. THE COMING OF BRONZE . . . . . . .103 

Aegean influence . . f , . . . .105 

XIIL THE HALLSTATT CULTDRE . . . . . . 106 

The horse . . . . * , . * . 107 

First appearance of iron . . . . . . . 109 

Cremation . . . . . . , . . j to 



CHAPTER III 
EXPLORATION AND EXCAVATION 

BY R. A. STEWART MACALISTER, L,iTT*D.> F.S.A. 
Professor of Celtic Archaeology, University College, Dublin 

I. THE RELATION op ARCHAEOLOGY TO HISTORY . . . . r 1 a 

Petrie's pottery test . . . . . . . , * XI4 

II. EGYPT : (a) Surface exploration , . . . , . .116 

(&) Decipherment * . . . . . ,117 

(c) Excavation , ,120 

III. MESOPOTAMIA: 

(a) Surface exploration . . . , , 122 

(ff) Decipherment , . . , . . 123 

(r) Excavation . , m , , , ^ ,127 



CONTENTS xlx 

IV* STRIA AND PALESTINE: PAGE 

(a) Surface exploration. . . . . . .130 

(<) Decipherment . . . . . . ...132 

( . . . . . . . .163 

General character of the chronology . . . . . .165 

Table of dates 1 66 

III. EGYPTIAN CHRONOLOGY 
BY H. R. HALL, D.LITT., F.S.A. 

Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, British Museum 

Direct sources .... ....... 166 

Sothic cycle ........... 168 

Date of Xllth Dynasty . , 169 

Date of Menes . . . . . . . . . .171 

Institution of the calendar, 4241 B.C. ....... 172 

Table of dates 173 

IV. PREHISTORIC GREECE 
BY A. J. B. WACE> M.A. 

Formerly Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge j Late Director of 

the British School of Archaeology, Atb* 

Archaeological periods , ... tyrj 

Early and Middle Minoan 175 

Late Minoan . . . . . . . . , ^ , [76 

Greek legend and tradition . . '. . . , *"- , 178 

Helladic and Minoan co-ordinations . . , . . ,179 

Thessalian periods ..*.., ...180 



xx CONTENTS 

CHAPTER V 

THE SEMITES 

BY S. A, COOK 

PAGE 

I. PEOPLE, LANGUAGE AND MOVEMENTS . , - . . 1 8 1 

Geographical limits . . . . . - - ,182 

The * sons 7 of Noah: Shem 184 

The Semitic languages . . . . . - , .186 

The alphabet 189 

Migrations and trading movements - , . . .190 
Semitization of immigrants . . . . . . * ' 192 

Influence of Arabia , . .193 

II. TEMPERAMENT AND THOUGHT ....... 194 

Psychology of the languages . . . - .195 

Religious characteristics ....- . 197 

Polytheism and Monotheism . . . . . . .199 

Semitic and non-Semitic thought .*.,.. 203 

The extremes of the Semites . . , . , . .205 

IIL SOCIAL AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT ...... 206 

The^W 207 

Attitude to the divine powers . . , . .209 

Fundamental ideas , . . , . . . . ,210 

Men and the gods , . . . . . . .213 

The sanctity of kings . . . . . . . .214 

Historical vicissitudes , . . , . . . ,216 

IV. TREATMENT OF HISTORY- . . . . . . . .2x7 

Treatment of tradition . . . . , * . ,219 

Attitude to development . . . . . . . .231 

The writing of history , . . , . . ,222 

Historical ideas . , . * , * . ,223 

V. SYRIA AND PALESTINE * .... , . ... . 225 

The story of Sin tihe . * , . . * ,226 

Amor and Mesopotamia . * . . . . . ,230 

Amorite gods P . * . . . . .231 

The Hyksos 233 

Native Palestinian traditions . , , . , .234 

Genesis, chap, xiv , . . . . . . . .236 

Paucity of historical material , . , ^ . .237 

CHAPTER VI 
EGYPT: THE PREDYNASTIC PERIOD 

By T. ERIC PEKT, M.A* 
Professor of Egyptology, Liverpool University 

L THE EVIDENCE OP THE CEMETERIES . , ,238 
Predynastic burial ....., 239 
Predynastic settlements . . , , , . , ,241 
Pottery and stone vases .,.*.*, 243 

Physical type, language and religion . - . 244 



CONTENTS 



XXI 



PAGE 
II. JC^iTA FOR HISTORY ......., 247 

Introduction of tlie Calendar ....... 248 

Sources for the predynastic period . , * . , .250 
Historical slate palettes . . . . . . . .251 

Ivory- knife-han die from Gebel el- Arak . . . .252 
Original home of the predynastic Egyptian . * . . .254 
Indications of eastern origin , , . . . .255 

CHAPTER VII 

THE UNION OF EGYPT AND THE OLD KINGDOM 
By H. R, HALL 

L THE LISTS OF KINGS: DYNASTY I . . . . ,257 

Sources . . . . . . . , . .258 

Infiltration of aliens . . . . . . . . 261 

Hamites and Armenoids ........ 262 

Kingdoms of the north and south . . . . . .265 

Pre~Menic kings ......... 266 

The originals of Menes . . . . . . .267 

Narmerza .......... 268 

The court of Semti ......... 270 

The dead and mummification ..,..,. 272 

II. DYNASTIES II IV . . . . . . , , .274 

Zos&r and the first pyramid ...**. 276 
The age of Snefru ......... 278 

Pyramids of Gizeh. . . . . . . . 28 r 

Zenith of Egyptian art . . . . . . . .282 

Mycerirxus . . , . , * " . , . .282 

III. THE CLOSE OF THE OLD KINGDOM . . . . . . .284 

The 'son of the Sun-god* 285 

Art and religion . . . . . . . . .286 

The 'admonitions of Ptahliotep' . , . . . .288 

Unis and the pyramid at Sakkarah ... ... 290 

Pepi ........... 291 

Uni in Palestine ......... 293 

Entrance of negroes . . . . . . . .295 

The Heracleopolites ........ 297 

CHAPTER VIII 

THE MIDDLE KINGDOM AND THE HYKSOS CONQUEST 

BY H. K. HALL 

DYNASTIES XI AND XII ........ 299 

Amenemhet I and the god Amon . * . , . 301 

The Instructions of Amenemhet . , . , . .303 

The story of Sinuhe . . . . . . . 3 04 

The works of Senusret (Sesostris) I . . . * , . 305 

Relations with Crete . , . . * . .307 

Senusret III, the historical Sesostris . * . ,,, . - 308 

Amenemhct III , * , , . , , r . . . 309 



xxii CONTENTS 

PAGE 

II. THE HYKSQS , 3 10 

North Syrian movements . . . . . - . . 3 F2 

Yekeb-hal, Khian and other kings . . . . . - 3 1 3 

Expulsion of the Hyksos . . . . - 3 r 4 

III. THE INTERNAL CONDITIONS OF THE AGE . . . - .315 

Life of the people 3*7 

Officials and soldiers . . . . . - 3 * & 

Tombs and religion . . . . . . .321 

The priesthood 3 2 3 

Religious literature . . . - . . . . .324 
A Messianic prophecy . . . . . . . ,325 

CHAPTER IX 

LIFE AND THOUGHT IN EGYPT UNDER THE OLD 
AND MIDDLE KINGDOMS 

BY T. E. PEET 

General Egyptian character - , * . . . * ,326 

I. THE ARCHAIC 3PERIOD AND THE OLD KlNGDOM , . . . .328 

Local and solar cults . . . . . . 329 

Osiris - . . . . . , . . . -S3^ 

The^ 334 

The tomb, death, and the hereafter . . . * * -33^ 

II. THE EARLIER INTERMEDIATE PERIOD, VllTH TO Xril DYNASTIES . . 340 

Language and writing . . . . . . .341 

Early literature . . . . . . . , 343 

Pessimism . . . . . , , . * * 345 

III. THE MIDDLE KINGDOM . . . . . , . ,346 

Moral standards . . . . . . . . .347 

'Story of the Eloquent Peasant' 349 

Coffin Texts . * 351 

Belief in a judgment . . .*. , . 353 
Hfke, rnagic and morality. . . . . . 354 

CHAPTER X 
EARLY BABYLONIA AND ITS CITIES 

BY STEPHEN H. LANGDONT, M*A. 7 B,D., Pn.D* 
Professor of and Shiliito Reader in Assyriology, Oxford 

L PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS * * , , * . . 356 

The Euphrates and Lower Mesopotamia , . * . 358 

Sumer and the date-palm , . , . . 3 6C 

II. THE ORIGIN OF THE SvMERIANS . . . . . * ,361 

The cultures of Anau and Sxisa * * , . . ,362 

IIL EARLIEST TRADITIONAL DYNASTIES . . . . , . .364 

The first city-states . * . . . . m .365 

The third dynasty of Kish . . . , , . ,368 

The fourth dynasty of Kish . . * , , . 370 

Sumerian writing and religion , . . . 371 



CONTENTS xxili 

PAGE 
TV TgE RECORDS OF THE CITY-STATES . . . . . . * 373 

Lagash . . . . . . . . . . -373 

Enkhegal and Ur-Nina . . . . . . . .374 

Shuruppak and its legends . . . . . . 377 

The dynasty of Ur-Nina, 3100 B.C. . . , . . 378 

Eannatum and Enannatum . . . . . . .380 

Entemena and his son . . . . . , . .382 

Rise of priests of Lagash . . . . . . .385 

Social reforms of Urukagina . . . . . ,387 

Inroad of Lugal-zaggisi . . . . , . .388 
V. OTHER crriEs , . . . . . . . . .389 

~ Umma . ..,.*,.... 389 

Adab .*.-**..,.. 39 

Nippur 391 

Isip and Larak ......... 393 

Kish ........... 393 

Cuthah 394 

Sippar 395 

Erech. ........... 396 

Larsa (Ellasar) ......... 397 

Ur 398 

Abu Shahrein (Eridu) . . . . . . . .399 

Myth of Adapa ......... 400 

Ashur ........... 401 



CHAPTER XI 

THE DYNASTIES OF AKKAD AND LAGASH 
BY S. H. LANG DON 

I. THE RISE OF THE DYNASTY OF SARGON ...... 4O2 

Stories of his origin , . , . . . . .403 

Conquests in the west ........ 404 

The foundation of Agade ....... 407 

Accession of Rirnush ........ 408 

Manishtusu .......... 409 

Contemporary monuments . . . . , .410 

Purchase of estates . . . . . , . . .411 

II. NARAM-SIN AND THE DECLINE OP THE DYNASTY OF SARGON . . .412 

Deification of NaramSin . . . * . . * .413 
His conquests ......... 414 

Expedition to Magan . * . . . . . .415 

The * Stele of Victory* ........ 41,7 

Submission of Elam, Lagash and Nippur ..... ;^8 ]< 

Reign of Shargalisharri ........ f;T^ v 

The rise of Gutium , ; 1421 

Period of anarchy . . - . * . .,; ;;V; 4 22 

III. GUTIXJM AND LAGASH ....... 423 

The kings of Gutium * . . . . . ./ . 424 

UrBau of Lagash . . . . * , . 425 



xxiv CONTENTS 

PAGE 
IV. THE KINGDOM OF GUDEA OF LAGASH . . . - 426 

The statues of Gudea 4"^ s 

Contemporary art and literature . . - 43 2 

Overthrow of dynasty of Gutium . . . . . .434 

CHAPTER XII 

THE SUMERIAN REVIVAL: THE EMPIRE OF UR 
By S. IL LANG DON 

I. UR-ENGUR AND DUNGI .435 

Might of Ur-Engur 43 6 

Conquests in the east . . . . . . .438 

Submission of Susa ........ 440 

II. LAGASH AND OTHER CITIES OF THE EMPIRE . - . . .441 

Sumerian liturgies . . * . . , . .443 

The principal cults . . . . . . , , 4 44 

Conditions in Akkad ..,.*.. 44^ 

III. THE EASTERN PROVINCES ..<....,. 447 

Early deities of the east . . . . . . . ,448 

Semitic infusion ......... 450 

IV. THE NORTHERN ANZ> WESTERN EXTENSION . . . . . ,451 

Ashur ...**.... 451 

Subartu . . . * 452 

Cappadocia and its Semitic colony . . . . ,453 

V. THE DECLINE OF SUMERIAN POWER . . . . - . .456 

Bur-Sin .......... 457 

Gimll-Sm ......* 458 

Ibi-Sin and his overthrow . * * .459 
Sumerian law and calendar *..*.* 461 
The influence of the Sumerians . * . . . .462 

CHAPTER XIII 

ISIN, LARSA AND BABYLON 

By R. CAMPBELL THOMPSON, M.A., F.S.A. 

Fellow of Mcrton College, Oxfc rd 

L THE POWER OP THE SEMITES .,.,.*. 464 
West Semitic elements ...*. 466 
Amor (Amurru) ..,.,.... 467 

Early Assyria ...*,,*. 468 
Kara-Euynk and Kerkuk . , . . . . . .470 

11^ THE DYNASTY OF ISIN ......,. 47o 

Overthrow of Ibi-Sin ...... 47 r 
Contemporary laments . . * . . . .472 

^Chedorlaomer* and G-encs;s xiv . f . .473 
New Sumerian activity ..*.... 474 

An Amorite raid .*..,..*. 476 
The wars of Gnngunurn - . , , * . , 477 
Larsa ........... 478 

The First Dynasty of Babylon . , , .479 



CONTENTS xxv 

PAGE 

Relations with Larsa and Isln . . . * , . .480 
Defeat of Larsa by Elam . , - . . . . 483 

Elamlte kings. ....... 484 

Rim-Sin's successes against Isin . . . . , .485 

Fight for Isin and Larsa . . . . . . . .486 

III, HAMMURABI .......... 487 

Conquest of Elam ......... 488 

Temple and other works . . , . . . , .489 
Campaigns in the north ........ 490 

His law-code ......... 492 

Extent of his empire ........ 493 

CHAPTER XIV 

THE GOLDEN AGE OF HAMMURABI 
BY R. CAMPBELL THOMPSON 

I. THE COUNTRY .......... 494 

Communications by water . . . . . . .495 

Ships and houses ......... 497 

The date-palm ......... 499 

Animals and birds . . . . , . . . .500 

The Tigris .......... 501 

II. BABYLON . 503 

Plan . 504 

Nebuchadrezzar's buildings . . . * . . .505 
Tower of Babel 508 

III. GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY ........ 508 

The patesis 509 

Judicial procedure . . . . . . . . . 5 11 

The levy 514 

Capital offences, penalties . . . - . . .516 

Social castes " . . . -5*8 

Slavery 520 

IV. PRIVATE LIFE 522 

Matrimony . . . . . . . . .523 

Divorce and adultery . * , * . . . .524 

Children and inheritance . . . . - . .526 

Loans ........... 528 

V. RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS . - . . . - * * 529 

The gods 529 

Religious beliefs . . . . . . . . -53* 

The temple and its staff 532 

Priestesses and temple- women , . ... . . .536 

VI. ORDINARY LIFE, DEATH, LITERATURE ...... 546 

The crops -54* 

Food 543 

Coinage, metals and pottery . . . . ,.545 

A love-letter ........ * 547 

Burial . * . . 54 8 

Myths and legends * . - . . , % 55 



xxvi CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XV 

THE KASSITE CONQUEST 

BY R. CAMPBELL THOMPSON 

PAGE 

I. THE END OF THE FIRST BABYLONIAH DYNASTY * . . . . 552 

The Kassites and their language . . - * . 553 

The kings of the Sea-country 555 

Their advance . . . . - - * - 5 $7 

Abeshu' and his artificial Hoods . . . . . 558 

A Hittite raid - .561 

Decline of Babylonia . . . . * * ,562 

II. THE KASSITE DYNASTY . . . . . . . -5^3 

Internal conditions . . . . . - . .564 

Religion and art . . . . * . . .567 

Prelude to the 'Amania Age' 568 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE ART OF EARLY EGYPT AND BABYLONIA 
BY H. R, HALL 

I. EGYPTIAN ART ..,..* . 570 

Use of naetals . * * - , . . fc 571 

Archaic art . . . . - . . * , * 573 

Portraiture * , . ,,574 

Small art .....*,*. 576 

II, INTERRELATIONS WITH BABYLONIA * . * . . , - 577 

Prehistoric pottery . * . , . . . , .578 

The Gebel el~Arak knife-handle . , . . . .580 

Use of stone t . * . . . . . . 582 

II L BABYLONrrAN ART . . . . . . , * 5 84 

The copper lions of el-*Obeid * * , . , ,585 

Relations with the west * . . * m ^ 



CHAPTER XVII 

EARLY AEGEAN CIVILIZATION 
BY A. J* B. WAGE 

I. CRETE . . . . . 589 

Transition to Earty Minoan Age . , coo 

Conditions ... * . . SOI 

Middle Minoan Age . . * * 593 

The script . . , JQ j 

Palaces of Cnossus and Phaestus . ^ * 595 

Middle Minoan culture . . * * . 596 

Transition to Late Minoan , . * 



CONTENTS xxvii 

PAGE 

II. T,PE_CYCLADES * . . 599 



Earl/ Cycladic culture 
Relations with Crete 

III. THE HELIADIC CIVILIZATION . 

Early Helladic Period 
Middle Helladic Period . 
Minyan ware 
Cretan influence 

IV. THE THESSALIAN CIVILIZATION 

First Thessalian Period . 

Second Period 

Third Period 

First and second cities of Troy , 

Supremacy of Crete 

Appearance of Mycenae . 



600 
602 
603 
604 
606 
607 
608 
609 
609 
610 
6ix 
612 
614 
615 



LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 617 



BIBLIOGRAPHIES 

Chapters I and II ............ 619 

Chapter III 625 

Chapter IV 628 

Chapter V 630 

Chapter VI 636 

Chapter VII 637 

Chapter VIII 640 

Chapter IX 643 

Chapters X-XI1 645 

Chapter XIII 649 

Chapter XIV 651 

Chapter XV 652 

Chapter XVI 653 

Chapter XVII 655 

SYNCHRONISTIC TABLE 656 

COMPARATIVE TABLE OF PRINCIPAL SEQUENCES AND 
CORRELATIONS IN SELECTED REGIONS BETWEEN 

NORTH-WESTERN EUROPE AND MESOPOTAMIA FACING 660 

LIST OF EGYPTIAN KINGS OF THE OLD AND MIDDLE 

KINGDOMS, c. 3 500-1 580 B.C 661 

LIST OF KINGS AND PATESIS OF SUMER AND AKKAD %$ 

KINGS OF ISIN, LARSA, BABYLON, ETC. , - . 672 
GENERAL INDEX . . , . . . - .676 



CONTENTS 



LIST OF MAPS, ETC. 



PACK 



1, Stages in the growth of Land-masses , , , , FACING 16 

2, The Ice Age , 48 

3, Zones of Vegetation, to illustrate sequence of climatic regions 64 

4, Olive, Vine and Orange Areas of the Mediterranean , 64 

5, Principal Neolithic cultures no 

6, Europe showing the principal lines of Early Bronze Aje 

Intercourse no 

7, Trade-routes of Hither Asia ^224 

8, Egypt 324 

9, Babylonia, stowing the sites of Ancient Cities, , , ^ 400 

10, Babylonia, Assyria and Mesopotamia , , , . 4/14 

n. Syria, Assyria and Babylonia 566 

12, Map to illustrate Early Aegean culture , , , , ,. 614 

Plan of Babylon , 504 



CHAPTER I 
PRIMITIVE MAN, IN GEOLOGICAL TIME 

L THE SETTING OF THE STAGE 

TflSTORY, in its common and more popular sense, is the 
JLJl $tudy of Man's dealings with other men, and the adjust- 
ment of working relations between human groups. But there is a 
larger sense, in which Human History merges in Natural History, 
and aludieS the dealings of Man with Nature; and it may be ob- 
served that it has been only by slow degrees that any human group 
has attained to such vision of the unity of mankind, or of civiliza- 
tion, as might constrain it to regard other human groups as more 
than a peculiarly intractable element in its own natural surround- 
ings. An austere conception of War that under certain circum- 
stances Right has no court of appeal but Might survives to 
remind us that Man has not yet wholly rid himself of this con- 
fusion between things and alien persons; and the most modern 
conception of international right so far accepts this fact of an 
alienation between the higher functions of human groups, however 
reasonable, as to take differences of language of the medium, 
that is, for interchange and reconciliation of ideas, as the best 
guide when and where, for the present, it is safer to keep human 
groups apart, and let them manage their affairs as far as possible 
each in their own way. 

History, in the narrowest sense of all, as the interpretation of 
written evidence for arrangements made for right living within a 
human group, or between such groups, accepts implicitly the same 
criterion, and stops short where such evidence is not available. 
Linguistic P a ^ a 525|^^y: goes a little further back, in the study of 
the distnf^^ groups, and of such relations 

between them as loan-words, or structural likenesses in the speech, 
mgy suggest. But the spoken word does not fall to the ground, 
like the spent missile or the broken vessel, to be its own memorial 
of human achievement: it vanishes in air, so that the philologist 
deals not with originals, but at best with the reminiscence of an 
echo. To recover, therefore, what men were doing, or maKliig, 
still more what they were thinking or desiring, befofe the dawn 
of history, the sole available method is that of the archaeologist, 

C,A,HI I 



2 PRIMITIVE MAN, IN GEOLOGICAL TIME [CHAP, 

merging as it does In that of the geologist : since these alone^ handle 
and interpret original creations of men's thought and will, and 
contemporary elements of the physical surroundings of those men. 
Where the tree falls, there shall it lie, and where the lost implement 
or shattered potsherd, or worn-out man fell, there have they lain, 
for all that any one cared then, or knows now. It is the careless- 
ness (in the literal sense) of the river as to the gravel which it 
carried, and an equal carelessness of those men as to what 
happened to their leavings., that justify such a hypothesis of the 
credibility of these data, and make prehistoric times at least a 
penumbra of history, ^ ^ 

"TSfor"are we compelled any longer by prejudice or authority to 
regard those times as catastrophically short, any more than we 
must believe that Rome was built in a day. Man's prehistory 
merges in the pageant of the animal world, and of the planet-wide 
arena on which it has been in progress. Mountain and sea-basin 
too have their history. Their geographical distribution has varied 
in immemorial years; the faith that can remove mountains is the 
same in kind as that in which the historian brings together armies 
and frontiers, 'bone to his bone/ showing *all the kingdoms of 
the world in a moment of time/ Such 'historical* geography 
and 'historical' ethnology are a proper prelude to the history of 
the ancient world; and much, even within that history, cannot 
fully be understood without them. Ancient peoples come upon 
the stage of history, not all together, but in a certain order, and by 
their proper entrances; each with a character and make-up con- 
gruous with the part they will play* The pageant or is it the 
drama ? of history presupposes the formation of that character, 
and its equipment, in the green-room of the remoter past; and the 
sketch of the growth of initial 'cultures,* which follows now, is 
intended, like the hypothesis of a Greek play, to describe how men 
came by those qualities of build and temperament, those aims in 
life, atid the means wherewith they were attempting to achieve 
them. For, to the student of prehistory, a * culture is nothing 
more or less than this the total equipment with which each gene- 
ration of men starts on its career, in whatever external conditions; 
to the archaeologist, no less, it is literally that equipment whirh 
the men of each generation were discarding, when they and it 
respectively ceased t6 be of Significant use. 

To see how the stage itself was set for this pageant, we must 
look back beyond the moment "when the first characters enter it. 
For it has been Nature, rather than Man, hitherto, in almost every 
scene* that has determined where 'the action shall He* Only at a 



I, n] 'NATURE 5 AND 'MAN 3 3 

comparatively late phase of that action 3 does Man in some measure 
shift t*he scenery for himself, 

* And by Nature and Man are here meant neither supernatural 
force nor superhuman design, altering the arrangement of us and 
our surroundings like chessmen on a board. Nature, adopted in 
our speech from Latin natura^ an unlucky mistranslation of Greek 
$>vcn^ stands as a common and inclusive term for all 'physical' 
events that happen; its Greek original being a verbal substantive 
signifying the fact of growth, the 'way things grow/ the mere 
processes of a world as apprehended by a mind. It has nothing to 
do, SB its Latin antecedents might suggest, either with birth or 
any sort of coming-into-being; nor with any question 'what shall 
it be in the end thereof ?* These are matters outside * natural 9 
history and human history alike. All history is the mere study of 
processes, of the 'way things grow* in the old Greek sense; for to 
this, modern thought has laboriously but unequivocally reverted > 
after long preoccupation with beginnings and endings, with cos- 
mogony and eschatology of all kinds, in the centuries between 
Greek science and our own. 

Within this Nature, so presented as a process or coherent 
sequence of occurrences, and so far as we know (by inference of 
me and you, each from experience of the rest of us corporeally 
participant in what goes on) a part of this Nature, stands Man, 
perceiving what goes on, learning what that is, conceiving it 
as alterable by inventive effort, and striving accordingly, with 
experience of what we call results, great or small, of that strife. 

By Man, then, in what follows, is meant the collective total of 
such perceiving, learning, inventing, striving and experiencing 
* selves/ myself and yours and theirs. By races of men, are meant 
groups and sequences of such selves linked by corporeal similari- 
ties propagated by natural process within each group: by peoples 
or nations^ groups of selves exhibiting peculiarities of interpreta- 
tion, invention, and effort sufficiently similar for their results to be 
cumulative and coherent; and by cultures or civilizations the accu- 
mulated and coherent results of such similarities in the activity of 
selves like you and me. 

IL PRE-GLACIAL GEOGRAPHY 

The stage of human history is a wide one from the firs|.;;vieii 
disregarding those varieties of man in inner Asia i or r jcjg3ferial 
Africa which come latest and most incidentally iB~to,^i :: S|ory ? the 
stage even of ancient history is the whole home offieP ''white races/ 



4 PRIMITIVE MAN, IN GEOLOGICAL TIME [CHAP. 

from the Atlantic coast of Europe to the Persian plateaux, from 
the Sahara to the Baltic; the north-western quadrant of the? land- 
mass of the Old World, 

To understand even the actual configuration of this area, some 
of which Is very complicated still more, to understand the changes 
which have occurred in the form and extent of the land-masses 
since they have been inhabited by man we must review the whole 
series of events which have resulted in the formation of the present 
European peninsula, of the sea-basins which lie north and south 
of it, and also of its eastward continuation into Hither Asia, a 
similarly constituted highland with comparatively low-lying* flat- 
lands to north and to south. For, if we trace this series of events 
far enough back, we reach, at all events, the more immediate 
reasons for those strongly marked contrasts in the composition 
and structure of Its rocks, which have so profoundly affected the 
habitability and human prosperity of each component region, 
through the peculiar distribution of its plants and animals, and 
eventually of its breeds of Man. 

Herodotus, attempting to summarize the contrast between the 
northern flatland and the Aegean cradle of the Greeks, describes 
Scythia as a land where there are no earthquakes and they grow 
corn for sale. That immensity of arable is itself the corollary of 
the flatland's long immunity from geological stress, and its accu- 
mulation of successive sediments, as sea-floor or dusty desert. The 
recurring earthquakes in Greece and Italy, through ancient and 
modern times, are sufficient evidence that the process of mountain 
building is not yet complete, and the rarity and discontinuity of 
cultivable soils illustrate the dislocation and wear-and-tear inci- 
dental to such a process. The catastrophic geology of Genesis and 
the Psalms voices the same experience of Nature's workings among 
a people of the Nearer East. Let us summarize, then, the main 
course of that period of planetary history, within which the history 
of Man is one of the more recent episodes. 

The chalk which composes the 'white walls' of England, the 
massive limestones of the 'hills which stand about Jerusalem/ and 
the similar grey limestone which gives its wilder grace to the land- 
scape of Greece, were formed by deposition on the floor of a gret 
sea which, covered all, and more than all, of the stage on which 
history has played its greatest drama hitherto. This sea, to which 
geologists give the picturesque name of *Tethjy/ belongs to the 
second of the three great schemes of oceans and continents, whose 
distribution can be distinguished in the long course of the earth's 
history. It had taken shape as the result of that period of violent 



I, ii] SECONDARY DISTRIBUTION OF LAND AND SEA 5 

planetary convulsion which closed the * primary* phase, and its 
q^liteSration, with the exception of the Mediterranean Pontic- 
Caspian, and Caribbean basins, marks the change from the 
'secondary' to the 'tertiary' in which human history is the most 
recent episode. Unliie the modern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans of 
the * tertiary' phase, which (whatever their breadth) extend from 
the Arctic to the Antarctic circle, Tethys had its greatest diameter 
from east to west, and was comparatively narrow from north to 
south. Eastward it abutted on an ancient s Angara' continent, of 
whi^h the solid core lay in north-eastern Asia, with more recent 
extensions further south: westward it opened into a Pacific Ocean. 
Southward it was bounded by another ancient continent, 'Gpnd- 
wana-lan^L,' which had once extended in one vast oblong from 
weat of South America to east of Australia, but was already foun- 
dering in places, so that growing gulfs in its southern margin were 
separating South America from South Africa, and South Africa 
from Australia; first symptoms of the South Atlantic and Indian 
Oceans that were to be. Similar collapse of its northern margin 
allowed the waters of Tethys to form a deep bay between Brazil 
and Morocco ; and a long gulf between East Africa, on the one 
hand, and, on the other, a 'I^muxian^ peninsula connecting South 
Africa through Madagascar with peninsular India. Both of these 
eventually broke clean through to meet the southern gulfs, and 
insulated South America and ' Lemuria* for ever* Round the north 
end of 'Lemuria/ there was in due course open sea between 
Tethys and the new Indian Ocean; and meanwhile the rise of 
the first mountain structure of south-eastern Asia connected the 
Australian fragment of old 'Gondwana' with the southward ap- 
pendages of * Angara-land,* so that a single continent extended 
from Arctic Siberia to New Zealand. 

Northward, * Tethys' had probably sea-passage, of uncertain 
and perhaps varying width, to an Arctic Ocean, between 'Angara- 
land' and Scandinavia, one of the oldest and most massive 
corner-stones of the whole fabric. West of this again, between 
Scandinavia and Britain, a narrower strait extended far north, and 
perhaps reached the same Arctic Ocean. Beyond this, the rugged 
Caledonian highlands of Britain stood outpost on the eastern 
margin of a 'Laurentian* continent. The south coast of ' 
probably crossed the north Atlantic along the modern 
bulging then southward round the nascent Appalachian ch 
retreating northward near the Pacific coast of North ^A^S^c^ till 
it approached (or even joined) eastern * Aftgara^fflS'l^eyond the 
north Pacific, All north of this coastline seems 01 have been solid 



6 PRIMITIVE MAN, IN GEOLOGICAL TIME [CHAP. 

land, with Greenland and Labrador at its core; but from time to 
time a wide lakeland covered the * middle west' of North AiAerica. 

Round these ancient shores, under the influence of solar heat, 
the general planetary circulation of winds and sea-currents played 
then as now. The resulting climates however were different, by 
reason of the shape of the sea-basins, and the altitude of the land- 
masses. In particular, the long trough of 'Tethys/ lying wholly in 
north temperate atid subtropical latitudes, and landlocked towards 
the north from Mexico to Scandinavia, served like the Medi- 
terranean of to-day, but on a vaster scale to mitigate and aspimi- 
late in an exceptional degree the climates of its foreshores, and still 
more those of its islands. 

For though most of 'Tethys* was open water, a lar/*e region 
between north Africa and Scandinavia was broken by large is- 
lands, ruinous fragments of continents older still, like Scandinavia 
itself, and the Caledonian highlands, Snowdonia, atid the Malvern 
and Mendip Hills, imbedded in the margin of *Laurentia.* One 
such forms now the plateau core of Spain and Portugal; Sardinia, 
Corsica, Elba, and the rugged *toe ? of Italy are peaks of another, 
which we may call * Tyrrhenia*; the Caucasus, the Bohemian high* 
land, the Ardennes, are others, round whose skirts old shingle- 
banks and other shore deposits replace the clean limestones 
characteristic of the greater depths. So early in the history of the 
planet was the site of our European and Mediterranean region con- 
spicuous for its abnormalities, and its juxtaposition of old and new. 

The * tertiary* period of crust-history, which is still in progress 
for the term * Quaternary, 1 signifying those recent phases when 
Man's presence can be demonstrated, is a needless concession to 
self-esteem is characterized, like its * primary * and * secondary * 
predecessors, by vast readjustments of the crust, breaking up the 
Laurentian and Indo-African continents, and crumpling the cre- 
taceous sea-bed of 'Tethys* into a series of elevated ridges* These 
folds result; from two series of lateral stresses. The one, thrusting 
outwards from Angara-land to east, south and west, has caused a 
series of southward-bulging * arcs' (like the rucks in a tablecloth 
when a heavy book is pushed across it) which define the present 
continent of Asia* Such arcs form the half-submerged island*- 
chains, Aleutian, Kurile, Japanese, Lu-chu; the grand sweep 
through Burma, and the Malay peninsula with its insular pro- 
longation to the Moluccas; the Himalayan range and the Hindu- 
Kush; the Iranian arc which traverses Baluchistan, south and west 
Pefsia, and Kurdistan; and further west, the Tauric and Dinaric 
systems which bound respectively Asia Minor on the south* and 



I, n] TERTIARY MOUNTAIN-BUILDING 7 

the Balkan peninsula on the west,, as far as the head of the Adri- 
atic. Then follows the southward and westward-bulging Atlas 
range, and its prolongation into south-eastern Spain. Within these 
outer arcs rise other folds obviously concentric with them, most 
easily recognizable in north-eastern Asia, and behind the Hima- 
laya, but perceptible also in Iran and northern Asia Minor. Be- 
tween the folds, lie less crumpled areas, at higher or lower levels. 
The plateau of Tibet stands now at over 1 5,000 ft., the Tarim 
basin at over 3000 ft., and the core of Asia Minor at about xooo ft. 
above the sea; the Behring, Japan, and China Seas, on the other 
hand^have bottom at 12,0009000 ft. down; the Gulf of Oman at 
6000 ft., and the southern lobe of the Caspian at about 2000 ft* 
Similarly, outside each greater arc, the margin of old Gondwana- 
land*has been forced down and under, in the Bay of Bengal, in the 
Persian Gulf, where the whole of Arabia has been tilted like an 
ill-laid paving slab -and in the eastern basin of the Mediterranean, 
where the north African foreland has been fractured stepwise, so 
that, while the Libyan shore is beset with quicksands, the greatest 
depths are off the Peloponnese and Rhodes. 

The folds of the other series result not from southward but from 
northward thrusts, and overhang similarly sunken * forelands,' this 
time on their northern side. Examples are the Altai range between 
Mongolia and western Siberia, the Caucasus, and the whole 
Alpine series, Balkans, Carpathians, Alps, and Pyrenees. The 
course of these European folds is complicated by several factors, 
chief among which is the presence of those older lands already 
mentioned, both north of the Alpine folds, in Bohemia, the Black 
Forest and Vosges, and the Auvergne, and within the folded 
area, as in Spain, *Tyrrhenia,' and Hungary; the stubbornness of 
which has not merely accentuated the transverse amplitude and 
overfolding of the ridges themselves, but has compressed them 
lengthways into the 2, -shape presented now by the Carpathians 
and Balkans and caused the spiral distortion of the Pyrenees, Alps, 
Apennines, Atlas, and the Spanish-Balearic arc. 

Finally, local relaxations of these strains brought about the 
collapse of whole regions of the crust, either parallel to the 
trend of the folded arcs, or transversely. Examples of longitudinal 
subsidence are the Black Sea and southern Caspian, carrying away 
both ends of the Caucasus and another great segment of mountain 
range between the Crimea and the Balkans : another is the Adriatic, 
nipped between the Dinaric arc and the Apennines* ^fraft&Verse 
fracture and collapse are illustrated, within the mass of 013 Angara- 
land, by the long * trough-fault' or 'rift yall^' df the Red Sea, 



8 PRIMITIVE MAN, IN GEOLOGICAL TIME [CHAP. 

which Is prolonged between Crete and Rhodes right across the 
junction of the Dinaric and Tauric arcs, submerging the Aegean 
archipelago, and breaking down a shattered trough through 
Macedonia and Serbia to the Hungarian plain. A branch of this 
same rift forking west across the Dinaric folds depressed the 
Gulf of Corinth; another diverging eastward further south forms 
the Gulf of Akaba, the Dead Sea, and the trough of Code-Syria, 
and may be traced far athwart Armenia. All these are only 
classical examples of the main types of crust movement to which 
the tertiary transformations of old * Tethys' are due. 

Crust-movements of such amplitude occupied a vast period of 
time. And all the while, rainfall and frost were^denuding and dis- 
secting the land surfaces; rivers were transporting the debris, and 
depositing it in lake basins and coastal seas; limestones and fharls 
were accumulated in deeper waters; and at times along the lines 
of severest distortion and fracture, volcanic matter was discharged 
molten from beneath* 

Principal stages in this tertiary derangement of what had been 
the cretaceous sea-bottom of Tethys may be summarized as fol- 
lows. Their importance for us, over and above their contribution 
to the actual distribution of land and water, of mountains and 
plains, is that in conjunction with the changes of climate resulting 
from such rearrangement of lands and seas,, they have restricted or 
extended the regions which this or that type of vegetation could 
occupy, and the range of the animal forms which such vegetation 
fed, and so contributed in due course to localize and differentiate 
the main varieties of Man* 

Foldings and upheavals of the old sea-floor began earliest, as 
they have since reached their greatest amplitude, eastward in the 
heart of Asia, where the Himalaya, Kuen-lun andTienshan ranges, 
with the plateaux of Tibet and Mongolia uplifted between them, 
intervene between Angara-land and the * Leirmrian* sub-continent, 
of which only fragments soon remained, represented by Madagas- 
car and peninsular India. Elsewhere too during this stage there 
was widespread exposure of the sea-floor; especially along that 
east-and-west axis of upheaval which eventually becomes the 
'Highland^Zone* of western Asia and southern Europe. Anl 
without being elevated, many of the remaining sea-basins dried up 
altogether, leaving vast deposits of salt and gypsum, like those 
which are forming now in the waste heart of Persia, 

Renewed submergence followed, from the westward ocean* as 
far south as Kordofan, and as far east as Khorasan* But the Hindu- 
Kush and Iranian arc barred off for ever from Tethys its old south- 



J, n] FIRST PHASES OF A MEDITERRANEAN SEA 9 

ward gulf; and a mere bulging of the African continent cut off the 
eljj uf "depression in western Sahara from what we may now begin 
to call the Midland Sea; for it is the first phase of the Mediterra- 
nean of to-day. But the fauna and flora of the lands which were 
appearing now along the line of the Alpine folds were still essenti- 
ally of such Indo-African type as had spread thither during the 
period of exposure. And such they long remained; for these 
lands were mainly Insular, and as the Laurentian continent still 
limited the Atlantic northwards not far from the line joining 
Newfoundland to Cornwall, the oceanic currents which bathed 
their ^shores maintained a subtropical climate, warm, moist, and 
equable. 

Furthe^ folding and upheaval of the western arcs extended and 
consolidated the mountain zone of the Nearer East as a long pro- 
montory connecting the high plateaux of Asia with these mid- 
European islands, and these again with the British promontory of 
Laurentia, along the very ancient line of folding represented by 
the Ardennes and the Mendips. The result was to bisect the Mid- 
land Sea into a southern or 'Mediterranean' and a northern or 
*Sarmatian* basin, which henceforth have separate histories until 
almost modern times. A further result was that the sinuous Apen- 
nine-Atlas ridge encircled a -'West Mediterranean' basin, which 
though it communicated usually with both the Atlantic and the 
East Mediterranean, was occasionally cut off from both, and in 
late Miocene times was so much reduced by evaporation that none 
of its deposits of that age are now above water level. There was 
therefore ample communication between the new mid-Europe and 
the Moroccan lobe of the old Africa* 

The East Mediterranean long retained much of the character 
of its predecessor the Midland Sea, The highland arcs along its 
north border included Crete and Cyprus; the Adriatic had not yet 
SLink outside these arcs, nor the Aegean within them. The moun- 
tains of Media and Elam were still very imperfectly developed, 
and the Arabian slab of Gondwana-land had not yet been frac- 
tured or even tilted under their stresses. The southern border of 
this sea lay therefore far to the southward across Africa, from a 
Moroccan Gulf, south of Atlas, to Abyssinia, Hadramaut, and the 
mountain ridge of Oman; with an easterly gulf extending far Into 
Iran* It was separated however from all seas to the south-east, as 
its marine fauna show, by the ridge already mentioned connecting 
the Asiatic with the African continent. Occasionally disconnected 
from the Atlantic by elevation of the lands round tb^ttfestern basin, 
it underwent repeated phases of evaporation; stud Indo-African 



io PRIMITIVE MAN, IN GEOLOGICAL TIME [CHAP. 

plants and animals still occupied its northern margins^ leaving 
their remains for example in Sanies and Attica, "* 

The northern or Sarmatian Sea had a similar though separate 
history. It extended repeatedly far east> to lake Balkash and the 
foothills of Altai and Tienshan, and far north round the base of 
the Urals, an old ridge accentuated by the same tertiary stresses 
as the mountain-zone which bounded this basin on the south. 
Caucasus was sometimes insulated, but usually formed part of its 
southern margin, with only gulfs or lakes outflanking it south- 
ward. Westward communication with the Atlantic was interrupted 
earlier, oftener, and more completely than in the Mediterranean 
area, thanks to the growing intimacy between Mid-Europe and 
those ridges and stacks of old land which we have seen ^embedded 
in the Laurentian foreshore. Between the rising Alps and- the 
Bohemian and mid-German highlands a long gulf remained^ or 
in high-and-dry periods a drainage basin which we may already 
call 'Danubian*, but the strong northward and outward bulge of 
the Carpathians eventually cut off these lowlands and the sunken 
Hungarian basin, to form inland lakes. An outlet through the 
Iron Gates to the Pontic basin cannot be demonstrated till later. 

As the land-masses of Mid-Europe and also of North Africa and 
Western Asia increased in extent, the climate of the whole region 
became drier: the c Sarmatian' sea shrank into a * Pontic* scries of 
lakes, connected only by flood channels, if at all, but including 
then a region so far to the south-west as the present north Aegean* 
Eventually one of the deep fiver valleys, which dissected the ex- 
posed Sarmatian sea-floor, cut back into the high ground in the 
re-entrant angle between the Carpathians and Balkans, opened a 
new outlet for the waters of the Hungarian and Bavarian basins 
already mentioned, and created the Danubian drainage system. In 
this period also a long trough, faulted across Mid-Europe^ deter- 
mined the upper basin of the eventual Rhine, though it was long 
before this lakeland was tapped, like the Danubian, by a river 
cutting back from the north through the old Taunus highland from 
Coblenz to Bingetl, 

The same period of uprise and continental climate affected the 
Mediterranean also. The rising escarpment of Media and Elam cr.t 
off its Iranian gulf, which became silted, first with river deposits* 
then, as its waters evaporated, with a crust of salt and gypsum. 
And as the folded escarpment rose, very steep and lofty, the 
foreland in front of it to the south-west was forced down and 
under, till the great quadrangular slab which we call Arabia was 
snapped off" from Africa > and tilted bodily, downwards at the foot 



I, n] TERTIARY FLORA AND FAUNA n 

of the new Zagros range, but with a free broken edge upreared to 
wqptwatJrd, and long troughs of dislocation and subsidence between 
itself and the African continent. The Red Sea trough opened for 
long into the Mediterranean, like the Nile trough to the west of 
it; but was closed at its south end by the main ridge from Asia to 
East Africa. 

Further north, the same fractures crossed the Mediterranean 
floor, so that the free edge of the Arabian slab, or rather the de- 
tached strip of it which forms the Lebanon range, was thencefor- 
ward the eastward limit of that sea. The movement, violent as it 
appears in retrospect, was however gradual, and progressed from 
south to north so that the drainage basin formed on the tilted slab 
remained Connected with the Mediterranean through North Syria, 
and fee Jordan valley, lying in a smaller and earlier rift than that 
of the Red Sea and for long a tributary of a great river system of 
north-eastern Africa, still contains species in common with the 
Nile and the Euphrates* But, in time, Mesopotamia too became a 
separate basin like Iran, accumulating its own river sediments, and 
in dry periods its beds of salt and gypsum. 

The gradual coherence of new land-masses where the Tethys 
basin had been, and the restricted communication between the 
remaining seas and the Atlantic, affected the climate of the whole 
region profoundly and adversely, and the fauna and flora were 
modified accordingly. Surviving representatives of the first occu- 
pants of tertiary Europe are now only recognizable in the Malay 
zoological region, and to some extent in tropical west Africa. 
For our present purpose we need only note that it Is in these two 
regions alone that the great anthropoids, gorilla and orang-utan, 
survive; that it is certain that various monkeys, and probable 
that creatures ancestral to Man, were among these * Malayan * 
occupants of mid-Europe; that the most * simian* varieties of Man 
himself, the dwarfish, heavy-jawed, and long-armed Negritos, have 
a similarly discontinuous distribution surviving only in central 
Africa, in Malaya and beyond, and to sorae extent ijp^sputhern 
India; and further, that the only creatures really intermediate be- 
tween these and the anthropoids, are Pithecanthropus from a deposit 
considerably later in Java and the Broken Hill skull from Rhodesia, 
It is not without reason, therefore, that search has been made for 
human handiwork, even in eocepe and miocgae beds. But^tjbfii; 
* eoliths* collected in Belgium from miocene deposits h^^etiibt 
yet been generally accepted as such: those from graves ililing 
the sides of the present Nile valley are rather betft^jrtS^te'd, but 
must still be viewed with reserve. 



ia PRIMITIVE MAN, IN GEOLOGICAL TIME [CHAP. 

As the climate became less favourable, the Malayan fauna gave 
place in the north-west to characteristically * African' types, which 
persisted in the new European (or rather *Eurafrican') region 
until the close of the Pontic stage. Then, rather abruptly,, and very 
widely, this * African' fauna was itself replaced by new forms, dis- 
tinctly 'Arctic/ advancing apparently from that Laurentian con- 
tinent which had existed all the while west of Britain, and prob- 
ably had extended also far eastward beyond Scandinavia as the 
Sarmatian sea evaporated; since similar 'Arctic' forms can be traced 
penetrating Asia too, as far as its Himalayan crest* The * African' 
withdrawal was of course gradual and unequal ; typical forms sur- 
vived in Bessarabia, for instance, later than elsewhere, and Spits- 
bergen and Greenland still had magnolias and plane-tpees during 
the Pontic phase. Within the folded zone, especially, there were 
secluded regions favourable to the survival of the old warmth- 
loving forms. The progressive folding of maturer mountain-ranges, 
and the development of more recent folds, such as the Apennines 
and the Jura, accentuated this subdivision of the north-western or 
* Eurafrican ' land-mass. 

A fresh period of submergence follows, probably due to relaxa- 
tion of the folding stresses, and collapse of ill-supported blocks, 
The British promontory of Laurentia, and probably the whole 
southern seaboard of that continent, began to give way, so that 
the Atlantic ocean, which had long ago been extended southwards 
from Tethys to the Antarctic, spread northwards now into cooler 
latitudes. Since some of these sinking areas for example, the 
Aquitanian region of France adjoined the west Mediterranean, 
Atlantic marine fauna had access once more to the Mediterranean 
basins. As the water surface of these seas increased, the climate 
became moister, and the weathering of the highlands and main 
river valleys more destructive. It is in this period that the drainage 
systems of the lower Rhine, the Seine and other rivers of the 
English Channel, the Loire, Garonne and Guadalquivir, and the 
Wady Draa, south of the Moroccan Atlas, were established, in 
deep-lying gulfs; the Rhpne is another example of drainage con- 
sequent on such subsidence. 

Further east, the Aegean depression, already noted, began Qo 
admit Mediterranean waters to basins hitherto belonging to the 
Pontic lake-system. The Pontic region, too, receiving ample rain- 
fall once more, regained its old continuity from the Carpathians 
as far as lake Baikal. The trough-valley of the Nile was being 
opened, as we have already seen, as far south as Assuan, and re- 
ceived copious drainage from the high west edge of the Arabian 



I,n] SEVERANCE OF AFRICA FROM ASIA 13 

slab; the first fractures had begun along the line of the Red Sea, 
and the remains of considerable lakes in the Dead Sea and Orontes 
region suggest similar subsidences further north. The Mesopo- 
tamian basin was by this time quite cut off from the Mediterranean 
by the tilting of Arabia, though the barrier from Lebanon north- 
ward was of no great width or height. When the tilting movement 
came to a crisis, and Arabia broke away from the African con- 
tinent, the Red Sea trough opened first as a gulf of the Mediter- 
ranean. But the foundering of the next block south of Arabia 
admitted the waters of the 'Indian 1 Ocean into this gulf from the 
south; 'and a similar inbreak through the Hormuz strait converted 
the Mesopotamian lake, which had formed along the sunk eastern 
edge of Arabia, into a ' Persian gulf of the same southern ocean, 
extenfiing all along the foothills of Zagros, and also towards Anti- 
Taurus, and Anti-Lebanon. In this fashion, while the Mediter- 
ranean remained limited eastward almost at its present shoreline, 
the whole region between it and the Iranian plateau became almost 
wholly separated from what remained of old Gondwana-land, both 
in peninsular India and in east Africa, with a new and narrow 
isthmus, twice constricted, at Suez and north of the Lebanon, 
instead of the old broad land-avenue from Iran to Abyssinia. 

The consequence of this separation will be seen to be of the 
utmost importance, when we consider the distribution of Man, 
and of the modern fauna and flora generally; for it is with the 
severance of Africa from southern Asia, on the one hand, and 
the replacement on the other of ' African * plants and animals 
north of the Mediterranean by northern forms from Scandinavia 
and the Laurentian foreshores about Britain, that the modern 
period of tertiary time may fairly be said to begin. 

It will be evident from what precedes, that by this time not only 
Europe but the whole north-west quadrant of the Old World 
land-mass had been shaped approximately to its modern propor- 
tions : only the precise distribution of sea and lake over the shal- 
lower hollows in its surface being liable to shift, according as either 
the land rose or sank locally, or the supply of moisture varied over 
its landlocked basins. The broad features of this large group of 
regions, the eventual home of the 'white races* of man, may there- 
fore be summarized in modern geographical terms. It consists, 
essentially, of the Alpine 'folded highland/ whose structure ai^ 
conformation we have been tracing, bounded both northward^Scl 
southward by abrupt outward slopes overlooking depr^^i btit 
undisturbed and level * forelands/ Included wi^^f'^iife ' folded 
region are numerous plateaux more or less ^le ( vatdy and more or 



14 PRIMITIVE MAN, IN GEOLOGICAL TIME [CHAP. 

less buried under later sediments- And westward;* where the 
Alpine folds fade away towards the foreshores of the new Atlantic 
Ocean, and around the British remnants of Laurentia, now de- 
tached,, there is a * continental shelf of varying width, and liable 
to moderate oscillations of level. 

Three main regions are therefore to be distinguished here: 
(i) the Highland Zone itself; (2) its Northern Foreland, from the 
North Sea to the foothills of Tienshan and Altai, with its south- 
eastern half liable to be submerged in *Sarmatian* or *Ponto~ 
Caspian * lakes; (3) its Southern Foreland, from Morocco to 
Mesopotamia, continuous and undisturbed at a fairly high average 
level in latitudes remote from the Highland Zone; more broken and 
depressed further north, till its fractured slabs sink beneath the 
waters of the Persian Gulf, the east Mediterranean, and the lake 
region of southern Tunis. As already described, it is by no geo- 
logical accident that the west Mediterranean basin lies north, not 
south, of the Atlas folds; within the Highland Zone, that is, not 
adjacent to it like the eastern basin, 

The later history of these three principal regions must be traced 
separately, if only because the altitude of the Highland Zone has 
long been sufficient to give it a markedly cooler and moister climate 
than either of the Flatlands; so that its greater rainfall has sculp- 
tured it very deeply, and wrought upon its surface abrupt and 
complicated scenery of mountain and valley; the varied rocks thus 
exposed contributing directly, and still more (by their detritus) 
indirectly, to accentuate local differences in the soils and eventual 
flora of each drainage area. As its limits lie obliquely from north- 
west to south-east between latitude 50 in central Europe and 
2 5 in south Persia, the larger changes of climate have affected its 
main regions serially from one extremity to the other. Its uplands 
have been sufficiently continuous at most periods to permit the 
spread and withdrawal of consecutive types of vegetation; yet the 
deep engraving of its passes has permitted the transmission of 
comparatively lowland flora from one basin to another* And what 
is evident for vegetation applies equally to all animals which are 
susceptible to changes of climate and food supply* 

This Highland Zone 3 then, may conveniently be regarded, Aa 
its main characters, as a single geographical region. Frequently 
and for long periods, it has been a promontory based on central 
Asia, or a long isthmus, connecting a south-eastern continent 
with a wide and old land in the north-west. At all times its upland 
conformation, moister climate, and denser forest vegetation have 
secluded it from the Flatlands on either flank. In so far as there 



I, n] EURASIAN AND EURAFRICAN FLATLANDS 15 

has been interaction. It has been the Highland which has had the 
initiative; because in periods of excessive moisture it has been from 
the" foothills of the Highland that forest has spread over adjacent 
plains; whereas in periods of drought, the extension of steppe con- 
ditions into the foothills has been retarded by the residual rainfall 
around the heights. Only by glaciation, It would seem., could the 
Highland vegetation be devastated from within, and even so under 
the most favourable conditions for reoccupatlon from the less frost- 
bitten highlands continuous with it to the south-east. And as we 
shall see in due course, such glacial devastation did actually occur, 
between the close of the pleistocene period and the beginning of 
our own. 

North of the Highland Zone lies the Northern Flatland. It is 
alm*t featureless from Altai and Tienshan to the Baltic and 
North Sea; except for the narrow transverse fold of the Ural range, 
which however fades away southward before reaching latitude 5*0. 
But beyond those almost accidental depressions of its western 
margin, which form our 'narrow seas,' this Flatland Is limited by 
two considerable mountain-masses, Scandinavian and British, of 
great age and stability; and beyond these to the north-west ex- 
tended formerly a long arm of that old Lauren tlan continent which 
still encircled the north Atlantic, long after it had ceased to occupy 
it; and it was probably the subsidence of this Laurentian land 
(represented now by the * Wyville-Thomson Ridge, * on the ocean 
floor from Britain to Iceland and Greenland) and the circumstance 
that the breach of continuity lay west and not east of the Scandi- 
navian and British mountain ranges and involved general redistri- 
bution of currents between the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, that 
determined the profound changes of climate to which allusion has 
already been made (p. 12). 

Of secondary importance are the minor oscillations which deter- 
mined whether the northern parts of the Flatland, east and west 
of the Ural divide, should be above or below water; and thereby 
assigned to the remainder, and to the whole north face of the 
Highland Zone, a climate either moist enough to fill the Sarmatian 
depression with lakes or a sea, or dry enough to exhaust this re- 
servoir and reduce the whole northern Flatland to a cold desert as 
Inhospitable as the hot desert on the south side, to which we tutu 
now. 

The southern or Eurafrlcan Flatland Is almost as simple ,ift its 
main features as the northern, and far more uniform in defSalL As 
this region lies within the planetary trade-wind b$l&$!itiS devoid 
of abruptly folded ridges which might precipitate ra,lia^ except the 



16 PRIMITIVE MAN, IN GEOLOGICAL TIME [CHAP. 

Atlas to the north, which belongs to the folded Mountain Zone, 
and the highlands of Nigeria and Abyssinia, it has always been 
less well watered than the regions north and south of it, which are 
moistened respectively by the westerlies and the equatorial rain- 
belt. As no cause seems to be known which could displace the 
equatorial belt of perennial rainfall and dense forest., to any con- 
siderable degree, the normal result of a pluvial or glacial crisis in 
the northern hemisphere has been to contract this trade-wind belt 
and its desert regime; and conversely. The only other important 
variable affecting the Southern Flatland has been the greater or 
less extent of submergence, in the Mediterranean and Mesopo- 
tamia, mitigating or accentuating the dryness of northerly winds, 
The mitigating influence of the Atlantic has of course been per- 
sistent, but has been neither great nor far-reaching, after the dis- 
appearance of that old gulf or lake-basin south of the Ahaggar 
plateau after the miocene period. It should be noted however that 
in periods of greater rainfall both this plateau and the Tassili and 
TIbesti uplands further north and east,, have attracted sufficient 
moisture to feed large rivers, running some southwards to the 
Niger, others northwards into the Mediterranean, by the Wadi 
Irharhar and the Tunisian Schotts* 

Direct land-contact between the southern Flatland and the 
Highland Zone is interrupted for the middle third of its length 
by the persistent water-surface of the cast Mediterranean basin, 
last remnant of old *Tethys'; and again far eastward, by the Gulf 
of Oman and the Mesopotamian Gulf, formerly much larger and 
wider than now. Between these two sea-barriers, outer ridges of 
the Tauric arc radiate south-westward and southward into north 
Syria and Cyprus, and this highland prominence is continuous 
southward with the upstanding edge of the great Arabian slab 
and detached fragments of it, as far as the peninsula of Sinai, 
forming a causeway along which migrations of momentous im- 
portance have occurred repeatedly. In the west Mediterranean 
the Atlas range, which must always be regarded as being geo- 

fraphically continuous, as well as structurally, with the ranges of 
icily and Italy, and also of south-eastern Spain s has the west 
Saharan Flatland along its steep southern face; but the continuity 
of the Eurafrican land-mass here Is qualified by the depth, and 
usual submergence, of the west Mediterranean depressions. Only 
at either end of this western basin have there been intermittent 
land-bridges from Atlas; north-eastward through Sicily to the 
. Apennine arc, concentric with the Alps and repeating on a small 
.scale some features of the Syrian causeway; and through Spain, an 



I, n] AFRICAN 9 AND 'ARCTIC' FAUNA 17 

old highland comparable in size and structure with that of Asia 
Minor? to the broad coast-plains of the Atlantic seaboard north of 
the Pyrenees, 

It results from these northward avenues of the southern Flat- 
land, that there has been long intercourse between its inhabitants 
and those of the Highland Zone, at both ends of their long frontier; 
simple, marginal, and almost uniformly from north to south over 
the Syrian causeway; intermittent, complicated, oscillatory, and 
far-reaching, in the 'Eurafrican* west. 

Such oscillations and, no less, the general replacement of 'Afri- 
can' by * Arctic* forms of life throughout the whole north-west of 
the Old World, were caused, or at all events greatly accelerated, 
in the pleistocene period by the onset of a profound change of 
climate, very severely felt all over the new European sub-continent 
of Eurafrica, but by no means confined to this region; for the *Ice 
Age' or * Glacial Period 7 of the Old World has its counterpart in 
the New, and even very similar sub-periods. There have also been 
'Ice Ages* in the southern hemisphere, but there is no proof 
that they either coincided or alternated with those in the northern, 
and they had no known influence on mankind. With the northern, 
and especially with the European Ice Age it was otherwise. That 
the replacement of African occupants, on the other hand, was as 
gradual as it was, was due to the fact that the Ice Age was not 
continuous, but had its * interglacial* phases, which permitted 
African forms to return northward, and also allowed Asiatic 
species to move westward into Europe along the Highland Zone; 
and we shall see that this oscillation had profound significance for 
Man. 

For if we compare the earliest known distributions of the other 
primates with the actual distribution either of their modern repre- 
sentatives, or of the principal races of man, it becomes clear that 
whereas the four-handed, and also many of the four-footed mem- 
bers of this 'order* of animals, retained mainly arboreal habits, and 
consequently were withdrawn southward and eastward into Africa 
and Malaya, as the subtropical forests were restricted by the 
general change of climate, one intermediate variety, two-handed 
an4 two-footed, and thereby more able to accommodate itself to 
the accidents of life in the open, became so far master of its fate as 
to outlast the forest, and enter on a career of pedestrian adventure 
and manual exploitation. We do not yet know at what stages in 
this acclimatization to the parkland and grassland sequel of the 
retreating forest this biped primate achieved its three primary 
controls over its surroundings control over dead matter, in the 

C. A,BM 



i8 PRIMITIVE MAN, IN GEOLOGICAL TIME [CHAP. 

shape of boughs and stones, prolonging the reach, and enhancing 
the force, of its natural hand-stroke; control over the wayward 
energy of fire, the scourge and the terror of all other animals; and 
therefore not only comparative security against carnivorous animals, 
but control over the fund of sustenance and energy supplied by 
animal flesh. But we do know already, from an implement-strewn 
surface of old land underlying some of the earliest glacial debris 
of East Anglia, that some sort of tool-using, and animal hunting 
* precursor' of ourselves ranged so far as this to the north-west 
before the climate was as yet quite glacial; and from similar indi- 
cations in the Nile gravels, and on the surrounding desert, that 
subtropical drought restricted him as little as subarctic cold. How 
far these early traces, or remoter relics such as the Trinil brain-case 
from Java, or the Broken Hall skull and other bones from Rhcdesia, 
may be connected with ancestors of any actual variety of Man we 
must consider in fuller view of the effects of the glacial crisis* 

III. THE GLACIAL CRISIS 

The causes of this Ice Age have been much discussed, and 
are still obscure: recent investigations lay greater stress on geo- 
graphical factors, such as the distribution of land and water, the 
elevation or depression of the region, and other circumstances 
favourable to intense snow-fall at certain places and seasons, than 
to those astronomical explanations by nutation of the earth's axis, 
or precession of the seasons, which were formerly popular. It is at 
all events certain that the severest glaciations occurred in periods 
of submergence, and that the repeated relaxations of glacial auster- 
ity coincide with greater exposure of land-surfaces, and with a 
continental climate drier rather than warmer, since dry air, how- 
ever cold, precipitates little snow; without copious snow there is 
nothing to feed a glacier, much less a continental ice-sheet; and 
under dry cold winds on the lowland the snout of the best-fed 
glacier shrinks rapidly by sheer evaporation* The same circum- 
stance goes far to explain why the main ice cap of the Old World 
lay so far towards its western edge, exposed to wet westerly winds 
off the north Atlantic which as we ixave seen had only recently 
attained its modern extent. In the same way s the evidence for ex- 
tensive glaciation on the mountain ranges of Caucasus, Armenia, 
and especially of Central Asia coheres with that for a wide water 
surface in the Ponto-Caspian lakeland, and for submergence of 
western Siberia, 

Of such glacial maxima there have been recognized three in 



I, m] THE FOURFOLD CRISES OF THE ICE AGE 19 

most parts of France, and four on the north side of the Alps and 
Py^ene&s, and in north-western Germany, followed by two oscilla- 
tions during the final retreat over those districts which lay nearer to 
the principal snow-caps. The second, or * Mindel, * spell in the Alpine 
series (corresponding with the later part of the first, further north) 
was the severest; submergence was deepest, temperature lowest, 
and the Scandinavian ice sheet widest, covering all but the south 
coast of Britain, and meeting the glaciers of the Alps (while the 
Rhone glacier, for instance, extended to Lyon) and those of the 
Carpathians and Urals so that their margins, like the glaciers 
of the Caucasus, bordered and replenished the Sarmatian sea. 
Outlying ice-caps, mainly of this phase, have been traced on the 
Pyrenees, Apennines, and Dinaric and Tauric chains; in Armenia, 
Zagr8s, and the north Persian ranges; and over the whole moun- 
tain knot of the Pamirs and Hindu- Kush, from its Sarmatian shore 
to an ocean-gulf which flooded the Punjab. Over these vast areas, 
therefore, all life was obliterated temporarily, and round their 
margins and interspaces was reduced to sub-arctic desolation. 

There is strong reason for believing that the climatic oscilla- 
tions of the whole north-west Quadrant synchronized and formed 
part of a single great planetary episode. Not only is the fourfold 
glaciation of north-western Europe repeated around the Alps and 
represented in a fourfold * pluvial' sequence in the Nile Valley; 
but the glacial maxima represented by deposits in Nebraska, Kan- 
sas, Illinois and Wisconsin respectively, though not necessarily 
contemporary, seem to repeat the relative intensity of the Gunz, 
Mindel, Riss, and Wtirm maxima of the European Ice Age. It is 
therefore permissible to treat as standard the southern Flatland, 
where there would seem to have been least bi*each of continuity 
in plant and animal life, and interpret the more broken and 
complicated sequence in the western and the northern Flatlands, 
and also in the Highland Zone, by reference of their main 
episodes to the principal stages in the south. 

Before dealing with the human occupants of these regions, and 
their redistribution during and after the Ice Age, it is convenient 
to note briefly the effects of any such crisis on the distribution of 
anTmals and plants, partly because these effects can be more fully 
illustrated, partly because it was in response to changes in his 
animal and vegetable surroundings that man's first human efforts 
seem to have been made. 

It follows directly that in any displacement of climatic zones the 
corresponding flora and fauna were displaced accordingly, with 
due allowance for peculiarities of soil or configuration which either 



20 PRIMITIVE MAN, IN GEOLOGICAL TIME [CHAP. 

permitted the maintenance of any elements of such plant and 
animal associations, or accelerated their retreat. In this connexion, 
it is important to observe the normal sequence of the types of 
vegetation; round the margin of perennial snowfield or ice sheet* 
frozen treeless 'tundra* with transitory herbage after the spring 
thaw; then dwarf birch and stunted pine, passing to coniferous 
forest, and through this into mixed deciduous forest; oak, beech, 
and nut-bearing trees such as chestnut and walnut predominating 
in succession. Forest however may be interrupted, on soils un- 
favourable to trees, by other types of vegetation; on loess, repre- 
senting ancient deposits of wind-blown dust from adjacent desert, 
by precarious steppe or grass-land; on limestone, by the treeless 
turf of chalk-downs or wolds, owing to the withdrawal of surface 
water by underground channels; on ancient and imperviouslrocks, 
especially where these adjoin a wind-swept seaboard, by the dry 
bitter heather and gorse of moorland. Marshland too, and the 

travels of river valleys, have their special * plant associations/ 
>rming open glades between the forests which clothe the higher 
ground. This normal sequence is of course retarded also locally by 
altitude, which increases -rainfall, and reduces mean temperature. 
Parnassus for example has pines above its olives and buy-trees, and 
alpine flowers above its pines. 

Further south, in the 'Mediterranean' type of climate, with 
wet winter and rainless summer, deciduous trees give place to 
evergreens, and tall forest to thickets or shrubs; and as drought 
and warmth increase, even shrubs stand further apart,, in an under- 
growth of tough resinous bushes, and spring-flowering bulbs, 
annuals, and grasses* Eventually grasses, halfa-rush, and spiny 
leathery camel-fodder predominate, until they too fade out before 
drifting sand and sun-tanned rock. 

As climate becomes milder, the zones of vegetation move north- 
wards, and uphill; but as trees take centuries to mature, the shift 
of vegetation may lag behind that of climate* On the other hand, 
adverse shift of climate rapidly destroys the less hardy plants, for 
they cannot retreat and only acclimatize slowly; more .mobile 
forms of life, such as the larger animals and man, will cither follow 
their habitual food-plants or maintain themselves in aust suggest that, like Tartar infants nowadays, 
the parasitic proto-IVtongol sat tight upon his host between meals, 
and shared its wanderings. 

On the steppes of glacial Europe, man hunted and ate the 
horse; if we suppose that in central Asia, during the same and 
perhaps in long earlier periods, he made friends with him and 
lived upon his friendship, we seem to have a clue to the paradox 
of the emergence of a highly specialized breed of man from a 
region which had been for a very long time so little suited, except 
on these terms, to sustain him at all. The absence of rfhy 
widespread relics of such occupancy explains itself on the same 
hypothesis* Men who did not hunt or fight, had no more need of 
coups-de-poing than of supra-orbital ridges or a fighting-jaw^ such 
as characterize the negroids or the 'Neanderthal' type in Glacial 
Europe, As they must travel with their animal hosts or perish, 
they had no choice but to desert their ailing relatives when they 



I, xv] SPREAD OF MONGOL MAN 23 

fell behind; Interments therefore are not to be expected, nor a 
group-psychology which sets much value on human life, or gives 
out-let to futile emotion. Almost inhuman in his normal apathy, 
the Mongol can display almost equine savagery when provoked 
by panic or ill-usage. 

The development of so peculiar a type presupposes not only a 
large continuous region ? of appropriate physique, but also com- 
plete seclusion. The high plateaux had supplied the former for a 
very long time, since loess-land is so inhospitable to trees or shrubs 
that wide oscillations of climate only affect the density of its vege- 
tation without changing the quality. Seclusion has been assured 
by the great altitude of these plateaux, the ruggedness of the sur- 
rounding ranges, and the dense rain-forest of their monsoon-swept 
outvtfftjrd slopes. While therefore it has been exceptionally difficult 
for alien folk to intrude, it has been relatively easy for Mongol 
man to emerge, on one of two conditions either that he parts 
company with his milk-giving host, and takes to hunting, as has 
happened in the north-east, or to agriculture, as in the south-east 
of Asia; or else, if he is to retain his nomad pastoral habit, he must 
wait till the climate has become so dry that Jhere are clearings of 
grassland through the forest belt. Even then he can only proceed 
so far as he finds grassland still in front of him; and this has only 
happened at two points: to the west, through the great avenue 
between Altai and Tienshan, and to the north-east, down the 
valley of the Hoang-ho; and even here it only happened far on 
in post-glacial time. 

It would be beyond the plan of this chapter, to discuss in detail 
the subsequent spread of Mongoloid Man through the Asiatic 
foreshores of his plateaii-home; but his western and north-western 
expansion has so profoundly influenced the course of history in 
the modern world, that it is necessary to trace at least the outlines 
of them, so far as they can be recognized; and also to make quite 
clear their upward limits in time, which appear to be very narrow. 

The older drainage of the southern and more elevated plateau, 
south of the Kuen-lun ranges, issued to the south-east, towards 
what is now the Malay Archipelago, but the Brahmaputra, cutting 
b^lck through the eastern Himalayas, where they have been inter- 
sected by the great Malayan folds, has captured the southernmost 
of these drainage areas; the Hoang-ho similarly has captured the 
northernmost, and the Yangtze the majority of those which lay 
between, leaving only a small remainder to feed the Sal wen and the 
Mekong. Consequently the main avenues of human movement 
have long been towards the eastern lowlands,, and the vast alluvial 



24 PRIMITIVE MAN, IN GEOLOGICAL TIME [CHAP. 

area deposited by Chinese rivers, thus reinforced., has received and 
acclimatized most of the human overflow from the interior* m 

From the northern and less elevated plateaux of Mongolia, 
however, the older drainage was mainly north-eastward; and here 
owing to the conformation of the eastern arcs, the eventual recipi- 
ents have been on the one hand the Amur, on the other the north- 
ward-flowing Lena and Yenisei. Here the continental core of old 
'Angara-land/ which is embraced between these two rivers and 
has been an immemorial reservoir of ancient forms of life, has also 
formed the * asylum" into which have descended successive types 
of flora and fauna discarded from the plateau-margins in successive 
periods of austerity. The human population here, so far back as it 
can be traced, belongs to such discarded fauna, and is consequently 
Mongoloid, but of far less specialized types than those which c havc 
never left the plateaux. It is from this Angara reservoir, and the 
mountain arcs which prolong the north margin of the plateaux and 
encircle them eastwards, that the whole north-eastern promontory 
of Asia has received its human population; and similar types, 
essentially yellow-skinned and straight-haired,, have passed on 
through it to Alaska and the New World, 

Westward, the long-continued submergence of the Siberian 
lowland from the Yenisei to the Urals prevented all expansion 
until very recent times: and the present belts of tundra and forest 
vegetation are post-glacial. As far west as the longitude of Moscow 
they are of east Siberian origin, and it is only here that this 
Siberian forest meets mid-European forests advancing in the 
opposite direction; so that there is overlap of competing species, 
with a slight balance of advantage on the side of the eastern types. 
The importance of this is that with the forest, and its animals,, 
man has spread also, from east, as from west; coalescing in the 
same longitude as the species of trees. And over and above 
the disputable evidence of hybrid physique around the line of 
coalescence, the Mongolian antecedents of all groups cast of 
that line are betrayed by the fact that they have the reindeer 
domesticated, and do not hunt it, as Redskins do ? and as did the 
men of the glacial west so long as wild reindeer survived there* 

Quite distinct from all this, and representing a very much latu- 
lation of north-eastern Africa, and in a superficially similar strain 
which is perceptible amo