The Mineral argus., 1884-03-27

a61F 4 AloLIIEB OI
mountain, to find an old site of a mine
with a Shalt 2lO feet deep, at the bottom
OF Wnlcn were Il human skeleton. an al
tdT' anu otler remains OF an ancient
peopie-probably Indians. In other
ancient mines IN the western states. as
Or. Southsll has recently pointed ont
human skeletons have been met with
which prove that gold mining was ex-
tensively carried OF long before the dis
coXery or gold in the present century.
we come now in oul INQUIRY to the
succeeding period when the higher
mammalla, now contemporary with
man, appeared in force on the earth.
ana man himself may be reasonably
IooKed Tor. The climate of Europe
at tins time differed considerably from
that OF d present day. To allow of
the northern animals penetrating as far
south as the Alps and Pvreuees- the
temperature in middle Europe must
have been low, while it must have been
high for animals of warm habits. such
as the hlppopotamus, to have lived as
far north as the British Isles. The re-
mains OF both these groups are so inter-
mingled in the river deposits and caves
throughout middle Europe-hippopota-
mus with reindeer and the like-that it
is impossible to refer them TO PERIODS
separa ed from each other by long in
tervals. In most of the caves tie
gnawed remains prove that the rein
deer formed a large part of the prey of
the spotted hyena. The solution of this
difficulty lies in the fact that Europe
was then a large tract of land, reaching
from northern Africa far into the Allan
tic, and therefore enjoyed a con-
tinental climate with the summer
hlot nrnotnp than nnnr aud fhO
winter cold more severe. But this only
disposes of one part of the difficulty, for
it is not likely that the animals would
swing to and fro over such a wide area
as that reaching from the Pvrenees to
the Baltic in one season. There must
therefore have been some other cause at
work, and that cause is distinctly shown
by the ice marks scattered far and wide
over the TANKS of the mountains of GEN.
trial and sou thern Europe and over the
low-lying districts in the north, to have
been a secular ard gradual lowering of
temperature, until it reached its mini
mum, probably with long paUses and
possibly with the return OF warmer con-
ditions. Owing to these climatical
changes every inch of ground in middle
and western Europe, would successfully
a frontier between the northern
and southern animals, and their remains
would be mingled together as we find
cold, the arctic animals would
at their southern limit.
Closely following on this lowering of the
temperature to It's minimum. geograph-
ical changes of great magnitude took
place in the north OF Europe. The
area to the north of the line passing
rom the lower valley of the Severn east
ward into Russia was depressed beneath
he waves of a berg-laden sea, and again
lifted up so that the British Isles, then
IN archipelago, again formed part of the
mainland. AS the land emerged from
he water, the Pieistocene forests crept
over it, and the animals found the way
over the southern and midland counties.
Such as this was the scene on which
nan first appears in Europe. Rude
plinters of stone and roughly Clipped
of flint and ebert, at their very
trimmed to an almond shade, and
Mostly intended for use in the hand, oc- |
~abundautly in the river deposits of
and France in association with
he remains of the above animals.
hey are the implements Of savages
wing by the chase, and probably also by
and fowling. Not only have the
been discovered but the very
pots on the river bank where the hun
er sat and made them have been iden-
flied, as at Crawford and other places in
he valley of the Thames. Could we
AVE penetrated to the banks of the
Thames, or of the Seine, in these times,
ruided by n thin column of smoke rising
lver the trees till we reached the camp
# the riyer-drift hunter, we might have
eeA the men selecting blocks of flint
nd clipping their implements out of
hem, the women preparing the half
aw meal of flesh, it may be ofreiudeer, |
mammoth, or ~rhinoce-os, while the
hildren broke the silence of the eve
ling with their shouts on those very
pots where are now to be heard, day
nd night, the voices of London and
Nor can there be much doubt as to
he relation of the riveI-drift hunter to
he aforementioned changes in climate
nd geography, which are usually
ummed up under the term Glacial. The
of evidence is in favor of the
lew that the hunter at Crawford was in
he valley of the Thames before the sub
nergence, and before the temperature
lad reached its minimum, or in other
words, in ~pre-glacial times. The river
lrIft hunter whose implements are left
t Abbeville traversed the shore of a
'erg-laden sea, and possibly may have
Inherited a tradition from his ancestors
f the famous hunting grounds then ly-
ng at the bottom of the British Cham
Iel and the great Northern Ocean. The
who followed the hippopotamus
the reindeer in the valley of the
)use, near Bedford, was there after the
elevation'of the land and cutting of the
-oIin4v fh.nTrnh tho vaanfin of hn1ldnr I