The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-01-06
The Science Of Archaeology
Is a Nineteenth
Century Development.

The great new force which thrust itself In
To divide n decide on these questions IS
the scientific study of man and his works.
Strangely shaped fints had been noticed.
but no one had any knowledge Of their age.
One such when found with the bones OF a
mammoth was attributed TO the Roman
age, because no person could have brought
elephants into Britain except some Roman
General The argument was excellent and
frrefutable until geology found plenty more
remains OF the mammoth and showed that
It was here long before the Romans. 1t
was less than half a century ago that our
eyes began to open to the abundant remains
Of fint-using man. Then a single rude
stone weapon was an unexplained curiosity;
now an active collector will put together
his tens of thousands of specimens. will
know exactly where they were found. their
relation OF age and OF purpose and their
bearing on the history of man.
Not only have worked-fint implements
been found IN the river gravels of France
and England, where they were first no.
ticed in the middle Of this century. but also
IN most parts of Europe, in Egypt on the
high desert, in Somaliland. at the Cape Of
Good Hope, in India, America and other
countries: and the most striking feature is
the exact similarity in form wherever they
have been found So precisely do the same
types recur, 30 impossible would It be to
say from it's form whether a flint had been
found IN Europe. Asia or Africa, that Il
appears as II the art of working had spread
from some single center over the rest OF
the world. This Is specially the case with
the river gravel nints-the earlier class
usually called Paleolithic. Soon after the
genera division had been made between
polished stone work OF the later or Neolithic
times. found on the surface. and the rough
Clipped work Of the earlier or Paleolithio
times. found In geological deposits. a fur
ther subdivision was made by separating
this Paleolithic age into that OF the river
grayels and that OF the cave jewellers. The
latter has again been divided into three
classes by French writers, named from their
localities. Mousterien. Solutrien. Magda-
lenien. and, though these classes may be
influenced by locality. they probably have
some difference of age between them.
And now within the last few years a still
earlier kind of workmanship has been rec |
ognized in fints found In England on the
high hills In Kent. Though at first much
disputed, the human origin Of the forms is
now generally acknowledged, and they show
q far ruder ability than even the most mas
sive Of the PaleOlithic forms. The position |
also Of these hints. I'm river deposits lying |
on the highest hills some 600 feet above the
present rivers, shows that the whole of the |
valleys has been e~xcavated since they were
deposited and implies a far greater age |
than any Of the gravel beds of the Paleo-
Hthic ages. |
We, therefore, have passed now at the !
end of this century to a far wider view of
man's history. and classify his earlier ages
in Europe thus:
Firzt-Eolithic: Rudest massive nInts from del ]
Second-Paleolithic: Massive fints from crawl ,
ell. go feet up and less Anhuleenl. '
Third-faleolithie-Cave dwellers: F1fnts iikI I
the preceding and fakes OMousterisn.