The sun., 1916-12-31
Place Where Ma
tions Struggle for
Mastery as 1917
Dawns Was Scene
of the Discovery of
the Oldest known
Man and of the
arliestEvidence
of Human Con-
flict
D HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN,
Prssiie.t Of tie American Museum
Of Natural History.

TT IL certainly a striking cniaoi-
deoce in human history that q;
the beginning OF the veal 1917
the centre OF the most intense confic;
Of the present var is also the centre
not only Of the earliest discoveries Of
H. great antiquity Of man but Of the
eariies; evidences of hYp.sn conflict
with arm. and weaponsl
II was in the valley OF the River
Somme. between 1889 and 1876, that
Boucher de Per,hes unearthed near
Abbevtle a single flint. rudely fash
toned into a cutting instrument. buried
in river sand and associated with
mammalian remains This was fol-
owed BY the collection of many other
ancien, weapons and implements. n
in the year lsis Boucher de Perthes
psblished his first work. entitled De
I1ndus;rie Primitive. on des Arts a
leur Origine." This pioneer work In
human prehistoric archaeology a the
succeeding Antiquities Celtaues ei
Antedil uviennes." published in 1857.
vsre received with great scepticism
untfl confirmed in 1883 by ReoIo,s
discovery OF the now famous river
drift beds of ST. -Acheui on the
Somme near Amiens.
In the succeeding years the epoch
making discovery Of Boucher de Per
hes was welcomed and confirmed by
leading British biologists and archie
olog.sts who visited the Somme- Sir
John Luboock's article Of lss. on the
Evidence Of the Antiquity Of Man
i Afforded by the Physical Structure OF
the sonme Valley" led to the division
q the prehistoric period Of human
history INTO -four great epochs. the
mos, ancient Of which was the paleo-
lithie period or "old Stone Age"
Subsequent research has established
i Is a part Of the palRolithic six great
cultural stages. the most ancient OF
which In known as the Chelleen or
ChelleAn. receiving It's name from the
Old rint working station al Chel!es.
which lies midway on the plateau be-
tween the rivers Somme n seine.
Chelles is not very far from the SOUTH
ernu.os; point attained by the PTus-
sian army before the battle OF the
Marne.
At this Cheleaa stAtjon between
ies. 900 and $50. 900 years ago men were
~tash,oning ou, Of fints bold. primitive
partly worked hand axes These axes
technically known a. pug de pong
were doubtless used in h chase az
vell as in hattie by the primitive
hunters Of Chellean times.
They are Of coarse manufacture,
very heavy and imply a powerful ply
Gque on the par Of the men who
welded them No human skeletal re-
mains whatever have been found
either along h Scnme or the Marne,
but putting together evidence derived
from skeletai remains found e-sewhere
IN earlier and in later deposits Ne Zee
prv.ty confiden, that the type Of man
who welded these great weapons lay
Somewhere In the line Of descent he
tween the Heidelberg man and the
Neanderthal q a man OF very
powerful physical development with q
bw mentality.
Il Is weil known tina. the grea'
Neandsrha race was widely spreAd
0ver Europe by Mousterian times. and
ths presence Of undoubted human
Gtifsct. OF the early Cheilean and
pre-Che!lean type makes IL not I'm
pcesihie IA n race may rave ex'
ss~d even in these early times. TIVE
nm making stations 81 ChelieAn tint
have been found in spain nine o. ter
Stations are known N Francs ant
Mres % o along h Thames II
1nxiaad