Show PRIMITIVE MAN at a meeting of the british association for the advancement of science held beld at aberdeen in 1869 1859 the position was taken by sir charles lyell the eminent geologist that the existence of man dated back thousands of years earlier than any of the conclusions of the day had placed the commencement at this statement he based on discoveries co made in the valley of the somme showing the existence coexistence co of nun man with extinct animals such as the wooly rhinoceros and the mammoth belonging to the quaternary fauna this asso association clation has a yearly meeting at which it elects a new president the latest event of the kind was at toronto on the sir john evans being chosen as the head of the society he is recognized as one of the most distinguished archaeologists of the age his speech on this occasion la Js said to have been devoted to showing the importance of archaeology and OW if connection with other sciences auch as astronomy geology and Imle paleontology ontology and to a statement of the present condition of actual knowledge and his own theories regarding early man A special interest attached to his views on the subject as he was one of the english archaeologists who investigated the gravels of the somme and confirmed the discoveries of other eminent men the distinction between and neolithic civilization the earlier and the later stone ages had been made by sir john lubbock sir john evans confined his discussion almost exclusively clu to man the race that used stone implements in their rudest form while neolithic man of a far later period ground and polished his stone implements and weapons man was a of extinct and neolithic man of living animals the speaker assumed that the beginning of the human race was in eastern asia in a climate where means of subsistence were easily accessible ces sible in this region our ancestor developed from a lowly origin and by reason of his surroundings and necessities acquired a taste and talent for hunting also the means for destroying wild and destructive animals animal which it is fair to assume were more numerous then than they have been of later years As time wore on the game became scarcer the area occupied by man as his exclusive habitation of course broadened and he began to assume a more normal character eventually the branching out process beg anthe movement following that of the sun eventuating the population of western europe the lecturer does not attempt to say even to conjecture the length of time involved in all this but it must have been very great he then goes on to show that the process could not have been reversed the origin beginning in a cold climate where clothing was necessary and gradually finding its way to a warm one where covering for the body was not indispensable sir john evans holds that the stage of human development denoted by the use of implements must have extended over a vast period of time if we have to allow for the migration of the primeval hunters from their original home wherever it may have been in asia or africa to the west of europe during this migration the forms of the weapons and tools made from siliceous sili clous stones had become as it were stereotyped and during the subsequent period implied by the erosion of the valleys the modifications ficat ions in the form of the implements and the changes in the fauna associated with the men who used them were but slight and so on from age to age each epoch being marked by some new characteristics indicative of the slow growth and development of brain power as exemplified by improved handiwork and better customs it is a most abstruse subject and sir john particularly admits that imagination must be drawn upon to some extent as an aid to scientific research in exploring a field so remote and so vast it is quite a reasonable proposition that without guesswork progress would be painfully slow alow and conclusions drear drearily fly unsatisfactory while with it nothing reaches the plane of certainty or accuracy |