Page:Early Man in Britain and His Place in the Tertiary Period.djvu/260

232 enough to allow of a series of migrations of man, or of the development of a new culture in Europe. Its length may be estimated from the fact that although the rivers of Great Britain have not materially altered their courses or lowered their valleys since the invasion of the Romans, the rivers in the late Pleistocene age present both these changes. The river Wily near Salisbury, for example, quoted above, cut its way down upwards of 80 feet, and developed a new course for itself, while the River-drift men and late Pleistocene animals were living in the district. These changes, measured at the present rate of erosion, could not have been produced in a short time, and when they are recognised as part of a similar series of changes affecting the hills and valleys of the whole of Europe they imply a vast series of ages. Further, although the fauna of Europe has remained almost the same from the close of the Pleistocene age down to the present time, man and his influence being put out of the question, various races of men in different stages of culture have successively invaded Europe. It may be concluded therefore that the identity of the fauna of the caverns with that of the river-deposits can reveal nothing as to the relation of the Cave-men to the River-drift men.

A strong argument in favour of their belonging to two different races may be founded on their different range. The River-drift hunter wandered over the whole of Europe south of Norfolk, leaving traces behind in Spain, Italy, and Greece, and through Asia Minor and the whole of India. The Cave-man is restricted to the area extending from the Alps and Pyrenees as far north as Derbyshire and Belgium, and has not been as yet found farther east than Poland and Styria. Had they belonged