Page:Palæolithic Man and Terramara Settlements in Europe.djvu/263

Rh a second (No. 2) which showed less of the simian characters than the former. With regard to the skulls of Eguisheim, Brüx, and Engis, which are described as having Neanderthaloid characters, there is usually a rider to this statement to the effect that these features were less marked than in the original prototype, i.e., that they were toned down by the modifying influences of a progressive civilisation.

If the hypothesis that the earliest inhabitants of Europe first appeared during the last warm interglacial period be correct, we have ample and sufficient materials for following their subsequent career till the close of the Palæolithic period, when they and their contemporary fauna apparently disappeared off the stage of existence. As neither house nor clothing was necessary in the subtropical climate which obtained at the commencement of their career, the products of their handicraft skill were of little use, as abundant food-supplies were always to be had without much labour. They lived in small family groups, leading a lazy, monotonous life, with few events to quicken the reasoning faculties. In these circumstances their implements, weapons, and ornaments were of the most meagre description ; and this phase of life continued in status quo from one generation to another. The coup-de-poing, their characteristic implement (Pis. I. and II.), seems to have been used for a great variety of purposes. It was the outcome of long experience, and, in point of utility, combined the functions of the elaborate array of mechanical tools which ultimately, under changed conditions of life, came into requisition. G. de Mortillet has described this remarkable implement as almost the only one in use during the Chelléen period ; but this must be accepted as a pardonable exaggeration, as we find, both in the station of Chelles and that of Saint Acheul, a number of primitive tools, such as knife-flakes, scrapers, and various pointers. At the same time it cannot be denied that the coup-de-poing remained for a very long time as a sine qua non among the domestic appliances of these nomads. But a modicum of progress has to be noted even in these early stations, as proved by the more recent discoveries in the Somme Valley. The whole series of worked flints found at the different stations and terraces of Saint Acheul