Page:Palæolithic Man and Terramara Settlements in Europe.djvu/68

38 have been suggested, of which the following may be noted as applicable to the Palæolithic period:—

(1) To the epoch "when man shared the possession of Europe with the mammoth, the cave-bear, the woolly-haired rhinoceros, and other extinct animals," Lord Avebury has given the name Palæolithic, in contradistinction to the Neolithic or later polished Stone Age, the relics of which show an advance in manipulative skill, and are generally found on, or in, surface soil. This convenient nomenclature has taken a permanent place in archaeological literature, and is freely used in the present lectures. As a corollary to the above division may be appended the word "Eolithic," which includes the rudely chipped flints called "eoliths," supposed to be the implements used in pre-Palæolithic times.

(2) Professor E. Lartet proposed a classification based on the antiquity, date of extinction, and comparative abundance of certain animals represented in bone caves. On these grounds, starting with the oldest, he suggested the ages of the cave-bear, mammoth, reindeer, and auroch, as convenient standards of comparison. But to this system there are many objections, as most of these animals lived together; nor did they die out in all districts at the same time. M. Ed. Dupont adopted the ages of mammoth and reindeer, as being more appropriate for the description of archæological remains found in the Belgian caves.

(3) In the formation of the coup-de-poing (Pl. I.) a selected nodule was used and chipped on both sides, and, as a rule, the chips were thrown aside as waste material. As soon, however, as it became apparent to the operator's growing intelligence that flakes could be utilised as convenient instruments in the execution of a number of small mechanical operations, the coup-de-poing was gradually discarded. By subjecting well-formed flakes to secondary chipping, implements of great variety and efficiency were, in the course of time, manufactured, such as knives, scrapers, borers, saws, etc., evincing on the part of their makers a progressive knowledge of mechanical principles and the power of execution. Hence, in 1869, Gabriel de Mortillet conceived the happy idea of classifying the industrial remains of the Palæolithic people in chronological sequence, according to