THE STONE AGE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 121, 23 May 1919, Page 7

THE STONE AGE

Profess,or W. N. Benson gave a lecture in the Dunedin Museum. Hall the othor day, his subject being “Men of the Old Stone Age.” The lecture -was the third of a series delivered l by Professor Bensaon.

The lecturer, says the -Star, drew attention to the fact- that theta had been four jdaJ'ai periode—or, rather, four periods in which ice stretched out beyond the present limits of the European glaciers, between which the temperatures were the same approximately or warmer than at the present tune. It was probable that in the second of these interglacial periods man- made his first appeara-nco m Europe. The single jawbone at Heidelberg and the tatnons tbit, down skull probably represented the earliest man. These iolk, however, passed away, being represented a* the present time possibly by -dwellers ni South-western France. With the entry of now tribes—the Mediterranean races and the Teutonic races —a great decline in, a.rt and culture occurred. But these people developed the neolithic art ln polished stone, and in process ol time the modern European culture. 'lhey appeared in Europe probably about 10,000 years ago. Here were found, deep in the recesses of caverns, perfectly drawn pictures of the animals of the time—The deer, the bison, the horse, and many other forms. Here, too, were found paintings, in beautifully shaded tints of red, yellow, and black, of these animals. Possibly these drawings had a religious significance, and were' merely intended as magic to procure abundant supplies of game. I hose folks, also, were excellent carvers' ol bone and of atone. Later, in the third glacial period,, con. tinned the lecturer, was found the extraordinary, short, heavily bull* man with overhanging eyebrows—the Neanderthal man. He spread over Europe, associated with a special kind of stone , implement. He wasnnt,o t , the ancestor ! of the modern race. He was replaced iby a type of man known as the Lroi Marion —men who were the first artists drawing in outline the animals winch they hunted. Another race appeared again in the north of Europe, workers of extremely beautiful flint implements, the finest of the unpolished or palaeoiithic implements. They hunted rem- ’ deer, and in a camp m France which they had long inhabited perhaps 100,000 skeletons of these animals were fouM The climax of palaeolithic art was that carried out by Cro-Magnons in the last grca 4 period of palaeolithic W, known as the Magdalenean. which oc- : curml approximately 15,000 years ago.