MEN OF 500.000 YEARS AGO.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIV, Issue 14656, 25 January 1912, Page 6

MEN OF 500.000 YEARS AGO.

By Sir Ray Laukestsr. 1

Our knowledge of the existence of man in Western Europe derived from contemporary written records goes back to a period of little more- than 2000 years, and m regard in th.-> y.-:o-Tiles of tlio Near East a feiv hundred years further than that. Dovcnd the- | period of written re-ord we 'know cii" | the existence of man and of his dom«> not In- written story or "hLtorv" ; in the strict sens.- of that word, lint ; hy the remains of ]ii s lnVldii'ir;,' ir.v I foments, dccor.iliv-a pic-tun s.' ni; 1 r.th'r things, made, bv h.ii'n. When ecu- j temporary -written re'ovd rp:i?-i mc ' enter iipan the prc-historir i;<>r>d. I A now d : s~orc"-v ie rriMi-d -ft, nn-'.-'nt ■ :nnn is that of flint implements of vcj'y 1

definite and peculiar .shape, In sonic | ahuudaiice, in a bed at the base of ; what geologises (Lis.-, as a I'iicre.ie dcIp.sit (that is, b.-;-r,re the Pleisioeone), j namely, the - ; ice:2 Cray" of Suffolk, j lie owe thie, most ini./sita-ni disouuioiy 10-. J.i- J. iI/„.U iUoir, lor iiiswiij:, 11:10 inucri jis ipeci- ; n ens in O cober, 11VJ. and' alter a :y.;ir,..; e::i'_;.ul examination of tho ; d.strut, ami tiio folding oi more spiciimcns in cre.gp.fcs ten miles and jri.ro I around I.p,wn-li, ui-aoumed it in » htj tor to t-iio Ti uk's in October, 1010: iNow that another year has pasiitd, inu.ro i-pociuieus have been found, and tae matter !s Uoyond dispute. Two disj t.iigui-died geologlvts.past presiue.iis of t:ie Geologi ai Soeietr. have, oe-[iiied I ha I iiie );rd in which/Mr Molr's firms ttirhcd basement bed of the Ited Cr.T.'r si lint they must he inst.y spok-a-i of as due f> The work of pre-Crag iraii. /J.ie .iii-i-.lcmer.ts are not at ad like tno-e i>rev:ouily known. Thev aro net haf-onod almond-shaped, or kitc-'ilw (ele.ngatd. triangular, or lonf-shaiied) as are the larpe I'alorchtliie implements (the Cte.l .111. Acliatrlliin, and Moast'onaif) hitherto known. But tiiey arc shaped like the h -ale of an ,-e.ie;le, conipies-od from side io sale with a keel or rio.re extending from the frent pa hit baekw-rds. Their id. a p.. laay be e'-auaircd to Che hid! ef a boat with its keel turu-d upwards -and its beak-like plow m front. Thev are from four to ion iivr.-v in length, and all hire h-cn fahri ated bv"-, few vrllcl.recfedldowsalrei, toan oi-haigpleio <f fhnt .- a. +o kae-k off great rwffl l-itiht and loft. leaving a keel -„ ike j irinini.-d il'i. Th-.v imeleieamts 'are.' lie. fart. bea!---! V-mmerh. ad- —p-.m-l.iblv u<-rd in the ].-nd without ho'itn" ■.— 'and a-01-d '„ the smrxithhi.j: and skjlP, as iv,.;! .. s „-:.,„- '<!■;-..'.'whi h 1 -all "ra:dV;'hcak 1 imo'eraent-.'' or the "rostrr- -rei-iate :

type,-' arc found a few ether huge and heavy sculptured flints of very curious shape (like packs and Sios) uabke any hitherto known, Taut certainly and without the least diubt emppai into shape by man. I'o realise tho .conditions nnder which these oaglc's-'heak iraplaa.ionts' , were made by a rate of men inert — j perhaps very much more— than 600,1 000 years ago, look at tho map of ;. Europe, and note that southern por- . jtion of tho North Sea which is called I the German Oeean. When "lie chalk | rook gradually rose from tho deep j ocean, where it had formed r,s a stdij ment, and made the south-east portion .of our English land—a tract bounded ibv a line passing from Flaniborough ' Head in Yorkshire obliquely to Ex--.for, I and reselling over the present ' Cln.n-----i nel" to Franco its upheaval uas arrested at what was very nearly tha j l_n<? of tho present coast of Suffolk and ; Norfolk. The sea remained there i and has remained ever since bat j t-ierc was a land barrier farther i-oith | across what is now the North Sea , from England to Norway— and this ; barrier shut out the more i ortbern j cold sea. from the more southern part I —the (krmnii Oeean. The more southern sea. had at cifferJrnt times .after the Hrdk iin/i'\iv.il a ! varying conne.-tion aertfs Europe with ;tlw ir<.<literrauean area. and vostjv.aids v.-ith the Kay of Biscay and tho ; Atlantic. On its East -Anglian shores lend shallows were deposited fir.it the London clav (Ko v-ne),* which rfcis ok:vaiod so as to form a land surface. ;'1 hen there were suc.-essivo risings and ; sinkings of the roi.st conneeted \ ith ; various sandv and shellv den-jsits of jvliMi wo find remains" both" on the IHiifolk coast line and over in Bel.tium ;and Kodar.d. These were Miocene and I\i-"eiio. The latest of tiieso on the Sulfolk bord.or w-s '"the CaraT'ino .(Vaire' a iliysi full of beautiful : shells, many of whi-.-h arc now exotic and southern, !nde.at : mr warm <cudi- : "taics, It v.a.s at this time, on the Uh-v land w.-sked he the Cori:!in> ICr.-'r i:-n, that tin" makers of ihe Ua/lo's b-ak fl'nt ini"h.-neiits dwelt. [Th- ■ is a sideedld Miimly of huite ; | Mini noe.u'es in the ihalk close to that Rut suddenlv. aimosr violentiv. the 'barrier across'the North Pea ' from •Eevda.od to Norway was finally "..lfhed j: w .v. Th" cold Artie waters str> an ed ! down into the German O ran. the i beautiful southern shel'.-fidi deed, great j banks of finely broken shell v.iro ! niV! no bv cold cnrrenti over the j tlow-b-inc land surfaeo of th- Pulloik I cccst! ne. This was ihe Vsi'iniiiK of j !ihe Tt-d Crae do"os ; t. end' not . nlv I that, it was ihe " V.—limine; .if that 1.-riod of great co'cl— the f/kaeial