Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo16amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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MEN OF THE OLD STONE AGE" 15 of a thickness corresponding to averages for the soft tissues of modern men, the approximate contour of the face is ob- tained. Thus we may form an itlea of about how these men would appear in Hfe. The discussion of the Piitdowntype, tlie most recent find, deserves notice, for our author does not accept the chronological determinations of the leading English scientists who place it in early Pleistocene times, but regards it as clearly late Pleistocene. The probability of this has been greatly increased by the recent dis- covery of Dr. Gerrit S. Miller, an Amer- ican scientist, that the jaw found with the Piltdown skull is not human. Dis- carding this jaw we have a skullcap that promises to be that of a more advanced man. Had this discovery been a\ailable at the time of writing, our author could have made his case stronger. This brings us to an important general conclusion in the book, viz., that no acceptable evidences of man as such occur before the Pleistocene. This con- clusion is in opposition to the views of some dis- tinguished European scientists l)ut is fully supported by faunistic and other correlated data. Reference should 1)6 made to the ver\' important correlation chart on page 41 show- ing the geological cli- matic, and faunistic associations with the successive forms of man. This chart shows us that the most modern types of ancient men come upon the scene at the close of the last period of glaciation. The most distinctive of these was the Cro-Magnon, which we see from the restoration would pass among us today with little counnent. In fact, many cele- l)rated anthropologists believe that the blood of this race still flows in the veins of the Erench of the Dordogne district and elsewhere. However this may be, some of the most distinctive facial char- acters of the Cro-Magnon type are still to be found in parts of Europe. These old Cro-Magnons were a fine race, rather taller and somewhat larger of brain than modern Europeans. The author emphasizes the point that it is coincident with the appearance of the Cro-Magnons that the great develop- ment of the most distinctive Palaeolithic culture appears in Europe. The two great periods were the Aurignacian and the Magdalenian, each characterized by a more or less individualized art.
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Iteproduced through the courtesy of Charles Scribner's Sons The ape-man of Java (Pithecanthropus ereclus). Antiquity estimated at 500,000 years. It is not improbable that the preliuman races of this remote geologic age used more than one natural weapon of wood or stone After the restoration by Dr. J. H. McGregor

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