Darwinism and the evolution of man / by H.C. March.

  • March, Henry Colley.
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Darwinism and the evolution of man / by H.C. March. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    that the Iroquois Indians had swords made of wood, having a gutter in the fore-part, in which were sharp-edged flints strongly fixed with a sort of bitumen and thread. This Neolithic Race, then, spread over Europe ; but not as far as the north of Russia and of Scandinavia; permitting the assumption that these were the only countries that still remained uninhabitable by reason of cold. For we may notice that the shell-heaps of the Danish Kjokken Moddings, which abound with flint implements and show no traces of metal, contain the bones of the Capercailzie, a bird that feeds on the buds of the pine ; proving that Denmark at that time was covered with forests of fir.* And we may notice, further, that neither in these shell- heaps, nor in the relic-beds of the Lakes, have there been discovered any remains of the reindeer. So we may fairly conclude that, with the exceptions referred to, Europe was at last free from glacial conditions. And now the arts of civilisation rapidly increased. Copper, and probably gold also, were got and wrought by stone tools. No metallic implement of any description has been found in the pre- historic copper-mines of Lake Superior. The workings were effected by stone hammers and wedges, specimens of which were discovered, by the United States geologists, in great abundance at the bottom of the pits. Stone chisels or axes, flint tools and weapons, and the remains of wooden shovels were also found. The copper was made into axes, chisels, knives, and spear-heads, entirely by the hammer, without smelting, alloy, or the use of fire. Prof. Wilson says, I was struck when examining these rude mauls or stone hammers, by the close resemblance traceable between them and some which I have obtained from ancient copper workings in North Wales. Precisely similar hammers were found by Prof. Dawkins in the ancient copper mines of Alderley Edge, and are preserved in the Owens' College Museum. Bronze was discovered, in all probability, by the accidental fusion of ores of copper and tin, under the fires used for preparing food, or in heating stones for pot-boilers; as such stones in such situations have been found in a semi-fused condition. But for a long period bronze axes and spear-heads were cast of exactly the same shape as the old spear-heads and axes of stone. Gold, silver and lead, all, like copper, soff and malleable metals, were early wrought. In the five tombs of Mycenae, Dr. Schliemann found no trace of iron ; but in association with arrow-heads and knives of obsidian, and with swords and lances of bronze, there were articles of lead and silver, and an enormous number of gold vessels and ornaments. * It is known that these were succeeded by forests of oak, which gave place, in their turn, bo the present forests of birch.