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ARCHAEOLOGY (from Gr. &pxa1a, ancient...
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See also:ARCHAEOLOGY (from Gr. &pxa1a, See also:ancient things, and Xoyos, theory or See also:science)
, a See also:general See also:term for the study of antiquities
.
The precise application of the term has varied from See also:time to time with the progress of knowledge, according to' the See also:character of the subjects investigated and the purpose for which they were studied
.
At one time it was thought improper to use it in relation to any but the See also:artistic remains of See also:Greece and See also:Rome, i.e. the so-called classical See also:archaeology (now dealt with in this See also:encyclopaedia under the headings of See also:GREEK See also:ART and See also:ROMAN ART) ; but of See also:late years it has commonly been accepted as including the whole range of See also:ancient human activity, from the first traceable See also:appearance of See also:man on the See also:earth to the See also:middle ages
.
It may thus be conceived how vast a See also: The archaeological details concerning all subjects which have their " unwritten history " are dealt with in the separate articles in this work, including the ancient civilizations of See also:Assyria, See also:Egypt and other countries and peoples, while the articles on separate sites where excavations have been particularly See also:note-worthy may be referred to for their See also:special See also:interest; see also ANTHROPOLOGY; See also:ETHNOLOGY, &c . It remains here to See also:deal generally with the See also:early conditions of the prehistoric ancient world in their broader aspects, which constitute the starting-See also:place for the archaeologist in various parts of the world at different times, and the See also:foundations of our See also:present understanding of the See also:primitive epochs in the history of man . The beginning of archaeology, as the study of pre-documentary history, may be broadly held to follow on the last of the See also:geological periods, viz., the See also:Quaternary, though it is claimed, and with some See also:reason, that traces of man have been found Queer- in deposits of the preceding or See also:Tertiary period. See also:parr period . Although there is no valid reason against the existence of Tertiary man, it must be confessed that the evidence in favour of the belief is of a very inconclusive and unconvincing See also:kind . The discussion has been mainly confined to the two questions (r) whether the See also:deposit containing the See also:relics was without doubt of Tertiary times, and (2) whether the objects found showed undoubted signs of human workmanship . Vast quantities of material have been brought forward, and endless discussions have taken place, but hitherto without carrying entire conviction to the minds of the more serious and cautious students of prehistoric archaeology . A chronic difficulty, and one which can never be entirely removed, is our See also:ignorance of the precise methods of nature's working . It is an obvious fact, that natural forces, such as glacial See also:action, earthquakes, landslips and the like, must crush and chip flints and break up See also:animal remains, grinding and scratching them in masses of See also:gravel or See also:sand . If it were possible to determine with precision what. were the peculiarities of the See also:flint or See also:bone, thus altered by natural agencies, it would be easy to separate them from others purposely made by man to serve some useful end . Our present knowledge, however, does not allow us to go so far in dealing with the ruder early attempts of man to fabricate weapons or implements . Even the one feature that is commonly held to determine human agency, the " bulb of percussion," cannot be considered satisfactory, with-out See also:collateral evidence of some kind . Flint breaks with what is called a conchoidal fracture, as do many other substances, such as See also:glass .
Thus on the See also:face of a flint flake, at the end where the See also:blow was delivered to detach it from the nodule, is seen a lump or bulb, which is usually regarded as evidence of human workmanship
.
To produce such a bulb it is necessary to deliver a somewhat heavy blow of a See also:peculiar kind at a particular point of a flattened See also:surface; and the operation requires a certain amount of practice
.
The fulfilment of all the necessary conditions might well be a rare occurrence in nature, and the bulb of percussion has come to be regarded as the See also: The critics of eoliths have brought forward some facts that at first sight would seem to be of a very damaging nature . It was observed that in the See also:process of See also:cement manufacture the flints that had passed through a rotary See also:machine in which they were violently struck by its See also:teeth or knocked against each other, possessed just those features that were claimed as indisputable See also:proof of man's handiwork, and that even the forms were the same . These statements have, of course, been met by See also:counter-statements equally forcible, and the See also:matter may still be considered to be in suspense . The See also:great struggle, therefore, is now more closely restricted to the nature of the chipping than as to the quasi-geological question, and if the See also:solution is ever to be found, it will be by means of a closer examination and a better understanding of the difference between intentional and accidental flaking . On reaching the Palaeolithic period we come to firmer ground and to evidence that is more certain and generally accepted . This evidence is fundamentally geological, inasmuch Pataao- as the age of the archaeological remains is dependent Rthk . upon that of the beds in which they are found . That they were deposited at the same time is now no longer questioned . The flints are found to have the same See also:colour and surface characteristics as the unworked nodules among which they See also:lie, and are generally rolled and abraded in the same way . This in itself suffices to show that the worked and unworked flints were deposited in their present stratigraphical position at the same time . The remote age of the beds themselves is demonstrated by the presence of bones of animals either now See also:extinct or found only in far distant latitudes, such as the See also:mammoth, See also:reindeer, See also:rhinoceros, &c., and in some cases these bones are found in such relative positions as to prove they were deposited with the flesh still adhering to them, and also that the animal was contemporary with the makers of the flint implements . Evidence of a somewhat different kind is provided for the palaeolithic period by certain caverns that have been discovered in England and on the See also:continent . In these See also:limestone caves palaeolithic man has lived, slept, eaten his See also:food and made his tools and weapons . Much of his handiwork has been See also:left, with the bones of animals on which he lived, scattered upon the See also:floor of the See also:cave, and has been sealed up by the infiltration of See also:lime-charged See also:water, so that the deposit re-mains, untouched to our own See also:day, below an impermeable See also:bed of stalagmite . In such circumstances there can be no doubt of the contemporaneous character of the remains, natural or artificial, if found on the same level . Moreover, so far as typeis a criterion of age, the flint tools found in the cave deposits tend to confirm the date assigned to those of the See also:river-gravels . It is fairly certain that about the middle of the Tertiary period the See also:northern hemisphere possessed a temperate See also:climate, such that even the polar regions were habitable . But the physical aspect of northern See also:Europe was very different from that of Quaternary times . See also:North of a See also:line See also:drawn roughly from See also:southern England to St See also:Petersburg all was See also:sea . It was during the latter See also:half of the Tertiary period that the continent assumed its present general See also:form, though even in See also:Pleistocene (Quaternary) times England and See also:Ireland formed part of it . The great change of climate from temperate to See also:arctic conditions during the latter half of the Tertiary period has been interpreted in various ways, no one of which is yet universally accepted . There can be little doubt, however, that no single cause was responsible for so See also:complete a change . There may have been some alteration in the relative positions of the earth and the See also:sun, which would conceivably have produced it; but what is practically certain is that the physical See also:geography of northern Europe was affected by considerable difference in level, and it is clear that the raising of See also:mountain ranges and the general See also:elevation of the continent must necessarily have reacted on the See also:climatic conditions . If in the later Tertiary time we find that the See also:Alps, the Carpathians and the See also:Caucasus have come into existence, it is not surprising to find that these huge condensers have brought about a humid See also:condition of the continent to such an extent that this phase has been called the Pluvial Age . The humidity, however, was in some ways only a secondary result of the protrusion of high mountain ranges . The See also:primary cause of the physical conditions that we now find in the valleys and plains was the formation of glaciers . These See also:rivers of See also:ice descending far into the See also:lower levels during the See also:winter months, melted during the summer, causing enormous volumes of water to See also:rush through the valleys and over the plains, carrying with it masses of mud and boulders which were left stranded sometimes at immense distances . The in-tensity and force of the rivers thus formed would depend upon two factors, first the extent of the See also:watershed, and secondly, the height of the mountains from which the water was derived . The result of increasing See also:cold was that in course of time the northern hemisphere was surmounted by a cap of ice, of immense thickness (about 6000 ft.) in the Scandinavian See also:area and gradually becoming thinner towards the See also:south, but at no time does it seem to have extended quite to the south of England . This is proved by the See also:absence of See also:boulder-See also:clay (glacial mud) in the districts south of See also:London . These arctic conditions were not, however, continuous, but alternated with periods of a much less rigorous temperature during what has been called the Ice Age . Remains both of mammals and See also:plants have been found, under conditions that are held to prove this See also:alternation . Such being the natural forces at work remodelling the surface of the earth; forces of such gigantic See also:power as to be almost inconceivable in these more placid times, it can easily be under-stood how, in the course of the many thousands of years before the Quaternary period, when the surface of the globe attained its present aspect, the powerful river-systems of Europe wore their beds deep into the solid rocks . In some cases in Europe the erosive power of the river has worn through its bed to such an extent that the present stream is some hundreds of feet lower than its forerunner in palaeolithic times . From various causes, however, the rivers did not always See also:wear for themselves a deep channel, but spread themselves over a wide area . This seems to have been the case with the See also:Thames near London: the river-bed is not of any great See also:depth, but at various periods it has occupied the space between Clapton on the north-See also:east and Clapham on the south-See also:west .
It must not be assumed that the whole of this area of 7 m. or more was filled by the river at any one time, but rather that during the course of the palaeolithic period the river had its bed somewhere between these two limits
.
For instance, it is probable that at one period the See also:bank of the Thames was at a point nearly midway between the northern and southern limits, where See also: Here then we have a clear case of palaeolithic man being compelled to abandon his working place on the lower level by the descent of the See also:waters containing the products of his own forerunners, probably then very remote . In this case the sequence of the various strata may be considered certain, and the remains thus accurately determined and correlated are naturally of extreme value and importance . But even this does not enable us to diagnose another discovery unless the See also:internal evidence is equally clear and conclusive . One point of importance that may be noted is that the older abraded implements were mostly of the usual drift type, while the more recent ones from the "floor" contained forms more highly See also:developed and elaborated, such as occur in the See also:French caves . Explorations of this kind, carefully conducted in a strictly scientific spirit by men of training and intelligence, are the only means by which real progress will be made in this puzzling See also:branch of archaeology . Although many problems yet remain to be solved in England, its small area, and the relatively large number of workers, have together sufficed to put the See also:main facts of the earlier stages of man's existence on a fairly satisfactory basis . In See also:France, owing to the richness of the results, a great number of trained and ardent workers have made equal, if not better, progress . But unfortunately the real scientific spirit is not invariably found . Not so See also:long ago an apparently serious writer in a well-known scientific See also:magazine gave a detailed See also:account of his studies in primitive methods and explained at great length his attempts at the manufacture of flint and stone implements . He found by the processes he adopted that it was much more easy for him to produce a polished implement than one merely flaked . From this fact he seriously argued that a great See also:mistake had been made in the relative ages of the See also:neolithic and palaeolithic periods, and that the former must necessarily be the older of the two . The evidence of geological position and of the mammalian remains accompanying the obviously older flints was entirely disregarded, just as on the other hand it was for-gotten that in regard to neolithic remains the proofs were in everyway in favour of a relatively See also:modern origin .
Such attempts not only bring the serious study of early man into disrepute, but tend to retard the progress of real knowledge and are therefore to be deplored and when possible discouraged
.
Caves (q.v.) have been at all periods regarded as something uncanny and mysterious, with perhaps a tinge of the super-natural
.
In classical times they were associated with semi-divine beings, with oracles, and even with the cave
Period
.
gods Themselves, while half the legends of dwarfs and
See also:gnomes that run through the folk-See also:lore of See also:medieval and modern Europe are associated with caves
.
They have been used as shelters or habitations at all times, and in examining them it is fully as necessary to sift the evidence of age as it would be in dealing with the river-gravels
.
Their exploration in the first instance may well have been due to See also:chance, but it is fairly certain that during the 16th century the See also:search for the See also:horn of the See also:unicorn as an antidote to disease, was responsible for the opening up of a certain number
.
Among the finds were no doubt the fossil bones of Quaternary animals to which mythical names and imaginary properties were attached, and the popular belief in such amulets naturally gave a great impetus to the search
.
It is, however, only a little more than a century ago that these investigations took anything like a scientific turn, and even then they had only a palaeontological end in view
.
The See also:idea that archaeology entered into the matter was not at all realized for some years
.
The remains of many extinct or migrated animals, such as the See also:hyena, grizzly See also:bear, reindeer and bison, were found in quantities in the now famous cave at Gailenreuth in See also:Franconia; and later, See also: J . McEnery, that man was clearly proved to have been contemporary with these extinct beasts . So contrary was this contention to the ideas prevalent in the second See also:quarter of the 19th century, that the See also:pioneer in this work had died (in 1841) before the immense importance of his discovery was admitted . To See also:Godwin See also:Austen in the first place and to W . Pengelley in the second, with the aid of the British Association, was due the vindication of McEnery's veracity and accuracy . Several circumstances conspire to give a special interest to Kent's cavern, and not the least is the fact that the age and appearance of the various strata indicate that it has been the See also:home or the See also:refuge of human beings at all ages even up to medieval times, and perhaps from a period even more remote than is the case elsewhere . In the See also:black See also:mould that formed the uppermost layer were found fragments of medieval pottery, and relatively in close proximity were ancient British and Roman remains as well as relics of the earliest days of metallurgy, in the shape of See also:bronze fragments . The two thousand years or more that may have separated the See also:oldest from the most modern of these later products, is as nothing in comparison with the immense intervals that lie between the earliest of them and the infinitely more remote period when gigantic mammals first inhabited the cave . Attempts have been made from time to time to See also:express in years what the See also:interval must have been: but as the computations have differed by hundreds of thousands of years, according to the method adopted, it is scarcely See also:wise to do more than speculate . Beneath the black mould, containing what may be called the recent remains, was a layer of stalagmite, some feet in thickness; and under this at one place was a great quantity of See also:charcoal, which has been with See also:good reason assumed to show the site of fireplaces . A quantity of implements of palaeolithic type was found, but the main layer at this level consisted of a reddish clay known as cave-earth, and in this deposit were implements both of flint and horn, as well as bones of extinct animals . The flint implements were mostly of the usual river-drift type, but some were of types generally See also:con-fined to cave-deposits of this period; while the barbed See also:harpoon heads, and more especially a bone See also:needle, were definitely of the cave class, so well represented in the caves of See also:Dordogne .
Again, below the cave-earth was a See also:breccia formed of limestone and sand-stone pebbles cemented together by a calcareous See also:paste
.
In this also were found implements and bones of bears
.
The See also:succession of strata indicated above may be taken as typical of the caverns used by palaeolithic man, the breccia and stalagmite flooring being in themselves proof of a very considerable age, while the association in the former, or under the latter, of remains of human handiwork, with bones of extinct animals, may be safely taken to show contemporaneous existence
.
Once the mind has fairly grasped the fact that man was living at so remote a time, it is a See also:simple and natural conclusion that he should have provided himself with weapons and tools more or less rudely fashioned from the stones he found ready to his hand
.
The See also:analogy of the recently extinct Tasmanian is sufficient to show that even the meanest See also:savage is not without such See also:aids
.
But the caves of France, of the same palaeolithic period, and used by men theoretically in the same stage of culture, bring before us a See also:race of artists of first-See also:rate capacity, who for accuracy of observation, and for skill in indicating the character and peculiarities of the animals around them, have never been surpassed
.
Such a statement sounds like a See also:contradiction in terms
.
We are dealing with human beings whose See also:intellect, to See also:judge by their physical characters, should be on a level with that of the Fuegian or the Australian black, and far below that of the See also:Maori or the See also:Sandwich Islander
.
Yet none of these See also:gentle and relatively cultured See also: This mammoth-See also:drawing is probably the most important and monumental of its class, but there are many others that possess artistic qualities not less remarkable, while they have in addition a See also:grace and beauty of line not less astonishing . One of these, in the British Museum, the See also: |