It is important to present in full the original opinions of Smith Woodward, who devoted most careful study to the first reconstruction of the skull (Fig. 67), a model which was subsequently modified by the actual discovery of one of the canine teeth. In his original description it is observed that the pieces of the skull preserved are noteworthy for the great thickness of the bone, it being 11 to 12 mm. as compared with 5 to 6 mm., the average thickness in the modern European skull, or 6 to 8 mm., the thickness in the skull of the Neanderthal races and in that of the modern Australian; the cephalic index is estimated at 78 or 79, that is, the skull is believed to have been proportionately low and wide, almost brachycephalic; there was apparently no prominent or thickened ridge above the orbits, a feature which immediately distinguishes this skull from that of the Neanderthal races; the several bones of the brain-case are typically human and not in the least like those of the anthropoid apes; the brain capacity was originally estimated at 1070 c.cm., not equalling that of some of the lowest brain types in the existing Australian races and decidedly below that of the Neanderthal man of Spy and La Chapelle-aux-Saints; the nasal bones are typically human but relatively small and broad, so that the nose was flattened, resembling that in some of the existing Malay and African races.

The jaw presents profoundly different characters; the whole of the bone preserved closely resembles that of a young chimpanzee; thus the slope of the bony chin as restored is between that of an adult ape and that of the Heidelberg man, with an extremely receding chin; the ascending portion of the jaw for the attachment of the temporal muscles is broad and thickened anteriorly. Associated with the jaw were two elongated molar teeth, worn down by use to such an extent that the individual could not have been less than thirty years of age and was probably older. These teeth are relatively longer and narrower than those in the modern human jaw. The canine tooth, identified by Smith Woodward as belonging in the lower jaw, strengthened by the evidence afforded by the jaw itself, proves that the face was elongate or prognathous and that the canine teeth were very prominent like those of the anthropoid apes; it affords definite proof that the front teeth of the Piltdown man resembled those of the ape.

The author's conclusion is that while the skull is essentially human, it approaches the lower races of man in certain characters of the brain, in the attachment of the muscles of the neck, in the large extent of the temporal muscles attached to the jaw, and in the probably large size of the face. The mandible, on the other hand, appears precisely like that of the ape, with nothing human except the molar teeth, and even these approach the dentition of the apes in their elongate shape and well-developed fifth or posterior intermediate cusp. This type of man, distinguished by the smooth forehead and supraorbital borders and ape-like jaw, represents a new genus called Eoanthropus, or 'dawn man,' while the species has been named dawsoni in honor of the discoverer, Charles Dawson. This very ancient type of man is defined by the ape-like chin and junction of the two halves of the jaw, by a series of parallel grinding-teeth, with narrow lower molar teeth, which do not diminish in size backward, and by the steep forehead and slight development of the brow ridges. The jaw manifestly differs from that of the Heidelberg man in its comparative slenderness and relative deepening toward the symphysis.

The discussion of this very important paper by Smith Woodward and Dawson centred about two points. First, whether the ape-like jaw really belonged with the human skull rather than with that of some anthropoid ape which happened to be drifted down in the same stratum; and second, whether the extremely low original estimate of the brain capacity of 1070 c.cm., was not due to incorrect adjustment or reconstruction of the separate pieces of the skull.

Keith,(19) the leader in the criticism of Woodward's reconstruction, maintained that when the two sides of the skull were properly restored and made approximately symmetrical, the brain capacity would be found to equal 1500 c.cm.; the brain cast of the skull even as originally reconstructed was found to be close to 1200 c.cm. This author agreed that skull, jaw, and canine tooth belonged to Eoanthropus but that they could not well belong to the same individual.

In defense of Woodward's reconstruction came the powerful support of Elliot Smith.(20) He maintained that the evidence afforded by the re-examination of the bones corroborated in the main Smith Woodward's identification of the median plane of the skull; further, that the original reconstruction of the prognathous face was confirmed by the discovery of the canine tooth, also that there remained no doubt that the association of the skull, the jaw, and the canine tooth was a correct one. The back portion of the skull is decidedly asymmetrical, a condition found both in the lower and higher races of man. A slight rearrangement and widening of the bones along the median upper line of the skull raise the estimate of the brain capacity to 1100 c.cm. as the probable maximum.

Elliot Smith continued that he considered the brain to be of a more primitive kind than any human brain that he had ever seen, yet that it could be called human and that it already showed a considerable development of those parts which in modern man we associate with the power of speech; thus, there was no doubt of the unique importance of this skull as representing an entirely new type of "man in the making." As regards the form of the lower jaw, it was observed that in the dawn of human existence teeth suitable for weapons of offense and defense were retained long after the brain had attained its human status. Thus the ape-like form of the chin does not signify inability to speak, for speech must have come when the jaws were still ape-like in character, and the bony changes that produced the recession of the tooth line and the form of the chin were mainly due to sexual selection, to the reduction in the size of the grinding-teeth, and, in a minor degree, to the growth and specialization of the muscles of the jaw and tongue employed in speech.

At first sight the brain-case resembles that of the Neanderthal skull found at Gibraltar, which is supposed to be that of a woman; it is relatively long, narrow, and especially flat, but it is smaller and presents more primitive features than those of any known human brain. Taking all these features into consideration, we must regard this as being the most primitive and most ape-like human brain so far recorded; one such as might reasonably be associated with a jaw which presented such distinctive ape characters. The brain, however, is far more human than the jaw, from which we may infer that the evolution of the brain preceded that of the mandible, as well as the development of beauty of the face and the human development of the bodily characters in general.

The latest opinion of Smith Woodward[AA] is that the brain, while the most primitive which has been discovered, had a bulk of nearly 1300 c.cm., equalling that of the smaller human brains of to-day and surpassing that of the Australians, which rarely exceeds 1250 c.cm.

The original views of Smith Woodward and of Elliot Smith regarding the relation of the Piltdown race to the Heidelberg and Neanderthal races are also of very great interest and may be cited. First, the fact that the Piltdown and Heidelberg races are almost of the same geologic age proves that at the end of the Pliocene Epoch the representatives of man in western Europe had already branched into widely divergent groups: the one (Heidelberg-Neanderthal) characterized by a very low projecting forehead, with a subhuman head of Neanderthaloid contour; the other with a flattened forehead and with an ape-like jaw of the Piltdown contour. We should not forget that in the Piltdown skull the absence of prominent ridges above the eyes may possibly be due in some degree to the fact that the type skull may belong to a female, as suggested by certain characters of the jaw; but among all existing apes the skull in early life has the rounded shape of the Piltdown skull, with a high forehead and scarcely any brow ridges. It seems reasonable, therefore, to interpret the Piltdown skull as exhibiting a closer resemblance to the skulls of our human ancestors in mid-Tertiary times than any fossil skull hitherto found. If this view be accepted, we may suppose that the Piltdown type became gradually modified into the Neanderthal type by a series of changes similar to those passed through by the early apes as they evolved into typical modern apes, with their low brows and prominent ridges above the eyes. This would tend to support the theory that the Neanderthal men were degenerate offshoots of the Tertiary race, of which the Piltdown skull provides the first discovered evidence—a race with a simple, flattened forehead and developed eye ridges.

Elliot Smith concluded that members of the Piltdown race might well have been the direct ancestors of the existing species of man (Homo sapiens), thus affording a direct link with undiscovered Tertiary apes; whereas, the more recent fossil men of the Neanderthal type, with prominent brow ridges resembling those of the existing apes, may have belonged to a degenerate race which later became extinct. According to this view, Eoanthropus represents a persistent and very slightly modified descendant of the type of Tertiary man which was the common ancestor of a branch giving rise to Homo sapiens, on the one hand, and of another branch giving rise to Homo neanderthalensis, on the other.

Another theory as to the relationships of Eoanthropus is that of Marcelin Boule,(21) who is inclined to regard the jaws of the Piltdown and Heidelberg races as of similar geologic age, but of dissimilar racial type. He continues: "If the skull and jaw of Piltdown belong to the same individual, and if the mandibles of the Heidelberg and Piltdown men are of the same type, this discovery is most valuable in establishing the cranial structure of the Heidelberg race. But it appears rather that we have here two types of man which lived in Chellean times, both distinguished by very low cranial characters. Of these the Piltdown race seems to us the probable ancestor in the direct line of the recent species of man, Homo sapiens; while the Heidelberg race may be considered, until we have further knowledge, as a possible precursor of Homo neanderthalensis."

The latest opinion of the German anatomist Schwalbe(22) is that the proper restoration of the region of the chin in the Piltdown man might make it possible to refer this jaw to Homo sapiens, but this would merely prove that Homo sapiens already existed in early Pleistocene times. The skull of the Piltdown man, continues Schwalbe, corresponds with that of a well-developed, good-sized skull of Homo sapiens; the only unusual feature is the remarkable thickness of the bone.[AB]

Finally, our own opinion is that the Piltdown race was not related at all either to the Heidelbergs or to the Neanderthals, nor was it directly ancestral to any of the other races of the Old Stone Age, or to any of the existing species of man. As shown in the human family tree in Chapter VI, the Piltdown race represents a side branch of the human family which has left no descendants at all.

Mammalian Life of Chellean and Acheulean Times(23)

Southern mammoth.
Hippopotamus.
Straight-tusked elephant.
Broad-nosed rhinoceros.
Spotted hyæna.
Lion.
Bison and wild ox.
Red deer.
Roe-deer.
Giant deer.
Brown bear.
Wolf.
Badger.
Marten.
Otter.
Beaver.
Hamster.
Water-vole.

The mammalian life which we find with the more advanced implements of Chellean times apparently does not include the old Pliocene mammals, such as the Etruscan rhinoceros and the sabre-tooth tiger. With this exception it is so similar to that of Second Interglacial times that it may serve to prove again that the third glaciation was a local episode and not a wide-spread climatic influence. This life is everywhere the same, from the valley of the Thames, as witnessed in the low river-gravels of Gray's Thurrock and Ilford, to the region of the present Thuringian forests near Weimar, where it is found in the deposits of Taubach, Ehringsdorf, and Achenheim, in which the mammals belong to the more recent date of early Acheulean culture. The life of this great region during Chellean and early Acheulean times was a mingling of the characteristic forest and meadow fauna of western Europe with the descendants of the African-Asiatic invaders of late Pliocene and early Pleistocene times.

The forests were full of the red deer (Cervus elaphus), of the roe-deer (C. capreolus), and of the giant deer (Megaceros), also of a primitive species of wild boar (Sus scrofa ferus) and of wild horses probably representing more than one variety. The brown bear (Ursus arctos) of Europe is now for the first time identified; there was also a primitive species of wolf (Canis suessi).

The small carnivora of the forests and of the streams are all considered as closely related to existing species, namely, the badger (Meles taxus), the marten (Mustela martes), the otter (Lutra vulgaris), and the water-vole (Arvicola amphibius). The prehistoric beaver of Europe (Castor fiber) now replaces the giant beaver (Trogontherium) of Second Interglacial times.

Among the large carnivora, the lion (Felis leo antiqua) and the spotted hyæna (H. crocuta) have replaced the sabre-tooth tiger and the striped hyæna of early Pleistocene times. Four great Asiatic mammals, including two species of elephants, one species of rhinoceros, and the hippopotamus, roamed through the forests and meadows of this warm temperate region. The horse of this period is considered(24) to belong to the Forest or Nordic type, from which our modern draught-horses have descended. The lions and hyænas which abounded in Chellean and early Acheulean times are in part ancestors of the cave types which appear in the succeeding Reindeer or Cavern Period. In general, this mammalian life of Chellean and early Acheulean times in Europe frequented the river shores and the neighboring forests and meadows favored by a warm temperate climate with mild winters, such as is indicated by the presence of the fig-tree and of the Canary laurel in the region of north central France near Paris.

Undoubtedly the Chellean and Acheulean hunters had begun the chase both of the bison, or wisent (B. priscus), and of the wild cattle, or aurochs.[AC]

This warm temperate mammalian life spread very widely over northern Europe, as shown especially in the distribution (Fig. 44) of the hippopotamus, the straight-tusked elephant, and Merck's rhinoceros. The latter pair were constant companions and are seen to have a closely similar and somewhat more northerly range than the hippopotamus, which is rather the climatic companion of the southern mammoth and ranges farther south. These animals in the gravel and sand layers along the river slopes and 'terraces' mingled their remains with the artifacts of the flint workers. For example, in the gravel 'terraces' of the Somme we find the bones of the straight-tusked elephant and Merck's rhinoceros in the same sand layers with the Chellean flints. Thus the men of Chellean times may well have pursued this giant elephant (E. antiquus) and rhinoceros (D. merckii) as their tribal successors in the same valley hunted the woolly mammoth and woolly rhinoceros.

Distribution of the Chellean Implements

All over the world may be found traces of a Stone Age, ancient or modern, primitive implements of stone and flint analogous to those of the true Chellean period of western Europe but not really identical when very closely compared. These represent the early attempts of the human hand, directed by the primitive mind, to fashion hard materials into forms adapted to the purposes of war, the chase, and domestic life. The result is a series of parallels in form which come under the evolution principle of convergence. Thus, in all the continents except Australia—in Europe, in Asia, and even in North and South America—primitive races have passed through an industrial stage similar to the typical Chellean of western Europe. This we should rather attribute to a similarity in human invention and in human needs than to the theory that the Chellean industry originated at some particular centre and travelled in a slowly enlarging wave over the entire world.

In western Europe the Chellean culture certainly had a development all its own, adapted to a race of bold hunters who lived in the open and whose entire industry developed around the products of the chase. For them flint and quartzite took the place of bronze, iron, or steel. This culture marked a distinct and probably a very long epoch of time in which inventions and multiplications of form were gradually spread from tribe to tribe, exactly as modern inventions, usually originating at a single point and often in the mind of one ingenious individual, gradually spread over the world.

The clearest examples of the evolution of the seven or eight implements of the Chellean culture from the five or six rudimentary types of the Pre-Chellean have been found at St. Acheul by Commont. The abundance and variety of flint at this great station on the Somme made it a centre of industry from the dawn of the Old Stone Age to its very close. It was probably a region favorable to all kinds of large and small game. The researches of Commont show that with the exception of Castillo in northern Spain no other station in all Europe was so continuously occupied. From Pre-Chellean to Neolithic times the men of every culture stage except the Magdalenian and Azilian-Tardenoisian found their way here, and thus the site of St. Acheul presents an epitome of the entire prehistoric industry. Even during the colder periods of climate this region continued to be visited—possibly during the warm weather of the summer seasons. At Montières, along the Somme, we find deposits of Mousterian culture which is generally characteristic of the cold climatic period but is here associated with a temperate fauna, including the hippopotamus, Merck's rhinoceros, and the straight-tusked elephant. Great geographic and climatic changes took place in the valley of the Somme during this long period of human evolution. The Pre-Chellean workers first established their industry on the middle and high 'terraces' at the time when the Somme was visited by the straight-tusked elephant and other much more primitive mammals of the warm Asiatic fauna. The early Acheulean camps on the same terraces were pitched in the gravels below layers of 'loess' which betoken an entire climatic change. The fourth glaciation passed by, and the Upper Palæolithic flint workers again returned and left the débris of their industry in the layers of loam which swept down the slopes of the valley from the surrounding hills. This succession will be studied more in detail in connection with the industry.

As contrasted with the four or more Pre-Chellean stations already known, namely, St. Acheul, Montières, Helin, Gray's Thurrock, and possibly Abbeville and Piltdown, there are at least sixteen stations in western Europe which are characteristically Chellean. In addition to the sites named above, all of which show deposits of typical Chellean implements above the Pre-Chellean, we may note the important Chellean stations of San Isidro and Torralba in central Spain; Tilloux and Marignac in southwestern France; Créteil, Colombes, Bois Colombes, and Billancourt on the Seine, in the immediate vicinity of Paris; Cergy on the Oise; the type station of Chelles on the Marne; Abbeville on the northern bank of the Somme; and the famous station of Kent's Hole, Devon, on the southwestern coast of England. Thus far no typical Chellean station has been discovered in Portugal, Italy, Germany, or Austria, nor, indeed, in any part of central Europe. This leaves the original habitat of the tribes that brought the Chellean culture to western Europe still a mystery; but, as already observed, the location of the stations favors the theory of a migration through northern Africa rather than through eastern Europe.

Compared with the Pre-Chellean flint workers the Chellean artisans advanced both by the improvement of the older types of implements and by the invention of new ones.(25) As observed by Obermaier, the flint worker is still dependent on the chance shape of the shattered fragments of flint which he has not yet learned to shape symmetrically. In the experimental search after the most useful form of flint which could be grasped by the hand, the very characteristic Chellean coup de poing was evolved out of its Pre-Chellean prototype. This implement was made of an elongate nodule, either of quartzite or, preferably, of flint, and flaked by the hammer on both sides to a more or less almond shape; as a rule, the point and its adjacent edges are sharpened; the other end being rounded and blunted. Like most, if not all, of the Chellean implements, it was designed to be grasped by the bare hand and not furnished with a wooden haft or handle. It is not impossible that some of the pointed forms may have been wedged into a wooden handle, but there is no proof of it. In size the coup de poing varies from 4 to 8 inches in length, and examples have been found as large as 9½ inches. That it served a variety of purposes is indicated by the existence of four well-defined, different forms: first, a primitive, almond-shaped form; second, an ovaloid form; third, a disk form; and fourth, a pointed form resembling a lance-head. De Mortillet(26) speaks of it as the only tool of the Chellean tribes, but in its various forms it served all the purposes of axe, saw, chisel, and awl, and was in truth a combination tool. Capitan(27) also holds that the coup de poing is not a single tool but is designed to meet many various needs. The primitive almond and ovaloid forms were designed for use along the edges, either for heavy hacking or for sawing; the disk forms may have been used as axes or as sling-stones; the more rounded forms would serve as knives and scrapers; while the pointed, lance-shaped forms might be used as daggers, both in war and in the chase.

The Chellean flint workers also developed especially a number of small, pointed forms from the accidentally shaped fragments of flint, showing both short and long points carefully flaked and chipped. Thus, out of the small types of the Pre-Chellean there evolved a great variety of tools adapted to domestic purposes, to war, and to the chase.

Chellean Geography in England and France

The type station of the Chellean culture is somewhat east of the present town of Chelles. Here in Chellean times the broad floods of the ancient River Marne were transporting great quantities of sand and débris, products of the early pluvial periods of Third Interglacial times; and here, on the right bank, embedded in sands and gravels 24 feet thick, are found the typical Chellean implements mingled with remains of the hippopotamus, straight-tusked elephant, Merck's rhinoceros, giant beaver, hyæna, and many members of the Asiatic forest and meadow fauna.

The flint-working stations at St. Acheul were on bluffs from 40 to 80 feet above the present level of the Somme. The Chellean and the following Acheulean industry was carried on here on a very extensive scale. In one year Rigollot collected as many as 800 coups de poing from the ancient quarries; near by are other quarries equally rich in material, and we may imagine that the products of the flint industry in this favorable locality were carried far and wide into other parts of the country.

In the vicinity of Paris, and again at Arcy, in the valley of the Bièvre, the workers of Chellean, Acheulean, and Mousterian flints sought in succession the old river-gravels belonging to the lower levels; these 'low terraces' are only 15 feet above the present height of the river and are still occasionally flooded by the high waters of the Seine, indicating that the Seine borders have not altered their levels. The animal life here was identical with that of the Somme and of the Thames and included the hippopotamus, Merck's rhinoceros, and the straight-tusked elephant.

Thus it would appear that, in regard to the river courses and the hills through which they flowed, the topography and landscape of northern France and of southern Britain were everywhere the same as at the present time. The forests which clothed the hills were not greatly different from the present, except for the presence of a few trees of a warmer clime, nor was there anything strange or unfamiliar in the majority of the animals that roamed through forest and meadow. The three chief archaic elements consisted in the presence of two very ancient races of men and their rude stage of culture, in the great forms of Asiatic and African life which mingled with the more familiar native types, and in the broad, continuous land surfaces which swept off unbroken to the west and southwest.

For in those days Europe, though even then little more than a great peninsula, extended far beyond its present limits. England and Ireland were still part of the mainland, and great rivers flowed through the broad valleys that are now the Irish Sea, the North Sea, and the English Channel—rivers that counted the Seine, the Thames, the Garonne, and even the Rhine, as mere tributaries. The Strait of Gibraltar was then the Isthmus of Gibraltar—a narrow land bridge connecting Europe with Africa. The Mediterranean was then an inland lake, or rather two inland lakes, for Italy and Sicily stretched out in a broad, irregular mass to join the northern coast of Africa, while Corsica and Sardinia formed a long peninsula extending from the Italian mainland and almost, if not quite, reaching to the African coast.

The Thames Valley in Chellean Times

The interpretation of the features of stratification in the valley of the Somme is especially interesting because it gives us a key to the understanding of a similar sequence of prehistoric events in the valley of the Thames.

The station of Gray's Thurrock in this valley is barely 120 miles distant from the Chellean station of Abbeville, in the valley of the Somme, and it is apparent that the old flint workers were freely passing across the broad intervening country and interchanging their ideas and inventions. Thus it happened that Chellean implements identical with, or closely related to, the types of the Somme valley were being fashioned all over southern Britain from the Thames to the Ouse. The ancient River Thames (Lyell,(28) Geikie(29)) was then flowing over a bed of boulder-clays which had been deposited during the preceding glaciations. Its broad, swift stream was bringing down great deposits of ochreous gravels and of sands interstratified with loams and clays. It is these old true river-gravels which display their greatest thickness on the lowest levels of the Thames and which are largely made up of well-bedded and distinctly water-worn materials. On these low levels the flint workers sought their materials, and here they left behind them the archaic Chellean implements which are now found embedded in these older river-gravels, just as they occur in the gravels washed down over the three terraces of the Somme and the Marne. In the Thames this old gravel wash seems to have been down-stream, whereas on the middle and upper terraces of the Somme the gravel wash came directly down the sides of the valley, except, perhaps, in very high floods. These deep beds of gravel, sand, and loam lie for the most part above the present overflow plain of the Thames, although in some places they descend below it; which proves that the main landscape of the Thames also, except for the changes of the flora and of animal life, was the same in Pre-Chellean and Chellean times as it is at present. Thus the Somme, the Thames, and the Seine had all worn their channels to the present or even to lower levels when the Pre-Chellean hunters appeared. Since Chellean times all three rivers have silted up their channels.

The changes along the Thames which have since occurred are in the superficial layers brought down from the sides of the valley which have softened the contours of the old terraces and have also entombed the later phases of the valley's prehistory.

Sections on the south bank at Ilford, Kent, and on the north bank at Gray's Thurrock, Essex, confirm this view. At the latter station, in low-lying strata of brick-earth, loam, and gravel, such as would be formed by the silting up of the bottom of an old river channel, are found the remains of the straight-tusked elephant, broad-nosed rhinoceros, and hippopotamus. All the discoveries of recent years lead to the conclusion that the old fluviatile gravels which contain these ancient mammals and flints are restricted to the lower levels of the Thames valley, while the high level gravels and loams are of later date. Old Chellean flints also occur occasionally on the higher levels, but here it would seem that they have been washed down from the old land surfaces above, because they are found mingled with flints of the late Acheulean and early Mousterian industry.

England in Early Palæolithic Times

It is on the higher levels of the Thames, as of the Somme, and in the superficial deposits covering the sides of the valley that we read the story of the subsequent Palæolithic cultures and of an early warm temperate climate being followed by a cold climate with frozen subsoil belonging to the fourth glaciation and the contemporary Mousterian flint industry. The Palæolithic history of the Thames(30) has not yet been fully interpreted, but it would appear that the relics of the old stations of Kent and Norfolk will yield all the forms of Chellean and Acheulean implements, and probably also those of the Mousterian which have been discovered in the valley of the Somme, thus proving that the Lower Palæolithic races of this region pursued the same culture development as the neighboring tribes of France and Belgium, as well as those of Spain, up to the close of middle Acheulean times.

A similar sequence of events appears to be indicated at Hoxne, Suffolk, where archaic palæoliths were discovered as far back as 1797. This discovery was neglected for upward of sixty years, until in 1859 these flints were re-examined by Prestwich and Evans after their visit to the stations of the Somme (Geikie,(31) Avebury(32)). This site was in the hollow of a surface of boulder-clay, overlain by the deposit of a fresh-water stream; in the bed of its narrow channel, besides flint implements of early Acheulean type, abundant plant remains were found which give us an interesting vision of the flora of the time.

These plants are decidedly characteristic of a temperate climate, including such trees as the oak, yew, and fir, and mostly of species which are still found in the forests of the same region. This life gave place, as indicated in plant deposits of a higher level, to an arctic flora, probably corresponding with the tundra climate of Mousterian times, the period of the fourth glaciation. Above these are found again layers of plants and of mollusks which point to the return of a temperate climate.

Spread of the Acheulean Industry

It is noteworthy that not a single 'river-drift,' Pre-Chellean or Chellean, station has been found in Germany or Switzerland, or, in fact, in all central Europe in the region lying between the Alpine and Scandinavian glaciers. Either this region was unfavorable to human habitation or the remains of the stations have been buried or washed away.

It is significant that the earliest proof of human migration into this region, whether from the east or from the west we do not certainly know, is coincident with the dry climate of Acheulean times. The 'loess' conditions of climate seem to be coincident with the earliest Acheulean stations in Germany, such as Sablon. 'Loess' deposition is by no means a proof of a cold climate but rather of an arid one, especially in regions where areas of finely eroded soil were liable to be raised by the wind; such areas were found over the whole recently glaciated country north of the Alps and south of the Scandinavian peninsula.

The Palæolithic discovery sites of Germany are principally grouped in three regions(33) as follows:

To the south, along the headwaters of the Rhine and the Danube, among the limestones of Swabia and the Jura were formed the caverns sought by early Mousterian man. To the west of these were many older stations in the 'loess' deposits of the upper Rhine, between the mountain ridges of the Vosges and the Black Forest, and still nearer the sources of the Rhine, extending over the border into Switzerland, are a number of famous cave sites in the valleys cut by the Rhine and its tributaries through the white Jurassic limestone. To the west is the group of the middle Rhine and of Westphalia, which includes the open Acheulean camps in the 'loess' deposits above the river and a number of cavern stations. To the north is the scattered group of stations, both of Acheulean and Mousterian times, of north Germany. Here the sites are few and far between. The open-country camps were established chiefly in the valley of the Ilm and near the caves of the Harz Mountains, in the neighborhood of Gera. No discoveries of certain date or unquestioned authenticity are reported from eastern Germany.

Along the upper Rhine the flint workers of Acheulean times established their ancient camps mostly in the open on the broad sheets of the 'lower loess,' which, constantly drifted by the wind, covered and preserved the stations. These stations are widely scattered, but they were frequented from earliest Acheulean times, and the region was revisited to the very close of the Upper Palæolithic.

Early in Acheulean times the important 'loess' station of Achenheim was established. This is a most famous locality and is of especial importance because it is the only station in Germany which was continuously frequented from late Acheulean times throughout the Lower Palæolithic and into the beginning of the Upper Palæolithic; here the 'older loess' of the Third Interglacial Stage yields a typical Acheulean industry.

Thus far the region of the middle Rhine and of Westphalia has not shown any evidence of Acheulean culture. The north German stations, however, were entered in Acheulean times, and the principal open stations of this region lie along the valley of the Ilm. Here, at Taubach, Ehringsdorf, and Weimar, we find implements of typical Acheulean form belonging to the early warm temperate Acheulean period. The stations of the Ilm valley southwest of Leipsic are also of great importance because of the rich record which they contain of the warm temperate animal life of early Acheulean times; the flint culture is typically Acheulean, and the climatic conditions are read both in the travertines and in the subsequent deposits of the 'lower loess,' which belong to the cold dry period of late Acheulean times. Here lingered the straight-tusked elephant and Merck's rhinoceros, contemporary with the workers of the Acheulean flints.

It will be observed that in Germany the early Acheulean was a warm period which in certain regions was also arid and subject to great dust-storms. At this time the camps were for the most part in the open country. In the late period, also arid and subject to high winds but with a cooler climate, the flint workers continued to frequent the open Acheulean stations in the 'loess.' If there were shelter and cavern stations in this region, they have not as yet been discovered. This would appear to indicate that the climate had not yet become severe.

Similar testimony is found in the great scarcity of cavern and shelter stations in Acheulean times in every part of western Europe; yet occasionally the tribes repaired to the vicinity of sheltering cliffs, as along the Vézère. In some scattered localities they sought the caverns, as at Krapina, in Croatia, at Spy, on the Meuse in Belgium, and at Castillo, in northern Spain. These rare exceptions to the open camps would tend to prove that the caverns were sought rather for protection from enemies and as rain shelters than as retreats from a bitter-cold climate.

In the valley of the Beune, a small tributary of the Vézère, in Dordogne, we find a true Acheulean station quite close to the river shore. This proves that in Acheulean times this valley was already deepened to the same degree as it is to-day. In the valley of the Somme the Acheulean culture stretches from the 'highest terrace' down below the present level of the river, which has made for itself a new high channel. The fact that two Acheulean stations are found on the upper Garonne, high above the present water-level, is of little significance, as at that time the water-level was also high.

In general the Acheulean flint workers preferred the open stations throughout all Acheulean times, and their camps are found on the open plateaus between the rivers or on the various 'terrace' levels, as on the higher, middle, and lower 'terraces' of the Somme at St. Acheul, or again close along the borders of the rivers and streams, as in the Dordogne region.

Even during the early Acheulean stage a dry climate had begun to prevail in certain parts of Germany. Near Metz is the 'older loess' station of Sablon, which was occupied in early Acheulean times, indicating a warm period of arid climate favorable to the transportation of the wind-blown 'loess'; doubtless, this fine dust at times filled the entire atmosphere and obscured the sun, as is the case to-day on the high steppes and deserts of eastern Asia.

An exception to the open-country life preferred by the Acheulean flint workers is found in the great grotto[AD] of Castillo, near Puente Viesgo, in the Province of Santander, northern Spain. The deposits which filled this grotto to a thickness of 45 feet from the floor to the roof were explored by Obermaier, who found them divided into thirteen layers, covering eleven periods of industry and presenting the most wonderful epitome of the prehistory of western Europe from Acheulean times to the Age of Bronze, in Spain (Fig. 79).