DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5625#0019
The Middle Stone Age
5
For thousands of years the life of the hunter went on with &. The com-^
little change. He slowly improved his rough stone fist-hatchet,
and he probably learned to make additional implements of
wood, but of these last we know nothing. Then he began to
notice that the air of his forest home was losing its tropical
warmth. Geologists have not yet found out why, but as the
centuries passed, the ice, which all the year round still overlies
the region of the North Pole and the summits of the Alps,
began to descend. The northern ice crept further and further
southward until it covered England as far south as the Thames.
The glaciers of the Alps pushed down the Rhone valley as far
as the spot where the city of Lyons now stands. On our own
continent of North America the southern edge of the ice re-
marked by lines of bowlders carried and left there by the ice.
Such lines of bowlders are found, for example, as far south as
Long Island and westward along the valleys of the Ohio and
the Missouri.1 The hunter saw the glittering blue masses of ice
with their crown of snow, pushing through the green of his
forest abode and crushing down vast trees in many a sheltered
glen or favorite hunting ground. Gradually these savage men
of early Europe were forced to accustom themselves to a colder
climate, and many of the animals familiar to the hunter retreated
to the warmer south, never to return.
Section 3. The Middle Stone Age
The hunters were unable to build themselves shelters from 9. Remains
the cold. They therefore took refuge in the limestone caves, stone Age
where they and their descendants continued to live for thou-
sands of years. This period we call the Middle Stone Age.
1 Geologists have now shown that the ice advanced southward
the north again no less than four times. Following each advance ot tne i
interval caused its retreat. There were four warm intervals, and we
in the fourth. The evidence now indicates that men began to.maKes, 0 i
ments in the third warm interval. The last advance of the ice <nere
between us and them. It is perhaps some thirty thousand years ago tha the,,
began to come south for the last time. See map and diagram in Anacnl 1 Mr, P-
man in
caverns
5
For thousands of years the life of the hunter went on with &. The com-^
little change. He slowly improved his rough stone fist-hatchet,
and he probably learned to make additional implements of
wood, but of these last we know nothing. Then he began to
notice that the air of his forest home was losing its tropical
warmth. Geologists have not yet found out why, but as the
centuries passed, the ice, which all the year round still overlies
the region of the North Pole and the summits of the Alps,
began to descend. The northern ice crept further and further
southward until it covered England as far south as the Thames.
The glaciers of the Alps pushed down the Rhone valley as far
as the spot where the city of Lyons now stands. On our own
continent of North America the southern edge of the ice re-
marked by lines of bowlders carried and left there by the ice.
Such lines of bowlders are found, for example, as far south as
Long Island and westward along the valleys of the Ohio and
the Missouri.1 The hunter saw the glittering blue masses of ice
with their crown of snow, pushing through the green of his
forest abode and crushing down vast trees in many a sheltered
glen or favorite hunting ground. Gradually these savage men
of early Europe were forced to accustom themselves to a colder
climate, and many of the animals familiar to the hunter retreated
to the warmer south, never to return.
Section 3. The Middle Stone Age
The hunters were unable to build themselves shelters from 9. Remains
the cold. They therefore took refuge in the limestone caves, stone Age
where they and their descendants continued to live for thou-
sands of years. This period we call the Middle Stone Age.
1 Geologists have now shown that the ice advanced southward
the north again no less than four times. Following each advance ot tne i
interval caused its retreat. There were four warm intervals, and we
in the fourth. The evidence now indicates that men began to.maKes, 0 i
ments in the third warm interval. The last advance of the ice <nere
between us and them. It is perhaps some thirty thousand years ago tha the,,
began to come south for the last time. See map and diagram in Anacnl 1 Mr, P-
man in
caverns