We must discuss now the mystery of where and when modern man appeared on the world scene. Although an upright, walking man called
Homo erectus was wide spread in Asia, Africa and Europe some one-half million years ago, using fire and simple hand-axes and tools, the first fossils which appear to be those of a race more closely related to our modern races (
Homo sapiens ) have been found at Swanscombe in England and Steinheim in Germany. An apparent close "cousin" of these men and a variant of
Homo sapiens , the Neandertahaler, lived during the last Ice Ages throughout Europe, North Africa, the Mid-east and apparently a few even in Asia, but this particular race for some reason did not survive. Nevertheless, the Neanderthal man was a skilled hunter, used fire, cooked food and buried his dead. Only 50% survived to age twenty and nine out of ten of those remaining died before their fortieth birthday. They were subject to rickets, something that may have resembled congenital syphilis and were probably cannibalistic. There is some evidence in the fossils of the Near East that some authorities interpret as indicating that modern man, in the sense of our own sub-species,
Homo sapiens sapiens , evolved from or out of Neanderthal man around 35,000 to 40,000 years ago, but this is not the consensus. Most anthropologists assume that over several eons a new breed of man, which might be called the "Ur-race", spread out to populate the Eurasian land mass, replacing or extinguishing any pre-existing hominoids. A further development of this theory necessitates the assumption of the isolation of various groups behind geological barriers, each adopting and adapting to their separate environments and gradually differentiating into present day races. Thus, the stay-at-homes became the Caucasoids, those moving into Central Asia and northern China became the Mongoloids through adaptation to severe cold, while the groups moving into hot Africa became Negroids. But these are only theories and a few authorities would disagree. Chief among these, perhaps, is Dr. Carleton Coon of Harvard who believes in the multiple origins of the various races.
Modern man in Europe was initially represented by the Cro-Magnons - with large bones, high brows and powerful physiques, standing as high as six feet four inches, similar to some Europeans of today. Other representatives of modern
Homo sapiens sapiens were also present at about this time, including one smaller and almost frail in comparison. This was Combe Capelle man, apparently related to the Mediterranean peoples of today.
Although these new men, identified in Europe by about 37,000 years ago, carried a number of new types of tools, more importantly, according to recent extensive studies of these tools and remaining implements, this man had the brain which man has today, a brain capable of art, imagery and notation and of seeing the world in a time-factored and time-factoring way. We shall hear more about these features later. (Ref.
130 )
After 10,000 B.C. with the retreat of the ice, vegetation patterns began to alter. Reindeer followed mosses and ferns at the ice edge and people dependent on them followed. With warm winds, great fields of wild grain appeared in various areas of the Near East. Eventually the people began deliberate cultivation and domestication of livestock, but the original practices soon turned fertile land into desert and a controlled irrigation system had to be discovered. Raw grain and the human digestive system are not compatible so one might ask how grain could be cooked in the days before pottery. On occasions large shells, stomachs of animals, pit stones, etc. were in limited use, but probably the chief method was to heat the threshing floor to a high enough temperature to roast the grain at the same time that the chaff was splintered. The result would be a coarse groat, needing no further cooking but too dry to swallow. Add water and knead to a stiff paste and one has something comparable to the Greek
maza ), Roman
puls , the Mexican
tortilla , Scots oat cake, East Indian
chapate , Chinese
pao-ping , Ethiopian
injera and the American Indian Johnnycake' all of these were probably descendants of Neolithic bread, just with differing basic grains. (Ref.
211 )
