  It has been the tendency of certain anthropologists, of most popular writers, and of most artists in Europe and America to represent the men of the Old Stone Age as scarcely raised above the level of the brutes. I have protested against this point of view on what I believe to be very good grounds, namely, that modern man could not have ascended from a group of brutes. There must have been from the very first, along the various lines of human ascent, a premium on the qualities of mind, on the rudiments of human character, and on the refined tendencies of the best of men as we know them to-day. Such a sprinkling of fine characteristics is observed by travelers who study the most primitive races of mankind with a sympathetic attitude of mind; many are discovered among the Malays, despite their head-hunting propensities, and delightful traits of character are found among the Polynesians, despite their occasional cannibalism. It is in this sympathetic also appreciative state of mind that the author of the present work approaches his subject, the Mousterians, a very ancient and primitive branch of the human race. The environment in which these people lived was If it is clearly understood that the work of Mr. Langford is an interpretation of prehistoric human nature, an interpretation based on a certain class of facts, a working hypothesis as to the qualities of the Mousterian people which may be contrasted with other working hypotheses and developed with the progress of discovery, then this work is well worth while and may be read and enjoyed in the same way that we enjoy the painted restorations of these people, of their life and times. HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN. New York, February 7, 1920. |
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