Tertiary Man

Extract

In Prof. Fairfield Osborn's address on “The Discovery of Tertiary Man” (Nature, Jan. 11th, p. 55), it is stated, in regard to the discoveries I have made in East Anglia, that Prof. Breuil “shifts the entire pre-Chellean and Chellean flint industries from mid-Quaternary down to the base of Quaternary time, namely, into the first Interglacial or Mindel-Riss stage.” The first inter-glacial is, however, that of the Günz-Mindel—according to the Penckian scheme—and it is to this phase—represented in East Anglia by the Cromer Forest Bed—that Breuil now relegates the Chellean industry. Prof. Osborn had no doubt in mind Breuil's recently published list of his scientific papers when writing the address referred to, as in thıs list the impression is given, no doubt unintentionally, that the author was the first to refer the Chellean implements to the first inter-glacial epoch. This impression is, however, incorrect, as no less than ten years ago, in 1920, I published a note in the Geological Magazine (vol. 57, No. 671; May, 1920, pp. 221–224), in which, with much detail, I set forth my views on the relationship of palæolithic man to the glacial period, and stated (p. 223) that “The Chellean implements may therefore be of Günz-Mindel inter-glacial age.” When I made this announcement, to which I have adhered with ever-increasing conviction, few, if any, archæologists agreed with my opinion, and it was only after several visits of Prof. Breuil to East Anglia that he was convinced of its truth.