Mammals, Ape-Men and Stone Age Men in Southern Africa: Presidential Address, 1951

South African Archaeological Society

Mammals, Ape-Men and Stone Age Men in Southern Africa: Presidential Address, 1951Author(s): H. B. S. CookeSource: The South African Archaeological Bulletin, Vol. 7, No. 26 (Jun., 1952), pp. 59-69Published by: South African Archaeological SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3887445 .

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In his Presidential Address, Dr. H. B. S. Cooke recon- structs some of the animal life of southern Africa during the period of development of ape-men and stone- using men.

MAMMALS, APE-MEN AND STONE AGE MEN IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

BY H. B. S. COOKE

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS, 1951 (Read 16 April 1952)

Introduction Like the great majority of members of the South African Archaeological Society, I am

only an amateur prehistorian and it was with considerable diffidence that I accepted the undeserved honour of becoming your President-an honour which I greatly appreciate. My association with prehistory has been principally through a deep interest in the geology of the deposits which contain the stone tools of early man rather than through a specific concern with the tools themselves, and I have found myself quite unfitted to present a Presidential Address which could contribute directly to our knowledge or appreciation of the arts and skills of Stone Age men.

In selecting a subject my thoughts turned naturally towards presenting an outline of the geological background of the period of human development in this country (the Quaternary epoch), but this Society has already had the privilege of receiving an outstanding Presidential Address on a related theme from the late Dr. A. L. du Toit in 1947. I felt it would be inappropriate for me to overlap with his account.

However, there is another aspect of the environment of the Quaternary in southern Africa which has not hitherto been touched upon; I have accordingly elected to discuss the animals which lived side by side with primitive man, and which he hunted or which hunted him.

Although much of what I have to say represents new information and new ideas, I feel that this is not the place for me to put forward a formal scientific paper on the sequence of fossil mammals in the Quaternary (which I shall do elsewhere), and I shall attempt to give you instead a simple story of the changing animal life of the period. I have also essayed to produce provisional reconstructions of a few of the many creatures which are now extinct. I hope that these pictures will help you to visualize the environment in which Stone Age man lived.

The Time of the Ape-men We must begin our story quite a long time before stone-tool makers first made their

presence apparent in southern Africa-though man may already have existed in the central part of our continent. This was the period when ape-men flourished in South Africa and their remains have been recovered from old cave-deposits near Taungs (between Kimberley and Mafeking), from the Sterkfontein group of caves (west of Krugersdorp) and from the old caves which became the limeworks in the Makapan Valley (near Potgietersrust).

The individual deposits are not truly contemporary in the ordinary sense, as their deposition occupied a considerable period of time-probably a few hundred thousand years. Long though this time seems to us, it is only a limited part of the million-year Quaternary epoch. We can regard the different phases as broadly contemporary in the geological sense and consider the ape-man period as a unit with a more or less definite faunal assemblage. This is an over-simplification and ignores the real progressive changes which took place during

59



PLATE I.

4 o

1/~~~~~~~1

Animals of the Ape-man period. 1. Sabre-toothed catt. 2. Lion. 3. Wolft. 4. Hyenat. 5. Chalicotheret. 6. Giraffe. 7. Griquatheriumt. 8, Elandt. 9. Reedbuckt. 10. Gazellet. 11. Parapapiot. 12. Giant Baboont. 13. Ape-mant.

t indicates extinct species. 60



the ape-man period but, unfortunately, our knowledge of the exact sequence of the deposits and their contained fossils is not yet sufficient to justify a more detailed picture.

If you could be taken back through time to see the life of this remote period, you would not at first notice very much difference from the herds of animals that roam our game reserves to-day; but if you studied the animals closely you would find that the individual species were not usually the same as the modern ones, though the outward appearance was not strikingly different. You would also see quite a number of animals which have no counterpart in our modern fauna. Not all of the animal species of the time were preserved as fossils, so that we do not get a complete picture of the fauna as a whole merely from studying the fossil remains from the ancient cave deposits. Allowance must also be made for the understandable tendency of palaeontologists to describe the obviously 'different' fossils in their collections, rather than report the less interesting occurrence in the fossil state of species not readily distin- guishable from the living ones. Even when such allowances are made, the fauna of ape-man times included a large proportion of extinct elements, thus we are led to the conclusion that the ape-man deposits are of considerable antiquity, though there has been a good deal of dispute about their exact age.

In my own view, the evidence favours a broad correlation of the ape-man fauna with the Lower Quaternary stage known as the Villafranchian. The late Dr. Robert Broom contended for a long time that the deposits were Pliocene, but in his later work conceded that part may be Lower Pleistocene (Quaternary) in age. I feel that he placed undue weight on the occurrence in the ape-man deposits of animals very similar to Pliocene types occurring in Europe and Asia, and also that he exaggerated the length of the ape-man period. Most of our assemblages of fossil mammals from South Africa are strange mixtures of 'recent-looking' species and archaic forms, so it seems that this southern tip of the African continent was in the nature of a cul-de-sac in which archaic forms survived, long after they had become extinct in the more rigorous and variable climate of Quaternary Europe.

Among the characteristic fossils associated with the ape-men are many peculiar and archaic mammals. Most striking of these were a number of different species of sabre-toothed cats, referred to the genera Megantereon and Machairodus. These vicious creatures were about the size of a leopard but their upper canine teeth were elongated to form dagger-like weapons, three to four inches in length (fig. 1).

Other carnivorous animals of much more normal appearance also occurred, including two extinct members of the large cat family which were similar to the lion and the leopard. There were extinct relatives of the serval cat (Leptailurus), two species of jackal (Thos) and two different kinds of fox (Vulpes). The serval cat and the jackals are rather smaller than the living species. The fox is larger than the South African jackal (Cynalopex), and somewhat more closely resembles the European fox. There existed a wolf-like creature (Canis atrox, fig. 3) which is clearly very different from the Cape hunting dog (Lycaon). A kind of mongoose (Crossarchus) has also been found, and there were doubtless other small carnivores as well.

Considerable interest attaches to the variety of hyenas which have been discovered in the ape-man deposits; one of them seems to belong to the genus Lycyaena (fig. 4), of mid-Pliocene age in Europe and Asia. Another archaic genus, Hyaenictis, is apparently also represented. I believe that these two forms are late survivors, and do not require a Pliocene date for the deposits in which they occur. Other hyenas belong both to the smaller striped or brown forms (Hyaena), or to the larger spotted forms (Crocuta), but most of the species represented seem to be extinct.

While the carnivores are particularly interesting on account of the archaic forms, that group did not have a monopoly of queer survivors. The order which embraces the rhino- ceroses and horses included a peculiar extinct form with stout claws instead of hoofs, and one of these chalicotheres, as they are called, has been found in the deposits of the Makapan

61



limeworks. The skull-almost as big as that of a rhinoceros-was supported on an elongated neck, and the front legs were longer than the back ones, giving the creature a very odd appearance (fig. 5). The ordinary black rhinoceros was a contemporary of the chalicothere and is, in its own way, just as archaic a creature, but happens to be still with us as a survival to to the present day. Horses, which belong to the same order, are not definitely known to have been contemporary with the ape-man, but various equines did occur in later phases of the deposits.

Somewhat similar to the chalicothere was another peculiar animal known as Griquathe- rium, remains of which come from the Makapan limeworks together with its close relative, the ordinary giraffe (figs. 6 and 7). Griquatherium was much more massive in body-structure than the giraffe. Some European and Asiatic species bore stag-like antlers; we do not know for certain if such antlers were carried by the South African genus, but it seems likely that at least simple ones were present.

The living species of hippopotamus existed at the time of the ape-men and there may have been an extinct species as well. So far, however, the hippopotamus is only known from the Makapan area, which was probably less dry than the Sterkfontein region or the arid Taungs area.

Belonging to the same mammalian order as the hippopotamus are the pigs and wart-hogs, of which several different kinds are known. An ordinary wart-hog, not very different in size and appearance from the living species, was found in the cave breccias but (like the horse) it may not have been a contemporary of the ape-men. A somewhat different and less highly specialized wart-hog (Pronotochoerus) occurs in the ape-man layers at the Makapan limeworks. Contemporary with it was a peculiar form (Potamocheroides) resembling the bush-pig but having higher crowned teeth. A giant wart-hog (Notochoerus) was also a contemporary of the ape-men and its jaws were almost as massive as those of a rhinoceros! Another wart-hog (Tapinochoerus) was somewhat smaller, though still a giant, but it probably lived a little later than the ape-men.

The buck of the ape-man period have not been very fully studied, but it appears that a number of the fossil forms cannot readily be distinguished from living species, though minor differences are sometimes apparent. Among those species which are common and are almost identical with their living counterparts may be mentioned buffalo, roan antelope, blue wildebeest, blesbok, eland (fig. 8), kudu, springbok and grey duiker. Recognizably different extinct species related to the lechwe, reedbuck (fig. 9), mountain reedbuck, bushbuck, red duiker, klipspringer and steenbok also occur and make the whole assemblage very similar to the living fauna of the region.

There are, however, some additional elements which are not normal. Several true gazelles (fig. 10) have been found in the fossil state, whereas the nearest living gazelles are in East Africa. There is a very large extinct relative of the hartebeest (Pelorocerus) and an aberrant member of the same family with its horns spreading sideways instead of upwards. A relative of the sable antelope with abnormal teeth has also been found.

Not by any means all of the fossil forms occurring in the ape-man deposits are large, for small insectivores are quite abundant and bats have been discovered occasionally. Most of the described insectivores are extinct forms, but they are usually very like the living ones and many living species are probably present but undescribed. At least two different extinct elephant-shrews have been found as well as several other sorts of shrews, hedgehogs and golden moles.

A number of hyraces (dassies) of different sizes have been discovered and the presence of porcupines i& indicated both by skeletons and by the manner in which some of the large animal bones have been gnawed by them. Rodents, such as a small spring-hare, a small rock rat and two large rodent moles present some unusual features, but the remaining species

62



are not very different from the living rats and field-mice. Owls were largely responsible for bringing the remains of these small creatures to the caves and occasional bird bones are found in the deposits, though no particular species have been described as yet.

Remains of a wide variety of different baboon-like creatures have come from the cave- deposits, but not all of them were contemporaries of their distant relatives, the ape-men. One of the fossil species has been placed in the same genus as the living baboon (Papio), but seven or eight others (all much the same size as the modern Cape baboon) belong to an extinct genus, Parapapio (fig. 11). This extinct baboon is characterized by having a shorter muzzle and less prominent ridges over the eyes than are possessed by its modern counterpart. A shorter muzzle is also a feature of two further extinct genera Gorgopithecus and Cercopithe- coides. The latter was smaller than most of the other fossil forms and similar to certain East African fossil baboons. In addition there lived a giant baboon, Dinopithecus, about as big as a gorilla-a fearsome beast for the ape-men to encounter (fig. 12).

The ape-men themselves led very different lives from those of the living great apes, for they were not forest-dwellers, but roamed the open plains like the baboons do and probably lived in some of the caves from which their remains have come. They were also, like the baboons, omnivorous in their diet but were obviously fond of meat. At least five species are known, collectively grouped as the Australopithecinae from the genus first described by Professor Dart in 1925.

Enough of the skeleton has been found to show that the ape-men had straight limbs and walked erect instead of ambling along with their knuckles on the ground, as do the gorilla and the chimpanzee (fig. 13). The heads of the ape-men were carried reasonably upright on a straight neck instead of being poked forward from hunched shoulders, while the eyes could survey an enlarged horizon.

In body-weight the ape-men were little heavier than a chimpanzee and not half as massive as a gorilla, yet their brains were relatively larger than those of the great apes and were also somewhat more complex in form. The principal increase in size is in the so-called 'association areas', which in modern man are responsible for his powers of reasoning and expression. Altogether, then, the ape-men must have been a great deal more intelligent than the cleverest of the apes, and were more nearly human in reasoning powers than the mere physical size of the brain would suggest.

The hands of the Australopithecines were well formed and there can be little doubt that they used suitable articles which were available as primitive weapons, though they did not make tools as true humans do. Of the weapons ready to hand there were rough stones, pieces of wood and bones of animals. It is thus more than a coincidence that many of the animal skulls found in the ape-men deposits show signs of damage by the traditional 'blunt instrument' of detective fiction. This is particularly true of the baboons, the majority of which show a double depressed fracture of the skull which (as Professor Dart has shown) fits remarkably well with the double-ridged ends of arm-bones of large antelopes. To add to the evidence, the ends of such long-bones from the deposits are often found to be broken, cracked or chipped-presumably in consequence of their violent use. Other skulls show small round or triangular holes, which suggest antelope horns as weapons of assault; still others have broad irregular injuries which indicate that a stone was the probable weapon. As most of the damaged skulls have been found in parts of the deposits free from stones, there is little likelihood that they were damaged by falls of rock from the roof, and it is virtually certain that blows were the cause of death. Some of the ape-men skulls are similarly damaged, and it looks as if the Australopithecines were cannibalistic in their habits, or at least had periodic personal or tribal fights.

We thus see that these ape-men of South Africa were astonishingly human in many ways, and that their relatively smaller brains and failure to make tools are almost the only important features which separate them from true humans.

63



PLATE II.

('~~~~1

I ~~~~~~1 7

/ 7 N~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~7 t~~~~~~~--, )f I

14-7 1 "' /

0 13

PEET

Animals of the Earlier Stone Age. 14. Stylohippariont. 15. Mastodont. 16. Mammotht. 17. Living elephant (for comparison). 18. Burchell's zebra. 19. Equus kuhnit. 20. Rhinoceros. 21. Hippopotamus.

22. Giant wart-hogt. 23. Wart-hog. t indicates extinct species.

64



It seems certain that they are fairly close relatives to the human family; but my view is that all the specimens we know are too late in time and too specialized in physical development to be actual ancestors. I believe that they branched off from the common ancestor a long time before the Quaternary-probably in the early Pliocene-and that many of their human characters are the outcome of a parallel continuation of development of those same inherent evolutionary forces, present in the ancestor, as gave rise to man in the other branch. This would account for the fact that in some ways their human development has gone beyond the present human stage, while in others it has lagged behind. It is also my opinion that some of their most ape-like features (such as the heavy brow-ridges) are not hold-overs from an ape-like ancestor, but are separate degenerate developments, acquired since they parted from the ancestral forms whose relatively smooth brow persisted and improved in man.

Quite recently there have come to light at Swartkrans, near Sterkfontein, a few fragments which suggest that true men were contemporary with the Swartkrans ape-man. As yet the fragments are too scanty for us to be able to gain any sort of picture of the appearance and habits of this primitive man, whose remains are possibly the oldest human relics so far known. If he made tools, they have not yet been found in the deposits-but the search goes on.

Life in the Earlier Stone Age

Accumulation of the cave-deposits did not cease with the coming of true men to South Africa, but very few artefacts have been recovered even from the later breccias, laid down long after the ape-man period. Because the occurrence of stone tools in these deposits is so rare, there is not sufficient information for us to gain an idea of the animal life of the Earlier Stone Age from the cave-breccias themselves. Our information regarding the animals of this period has accordingly been obtained almost entirely from fossil remains recovered from the gravels of the Vaal River, and the difference of environment makes close correlation with the faunas from the caves decidedly difficult.

A few of the mammals from the post-ape-man cave-breccias deserve special mention. The most interesting is a dwarf buffalo from the Makapan Valley, though not from the limeworks. Its horns measured little more than a foot from tip to tip so that it was as small as, or even smaller than, the living dwarf buffalo of the Belgian Congo. From the later breccias there also comes the large wart-hog, Tapinochoerus (mentioned previously), as well as buffalo, wildebeest, eland, blesbok, springbok, gazelle, klipspringer, duiker and the giant hartebeest, Pelorocerus. Three different equines have been found one of which (Stylohipparion) is a relative of the small three-toed Pliocene horse of the northern continent (fig. 14).

The dwarf buffalo has not so far been found in the deposits of the Vaal River, but the large wart-hog, the giant hartebeest, a large zebrine horse (Equus kuhni) and the small Stylohipparion certainly do occur and provide a slender correlating link between the faunas of the later cave-breccias and of the river-gravels.

The fossil-bearing gravels of the Vaal River contain abundant tools of the Earlier Stone Age great hand-axe (Chelles-Acheul) culture, and it is presumed that most of the animal remains found in the deposits represent contemporaries of the tool-makers. There are, however, a few rare fossils which may have been derived from older river deposits. Among these are three forms found in the ape-man breccias-the giant wart-hog, Notochoerus, the massive girrafid, Griquatherium, and one of the gazelles-and it is possible that these creatures were not true contemporaries of Stone Age man, though it is also quite possible that they survived into the early human period.

The gravel deposits include a surprisingly wide variety of elephants. There were a primitive mastodon (fig. 15, very much smaller than the living elephants), several species of mammoth from primitive to highly evolved forms (fig. 16), and a variety of distant relatives of

65



PLATE III.

26

27

9 3 0

0 41 ' ; , : i y ._ 31.a 3

BEET

24. Pelorocerust. 25. Giant buffalot. 26. Equus capensist. 27. Quaggat. 28. Wart-hog. 29. Wildebeest. 30. Hartebeest. 31. Cape buffalo. 32. Ostrich. 33. African elephant. 34. Mant.

t indicates extinct species. 66



the living African elephant, some considerably larger than the living species. The living elephant (fig. 17) did not then exist. Very probably the most primitive types lived before the gravels were laid down and their scanty remains were derived from older deposits.

The horse family is represented by a wide variety of forms ranging from the small Stylohipparion (fig. 14), mentioned above, to a giant horse, Equus capensis, much larger than any living species. Both the Bontequagga (Burchell's zebra, fig. 18) and the historically extinct true quagga are found as fossils, and the chief other equine is a larger form very similar to Grevy's zebra of East Africa. There are also one or two primitive extinct species, a little like the Mountain Zebra, but the Mountain Zebra itself has not been found in the gravel deposits. The black rhinoceros, belonging to the same zoological order as the horse, has also been found in the fossil state (fig. 20).

The hippopotamus is, rather naturally, one of the most abundant fossils found in the gravels, but the species represented seems identical with the living one (fig. 21). The related pig family includes, in addition to the giant Notochoerus and the very large Tapinochoerus (fig. 22), many fossil teeth of the living wart-hog, Phacochoerus (fig. 23), as well as quite a number of teeth belonging to two extinct varieties only very slightly larger than the living species. However, one extinct wart-hog, of the same genus as the surviving form, attained a size half as big again as the living one-and must have been nearly as large as the earlier Notochoerus.

Such a wide variety of buck are present that practically all the species likely to have lived in the basin of the Vaal River have been found; it would be tedious to list them. There were few extinct species, the exceptions being a gazelle, a giant buffalo, two large relatives of the hartebeest (Pelorocerus, fig. 24), and a true hartebeest rather bigger than the living form. The gazelle has also been found in the later breccias at Sterkfontein and one or both of the large hartebeest-like creatures occur in the ape-man and later breccias of the Makapan Valley. The giant buffalo, Homoiocerus (fig. 25), however, is a new and very characteristic form, prominent as a fossil right up to the end of the Middle Stone Age. It was an astonishing creature, with molar teeth half as big again as those of the living Cape buffalo, and massive horns spanning as much as nine feet from tip to tip! It could never have wandered through dense bush and must have been an inhabitant of the open plains.

The other animal groups, so plentiful in the cave-breccias, are almost unknown in the Vaal River gravels. Of the carnivores only the spotted hyena has been found, and of the apes, baboons, rodents and insectivores no single specimen is known. This does not, of course, mean that these creatures did not exist at the time, but only that their bodies seldom came into the river-deposits, or that their fragile bones were ground away in the rolling gravels. We can safely assume that, as far as these groups are concerned, the population was very much as it is to-day.

There are two deposits other than the Vaal River Gravels from which similar fossils have been recovered, and these may be of similar age though stone implements have not been recorded. One such deposit comprises a thin group of beds under marine clays on the coast of Zululand. Here the characteristic fossils are an extinct elephant, a giant buffalo, hippopotamus and both the living species of rhinoceros. The other deposit is at Cornelia in the Orange Free State. Here there is a queer mixture of equines, including Stylohipparion, several extinct wart-hogs, another giraffid somewhat similar to Griquatherium, and some peculiar buck not so far known elsewhere.

So far the Rhodesias have produced very few fossils definitely belonging to the Earlier Stone Age. The gravels of the Zambesi near the Victoria Falls contained a large extinct mammoth, very similar to one from the Vaal River. A near-by site, possibly of the same age, includes fossil remains of a reedbuck, a hartebeest, a sassaby, a wart-hog larger than the living species, and hippopotamus. Possibly also belonging to the Earlier Stone Age is an assemblage from Chelmer, near Bulawayo in Southern Rhodesia, which includes several equine species,



hippopotamus, living and extinct wart-hogs, eland, blesbok, hartebeest, living and extinct wildebeest and the giant buffalo, Homoiocerus.

Although the presence of humans is abundantly indicated by the presence of tools in most of these deposits, actual human remains are excessively rare. Only one fragment of Chelles-Acheul man is definitely known. This important specimen was discovered during systematic excavations in implement-bearing breccia at a site in the Makapan Valley known as the Cave of Hearths. It is part of the lower jaw of an adolescent, and it shows that this early human was a robust creature with some characters resembling those of Neanderthal man and Rhodesian man. Unfortunately no further material has been found, but it is to be hoped that the search is not yet ended.

Middle Stone Age Life We have seen that the fauna of the ape-man period carried the general stamp of the wild

life assemblage of the present day, but a large proportion of the animals were represented by species which have become extinct and have been replaced by the related living species. In addition, the fauna was enriched by a number of creatures-like the sabre-toothed cats and the chalicotheres-which have left no counterpart in the modern fauna.

In the Earlier Stone Age, it is clear, the fauna consisted largely of species which are still living, together with a number of survivors from the earlier period and a few additional species, destined to die out before very long. The proportion of extinct species is not very high but it is significant, and makes the wild life of the period a good deal richer and more varied than that of the present day.

By Middle Stone Age times the fauna had been further impoverished through the extinction of many species; and only a very few extinct species supplemented the essentially modern faunal list. The most characteristic of the 'extra' species are the two large equines Equus capensis (fig. 26) and E. kuhni, the large haartebeest-like Pelorocerus (fig. 24), and the giant buffalo Homoiocerus (fig. 25). The recently extinguished true quagga (fig. 27) is fairly common and there are other species, living and extinct, which are present so usually in fossil assemblages that they may be regarded as typical forms. Among these are two species of wart-hog, very slightly larger than the living form (fig. 28), as well as the living forms themselves. The wildebeest (fig. 19), the hartebeest (fig. 30) and the buffalo (fig. 31) are very prominent, and we find that the ostrich (fig. 32) and the ordinary elephant (fig. 33) are frequent for the first time. An extinct gazelle has been found and there are also one or two other rare species, but those previously mentioned are the typical ones. A similar picture may be drawn from the few fossil sites of the period in the Rhodesias, and we are led to the conclusion that, at the end of the Middle Stone Age the vanishing of the last of the extinct species left us our present assemblage of natural wild life.

As far as the humans of the Middle Stone Age are concerned, we know much more than we know of the Earlier Stone Age but, nevertheless, the specimens are rare and usually imperfect. Possibly the oldest fossil human skull comes from Florisbad in the Orange Free State. It shows the existence of a large-brained race with some anatomical peculiarities suggestive of the Neanderthal race of Europe. Neanderthal-like features are also present in a skull from Broken Hill in Northern Rhodesia, but this does not necessarily indicate a close relationship between Broken Hill man and Florisbad man. Most of the other human remains from this region which can be assigned to the Middle Stone Age, prove that the population was not related to Negro stock, but was nearly allied to the Bushman group. A very large skull-cap of Middle Stone Age man was found at a place called Boskop, near Potchefstroom; it now seems that the Middle Stone Age peoples of this region were large- headed Bush-Boskop mixtures, without Bantu elements; in fact 'Bantu types' of people are not known as true fossils but have been found only in burials of relatively recent date.

68



Comparison Beyond the limits of our own country we find somewhat different assemblages of fossils,

but there is a remarkable resemblance between southern Africa and East Africa in their fossil faunas. The fauna of Omo on the Abyssinian border has much in common with the fossils of the South African ape-man period, but includes elements more like the Vaal River fauna; the Olduvai fauna of the hand-axe period has remarkable resemblances to our Vaal River assemblage, even including a long-horned buffalo! The Middle Stone Age fauna of East Africa, too, is very like that of our Middle Stone Age. Thus it looks as if similar events took place over most of our continent. There are still many gaps in our knowledge but these are slowly being filled in and it will not be long before we have quite a good picture of Quaternary events throughout Africa. In the meantime I can only hope that in this Presidential Address to our Society 1 have helped to give you some sort of picture of the faunal changes that covered the periods of ape-men and true men in our country.

REVIEWS

Clark, W. E. Le Gros. 'Hominid Characters of the Australopithecine Dentition.' J. Roy. Anthrop. Inst., LXXX, i and ii, 1950 (published 1952), pp. 37-54.

Professor le Gros Clark gives statistical and des- criptive data which makes it clear that the distinctive dental character of the Australopithecines (our Southern Apes) contrast strongly with those of anthropoid apes, but approximate to those of the Hominids (Man and his near precursors and relatives). He takes the trouble to define the fundamental differences between the dentition of apes and men, and once again makes it abundantly clear that the surviving apes are of very different evolutionary stock from our own.

The study of the Australopithecines has been com- plicated by their small cranial capacities, although in relation to size of body structure the ratio is often fairly close to that of man. Here again he sees proof of an early divergence of our Southern Apes from true ape stock. This is a most useful addition to the growing list of studies on the Southern Apes.

In an addendum attention is drawn to a corre- spondenceinNature(Vol. 168,1951, p.794, etc.), which shows that the statistical methods used by Ashton and Zuckerman in their study of the teeth of anthropoid apes (Nature, Vol. 166, 1950, p. 158) are wrong as the standard deviations have been incorrectly calculated. The use of statistical methods should only be under- taken by one who is certain of their validity, and employed as a means of expressing large accumu- lations of data, rather than to prove a particular case.

A.J.H.G.

Desplagues, L. 'Fouilles du tumulus d'El Oualedji.' Bull. dIfan., XIII, 4, 1951, pp. 1159-73.

It is a little disconcerting to find a fairly typical tumulus grave some thirty miles south-west of Timbuktu on the north bank of the Niger. The late Dr. Desplagues left full records of his excavations here in 1904. Much of the material is in the Musee de l'Homme, Paris. Sections and plans show a mound about 100 m. by 12 m. high, with a central funerary chamber of palm logs. A 'chimney' leading to the surface, used for offerings to the dead, was choked with beef, mutton, tortoise and fish-bones, potsherds and ash. The pottery recovered from the chimney and the chamber is varied and interesting, contrasting sharply with anything in southern Africa. Copper ornaments and ironwork of typical Sudanese affinities and inspiration were found, with a wide range of agate, serpentine, etc. beads.

The grave is that of a warrior chief, buried with a companion, probably a slave. It dates from about the same period as a tumulus at Sifansi, near Goundam, and both show a skill in a variety of metals.

Holas, B. 'Deux haches polies de grande taille de la Basse Cote d'lvoire.' Bull. d'Ifan., XIII, 4, Oct. 1951, pp. 1174-80.

Describes two polished axes, 46 cm. and 50 cm. long (18 in. and 20 in.) obtained from a chief in Dabu district, lower Ivory Coast Territory. They had been found near Cosrou Bay (on the coast at about 60W.). The friable material shows no signs of wear, and suggests ceremonial use. Comparisons with local examples are made.

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Documents

Mammals, Ape-Men and Stone Age Men in Southern Africa: Presidential Address, 1951