Page 223 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

10 SAMAGRA TILAK - 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME
But apart from it, there is, now, at any rate, overwhelming evidence
to conclu ively prove the wide-spread existence of man throughout
the Quaternary era, even before the last Glacial period.
Various estimates have been made regarding the time of the
commencement of the Neolithic age, but the oldest date assigned
does not exceed 5000 B. C, a time when flourishing empires existed
in Egypt and Chaldea. These estimates are based on the amount
of silt which has been found accumulated in some of the smaller
lakes in Switzerland since the lake-dwellers of the Neolithic period
built their piled villages therein. The peat-mosses of Denmark
afford means for another estimate of the early Neolithic period in
that country. These mosses are formed in the hollows of the
glacial drift into which trees have fallen and become gradually
converted into peat in course of time. There are three successive
periods of vegetation in these peat-beds, the upper one of beech,
the middle one of oak and the lowest of aU, one of fir. These
changes in the vegetation are attributed to slow changes in the
climate and it is ascertained from implements and remains found
in these beds, that the Stone age corresponds mainly with that of
Fir and partly with that of Oak , while the Bronze age agrees mainly
with the period of Oak and the Iron with that of Beech. It has
been calculated that about 16,000 years will be required for the
formation of these peat-mosses and according to this estimate we
shall have to place the commencement of the Neolithic age in
Denmark, at the lowest, not later than 10,000 years ago. But
these estimates are not better than mere approximations, and
generally speaking we may take the Neolithic age in Europe as
commencing not later than 5000 B. C.
But when we pass from the Neolithic to the Palreolithic period
the difficulty of ascertaining the commencement of the latter
becomes still greater. In fact we have here to asceertain the time
when the post-Glacial period commenced. The Palreolithic man
must have occupied parts of Western Europe shortly after the
disappearance of the Ice and Prof. Geikie considers that there
are reasons for supposing that he was inter-Glacial. The Glacial
period was characterised by geographical and climatic changes
on an extensive scale. These changes and the theories regarding
the cause or the causes of the Ice Age will be briefly stated in the
next chapter. We are here concerned with the date of the com-
mencement of the post-Glacial period, and there are two different