Abstract
DR. SCHMIDT in this elaborate and detailed study of the growth of mentality in primitive man, and more especially of Homo sapiens as he first appears as Cro-Magnon man, argues from both structure and the products of man's mind preserved in the archaeological record. On one side, function is inferred from the development in organic evolution attained, more especially in growth and character of the brain, by the various early types of man from Pithecanthropus to Homo sapiens; and on the other, the basis of inference is the product, the artefact, interpreted as an indication of the mentality required to produce it, as well as of the cultural associations social organizations, cults and the like implied in its production. The analogy of peoples of backward culture of the present day support the argument with certain reservations.
The Dawn of the Human Mind:
a Study of Palæolithic Man. By Dr. R. R. Schmidt. Translated by Prof. R. A. S. Macalister. Pp. xxix + 256 + 50 plates. (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, Ltd., 1936.) 12s. 6d. net.
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Archæology and Anthropology. Nature 139, 454 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139454a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139454a0