Archaeology Magazine - December 1950 - 60

BRIEF

NOTICES

The Old Stone Age. A Study of Palaeolithic Times, by M. C. Burkitt. ix,
254 pages, 30 figures, 8 plates, colored
frontispiece. Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge 1949 ($2.75)
It is in fitting recognition of the
author's preëminence in the field of
Palaeolithic archaeologythat a second
edition of this comprehensive and
clearly-writtenlittle book should have
been brought out last year by the Cambridge University Press. It is certainly
not at all an easy matter to revise a
work which in its original form already
constituted a compact study of the Old
Stone Age written primarily for beginning students and laymen.Nevertheless,
when one considers the advances that
have been made in our knowledge of
this field during recent years- changes
in nomenclature, clarification of the
Plio/Pleistocene boundary, definition
of the Lower Palaeolithic flake industries, recognition of the problems
involved in the old Aurignacian complex, the discovery of the Cave of
Lascaux- to name a few in Western
Europe only, it makesone appreciateall
the more the true merits of the first
edition that the present version could
be produced with so little change. For
this reason one should perhaps praise
the original work as it was first published in 1933; as the author himself
states in his 1949preface, "the foundations of the subject had been well and
truly laid [sixteen years ago] therefore
little change has really been necessary."
In any case, a consciouseffort has been
made to bring the book up to date,
insofar as possible,without completely
rewriting the text. And for the wouldbe student who wishes to go more
deeply into the subject, a select bibliography (pages 243-246) is included.
Chapters hi and iv, in which Burkitt discusses the various forms of
stone tools and the various methods
employed in their manufacture, is one
of the really great contributionsto this
subject available in the English language. But how far afield prehistoric
archaeologists in general can go on
this score! The fact that we are studying only the imperishable remains of
the material culture of small groups of
hunting peoples- in many cases living
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under the conditions of a rigorous
and exacting environment- is very
often completely lost sight of. Indeed many workers seem to feel that
having arranged their material in an
orderly typological fashion, described
it on the basis of the acceptedterminology, and made appropriate comparisons with analogous assemblages in
the same or adjacent regions, the job
is done. For those who would carry
their research on the problems pertaining to the origin and development of
Palaeolithic cultures no further than
this point, Burkitt (pages 11-12) cautions that "it is necessary to take into
account not only the various industries
which occur but also any other factor,
such as art, burial customs, etc., which
help us to discoveranything of the life
and minds of the people themselves."
Indeed it is the latter which we are
studying in the final analysis, and not
the details of the flaking technique
employedin the manufacture of a given
type of stone artifact.
After stressingthe importanceof the
appearance of the Upper Palaeolithic
blade technique (Chapter IX), and its
obvious dissimilarity from the flake
industrieswhich precededit, the author
passes on to a consideration of Stone
Age art. The four chapters (pages
158-228) devoted to this subject- The
Home Art (X), The Cave Art (XI),
Motivesunderlying the Art (XII), and
Rock-Shelter Art in Eastern Spain
(XIII) - may truly be regarded as the
high-water mark of the book. Furthermore, this section constitutes the best
statement of the subject as a whole,
in all its various ramifications,that has
ever been published.In fact this part of
the text is so good that one can almost
overlooksome of the inaccuraciesin the
book, among which can be enumerated:
(a) the general view expounded on
pages 106-107 that most present-day
workers accept "eoliths" as affording
incontestableproof of the existenceof
Pre-Pleistoceneman, (b) the author's
failure to extend the limits of distribution of the Acheulian (Fig. 13, page
118) to include the regions bordering
the eastern end of the Black Sea, and
(c) the statement that the industry associated with Sinanthropus at Choukoutien: Locality 1 is "essentially of

BOOKS
the flake, not core, variety" (Footnote
1, page 19) when in point of fact choppers and chopping-toolsmade on pebbles (core tools) abound at the site.
But, since the book only contains 242
pages of text and is primarily intended
to present a summary of the classic
West European sequence,it is perhaps
asking too much of the author to attempt to cover the Palaeolithiccultures
of the entire Old World. Some day it
is hoped that the latter will be attempted.
In the meantime, Burkitt's second
edition of "The Old Stone Age" is to
be regarded as the best and most up-todate general work on the subject that
is available for use by English-speaking
first-year students of Palaeolithic archaeology. The Cambridge University
Press is to be congratulated for publishing it, and for the excellenceof its
format.
Hallam L. Movius, Jr.
Peabody Museum, Harvard University
Vom Verhältnis der Romer zur Bildenden Kunstder Griechen,by Hans Jucker.
185 pages. Klostermann, Frankfurt am
Main 1950 12.50 DM.
The Germans are certainly making a
"come-back"in scholarship and publications. Here is a learned and excellent
book, which is practically a dissertation
presentedat the Universityof Zürich in
1946. It is an important monograph,
despite the lack of illustrations and the
many misprints, on the use which the
Romans made of Greek Art. It is documented in detail with countless references to ancient and modern literature;
one of the best books on the subject. It
should be translated into English and
made available to every teacher of
Latin, Art, and Ancient History. As
Vergil in Aeneid 6. 847 ff. says, the
Romans must go to the Greeks for their
bronze and marble statues, while they
give their attention to ruling and establishing peace and putting down the
proud:
excudent alii spirantia mollius aera,
credo equidem, vivos ducent de
mármore vultus.
This is a statement which has often
been forgotten, but Professor Jucker
ARCHAEOLOGY

Archaeology Magazine - December 1950

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - December 1950