The Old Stone Age

Abstract

It is in many senses true to say that less happens in the Old Stone Age, for all its vast length, than in any of the other major periods of prehistory. There are many reasons for this, of which the most obvious is the low level of man’s intellect and ability at this stage of human development. This should not only be thought of in terms of his having a small or inefficient brain; limbs and hands too were probably clumsy enough in the earliest stages to inhibit cultural advance, just as much as lack of inventiveness. And the deficiencies in the diet of primitive hand-to-mouth hunters and gatherers, who knew nothing for example of bread, were a constant brake on physical and mental development.