Section 3. The Middle Stone Age
Remains of Middle Stone Age man in caverns Unable to build himself a shelter from the cold, the hunter took refuge in the limestone caves, where he and his descendants continued to live for thousands of years, during the next or "Middle Stone Age."
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| Fig. 2. Selection of Flint Tools of Middle Stone Age Man |
These tools are not only more highly varied than man possessed before (see Fig. I) but they are much more finely finished, especially along the edges, where you can see that tiny flakes have been chipped off in a long row, producing a sharp cutting edge. Many thousands of years elapsed from the time of Fig. I to that of Fig. 2 |
Archaeologists now find in the caverns of France, Spain, and Italy numerous objects used by these cave men during their long sojourn in the caverns. Rubbish, once even as much as forty feet deep, accumulated on the cavern floor, as century after century the sand and earth blew in, and fragments of rock fell from the ceiling. To-day we find among all this also many layers of ashes and charcoal from the cave dwellers' fire, besides numerous tools, weapons, and implements which he used. These things disclose, step after step, his slow progress and show us that man had now left the old fist-hatchet far behind and become a real craftsman.
