in South Africa, nor is it possible to determine with any degree of accuracy whether he has lived in this part of the world as long as in Europe, though the most primitive of stone implements, the one which Professor Sollas has named the boucher, is found in abundance here, and indeed all over Africa, as well as there.[1] By the word man is meant a being capable of communicating his thoughts by speech, understanding the use of fire, and able to make implements, however crude, of wood or stone. That such a being roamed over South Africa from an exceedingly remote period is absolutely certain from the situations in which many of his implements are found, and the crust termed the patina which has formed upon them.
The ancient mounds of shells along the seacoast are usually regarded as furnishing one proof of this fact. The first of these that was examined carefully was a heap formerly to be seen in a cave at Mossel Bay, which was for some years regarded as a curiosity more than as a record of the existence there of man at some distant period. It was even held by some amateur investigators that the shells had been brought there by seabirds. More recently many other mounds have been discovered, among them one on the left
- ↑ This implement was at first made of oval or egg-shaped water-worn stone of any size from six or seven to nine or ten centimetres in diameter, by striking or chipping off one side diagonally, so as to produce a cutting edge. The round end opposite the edge could then be held in the hand, when the stone could be used as a cleaver or hacker, possibly as a weapon of offence or defence, or for various other purposes, such as extracting bulbs from the ground, cutting notches in trees to assist in climbing, or breaking into beehives. Very little skill was required to form such an implement, which it is generally believed was the first and for a very long period the only tool for every purpose used by man. It is found in all parts of the habitable world except Australia. Professor Sollas named it the boucher after Boucher de Perthes, who was the first to call attention to the implement. In course of time it was improved until it assumed the shape of an almond, and the best specimens were trimmed by chipping on both sides. At this stage it was frequently made of a piece of stone broken off a rock.
