THE EARLY CAVE-MEN

Industrial and Social History Series

By KATHARINE ELIZABETH DOPP, Ph. D.
The Extension Division of The University of Chicago. Author of “The Place of Industries in Elementary Education”

Book I. THE TREE-DWELLERS. THE AGE OF FEAR. Illustrated with a map, 14 full-page and 46 text drawings in half-tone by Howard V. Brown. Cloth. Square 12mo. 158 pages; 45 cents.
For the primary grades.

Book II. THE EARLY CAVE-MEN. THE AGE OF COMBAT. Illustrated with a map, 17 full-page and 68 text drawings in half-tone by Howard V. Brown. Cloth. Square 12mo. 183 pages; 45 cents.
For the primary grades.

Book III. THE LATER CAVE-MEN. THE AGE OF THE CHASE. Illustrated with 27 full-page and 87 text drawings in half-tone by Howard V. Brown. Cloth. Square 12mo. 197 pages; 45 cents.
For the primary grades.

Book IV. THE EARLY SEA PEOPLE. FIRST STEPS IN THE CONQUEST OF THE WATERS. Illustrated with 21 full-page and 110 text drawings in half-tone by Howard V. Brown and Kyohei Inukai. Cloth. Square 12mo. 224 pages; 50 cents.
For the intermediate grades.

Other volumes, dealing with the early development of pastoral and
agricultural life, the age of metals, travel, trade,
and transportation, will follow.

A map of the Cave-men’s country, showing the relative position of the geographical features referred to in this book

THE
EARLY CAVE-MEN

KATHARINE ELIZABETH DOPP
Lecturer in Education
In the Extension Division of the
University of Chicago
RAND M^cNALLY & COMPANY
CHICAGO NEW YORK LONDON

Copyright, 1904
By Katharine Elizabeth Dopp
Entered at Stationers’ Hall
The Rand-McNally Press
Chicago

TO
Dan, Dorothy, Harold, and Jamie
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK

PREFACE

THE series, of which this is the second volume, is an attempt to meet a need that has been felt for several years by parents and physicians, as well as by teachers, supervisors, and others who are actively interested in educational and social progress. The need of practical activity, which for long ages constituted the entire education of mankind, is at last recognized by the elementary school. It has been introduced in many places and already results have been attained which demonstrate that it is possible to introduce practical activity in such a way as to afford the child a sound development—physically, intellectually, and morally—and at the same time equip him for efficient social service. The question that is perplexing educators at the present time is, therefore, not one regarding the value of practical activity, but rather one of ways and means by which practical activity can be harnessed to the educational work.

The discovery of the fact that steam is a force that can do work had to await the invention of machinery by means of which to apply the new force to industrial processes. The use of practical activity will likewise necessitate many changes in the educational machinery before its richest results are realized. Yet the conditions that attend the introduction of practical activity as a motive power in education are very different from those that attended the introduction of the use of steam. In the case of steam the problem was that of applying a new force to an old work. In the case of practical activity it is a question of restoring a factor which, from the earliest times until within the last two or three decades, has operated as a permanent educational force.

The situation that has recently deprived the child of the opportunity to participate in industrial processes is due, as is well known, to the rapid development of our industrial system. Since the removal of industrial processes from the home the public has awakened to the fact that the child is being deprived of one of the most potent educational influences, and efforts have already been made to restore the educational factor that was in danger of being lost. This is the significance of the educational movement at the present time.

As long as a simple organization of society prevailed, the school was not called upon to take up the practical work; but now society has become so complex that the use of practical activity is absolutely essential. Society to-day makes a greater demand than ever before upon each and all of its members for special skill and knowledge, as well as for breadth of view. These demands can be met only by such an improvement in educational facilities as corresponds to the increase in the social demand. Evidently the school must lay hold of all of the educational forces within its reach.

In the transitional movement it is not strange that new factors are being introduced without relation to the educational process as a whole. The isolation of manual training, sewing, and cooking from the physical, natural, and social sciences is justifiable only on the ground that the means of establishing more organic relations are not yet available. To continue such isolated activities after a way is found of harnessing them to the educational work is as foolish as to allow steam to expend itself in moving a locomotive up and down the tracks without regard to the destiny of the detached train.

This series is an attempt to facilitate the transitional movement in education which is now taking place by presenting educative materials in a form sufficiently flexible to be readily adapted to the needs of the school that has not yet been equipped for manual training, as well as to the needs of the one that has long recognized practical activity as an essential factor in its work. Since the experience of the race in industrial and social processes embodies, better than any other experiences of mankind, those things which at the same time appeal to the whole nature of the child and furnish him the means of interpreting the complex processes about him, this experience has been made the groundwork of the present series.

In order to gain cumulative results of value in explaining our own institutions, the materials used have been selected from the life of Aryan peoples. That we are not yet in possession of all the facts regarding the life of the early Aryans is not considered a sufficient reason for withholding from the child those facts that we have when they can be adapted to his use. Information regarding the early stages of Aryan life is meager. Enough has been established, however, to enable us to mark out the main lines of progress through the hunting, the fishing, the pastoral, and the agricultural stages, as well as to present the chief problems that confronted man in taking the first steps in the use of metals, and in the establishment of trade. Upon these lines, marked out by the geologist, the paleontologist, the archæologist, and the anthropologist, the first numbers of this series are based.

A generalized view of the main steps in the early progress of the race, which it is thus possible to present, is all that is required for educational ends. Were it possible to present the subject in detail, it would be tedious and unprofitable to all save the specialist. To select from the monotony of the ages that which is most vital, to so present it as to enable the child to participate in the process by which the race has advanced, is a work more in keeping with the spirit of the age. To this end the presentation of the subject is made: First, by means of questions, which serve to develop the habit of making use of experience in new situations; second, by narrative, which is employed merely as a literary device for rendering the subject more available to the child; and third, by suggestions for practical activities that may be carried out in hours of work or play, in such a way as to direct into useful channels energy which when left undirected is apt to express itself in trivial if not in anti-social forms. No part of a book is more significant to the child than the illustrations. In preparing the illustrations for this series as great pains have been taken to furnish the child with ideas that will guide him in his practical activities as to illustrate the text itself.

Mr. Howard V. Brown, the artist who executed the drawings, has been aided in his search for authentic originals by the late J. W. Powell, director of the United States Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, D. C.; by Frederick J. V. Skiff, director of the Field Columbian Museum, Chicago, and by the author. Ethnological collections and the best illustrative works on ethnological subjects scattered throughout the country have been carefully searched for material.

I wish to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Professor Dewey for the suggestions he has given me with reference to this series, and to acknowledge that without the inspiration that has come through his teaching I should probably never have undertaken a work of this kind. Among the many friends to whom I am indebted for help and inspiration, I would mention especially, Professor W. I. Thomas and Professor Ella Flagg Young, of the University of Chicago; Superintendent F. A. Manny, of the Ethical Culture Schools, New York City; Mrs. Charlotte W. Williams, of Chicago; my sister, Miss Elspa M. Dopp, of the State Normal School, St. Cloud, Minn.; and Mr. W. W. Charters, of the University of Chicago. To the late Director J. W. Powell, of the United States Bureau of Ethnology, and to Director Frederick J. V. Skiff, of the Field Columbian Museum, Chicago, I am under obligations for courtesies extended which have enabled me to gain access to illustrative materials. For the practical proof that work of this kind is feasible, and that it supplies a genuine need in elementary education, I am indebted to the hearty coöperation of students and fellow-teachers of several states.

K. E. D.

February 1, 1904.

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

“They wished they might have his cave for a home”

THE EARLY CAVE-MEN
THE AGE OF COMBAT

I

Why People Wanted to Live in Caves

Did you know that people once lived in caves?

Perhaps you would like to know how it happened.

Long before people lived in caves they lived in the largest trees they could find.

This was before they had learned to use fire.

But after a while they learned to use fire, and they no longer feared to make homes on the ground.

They built brush huts of the rudest kind.

They lived in these huts for many years.

For a long time it was warm on the wooded hills, but after a while it began to grow cold.

The ground was covered with snow and ice.

Cold winds swept over the wooded hills.

Snow beat into the rude brush huts, and cold winds whistled through the branches.

People shivered with the winter’s cold.

They needed a warmer shelter, but they did not know how to make one.

Many of them had been in caves, but they did not dare stay very long.

A cave-bear

Some caves were the homes of big cave-bears, others the dens of hyenas.

Sabre-tooth also lived in a cave.

People knew that these animals were dangerous creatures.

Many a time they had barely escaped from the claws of a cave-bear.

Many a time they had been chased by a pack of hyenas.

They did not want to enrage these creatures.

Sabre-tooth

Least of all did they want to enrage old Sabre-tooth.

He was the fiercest creature on the hills.

When he came out of his cave the forest was still.

Scarcely an animal dared stir.

Even the rhinoceros and mammoth feared to attack him.

He was as sly as a cat and as powerful as a rhinoceros.

He had two sabre teeth that were sharp and strong.

No such animal as Sabre-tooth lives now.

There were only a few animals like him then, but they were more feared than any other creature.

He was something like a lion and something like a tiger, but he was more powerful than either.

He did not like to live in the cold, so each winter he went to the south.

Each summer he came back again.

How glad every one was to see him go!

How they hoped he would never return!

How they wished they might have his cave for a home!

THINGS TO DO

Model the wooded hills in your sand box. Make a brush hut to show where the people lived. Show where the caves are.

Tear from paper the animals that lived in caves.

Plan a way of getting a cave for a home.

II

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

What happens to the trees and plants just before winter?

What do the animals that you know do before the winter comes?

Do you know what people do to get ready for winter?

How the Fire Clan Got a Cave

Summer was almost gone.

The oak and the birch trees were dropping their leaves, and all the plants were showing signs of the frost.

“Sabre-tooth was going away”

The wild animals were getting ready for winter.

Some of them were crawling into their holes.

Others were starting for the south.

The fire clan hoped that in a few days Sabre-tooth would go.

They wanted his cave for the winter, so they kept watch of all that he did.

They knew that he slept in his cave all the day and seldom left it except at night.

One morning Strongarm saw him come out of the cave and start off toward the south.

He believed that Sabre-tooth was going away, so he hurried and told his people.

How glad they were to hear such news!

How excited they were as they took their firebrands and followed Strongarm to the cave!

When they reached the cave they paused a moment, while Strongarm crept in through the mouth.

When he was sure that it was safe for them to follow, he beckoned to them with his hand.

One by one they crept through the mouth of the cave, their firebrands lighting the dark way.

It seemed strange to be in such a dark place, but they knew that it was safe and warm.

They all wanted to keep it for a home, but they knew that wild animals would try to get it.

So the women gathered armfuls of branches and started a fire just outside the mouth.

As the fire began to flame up toward the sky, the men gathered around and watched it blaze.

The children played beside the fire or watched their mothers gather branches.

All the people were near the fire when, suddenly, they were startled by a shriek of terror.

Mothers clasped their children to their breasts, and fathers grasped their knives to be ready to fight.

All eyes were soon fixed upon Firekeeper.

“She stood trembling so that she could hardly speak”

She stood trembling so that she could hardly speak, but she pointed toward a thicket.

The men stepped cautiously toward it, but Firekeeper pulled them back.

Then she told them what she had seen.

It was Sabre-tooth trying to come back to the cave.

When the fire clan heard this, they were filled with terror.

They huddled around the fire.

Nobody knew what to do.

Yet everybody knew that something must be done, for their lives were not safe as long as Sabre-tooth was near.

THINGS TO DO

Show how the Cave-men kept watch of the caves of the wild animals.

Show how Strongarm led the fire clan into Sabre-tooth’s cave.

Draw a picture of the people marching to the cave.

Show how the women broke branches of wood and carried them to the fire.

Draw a picture of the women and children gathering wood for the fire.

III

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

How do you think the fire clan will spend the first evening in the cave?

Who will be apt to keep watch that night?

The First Night in the Cave

At sunset the children were nodding their heads and soon were fast asleep.

The women tended the fire while the men sat around and talked.

All the beasts of prey were out for the night.

Sometimes the fire clan could see their shadows in the open spaces near the cave.

Then they were glad that they had fire.

But they knew that they would have trouble as long as Sabre-tooth was near.

So they began to plan ways of getting rid of him.

They did not dare risk an open fight with such weapons as they had, so they tried to invent a new way.

They planned a long time, but they could not decide what to do.

At length all but Firekeeper crept into the cave, where they were soon asleep upon the rough floor.

Firekeeper carrying wood with a strap

Firekeeper stayed beside the fire and kept watch all alone.

She was the oldest woman of the clan, and people said that she was the daughter of the fire.

She always kept it burning.

As she tended the fire through the long night she heard all sorts of sounds.

Once a big cave-bear passed close to the cave, but he sniffed and ran when he saw the fire.

Then a pack of hyenas crept up toward the cave.

They seemed to be looking for a safe place to rest.

But as soon as they saw the fire they ran.

Other animals, too, ran when they saw the fire.

Firekeeper was not afraid when she was near the fire, but it seemed that the long night would never end.

When at last the sky became red in the east, she knew that morning was coming again.

At the break of day all the people awoke.

It was only a few minutes before they were ready to take up the work of another day.

THINGS TO DO

Show how the children fell asleep. Draw a picture of them.

Show how the cave-bear acted when he saw the fire. Draw the picture.

Show how Firekeeper kept watch during the night. Draw a picture of her as she was keeping watch.

Get up early some morning and watch the sun rise. Paint a picture of a sunrise.

IV

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Do you know what kind of weapons the fire clan had at this time?

Why would it not be safe for the fire clan to attack Sabre-tooth with such weapons?

What kinds of weapons can you make of stones and sticks?

What do you think the fire clan will do to get rid of Sabre-tooth?

Do you think that the fire clan ate three meals together each day as we do?

How the Fire Clan Got Rid of Sabre-tooth

As soon as the sun was up, messengers started from the cave to ask the people on the hills for help.

Nobody stopped to eat breakfast.

The Cave-men never ate breakfast together.

Each ate by himself such food as he could find.

Everybody was watching for Sabre-tooth.

Soon Sharpeyes saw him crawl into a thicket, where he laid himself down and went to sleep.

A flint point

Then the messengers returned with the people from the hills.

They went to the thicket to see Sabre-tooth, but they did not dare attack him.

Opposite side of flint point

They had learned to put handles on their flint points, so as to make good hunting-knives.

But the handles were short, and it was not safe to attack Sabre-tooth with such weapons.

Their axes and hammers were larger and stronger, but they were afraid to use them now.

While they were all wondering what to do, Strongarm went to look at Sabre-tooth again.

A hunting-knife

The creature had feasted all night long and was sleeping heavily.

He was lying just under a strong spreading branch of an old oak.

When Strongarm noticed this his eyes brightened.

He motioned to an old man to come to him.

After a few minutes they went back to the other men.

All crowded around, for they felt sure that Strongarm had thought of a new plan.

Then Strongarm showed the people what he wanted them to do.

Everybody was eager to help.

The women brought out all the skins that they had.

Strongarm laid the strongest skin aside and told the women to cut the others into straps.

Some of the men began to work upon large flint points.

Others cut a tough branch of oak and made it into a large shaft.

When all had finished their work, they brought what they had to Strongarm.

He selected the largest and strongest flint point and bound it to the end of the shaft.

He folded the skin so as to make a bag.

Then he tied the skin bag to the shaft.

The boys brought stones to fill the bag and laid them on the ground.

Everything was now ready, so Strongarm took the new weapon over his shoulder and climbed into the oak tree.

Others followed with stones and straps.

Strongarm quickly fastened the upper end of the shaft to the spreading branch of the oak.

Then he carefully filled the skin bag with stones and let the weighted spear hang over Sabre-tooth.

He motioned to the men to go back to the cave, and was soon all alone with Sabre-tooth.

He did not stop to think what might happen.

He grasped his stone knife and began to cut the heavy strap.

When he had cut almost through the strap, it snapped.

“The spear fell with its heavy weight”

The spear fell with its heavy weight and pinned Sabre-tooth to the ground.

Sabre-tooth made one desperate effort to escape.

Then he lay perfectly still on the ground.

How thankful the Cave-men were!

They had one less creature to fear.

They now felt that they would be able to keep the cave for a home.

THINGS TO DO

Notice how gracefully the cat moves. Notice how it gets ready to spring.

Think of an animal many times larger than the cat and see if you can model Sabre-tooth in clay.

See if you can find good stones for hunting-knives and spears.

Name a tool or a machine that you have seen in which a weight is used.

Draw a picture of it.

V

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

What do you think the Cave-men will do with Sabre-tooth’s skin?

What will they do with his teeth and claws?

What will they do with his flesh?

Can you think of what they might do with the bones?

How do you think they learned to cook food?

Preparations for the Feast

How excited all the people on the hills were when they knew that Sabre-tooth had been killed!

Everybody wanted to see him.

Young and old crowded around to see the monster as he lay stretched out on the ground.

They gazed at the creature in silence.

They admired his rich tawny stripes.

Not a man on the hills had ever before been able to get such a skin.

They all wished that they might have it, but they knew that it belonged to Strongarm.

They examined the two large sabre teeth.

They felt of the smaller teeth and claws.

At length the men began to quarrel about the trophies, but Strongarm waved them back.

He claimed one sabre tooth for himself and allowed the other to go to the brave old man.

When Strongarm spoke the men kept silent, for they knew that the trophies belonged to the bravest men.

The two large sabre teeth

But they were given a share in the smaller teeth and claws.