settlers? That the new environment was harsh enough to stamp it out promptly is beyond belief. The idea that all initial cultures were uniformly simple at the first dispersion over the New World is equally unsatisfactory. No doubt part of our trouble arises from the fact that we are best acquainted with the centers of lower cultures. When we have fuller knowledge of Mexico and the Andean region, it may be expected that different underlying cultures will come to light. It is impossible to guess what insight will thus be gained into the early history of the Americas, though it is a fair assumption that even the earlier cultures of these higher centers will possess individuality comparable to other areas.
On the other hand, we have everywhere encountered evidences of fundamental unity of origin, in both culture and somatic types. The basic elements of culture in the area of most intense development have their fading parallels as we go outward, and the somatic grouping shows, also, unmistakable evidences of expansion from a single ancestral stock. This may account for the close correspondences we have observed between archæological and historic classifications, for, in contrast to Europe and western Asia, there were no sudden eruptions of new races until the white occupation of the New World, whereas in the former, we find evidences of many such successive invasions.[1] It is fair to assume that, had the road from Asia to America been broad, direct, and open, we should find here a complex archæological condition quite comparable to that of the Old World, for then wave after wave of new peoples and cultures would have poured into America as they did into Europe.
THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT
We are now prepared to take a closer view of the controlling factors in the formation of these geographical types of man and his works. It is natural to suspect the environment to be one of these, since the fauna and flora of a locality are certain to leave their stamps upon many traits of culture. From the very first, we saw how the location of food areas laid down the general lines of culture grouping. One striking character-
- ↑ Haddon, 1911. I.
