years ago.

From that moment on man left behind him concrete evidence of his
existence in the form of tools and arms and pictures and in a general
way we can say that history begins when the last cold period had become
a thing of the past.

The endless struggle for life had taught the survivors many things.

Stone and wooden implements had become as common as steel tools are in
our own days.

Gradually the rudely chipped flint axe had been replaced by one of
polished flint which was infinitely more practical. It allowed man to
attack many animals at whose mercy he had been since the beginning
of time.

The mammoth was no longer seen.

The musk-ox had retreated to the polar circle.

The tiger had left Europe for good.

The cave-bear no longer ate little children.

The powerful brain of the weakest and most helpless of all living
creatures--Man--had devised such terrible instruments of destruction
that he was now the master of all the other animals.

The first great victory over Nature had been gained but many others were