Europe: A History Read Free Page B

fertile valleys. In the west and south, livestock can winter in the open. Local conditions frequently encouraged special adaptations. The extensive coastline, combined with the broad Continental Shelf, gave fishermen rich rewards. The open plains, especially of the Danube Basin, preserved the nomadic horse-rearing and cattle-driving of the Eurasian steppes. In the Alps—which take their name from the high pastures above the tret-line—transhumance has been practised from an early date.
    Europe’s climate was probably also responsible for the prevalent skin-colour of its human fauna. Moderate levels of sunshine, and hence of ultra-violet radiation, meant that moderate levels of pigmentation came to be encoded in the Peninsula’s gene pool. Certainly, in historic times pale faces have predominated, together with blond or golden hair and blue eyes in the northern regions. The great majority of Europeans and their descendants can be easily recognized as such from their looks.
    Until recently, of course, it was impossible to take anything but the most superficial racial factors into consideration. The analysis of blood groups, bodytissues, and DNA imprints, for example, was unknown until the late twentieth century; and it was not realized just how much genetic material all human beings have in common. As a result, racial theorists were apt to draw conclusions from external criteria such as skin colour, stature, or skull form. In reality, the racial make-up of Europe’s population has always displayed considerable variety. The tall, blue-eyed, fair-skinned, platinum blonds of the so-called ‘Nordic race’ which established itself in Scandinavia forms the only group remotely qualified for the label of ‘white’. They bore little resemblance to the squat, brown-eyed, swarthy-skinned and black-haired people of the so-called ‘Mediterranean’ or ‘Indo-Mediterranean Race’ which dominated large parts of the south. Between the two extremes there were numerous gradations. Most of the Peninsula’s population can be clearly distinguished from the Mongoloid, Indoid, and Negroid races, but not from other groups predominating in the Near East and North Africa.
    Some of the most promising advances in the field of prehistory are now being made through modern genetic research. The refinement of serology, the discovery of DNA (1953), and the subsequent operation of mapping the 3,000 million ‘letters’ on human genes permit investigations of a very sophisticated nature. The correlation of genetic and linguistic records now suggests that the patterns of biological and cultural evolution may be closer than imagined. Recent studies show that the movement of genetic material into prehistoric Europe corresponded with parallel cultural trends. ‘Genes, peoples, and languages have … diverged in tandem,’ writes a leading scholar. 3 Local studies show that isolated cultural communities, such as the non-Indo-European Basques, possess recognizable genetic traces of their own. There are no general conclusions. But the study of Europe’s genetic inheritance, once a pseudo-science, is now a respectable pursuit. At last, ‘we are beginning to read the messages left to us by distant ancestors’. 4 [CAUCA-SIA] [TAMMUZ]
    From the psychological point of view, the Peninsula presented early man with a stimulating blend of opportunity and challenge. It created a degree of stress that demanded enterprise but was still manageable. Life was hard but rewarding. Seasonal rhythms fostered activities which required routine and foresight. The changeable weather stimulated flexibility. There were plenty of natural hazards to be overcome—ocean gales, winter snows, summer droughts, and disease; yet the prospects for health and survival were good. One may surmise that the primitive settlers of prehistoric Europe felt less at risk than their descendants on the eastern seaboard of North America several millennia later.
    It would be rash to state that the