The study of origins may undoubtedly be regarded as the most striking characteristic of recent archaeological research. There is a peculiar fascination in tracking any highly developed civilization to its source and watching its growth from the rude and tentative efforts of primitive people to the more elaborate achievements of a later day. Furthermore, we can now explain the ancient history of the three principal civilizations of the ancient world because of recent excavations. The origins of Greek civilization may now be traced beyond the Mycenaean epoch, through the different stages of Aegean culture back into the Neolithic age. In Egypt, excavations have not only yielded remains of the early dynastic kings who lived before the pyramid-builders, but they have revealed the existence of Neolithic Egyptians dating from a period long anterior to the earliest written records that have been recovered. Finally, excavations in Mesopotamia have enabled us to trace the civilization of Assyria and Sumeria back to an earlier and more primitive race, which in the remote past occupied the lower plains of the Tigris and Euphrates. In contrast, the more recent digging in Persia and Turkestan has thrown light upon other primitive inhabitants of Western Asia and has raised problems concerning their cultural connections with the West, which were undreamed a few years ago.
