Article April 30, 1990 Issue

Intelligence

Does intelligence vary from person to person, country to country, and century to century? Or is it infinite, universal, eternal?

Bryan G. Pope

I Almost missed it. When filling a flowerpot to plant an ornamental tree, I picked out a small stone and nearly threw it to one side. Somehow the feel of the stone made me look at it more closely. I was amazed to find it was a flint arrowhead.

My first thought was, Who lost it? Some ancient, skin-clad hunter thousands of years ago? Was he creeping round the then local marshes, looking for his supper? Did he miss his quarry and lose his arrow? Or was there an ancient camp in the area, and were some of the tools left behind when the people moved on?

Then I began to notice the detail of the arrowhead, knapped so skillfully into shape and done with only another flint for a tool. I would have no idea how to begin. How did its maker hold the flint steady? The more one looked at it, the more one appreciated the intelligence and skill applied to the task by that local inhabitant of so long ago. He cleverly used what was at hand. Modern man does the same—with the same intelligence.

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