Chapter VI: The Neolithic Age in Europe.1

Close of the first cycle—Neolithic culture connected with the
present—No links between the two ages—Long lapse of time between
the two ages—Swiss lake villages—This form of villages widely
scattered—Irish cranogs—Fortified villages—Implements and weapons
of Neolithic times—Possessed of pottery—Neolithic
agriculture—Possessed of domestic animals—Danish shell-heaps—
Importance of flint—The art of navigation—Neolithic clothing—
Their modes of burial—The question of race—Possible remnants—
Connection with the Turanian race—Arrival of the Celts.

In the preceding chapters we have sought to learn what we could
of the Paleolithic Age. We have seen what strange people and
animals occupied the land, and have caught some glimpses of a
past that has been recovered to us out of the very night of time.
From under the ashes of Vesuvius archæologists have brought to
light an ancient city. We gaze on it with great interest, for we
there see illustrated the state of society two thousand years
ago. But other cities of that time are still in existence, and
not only by the aid of tradition and song, but from the pages of
history, we can learn of the civilization of the Roman people at
the time of the destruction of Pompei; so that, in this case, our
knowledge of the past is not confined to one source of
information. But no voice of history or tradition, or of existing
institutions, speaks to us of the Paleolithic Age. Of that remote
time, the morning time of human life, we learn only from the
labors of geologists and archæologists. We are virtually dealing
with a past geological age. The long term of years thus defined
drew to its close amidst scenes of almost Arctic sterility. In
all probability, glaciers reflected the sun’s rays from all the
considerable hills and mountains of Central and Northern Europe,
though forming, perhaps, but a remnant of the great glaciers of
the Ice Age. The neighboring seas must have been whitened by the
glistening sails of numerous icebergs. Such was the closing scene
of Paleolithic life.

The first great cycle of human life, as far as we know it now,
was concluded in Europe. We do not mean to say that it terminated
all over the world. In other regions it survived to far later
times. But, in Europe, Paleolithic animals and men had worked out
their mission, and we have now to record the arrival and spread
of a new race, bringing with them domestic animals, a knowledge
of rude husbandry, and many simple arts and industries of which
their Paleolithic predecessors were ignorant.

We recall, that the men of the Paleolithic Age seemed incapable
of advancement;2 or their progress was so slow that we scarcely
notice it. But we can trace the lines of advancement from the
Neolithic culture to that of the present. We have, however, to
deal with people and times far removed from the light of history.

We have before us, then, a new culture and a new people. On the
one hand is Paleolithic man, with his rude stone implements,
merely chipped into shape—surrounded by many animals which have
since vanished from the theater of life—inhabiting a country
which, at its close at least, was more like Greenland of to-day
than England or France. The scene completely changes, when the
misty curtain of the past again rises and allows us to continue
our investigations into primitive times.

We would naturally expect to find everywhere, connecting links
between these two ages—the culture of the one gradually changing
into the culture of the other. This, however, is not the case.
The line of demarkation between the ages is everywhere plainly
drawn; and, furthermore, we are learning that a very long time
elapsed between the departure, or disappearance, of the
Paleolithic tribes, and the arrival of their Neolithic
successors. This is shown in a great many ways, and we will
notice some of them. We learn that Neolithic man occasionally
used caves as a place of habitation. In such cases there is
nearly always a thick layer of stalagmite between the strata
containing the Paleolithic implements and the Neolithic strata
—though this stalagmite is unmistakable evidence of the lapse of
many years, we can not determine how many, as we do not know the
rate of formation.

This lapse of time is shown very plainly when we come to consider
the changes wrought in the surface features of the country by the
action of running water. We know that rain, running water, and
frost, constituting what we call denuding forces, are constantly
at work changing the surface of a country. We know that, in
general, this change is slow. But great changes have been wrought
between these two ages.

In the British Islands, we know that the rivers had time to very
materially change the surface features of the land. The important
rivers of Scotland had carved out channels one hundred feet deep
in places; and along their courses, especially near their mouths,
had plowed out and removed great quantities of glacial
material—forming broad flats which became densely wooded before
Neolithic man made his appearance on the scene. In some cases the
entire surface of the land had been removed, leaving only knolls
and hills of the old land surface. Examples of this occur on the
east coast of England, and in what is known as the Fen-lands. The
final retreat of the glaciers must have left the country covered
with _débris._ After this had been largely denuded, the country
became densely wooded. It was not until these changes had taken
place, that Neolithic man wandered into Europe.3

But still another ground exists for claiming a long interval
between these two ages, namely, the great changes that took place
in the animal world of Europe during these two epochs. Many
different species of animals characteristic of the Paleolithic
Age vanished as completely from Europe as the rude tribes that
hunted them, before the appearance of Neolithic tribes. But
little change in the fauna of England has taken place in the last
two thousand years. So it is obvious that the great change
above-mentioned demands many centuries for its accomplishment.
Huge animals of the elephant kind, such as the mammoth, no longer
crashed through the underbrush, or wallowed in the lakes. The
roars of lions and tigers, that haunted the caves of early
Europe, were no longer heard.4 In short, there had disappeared
forever from Europe the distinctly southern animals that
diversified the fauna of Paleolithic times. Even the Arctic
animals were banished to northern latitudes, or mountain heights.

We have dwelt to some length on the proofs of a long-extended
time between these two ages. The more we reflect on these
instances the more impressed are we with a sense of duration vast
and profound, in which the great forests and grassy plains of
Europe supported herds of wild animals all unvexed by the
presence of man. We will only mention one more point and then
pass on.

We have seen that the highest rank we can assign to Paleolithic
man in the scale of civilization is Upper Savagism. But when
Neolithic man appeared, he was in the middle status of Barbarism.
The time, therefore, between the disappearance of Paleolithic man
and the arrival of Neolithic man was long enough to enable
primitive man to pass one entire ethnical period, that of Lower
Barbarism. But this requires a very long period of time, probably
several times as long as the entire series of years since
Civilization first appeared, which is supposed to be in the
neighborhood of five thousand years ago.5

We must now turn our attention to Neolithic man himself and learn
what we can of his culture, and discover, if possible, what race
it was that spread over Europe after it had been for so long a
time an uninhabitable country. A few remarks by way of
introduction will not be considered amiss.

We are learning that tribal organization, implying communism in
living, is characteristic of prehistoric people.6 Tribal
organization sufficed to advance man to the very confines of
civilization. We have no doubt but that this was the state of
society amongst the Neolithic people. But this implies living in
communities or villages. We need not picture to ourselves a
country dotted with houses, the abodes of single families; such
did not exist, but here and there were fortified villages.

Still another consequence follows from this tribal state of
society. There was no such thing as a strong central government.
Each tribe obeyed its own chief, and a state of war nearly always
existed between different tribes. Such we know was the state of
things among the Indian tribes of America. Travelers tell us that
it is so to-day in Africa. Each tribe stood ready to defend
itself or to make war on its neighbors. One great point,
therefore, in constructing a village, was to secure a place that
could be easily defended.

Bearing these principles in mind, let us see what we can learn of
their habitations. Owing to a protracted drouth, the water in the
Swiss lakes was unusually low in the Winter of 1854, and the
inhabitants of Meilen, on the Lake Zürich, took advantage of this
state of affairs to throw up embankments some distance out from
the old shore, and thus gain a strip of land along the coast. In
carrying out this design, they found in the mud at the bottom of
the lake a number of piles, some thrown down and others upright,
fragments of rough pottery, bone and stone instruments, and
various other relics.

Dr. Keller, president of the Zürich Antiquarian Society, was
apprised of this discovery, and proceeded at once to examine the
collection made and the place of discovery. He was not long in
determining the prehistoric nature of the relics, and the true
intent of the pile remains. He proved them to be supports for
platforms, on which were erected rude dwellings, the platforms
being above the surface of the water, and at some distance from
the shore, with which they were connected by a narrow bridge.

Lake Village, Switzerland.

This was the first of a series of many interesting discoveries
from which we have learned many facts as to Neolithic, times. The
out we have introduced is an ideal restoration of one of these
Swiss lake villages. It needs but a glance to show how admirably
placed it was for purposes of defense. Unless an enemy was
provided with boats, the only way of approach was over the
bridge. But the very fact that they resorted to lakes, where at
the expense of great labor they erected their villages, is a
striking illustration of the insecurity of the times.

This discovery once made, it is surprising what numbers of these
ancient lake villages have been discovered. Switzerland abounds
in large and small lakes, and in former times they must have been
still more numerous, but in the course of years they have become
filled up, and now exist only as peat bogs. But we now know that
during the Neolithic Age the country was quite thickly inhabited,
and these lakes were the sites of villages. Over two hundred have
been found in Switzerland alone. Fishermen had known of the
existence of these piles long before their meaning was
understood. Lake Geneva is one of the most famous of the Swiss
lakes. Though in the main it is deep, yet around the shore there
is a fringe of shallow water.

It was in this shallow belt that the villages were built. The
sites of twenty-four settlements are known. We are told that on
“calm days, when the surface of the water is unruffled, the piles
are plainly visible. Few of them now project more than two feet
from the bottom, eaten away by the incessant action of the water.
Lying among them are objects of bone, horn, pottery, and
frequently even of bronze. So fresh are they, and so unaltered,
they look as if they were only things of yesterday, and it seems
hard to believe that they can have remained there for
centuries.”7

A lake settlement represents an immense amount of work for a
people destitute of metallic tools. After settling on the
locality, the first step would be to obtain the timbers. The
piles were generally composed of the trunks of small-sized trees
at that time flourishing in Switzerland. But to cut down a tree
with a stone hatchet is no slight undertaking. They probably used
fire to help them. After the tree was felled it had to be cut off
again at the right length, the branches lopped off, and one end
rudely sharpened. It was then taken to the place and driven into
the mud of the lake bottom. For this purpose they used heavy
wooden mallets. It has been estimated that one of the settlements
on Lake Constance required forty thousand piles in its
construction.8

The platform which rested on these piles was elevated several
feet above the surface of the water, so as to allow for the swash
of the waves. It was composed of branches and trunks of trees
banded together, the whole covered with clay. Sometimes they
split the trees with wedges so as to make thick slabs. In some
instances wooden pegs were used to fasten portions of the
platform to the pilework.

As to the houses which were erected on these platforms, though
they have utterly vanished, yet from a few remains we can judge
something as to the mode of construction. They seem to have been
formed of trunks of trees placed upright, one by the side of the
other, and bound together by interwoven branches. This was then
covered on both sides with two or three inches of clay. A plaster
of clay and gravel formed the floor, and a few slabs of sandstone
did duty for a fire-place. The roof was of bark, straw, or
rushes. There does not seem to have been much of a plan used in
laying out a settlement. As population increased other piles were
added, and thus the village gradually extended. No one village
would be likely to contain a great number of inhabitants.
Calculations based on the area of one of the largest settlements
in Lake Geneva, gives as a result a population of thirteen
hundred, but manifestly nothing definite is known.

This brief description gives us an idea of a method of
constructing villages which, as we shall soon see, extended all
over Europe, though varied somewhat in detail. The condition of
the remains indicate that these settlements were often destroyed
by fire. At such times quantities of arms, implements, and
household industries would have been lost in the water, and so
preserved for our inspection.

This mode of building found such favor among the early
inhabitants of Europe that it continued in use through the
Neolithic Age, that of Bronze, and even into the age of Iron.
Passages here and there in ancient histories evidently refer to
them. Though they have long since passed away in Switzerland, the
Spaniards found them in Mexico, and they are still to be seen in
some of the isles of the Pacific. Remembering this, we need not
be surprised if we find in one small lake settlements belonging
to widely different ages. Here one of the Stone Age, there one of
the Bronze, or even a confused mingling of what seems to be
several ages in one settlement.9

There is scarcely a country in Europe that does not contain
examples of lake villages. From their wide distribution we infer
that a common race spread over the land. We will now mention some
differences in construction discovered at some places, where,
from the rocky nature of the bed of the lake, it was impossible
to drive piles so as to form a firm foundation. They sometimes
packed quantities of stone around the piles to serve as supports
in a manner as here indicated. “In all probability the stones
used were conveyed to the required spot by means of canoes, made
of hollowed out trunks of trees. Several of these canoes may
still be seen at the bottom of Lake Bienne, and one, indeed,
laden with pebbles, which leads us to think it must have
foundered with its cargo.”10

Foundation, Lake Village.

In some cases these heaps of stone and sticks rise to the surface
of the water or even above it, the piles in such cases serving
more to hold the mass together than as a support to the platform
on which the huts were erected. This mode of construction could
only be employed in small lakes. This makes in reality an
artificial island, and seems to have been the favorite method of
procedure in the British Islands. In Ireland and Scotland immense
numbers of these structures are known. They are called crannogs.
This cut represents a section of one in Ireland. Though they date
back to the Neolithic Age, yet they so exactly meet the wants of
a rude people that they were occupied down to historic times.

Irish Crannog.

The advantage of forming settlements where they could only be
approached on one side were so great that other places than lakes
were resorted to. Peat-bogs furnished nearly as secure a place of
retreat as do lakes. These have been well studied in Northern
Italy. They do not present many new features. They were
constructed like the lake villages, only they were surrounded by
a marsh, and not by a lake. In some of the Irish bogs they first
covered the surface of the bog with a layer of hazel bushes, and
that by a layer of sand, and thus secured a firm surface.11 In
this case the villages were still further defended by a
breastwork of rough spars, about five feet high. One of the
houses of this group was found still in position, though it had
been completely buried in peat. No metal had been used in its
construction. The timbers had been cut with a stone ax, and the
explorer was even so fortunate as to find an ax, which exactly
fitted many of the cuts observed on the timbers.

But we are not to suppose that lakes and bogs afforded the only
sites of villages. They are found scattered all over the surface
of the country, and, as we shall soon see, they show the same
painstaking care to secure strong, easily defended positions.
They have been generally spoken of as forts, to which the
inhabitants resorted only in times of danger. We think, however,
they were locations of villages, the customary places of abode.
For this is in strict accordance with what we find to be the
early condition of savage life in every part of the world.

Traces of these settlements on the main-land have been mostly
obliterated by the cultivation of the soil during the many years
that have elapsed since their Neolithic founders occupied them.
In Switzerland the location of five of these villages are known.
In all instances they occupied places very difficult of
approach—generally precipitous sides on all but one or two. On
the accessible sides ramparts defended them. The relics obtained
are in all respects similar to those from the lake villages.12

Fortified Camp, Cissbury.

Fortified inclosures have been described in Belgium. We are told,
“They are generally established on points overhanging valleys, on
a mass of rocks forming a kind of headland, which is united to
the rest of the country by a narrow neck of land. A wide ditch
was dug across this narrow tongue of land, and the whole camp was
surrounded by a thick wall of stone, simply piled one upon
another, without either mortar or cement.” “One of these walls,
when described, was ten feet thick, and the same in height.”
These intrenched positions were so well chosen that most of them
continued to be occupied during the ages which followed. The
Romans occasionally utilized them for their camps. Over the whole
inclosure of these ancient camps worked flints and remains of
pottery have been found.13 These fortified places have been well
studied in the south of England.

What is known as the South-Downs in Sussex is a range of hills of
a general height of seven hundred feet. This section is about
five miles wide and fifty miles long. Four rivers flow through
these downs to the sea. In olden times their lower courses must
have been deep inlets of the sea, thus dividing those hills into
five groups, each separated from the other by a wide extent of
water and marsh land. To the north of these hills was a vast
expanse of densely wooded country. It is not strange, then, to
find traces of numerous settlements among these hills. As the
surface soil is very thin, old embankments can still be traced.
The cut given is a representation of Cissbury, one of the largest
of these camps. It incloses nearly sixty acres. The rampart
varies according to the slope of the hill. Where the ascent was
at all easy it was made double. Fortified camps are very numerous
throughout the hill country. They vary, of course, in size, but
the situation was always well chosen.14

As for the buildings themselves, or huts of the Neolithic people,
we know but little. They were probably built much the same as the
houses in the lake settlements. We meet with some strange
modifications in England. Frequently within these ramparts we
find circular pits or depressions in the ground. They are
regarded as vestiges of habitations, and they must have been
mainly under ground. “They occur singly and in groups, and are
carried down to a depth of from seven to ten feet through the
superficial gravel into the chalk, each pit, or cluster of pits,
having a circular shaft for an entrance. At the bottom they vary
from five to seven feet in diameter, and gradually narrow to two
and a half or three feet in diameter in the upper part. The
floors were of chalk, sometimes raised in the center, and the
roof had been formed of interlaced sticks, coated with clay
imperfectly burned.”15

In the north of Scotland, instead of putting them under ground,
they built them on the natural surface, and then built a mound
over them all. In appearance this was scarcely distinguishable
from a mound, but on digging in we discover a series of large
chambers, built generally with stones of considerable size, and
converging toward the center, where an opening appears to have
been left for light and ventilation. In some instances the mound
was omitted, and we have simply a cluster of joining huts, with
dry, thick walls. These have been appropriately named “Bee-hive
Houses.”16

We can form a very good idea of Neolithic Europe from what we
have learned as to their habitations. A well-wooded country,
abounding in lakes and marshes, quite thickly settled, but by a
savage people, divided into many tribes, independent of and
hostile to each other. The lakes were fringed with their peculiar
settlements; they are to be noticed in the marshes, and on
commanding heights are still others. The people were largely
hunters and fishers, but, as we shall soon see, they practised a
rude husbandry and had a few domestic animals. Such was the
condition of Europe long before the Greek and Latin tribes lit
the beacon fires of civilization in the south.

It is evident that the builders of the lake settlements and the
fortified villages were an intelligent and industrious people,
though their scale in civilization was yet low. Their various
implements of bone, horn, and stone display considerable advance
over the rude articles of the Drift.

Neolithic Axes.

One of the most important implements was the ax. The Paleolithic
hatchet, we remember, was rude, massive, and only roughly chipped
into shape, and was intended to be held in the hand. The
Neolithic ax was a much better made one, and was furnished with a
handle. They were enabled to accomplish a great deal with such
axes. “Before it, aided by fire, the trees of the forest fell to
make room for the tiller of the ground, and by its sharp edge
wood became useful for the manufacture of various articles and
implements indispensable for the advancement of mankind in
culture.”17 These axes vary in size and finish. As a general
thing they are ground to a sharp, smooth edge, but not always,
nor were they always furnished with a handle.

Some axes are found with a hole bored in them, through which to
pass a handle. These perforated axes are found in considerable
numbers, and some have denied that they could be produced without
the aid of metal. It is almost self-evident that the perforated
axes are later in date than the solid ones, and probably many of
them are no earlier in time than the Age of Metals. There is,
however, nothing to show that all belong to so late a time.
Besides, experiments have amply shown that even the hardest kind
of flint can be drilled without the aid of metals.18

Warlike implements are, of course, quite common. Many of the axes
found are probably war axes. Then besides we have arrowheads,
spears, and daggers. These are considered to be “marvels of skill
in flint chipping.”19 Stone was used for a great many other
purposes, such as scrapers, sling-stones, hammers, saws, and so
on. Flint was generally the kind of stone used. Our civilization
owes a great deal to this variety of stone. It is not only hard,
but its cleavage is such that it was of the greatest use to
primitive man. In a general way the Neolithic stone implements
are seen to be better adapted to the object in view than the
Paleolithic specimens. They are also generally polished.

Wood was largely used in their common household implements. But
it is only in exceptional cases that it has been preserved to us.
They have been recovered, however, in peat-bogs and in the
remains of lake settlements. These wooden utensils consist of
bowls, ladles, knives, tubs, etc. They used fire to hollow them
out, and the blows of the flint hatchet used to remove the
charred portions, are still to be observed in some specimens.

Neolithic Weapons.

The Neolithic people had learned how to manufacture pottery,
though not of a very superior quality. It is all hand-made: so
the potter’s wheel had not yet been introduced. The material is
clay mixed with gravel or pounded shells. Very often they
ornamented their clay vessels with lines and dots. The bowls or
jars were evidently suspended by cords, for the bottom was made
too rounding for them to stand erect. Besides, we find the holes
for the cords, and in some places handles.

Hafted Hatchet in Sheath, and Axe in Sheath.

No notice of Neolithic tools would be complete without mentioning
the use made of horn and bone. One peculiar use for which they
employed horn was as a socket for holding other implements. Thus
this figure shows us an ax in a socket of horn. The middle of the
socket is generally perforated with a round or oval hole,
intended to receive a handle of oak, birch, or some other kind of
wood adapted for such a use. The cut below represents a hatchet
of this kind. A number of these sockets have been found, which
were provided at the end opposite to the stone hatchet with a
strong and pointed tooth. These are boars’ tusks, firmly buried
in the stag’s horn. These instruments, therefore, fulfilled
double purposes: they cut or crushed with one end and pierced
with the other. Sockets are also found which are not only
provided with the boars’ tusks, but are hollowed out at each end,
so as to hold two flint hatchets at once, as is seen in our next
figure. Chisels and gouges were also sometimes placed in bone
handles. Portions of horn probably at times did duty as hoes. We
give a representation of such an implement.20 We must now seek
some information as to how the men of the Neolithic Age supported
life.

Sheath, with two Hatchets, Chisel in Sheath, and Horn Hoe.

From the remains of fish at all the lake settlements it is
evident they formed no inconsiderable portion of their food.
Fishing nets and hooks have been discovered. They were successful
hunters as well. But the men of this age were no longer dependent
on the chase for a livelihood. We have mentioned several times
that they were acquainted with agriculture. This implies a great
advance over the primitive hunters of the early Stone Age.

On the shores of the lakes which furnished them with a place of
habitation they raised many of our present species of grain.
Owing to a cause of which we have already spoken—that is,
destruction of the lake settlements by fire—the carbonized
remains of these cereals have been preserved to us. There were
four varieties of wheat raised, none exactly like our common
wheat. In addition to this they raised barley and millet, several
varieties of each. Nor were the fruits neglected. Apples and
pears were dried and laid away for use in the Winter. Seeds of
the common berries were found in abundance, showing that these
primitive people were fully alive to their value.

From this it follows that the Neolithic people were not only
tillers of the soil, but horticulturists as well. According to
Dr. Keller, the vegetable kingdom furnished their principal
supply of food. Hazelnuts, beechnuts, and chestnuts were found in
such quantities as to show they had been gathered for use.
Neither hemp, oats, nor rye were known. Not only do we find the
remains of the grains, fruits, seeds, etc., from which the above
conclusions are drawn, but, farther than this, pieces of bread
have been found in a carbonized state, and thus as effectually
preserved as the bread of a far later date found in the ovens of
Pompeii. According to Figuier, the peasant classes of Tuscany now
bake bread, after merely bruising the grain, by pouring the
batter on glowing stones and then covering it with ashes. As this
ancient prehistoric bread is of similar shape, it was probably
baked in an equally primitive fashion.21

Aside from the natural interest we feel in these evidences as to
ancient industry, a study of the remains of plants cultivated by
the Neolithic people reveals to us two curious and suggestive
facts. It has been found that the wild plants then growing in
Switzerland are in all respects like the wild plants now growing
there. But the cultivated plants—wheat, millet, etc.—differ from
all existing varieties, and invariably have smaller seeds or
fruits.22 This shows us that man has evidently been able to
effect considerable change by cultivation, in the common grains,
during the course of the many centuries which separate the
Neolithic times from our own age. But if this rate of change be
adopted as a measure of time, what shall we say is to the
antiquity demanded to explain the origin of cultivated grain from
the wild grasses of their first form?

We learn, in the second place, that the cultivated plants are all
immigrants from the south-east—their native home being in
South-eastern Europe and Asia Minor. We shall afterward see that
this is true of the domestic animals also. There can be but one
explanation for this. The ancient inhabitants of Europe must have
come from that direction, and brought with them the plants they
had cultivated in their eastern homes, and the animals they had
reduced to their service. The traces of agriculture thus found in
Switzerland are by no means confined to that country. In other
countries of Europe, such as England and France, we also find
proofs that men cultivated the earth. In localities where we do
not find the grain itself, we find their rude mills, or mealing
stones, which as plainly indicate a knowledge of the agricultural
art as the presence of the cereals themselves.23

As we have stated, Neolithic man in Europe possessed domestic
animals. He was not only a cultivator of the soil, but he was a
herdsman as well; and he kept herds of oxen, sheep, and goats.
Droves of hogs fattened on the nuts of the forest, and the dog
associated with man in keeping and protecting these domestic
animals. We know that the Swiss Lake inhabitants built little
stalls by the sides of their houses, in which they kept their
cattle at night. But these domestic animals were not descendants
of the wild animals that roamed the forests of Europe. Like the
plants, they are immigrants from the south-east. Our best
authorities consider they were brought into Europe by the
invading Neolithic tribes.

The knowledge of husbandry, though rude, and the possession of
domestic animals, though of a few species only, strikingly
indicate the advance over the Paleolithic tribes. They also had
fixed places of living. This culture spread all over Europe. That
it was substantially the same everywhere there is no doubt.
Certain refuse heaps in Denmark, Scotland, and indeed in all the
sea-coast countries, have been thought to support a different
conclusion. Those of Denmark have been very carefully studied,
and so we will refer to them. All along the Baltic coast, but
especially in Denmark, have been discovered great numbers of
mounds, which were found to consist “almost entirely of shells,
especially of the oyster, broken bones of animals, remains of
birds and fishes, and, lastly, some wrought flints.” The first
supposition in regard to those shell-heaps was that they were of
marine formation, accumulated beneath the sea, and elevated to
the surface along with the gradual rise of the land. But they are
now known to be nothing more or less than the sites of ancient
settlements. The location of the rude cabins can still be traced.
The ancient hearths are still in place. “Tribes once existed here
who subsisted on the products of hunting and fishing, and threw
out around their cabins the remains of their meals, consisting
especially of the _débris_ of shell-fish.” These heaps gradually
accumulated around their rude dwellings, and now constitute the
refuse heaps in question.24

The careful investigation of their contents has failed to
disclose any evidence of a knowledge of agriculture, and the only
domestic animal found is the dog. The implements are altogether
of stone and horn. No trace of metal has yet been obtained. As a
rule, they are rudely made and finished. Though of the Neolithic
type, they are not polished except in a few instances. The
principal interest turns on the question of age of these refuse
heaps. Some think they were accumulated at the very beginning of
the Neolithic Age—that these tribes preceded by many years the
men of the Swiss Lakes. Others think they were tribes of the same
great people, living at the same time. On such a point as this,
only those who have carefully studied the deposits are entitled
to speak.

Some few facts stand out quite prominently. The size of the
mounds25 indicate long-continued residence—showing that these
people had permanent places of abode. As they are not confined to
Denmark, but are found generally throughout Europe, it would seem
to imply that the Neolithic people preferred to live as fishers
and hunters wherever the surroundings were such that they could
by these means obtain an abundant supply of food. Some
shell-heaps in Scotland were still forming at the commencement of
the Bronze Age; and Mr. Geikie, on geological grounds, assigns
the shell-heaps of Denmark to a late epoch of the Stone Age.

It seems to us quite natural that isolated tribes, living where
game was abundant, and where fishing met with a rich reward,
should turn in disgust from the agricultural life of their
brother tribes, and, resuming the life of mere hunters and
fishers, speedily lose somewhat of their hardly won culture—for
civilization is the product of labor. Whenever a people from
necessity or choice abandon one form of labor for another
demanding less skill to triumph over nature, a retrogression in
culture is inevitable.26

Miner’s Pick.

From what we have stated as to the use of flint we can readily
see that it was a valuable material. Sections where it was found
in abundance would as certainly become thickly populated as the
iron and gold regions of our own day. In Paleolithic times the
supply of flint was mostly obtained from the surface and in the
gravel of rivers. In Neolithic times men had learned to mine for
flint. Flint occurs in nodules in the chalk. Near Brandon,
England, was discovered a series of these workings. They consist
of shafts connected together by galleries. These pits vary in
size from twenty to sixty feet in diameter, and in some cases
were as much as thirty feet deep. From the bottom of these shafts
they would excavate as far as they dared to the sides. They made
no use of timbers to support the roof, and so these side
excavations were not of great extent. In these old workings the
miners sometimes left behind them their tools. The principal one
was a pick made of deer’s horn, as is here represented. Besides
these, they had chisels of bone and antler. The marks of stone
hatchets on the sides of the gallery are visible.

In one instance the roof had caved in, evidently during the
night, and on clearing out the gallery near the end where the
roof stood firm, there were found the implements of the workmen,
just as they were left at the close of the day’s work; and in one
place on the pick, covered with chalk dust, was still to be seen
the marks of the workman’s hand. How many years, crowded with
strange scenes, have swept over England since that chalky
impression was made! The surface of the earth is a palimpsest, on
which each stage of culture has been written over the faint,
almost obliterated, records of the past. Not only the living man,
who has left there the impression of his hand has passed away,
but also his people and his culture. And now it is only here and
there that we catch a faint tracing underlying our later
civilization, by which we reconstruct the history of these
far-away times.

Nothing would be more natural than that where flint was found in
abundance a regular manufactory of implements would be
established. Such was the case at Cissbury, which we have already
mentioned as one of the early British towns. Mines had been dug
within the walls inclosing the town. The surface of the ground
near the old mines at this place is literally covered by
splinters of flint in every stage of manufacture, “from the
nodule of flint fresh out of the chalk, spoilt by an unlucky
blow, to the article nearly finished and accidentally broken.”27
Here the flint was mined and chipped into rudimentary shape, but
carried away to be perfected and polished.

A very important place in Neolithic manufactures was noticed near
Tours, France. Here was an abundant supply of flint, and very
easily obtained, and the evidence is conclusive that here existed
real manufactories. Of one stretch of ground, having an area of
twelve or fourteen acres, we are told: “It is impossible to walk
a single step without treading on some of these objects.” Here we
find “hatchets in all stages of manufacture, from the roughest
attempt up to a perfectly polished weapon. We find, also, long
flakes or flint-knives cleft off with a single blow with
astonishing skill.”

But in all these objects there is a defect; so it is concluded
that these specimens were refuse thrown aside in the process of
manufacture. As at Cissbury, very few polished flints are found,
so we may conclude the majority of weapons were carried elsewhere
for completion. But some weapons were completed here. In the
neighborhood have been found the stones used as polishers. This
cut shows us one used in polishing the axes. The workmen would
take one of the rough-hewn instruments, and, rubbing it back and
forth on such a stone as this, gradually produced a smooth
surface and a sharpened edge.28

Polishing Stone.

We have suggested that our civilization owes a great deal to
flint. If we will consider the surroundings of their
manufacturing sites, we will see the force of this remark. It
must have taxed to the utmost the powers of these primitive men
to sink the shafts and run the galleries to secure a supply of
this valuable stone. In short, they had to invent the art of
quarrying and working mines. This would lead to the division of
labor, for while one body of men would become experts as miners,
others would become skillful in chipping out the implements, and
still others would do the finishing and polishing. A system of
barter or trade would also arise, for the workmen at the mines
and factories would have to depend on others for food and
clothing, and in payment for the same would furnish them
implements. As localities where flint could be obtained in
suitable quantities are but few, we can see how trade between
widely scattered tribes would arise. This kind of traffic is
shown to have extended over wide distances in Neolithic times.
For instance, there was been found scattered over Europe axes
made of varieties of stone known as nephrite and jade. They were
highly valued by primitive tribes, being very hard and of a
beautiful green color. They are thought to have been employed in
the observance of superstitious rites. But quarries of these
varieties of stone do not occur in Europe. An immense amount of
labor has been expended in finding their native home. This is now
known to be in Asia.29 Manufactured in Asia, axes of these
materials may have drifted into Europe and finally arrived in
England.

Neolithic Boat-making.

Trade between different tribes must have been greatly facilitated
by means of canoes, which Neolithic man knew well how to make.
The art of navigation was probably well advanced. The canoes were
formed of the trunks of large trees. In most cases they were
hollowed out by means of the ax and fire combined. Sometimes the
ends were partially rounded or pointed, but often cut nearly
square across—rather a difficult shape to propel fast or to guide
properly. These ancient boats have been found in nearly all the
principal rivers of Europe, and in many cases, no doubt, come
down to much later date than the Neolithic Age. From the remains
of fish found in their refuse heaps we are confident that in some
such a shaped boat as this they trusted themselves far out at
sea. They served to transport them from the shores of Europe to
England, and at a later date to Ireland.

Neolithic Cloth.

The clothing of the men of the Neolithic Age doubtless consisted
largely of the prepared skins of the animals, and some fragments
of leather have been found in the lake settlements. But a very
important step in advance was the invention of spinning and
weaving, both of which processes were known at this time. The
cloth which is here represented is formed of twists of interwoven
flax, of rough workmanship, it is true, but none the less
remarkable, considering the epoch in which it was manufactured.
Balls of thread and twine have also been found.30 This cut is a
spindle-whorl. These have been discovered very often. They were
made sometimes of stone and at other times of pottery and bone.
The threads were made of flax, and the combs which were used for
pushing the threads of the warp into the weft show that it was
woven into linen on some kind of a loom. Several figures of the
loom have been given, but we have no certainty of their
correctness.31

Spindle-whorl, and Weaver’s Comb.

Let us now see if we can gather anything as to the religious
belief of Neolithic man. On this point we can at best only
indulge in vague conjectures. Yet some light seems thrown on this
difficult subject by examination of the burial mounds. This
introduces us to a subject of much interest which, in our hurried
review, we can but glance at.

Scattered over Europe are found numbers of mysterious monuments
of the past. Some of them we have mentioned already as the
embankments surrounding ancient villages. But aside from these
are other monuments, such as burial mounds, rude dolmens, and
great standing stones, sometimes arranged in circles, sometimes
in rows, and sometimes standing singly. Many of these remains may
be of a far later date than the Neolithic Age, still it is
extremely difficult to draw a dividing line between the monuments
of different ages.

Chambered Burial Ground, Denmark.

Dolmen, England.

Burial mounds are found everywhere, many in Europe going back to
the Neolithic Age, though some are of a very recent construction.
The Egyptian Pyramids are burial mounds on the grandest scale.
The first cut represents a Danish Tumulus, or burial mound, of
this Age. The openings lead to the center of the mound, where
they connect with chambers in which the bodies were formerly
placed. There are, of course, various modifications of this
tumulus. Often the gallery was omitted, a rude chamber was
erected, and a mound reared over it. Sometimes, indeed, no
chamber was made, but simply a mound placed over the body.

Dolmen, France.

Dolmen, once covered with Earth.

There have been found in England a great many stones arranged as
in the preceding cut, though generally not built with such
regularity as is there represented. They are named Dolmens, a
word meaning stone tables. They were more generally made of rough
stones, rudely arranged. This cut represents one found in France.
In early times these were supposed to have been rude altars used
by the mysterious Druids in celebrating their rites. They are now
known to be the tombs of the Neolithic Age. They are, in fact,
the chambers above mentioned. The mound of earth has since
disappeared and left its chamber standing exposed to the air.
Traces of the old passage way are still met. Whether all Dolmens
were once covered with earth or not, is not yet known. In the
majority of cases they probably were. In the last cut portions of
stone are still buried in the earth. We are told that in India
the people in some places still erect Dolmens similar to those of
Neolithic times.32

Menhir.

Stone Circle, England.

Aside from the tombs themselves, there are other arrangements of
great stones which must have once possessed great significance to
their builders, but their meaning is now lost. Of this nature are
the blocks of rough stone set up in the ground generally in the
vicinity of tombs. These are the standing stones, or menhirs,
which, as we have stated, are arranged in various forms. When
arranged in circles, they are generally regarded as tombs. When
placed in long parallel rows, as at Carnac, in France, we are not
sure of their meaning. We are told that the Hill tribes of India
to this day erect combinations of gigantic stones into all the
shapes we have here described.33

The peculiar shape of the burial mounds, with a passage way
conducting us to an interior chamber, or series of chambers,
probably arose from the belief entertained by many savage people,
that the dead continue to live an existence much like that when
alive, and consequently the same surroundings were deemed
necessary for their comfort. So the tomb was made similar to the
house of the living. The ordinary Winter huts of the Laplander
are very similar in shape and size to the burial tumuli, and
amongst some people, as the inhabitants of New Zealand, the house
itself is made the grave. It was closed up and painted red, and
afterward considered sacred.

Chambered Tomb, France.

So it may quite well be that the Neolithic inhabitants of
Denmark, “unable to imagine a future altogether different from
the present, or a world quite unlike our own, showed their
respect and affection for the dead by burying with them those
things which in life they had valued most; with women, their
ornaments, with warriors, their weapons. They buried the house
with its owner, and the grave was literally the dwelling of the
dead. When a great man died he was placed on his favorite seat,
food and drink was arranged before him, his weapons were placed
by his side, his house was closed, and the door covered up,
sometimes, however, to be opened again when his wife or children
joined him in the land of spirits.”

That they believed in a life beyond the grave is shown by the
objects they buried with the individuals. These are implements of
various kinds, flakes, arrow-heads, scrapers, celts, and pottery,
doubtless intended to be of service to the deceased. We know this
to be a very common proceeding amongst all barbarous people. In
some cases it would appear as if they realized that the material
things themselves could be of no service to the departed, but
imagined that in some vague way the spirits of things might be of
service to the spirits of men, and so they would purposely break
the flints and throw the fragments into the grave. Sometimes they
may have buried only models of the objects they wished to give to
the dead, imagining that in this way the spirits of the objects
represented would accompany and be of service to the spirits of
the departed. To this day the Eskimos bury small models of boats,
spears, etc., rather than the objects themselves. The ancient
Etruscans buried jewelry, but made it so thin and fragile that it
could not have been of service to the living. In China this is
carried still further, and paper cuttings or drawings of horses,
money, etc., are burned at the grave.

These remarks may explain the absence of remains so often noticed
in Neolithic burials in England. But other evidence can be given
to show this belief in future life. The mounds were of course
often erected over noted chiefs, and we are not without evidence
that he was not allowed to go unattended into the other world. It
has been noted that often skeletons have been met with having the
skull, cleft, and in one case, at least, all but one presented
that appearance. It is but reasonable to suppose that these
skeletons were those of captives or slaves sacrificed to be the
attendants of the chief in the spirit world. Funeral feasts were
also held in honor of the dead. Thus we may gather from burial
mounds something of the religious belief of their occupants.

It is not improbable that ancestor worship, or the worship of the
dead, was part of their faith, so that the mounds became temples.
On this point we are told “it is impossible not to believe then
that the people who made these great, and in some cases
elaborately constructed, tombs would continue ever after to
regard them as in some sort consecrated to the great chiefs who
were buried under them. Each tribe would have its own specially
sacred tombs, and perhaps we may here see a germ of that
ancestor-worship which may be traced in every variety of
religions belief.”34

We now approach a difficult part of our inquiry, but, at the same
time, one that possesses for us a great interest. Who were these
people into whose culture we have been inquiring? While laying
the foundation of our present civilization, though being the
fountain head from whence many of the arts and industries, which
now make our existence comfortable and happy, take their feeble
origin, gradually developing and expanding as the time rolls on,
have they themselves, as a race, vanished in the mighty past, or
are their descendants still to be found in Europe? Who were they?
Whence and when? Difficult problems, but we have read to but
little purpose if we have not already learned that earnest
observers need but the slightest clue to enable them to trace out
brilliant results.

In the first place, are there any grounds for supposing the
Neolithic people to be the descendants of those who hunted the
reindeer along the Vézère? This view has its supporters. M.
Quatrefages, a very able scholar indeed, maintains that the
Neolithic people were the same race as those who inhabited the
caves and found shelter in the rock grottoes of France.35 This,
to others, does not seem credible. We must recall the long lapse
of time that it is apparent has elapsed between the two ages. We
have seen how different were the two cultures; as Mr. Geikie
remarks, “So great, indeed, is the difference between the
conditions of life that obtained in the two ages of Stone, that
we can hardly doubt that the two people came of different
stocks.”36 The Neolithic people brought with them domestic
animals and plants whose native home is in Western Asia. We can
hardly account for this fact, if we suppose them to be the
descendants of Paleolithic tribes in France.

Abandoning, therefore, any attempt to trace lines of connection
between the people of the two ages, let us carefully study all
the facts connected with the Neolithic people and their culture,
to see if we can solve the problem by so doing. We have noticed
that substantially the same stage of culture existed throughout
Europe from Switzerland to the British Islands. This points to
the presence of a common race during at least a portion of the
time. But if there was a common race living in Europe they would
certainly possess common physical features. As a race they may
have been tall in stature, or medium, or short, and portions of
the human skeleton would show a uniformity in this regard.

Now one of the means that scientists use to determine the races
of men is a comparison of skulls, measured in a systematic
manner. The objection has been made that no reliance can be
placed on these results, because at the present day skulls of all
sorts of shapes and sizes can be obtained among people of the
same nationality. But these objections would not apply to people
of prehistoric times. Their surroundings would be simple and
natural—not artificial and complex, as in modern times. In our
times people of different nationality are constantly coming in
contact, and intermarriage results; but in prehistoric times this
was not liable to occur, and so the comparative purity of blood
would certainly produce a much greater uniformity of physical
features.37

From a very careful examination of a great number of burial
mounds in Great Britain, it has been ascertained that in all of
those that date back to Neolithic times, and contain portions of
human skeletons, the bones are always those of individuals small
in stature, the average height being about five and a half feet.
The skulls are of that variety known as long skulls. From this we
can at once form a mental picture of the Neolithic inhabitants of
Britain. No less important conclusions have been deduced from the
study of burial mounds on the continent. We meet with remains of
these same small-sized people. “They have left traces of their
presence in numerous interments in chambered tombs and caves in
Belgium and France, as well as in Spain and Gibraltar. We may
therefore conclude that at one period in the Neolithic Age the
population of Europe, west of the Rhine and north of the Alps,
was uniform in physique and consisted of the same small people as
the Neolithic inhabitants of Britain and Ireland.”38

We must now inquire whether there are any people living in Europe
which might have descended from the original stock. We are in the
position of those who, from a few broken down arches, a ruined
tower and dismantled wall, would seek to form a mental picture of
the stately building that once stood there. If we can here and
there discover, by the light of history or exploration, some
races or tribes that, owing to their geographical position, have
escaped the fate that befell the great body of their countrymen,
we may perhaps replace our mental picture by one founded on
reality. Nor need we be in doubt where to seek for such scattered
remnants of people. Successful invaders always appropriate to
their own use the fertile lowlands and the fruitful portions of
the country of their helpless foes. But a weak people have often,
in the rocky fastnesses of their land, made a successful stand.
So, to determine the race, we will examine the people living in
such regions, and see if there are any that physically conform to
what is already known of the Neolithic people, and so entitled to
claim a relationship by descent.

Both slopes of Pyrenees Mountains, between France and Spain, have
been occupied from time immemorial by a peculiar race of people
known as the Basque. Secure in their mountain homes, they have
resisted foreign civilization, and retained their national
characteristics as well as their liberties, though they have been
nominally vassals to many powers, from the early Carthaginians to
the later French and Spanish. From the many invasions they have
undergone the Basque language and people are by no meals uniform.
But Dr. Broca, one of the most learned anthropologists in Europe,
has shown that the original Basques were dark in complexion, with
black hair and eyes. In addition to this, the efforts of some of
the most eminent scholars in Europe,39 who have made numerous
examinations of skulls and skeletons obtained from ancient Basque
cemeteries, have conclusively shown that in all physical features
the Basques agree with men of Neolithic times.40

The Basques do not belong to the great division of the human
family known as Aryans, to which the English-speaking races, as
well as the nations of Europe generally, belong. They belong to a
far older division of the human family—the Turanian41—and were
doubtless in possession of Europe long before the Indo-European
nations commenced their westward migrations from Central Asia.
They are described as being brave, industrious, and frugal, with
patriarchal manners and habits. They scorn authority, except what
emanates from themselves, and have but few nobility. They are
impetuous, merry, and hospitable, fond of music and dancing.42 Of
their warfare we are told they are “not distinguished in open
warfare, but unconquerable in guerrilla warfare, and famed for
defense of walled cities.”43 Such are the Basques of to-day, and
many of these traits of character, we doubt not, were the same
amongst the Neolithic people.

Mr. Dawkins also thinks that two tribes, living in Northern
Italy, in the very earliest historical times, are other remnants
of the same people. One of these were the Ligurians.
Investigations and traditions show that some time before the dawn
of history they had been driven out of the pleasant parts of
Southern France, but had made a successful stand in the mountain
regions of Northern Italy. They, like the Basques, were strong,
active, and warlike. They were small in stature, swarthy in
features, and long-headed. To the south of these were the
Etruscans. But little is known of them, though the evidence is
that long before the Christian Era they were a powerful people.
In physical features they resembled those already described.
Their sculpture exhibits only short, sturdy figures, with large
heads and thick arms. Another possible remnant of these people
existed at the very dawn of history in the mountainous regions of
Wales. They were known as Silures. but have since become absorbed
in the surrounding population. In civilization and physical
features they agree with the remnants already described.

In the north of Russia are found the Finns. Their origin and
migrations are alike unknown. One thing is certain, they belong
to the Turanian family, and so are probably allied to the Basques
and Etruscans. It is possible that they also are but a sorry
remnant of the once wide-spread Neolithic people. Driven out of
the fairer portions of Europe, they hive found an asylum in their
present bleak surroundings. Like the people already described,
they are short in stature, and dark visaged.44

The tribes we have thus briefly mentioned are regarded by some as
representatives of the Neolithic people. Prof. Winchell, speaking
of the wide-spread extension of the Turanian race, assures us,
that “history, tradition, linguistics, and ethnology conspire to
fortify the conclusions that, in prehistoric times, all Europe
was overspread by the Mongoloid (Turanian) race, of which
remnants have survived to our own times in the persons of the
Basques, Finns, Esths, Lapps, and some smaller tribes.”45
Researches into the surroundings of these people, combined with
what we have already learned as to the culture, customs, and
manners of the Neolithic people in the preceding pages, throw no
little light on this age. The darkness of oblivion seems
dispelled by the light of science, and we behold before us the
Europe of Neolithic times, thickly inhabited by a race of people,
small in stature, dark visaged, and oval-faced—fond of war and
the chase, yet having a rude system of agriculture. The picture
seems complete; and we have now only to raise some inquiries as
to the great stock of people to which they belonged, and
conjecture as to the date of their arrival in Europe.46

We are now learning that far back in the past, when mankind was
yet young in the world, the great Turanian family held a
commanding position. They seem to have dispersed widely over the
earth. Their migrations began long before that of the Aryan and
Semitic people. When tribes of these later people began their
wanderings, they found a Turanian people inhabiting the country
wherever they went. Long before the times of Abraham, the fertile
plains of Chaldea were the home of powerful tribes of this
family. Egypt, and the fertile Nile Valley, the home of ancient
civilization, was their possession at a time long preceding the
rise of the Pharaohs. Their Asiatic origin is corroborated by
what we have learned of their domestic animals and cereals, which
we know to be also from Asia, or the south-east. These Turanian
tribes, at some far remote time, must have appeared in Asia
Minor. Urged onward by the pressure of increasing population,
they passed into Europe and Northern Africa. Their progress was,
doubtless, slow; but they gradually filled Europe. The English
Channel must have presented no inconsiderable barrier, and it was
after Europe had been populated for a long time that they
ventured to brave its passage in their rude canoes.

The Neolithic culture, which we have treated of in reference to
Europe only, is seen to have been of Turanian origin. From its
Asiatic home it spread over the entire world—to the islands of
the Pacific, and even America. The road that leads from barbarism
to civilization is long and difficult, and it is not strange that
but one or two families of men were able to attain that end by
their own unaided effort.47 The Turanian Family, which probably
advanced man from savagism into barbarism, seems to have at that
stage exhausted its energies. This is but an illustration of the
fact that a race, like an individual, has a period of growth, a
maturity of healthful powers, and an old age of slow decadence.
After thus dispersing over the world, carrying with them the
culture of the Neolithic Age, they seem to have halted in their
progress. It remained for a new people, starting, perhaps, from
the same state of culture, but with new energies, to discover and
employ metals in the construction of tools and implements. This
gave them so great a command over nature that civilization became
possible. But whatever considerable advance the Turanian races
were able to make beyond the Neolithic culture was by reason of
intercourse with these later people. Where completely isolated
from them, as in the New World, they remained, for the most part,
in the Neolithic culture.48

We have hitherto spoken as if there was but one race in Europe
during Neolithic times. In the main this is true; yet, near the
close of this time, a different race arrived in Europe. That this
is so, is proved by the same line of evidence used to determine
the Neolithic people. We shall have much to say of them
hereafter. They were the vanguard of the great Aryan race. This
calls for some explanation. It has been found that the principal
languages of Europe and South-western Asia have certain common
characteristics; so much so that we are justified, even
compelled, to assume that the nations speaking these languages,
such for instance as the Teutonic, Sclavic, Italic, Greek,
Persian, Hindoostanee, and others, are descendants from a common
ancestor. These people are called, collectively, Aryans. They
were the ones who drove the Turanians out of the fairest portions
of Europe. Though they appeared at a late date, they have filled
the most important places in history, and the civilization of the
world to-day is Aryan.

Now we must again form a mental picture of Neolithic Europe—
after it had been for a long time in the possession of the
Turanian tribes, the first band of Aryan invaders make their
appearance. They must have appeared somewhere near the
south-eastern confines of Europe, but they pressed forward to the
western portion. They firmly seated themselves in the western and
central parts of Europe, driving out the Turanian tribes who had
so long possessed the land. They were themselves still in the
Neolithic stage of culture. But they probably did not long
antedate the knowledge of metals. Mr. Dawkins thinks that it
caught up with them before they arrived in Britain, and that they
are the ones who introduced bronze into that island. The Aryan
tribe, who thus made their appearance in Europe, are identified
as the Celts of history.

The Neolithic Age thus drew to its close, but not all at once. It
disappeared first in the southern portion of Europe—from Greece
and Italy; but it lingered to a far later date in the north:
among the scattered tribes of Turanian people it would still
assert its sway. Even after metals were introduced, the cheapness
and abundance of stone would cause it to be used, among the
poorer people at least. But finally this culture gives way to a
higher one in Europe—though it still survived in portions of
Asia, the Isles of the Pacific, and in America. We can but
reflect on the difference between the two ages of stone. The
former ends amidst Arctic scenes—and, in the darkness that
ensues, ages pass before we again detect the presence of man. The
Neolithic closes gradually, everywhere giving way to a higher
culture. We must not forget that our present civilization owes
much to our far away Neolithic ancestors. When we reflect on the
difficulties that had to be overcome before animals could be
profitably held in a domestic state, or cultivation of the earth
made profitable, we almost wonder that they succeeded in either
direction. Aside from these, we turn to them for the origin of
trade, navigation, and mining. No inconsiderable part of the
battle of civilization had thus been won.

REFERENCES

The manuscript of this chapter was submitted to Prof. Chas.
Rau, of the Smithsonian Institution, for criticism.

The Cave-men were, undoubtedly, considerably in advance of the
Men of the Drift. If we regard the two as but one race of men,
then the statement is not true. We have, however, given our
reasons for considering the Cave-men as a different race. Hence
the statement made above.

Consult Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” chapters on “British
Post-glacial and Recent Deposits.”

Lions still lived in Greece at the time of Herodotus. See
“Polymnia,” vii, 125, etc.

This last argument is drawn from Mr. Morgan’s work. It is well
to state that his divisions are very far from being accepted by
all authorities.

Morgan’s “Ancient Society.”

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 189.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 223.

On lake settlements, consult Keller’s “Lake Dwellings;” Rau’s
“Early Man in Europe,” chap. v; Sir John Lubbock’s “Prehistoric
Times,” chap. vi; Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 218, _et seq._

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 222.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 270.

Keller’s “Lake Dwellings.” Translated by Lee.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 153.

General Lane Fox’s “Hill Forts of Sussex,” Archæology, vol.
xvii.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 267.

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 56.

Mr. Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 274.

Smithsonian Report, 1868.

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 103.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” pp. 161-166.

“Primitive Man,” p. 171.

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 219.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 268.

These heaps are generally called “kjökken-möddings”—meaning
kitchen refuse.

One mound is spoken of as being one thousand feet long, two to
three hundred feet wide, and ten feet high.

On Danish Shell Mounds, consult Keary’s “Dawn of History,” p.
369, _et seq._; Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” chap. vii;
Geikie’s “Prehistoric Europe,” pp. 365-9; Figuier’s “Primitive
Man,” pp. 129-134; Rau’s “Early Man in Europe,” pp. 108-113;
Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” pp. 309-305.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 279.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” pp. 147-150 and 154: Another very
important place was the Island of Rügen, in the Baltic Sea.
Rau’s “Early Man in Europe,” p. 137.

“Proceedings American Antiq. Society, April, 1881,” p. 286.

Figuier’s “Primitive Man,” p. 262.

See remarks of Prof. Rau on this subject (“Early Man in
Europe,” pp. 128-9 and note.) Mr. Dawkins thinks it “probable
also that the art of weaving woolen cloth was known, although,
from its perishable nature, no trace of it has been handed down
to us.” (“Early Man in Britain,” p. 275.)

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 132.

Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” p. 130.

On this subject consult Lubbock’s “Prehistoric Times,” chap.
v.; Keary’s “Dawn of History,” p. 363-6; Geikie’s “Prehistoric
Europe,” p. 375; Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 284-9;
Ferguson’s “Rude Stone Monuments;” Figuier’s “Primitive Man,”
chap. iii.; Rau’s “Early Man in Europe,” p. 139; “Archæology,”
Vol. XLII.

“Human Species”, p. 335.

“Prehistoric Europe,” p. 547.

Dawkins’s “Early Man in Britain,” p. 310, note 3.

Ibid., p. 314.

Thurman, Virchow, Huxley, and others.

Mr. Dawkins is inclined to view them as a remnant of the
Neolithic people. Whether our scholars will ultimately accept
his views, remains to be seen.

Brace’s “Races of the Old World,” p. 82,

Am. Encyclopedia, Art. Basque.

Brace’s “Races of the Old World,” p. 82.

Brace’s “Races of the Old World,” p. 82.

“Pre-Adamites,” p. 150.

It is unnecessary to caution the reader, that, after all, our
knowledge of “prehistory” is vague. Prof. Virchow, who is
eminent authority on these points, thinks it not yet possible
to identify the prehistoric people of Europe; and good
authorities hold that the Turanian tribes just named are the
remnants of Paleolithic tribes, instead of Neolithic.

Morgan’s “Ancient Society,” p. 39.

The exceptions to this statement are the higher classes of
sedentary Indians, of which we shall treat in future pages.