(35) On this point consult Wright's "Studies in Science and Religion," pp. 232-347; also Prof. Lewis in "Primitive Industry," pp. 547-551.
(36) "Prehistoric Europe," p. 560. (37) See any isothermal map.
(38) Wallace's "Island Life," p. 154, note.
(39) "Geology of New Hampshire," Vol. III, p. 327, referred to in Wright's "Studies in Science and Religion," p. 327.
171
Chapter VI
THE NEOLITHIC AGE IN EUROPE.
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 archaeologists 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
172
time of human life, we learn only from the labors of geologists and archaeologists. 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; 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,
173
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