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'could only have come from the latitudes of Spain; Southern France;

or Italy。'〃 Sir C。 LYELL; Antiquity of Man; 48…9。

 。。。'

Their smaller boats; or coracles; were made of osiers interwoven;

covered with hides; and rigged with leathern sails and thong tackle。



It will readily be imagined that anything like civilization; as at

present understood; must have been next to impossible under such

circumstances。  〃Miserable indeed;〃 says Carlyle; 〃was the condition

of the aboriginal savage; glaring fiercely from under his fleece of

hair; which with the beard reached down to his loins; and hung round

them like a matted cloak; the rest of his body sheeted in its thick

natural fell。  He loitered in the sunny glades of the forest; living

on wild fruits; or; as the ancient Caledonians; squatted himself in

morasses; lurking for his bestial or human prey; without implements;

without arms; save the ball of heavy flint; to which; that his sole

possession and defence might not be lost; he had attached a long cord

of plaited thongs; thereby recovering as well as hurling it with

deadly; unerring skill。〃



The injunction given to man to 〃replenish the earth and subdue it〃

could not possibly be fulfilled with implements of stone。  To fell a

tree with a flint hatchet would occupy the labour of a month; and to

clear a small patch of ground for purposes of culture would require

the combined efforts of a tribe。  For the same reason; dwellings could

not be erected; and without dwellings domestic tranquillity;

security; culture; and refinement; especially in a rude climate; were

all but impossible。  Mr。 Emerson well observes; that 〃the effect of a

house is immense on human tranquillity; power; and refinement。  A man

in a cave or a campa nomaddies with no more estate than the wolf

or the horse leaves。  But so simple a labour as a house being

achieved; his  chief enemies are kept at bay。  He is safe from the

teeth of wild animals; from frost; sunstroke; and weather; and fine

faculties begin to yield their fine harvest。  Inventions and arts are

born; manners; and social beauty and delight。〃  But to build a house

which should serve for shelter; for safety; and for comfortin a

word; as a home for the family; which is the nucleus of

societybetter tools than those of stone were absolutely

indispensable。



Hence most of the early European tribes were nomadic:  first hunters;

wandering about from place to place like the American Indians; after

the game; then shepherds; following the herds of animals which they

had learnt to tame; from one grazing…ground to another; living upon

their milk and flesh; and clothing themselves in their skins held

together by leathern thongs。  It was only when implements of metal had

been invented that it was possible to practise the art of agriculture

with any considerable success。  Then tribes would cease from their

wanderings; and begin to form settlements; homesteads; villages; and

towns。  An old Scandinavian legend thus curiously illustrates this

last period:   There was a giantess whose daughter one day saw a

husbandman ploughing in the field。  She ran and picked him up with her

finger and thumb; put him and his plough and oxen into her apron; and

carried them to her mother; saying; 〃Mother; what sort of beetle is

this that I have found wriggling in the sand? 〃 But the mother said;

〃Put it away; my child; we must begone out of this land; for these

people will dwell in it。〃



M。 Worsaae of Copenhagen; who has been followed by other antiquaries;

has even gone so far as to divide the natural history of civilization

into three epochs; according to the character of the tools used in

each。  The first was the Stone period; in which the implements chiefly

used were sticks; bones; stones; and flints。  The next was the Bronze

period; distinguished by the introduction and general use of a metal

composed of copper and tin; requiring a comparatively low degree of

temperature to smelt it; and render it capable of being fashioned

into weapons; tools; and implements; to make which; however;

indicated a great advance in experience; sagacity; and skill in the

manipulation of metals。  With tools of bronze; to which considerable

hardness could be given; trees were felled; stones hewn; houses and

ships built; and agriculture practised with comparative facility。

Last of all came the Iron period; when the art of smelting and

working that most difficult but widely diffused of the minerals was

discovered; from which point the progress made in all the arts of

life has been of the most remarkable character。



Although Mr。 Wright rejects this classification as empirical; because

the periods are not capable of being clearly defined; and all the

three kinds of implements are found to have been in use at or about

the same time;*

 'footnote。。。

THOMAS WRIGHT; F。S。A。; The Celt; The Roman; and The Saxon;

ed。 1861。

 。。。'

there is; nevertheless; reason to believe that it is; on the whole;

well founded。  It is doubtless true that implements of stone continued

in use long after those of bronze and iron had been invented; arising

most probably from the dearness and scarcity of articles of metal;

but when the art of smelting and working in iron and steel had

sufficiently advanced; the use of stone; and afterwards of bronze

tools and weapons; altogether ceased。



The views of M。 Worsaae; and the other Continental antiquarians who

follow his classification; have indeed received remarkable

confirmation of late years; by the discoveries which have been made

in the beds of most of the Swiss lakes。*

 'footnote。。。

Referred to at length in the Antiquity of Man; by Sir C。 Lyell; who

adopts M。 Worsaae's classification。

 。。。'

It appears that a subsidence took place in the waters of the Lake of

Zurich in the year 1854; laying bare considerable portions of its

bed。  The adjoining proprietors proceeded to enclose the new land; and

began by erecting permanent dykes to prevent the return of the

waters。  While carrying on the works; several rows of stakes were

exposed; and on digging down; the labourers turned up a number of

pieces of charred wood; stones blackened by fire; utensils; bones;

and other articles; showing that at some remote period; a number of

human beings had lived over the spot; in dwellings supported by

stakes driven into the bed of the lake。



The discovery having attracted attention; explorations were made at

other places; and it was shortly found that there was scarcely a lake

in Switzerland which did not yield similar evidence of the existence

of an ancient Lacustrine or Lake…dwelling population。  Numbers of

their tools and implements were brought to lightstone axes and

saws; flint arrowheads; bone needles; and such likemixed with the

bones of wild animals slain in the chase; pieces of old boats;

portions of twisted branches; bark; and rough planking; of which

their dwellings had been formed; the latter still bearing the marks

of the rude tools by which they had been laboriously cut。  In the most

ancient; or lowest series of deposits; no traces of metal; either of

bronze or iron; were discovered; and it is most probable that these

lake…dwellers lived in as primitive a state as the South Sea

islanders discovered by Captain Cook; and that the huts over the

water in which they lived resembled those found in Papua and Borneo;

and the islands of the Salomon group; to this day。



These aboriginal Swiss lake…dwellers seem to have been succeeded by a

race of men using tools; implements; and ornaments of bronze。  In some

places the remains of this bronze period directly overlay those of the

stone period; showing the latter to have been the most ancient; but in

others; the village sites are altogether distinct。  The articles with

which the metal implements are intermixed; show that considerable

progress had been made in the useful arts。  The potter's wheel had been

introduced。  Agriculture had begun; and wild animals had given place to

tame ones。  The abundance of bronze also shows that commerce must have

existed to a certain extent; for tin; which enters into its

composition; is a comparatively rare metal; and must necessarily have

been imported from other European countries。



The Swiss antiquarians are of opinion that the men of bronze suddenly

invaded and extirpated the men of flint; and that at some still later

period; another stronger and more skilful race; supposed to have been

Celts from Gaul; came armed with iron weapons; to whom the men of

bronze succumbed; or with whom; more probably; they gradually

intermingled。  When iron; or rather steel; came into use; its

superiority in affording a cutting edge was so decisive that it seems

to have supplanted bronze almost at once;*

 'footnote。。。

Mr。 Mushet; however; observes that 〃the general use of hardened

copper by the ancients for edge…tools and warlike instruments; does

not preclude the suppo

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