Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/198

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Itit PRE-HISTORIC ARClIJiOLOGY OF EAST DEVON". afforded by tliis comparative examination that the strong- holds of the South of Enghind were native British construc- tions, uliicli imply the existence of a numerous po}nilation, which are the work of a patient and ingenious race whose motto was defence rather than aggression, whose arts were still in their infancy, who subsisted by hunting and fishing, and by such natuial products as man without agi'iculture can obtain, and o lived contemporaneously with, or under similar conditions of civilisation with the peo})le to whom the sepulchral honours of the ban-ow and the cairn were raised. The connection that Ave are thus enabled to trace between the barrow-builder and the fort-builder is the im- portant feature of the pi-esent discovery, for it enables us to add another link to the chain of evidence which is gradually unitinir into one harmonious whole the scattered fra<rmcnts relating to the early history of our forefathers. Thus also are we enabled to determine a relative if not a positive chronology. When treating of primitive antiquities, the Archc'eologist does not attempt to fix dates with precision ; his object is rather to trace out events that are the land- marks of relative progi-ess ; relying on the proofs furnished by the similarity which chaivicterises the ru<le products of primitive handicraft, he is led to infer an identity of race and period. Applying this test to the instance before us, he will jirobably not err if he attiibute the era of the barrow- builder and of the foi't-biiilder to a period anterior to the time of the llonian Invasion, when the use of the working of iron was uidoiown, an<l when the aniKjurer fashioned his weapons fn;iii the rare and costly copjttr or bi-onze, still KMj)j>lyirig numerous deficiencies ith inij)lements of bone and Hint. EXPLANATION OF THK WOODCUTS. Fi'i. 1. Da^gT of lironze, from tlio Ki«t in ft harrow at I'ptoii Tyiio. Original ai/.o. Fio. 2. Amulet or Necklace. Original Hi/e. a. IJi-ad of Mlialc), fiiMiform in Hhape ami drvi.i.l i.f latl.rn. It. proli.iMy formed the central jiortinn of the ornani<nt. b. Portion of the tilftik of an encrinito. It iiiijhiwh to h.ivc hci-n Htrnng along with the heft/lM. c. e. IJeadrt of Mhalo, omamonleil with an inuiiKxl pattern «f linen W(irk<<l in a chevron. /. I'Voiit view f>f (litt*). il. I{imI brail of haked clay. (/. IVrforttleil itlftto or ili<«c of iihalo of whirh the amulet w.ih formi-d.