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EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN.
[CHAP. VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE ARRIVAL OF THE PREHISTORIC FARMER, AND THE HERDSMEN—THE NEOLITHIC CIVILISATION.
Definition of the Prehistoric Period.—Geography of Britain.—Submerged Forests.—Climate of Britain.—Prehistoric Mammalia.—Wild Species.—Prehistoric and Historic Periods belong to the Tertiary.—Difference between Late Pleistocene and Prehistoric Mammalia.— Magnitude of Interval between Pleistocene and Prehistoric Periods.—Relative Length of Pleistocene and Prehistoric Periods.—Neolithic Civilisation of Britain and Ireland.—Habitations.—Hut Circles and Log Huts.—The Neolithic Homestead.—Implements.—Spinning and Weaving.—Pottery.—The Flint Mines near Brandon.—The Implement Manufactory at Cissbury.—Commerce.—Navigation.—Warfare and Camps.—Britain occupied by Tribal Communities.—Burial of Dead.—Belief in a Future State.—General Conclusions as to Neolithic Culture in Britain.—Neolithic Civilisation on the Continent.—The Pile-dwellings of Switzerland.—The Domestic Animals and Cultivated Plants.—The Shell-mounds of Denmark.—The Neolithic Art.—The Neolithic Civilisation derived from Central Asia.—General Conclusions.
We have now arrived at the point in the inquiry into the condition of early man which is marked by the dawn of agriculture, by the arrival of domestic animals, and the invention of many useful arts; at that fountain-head whence the civilisation of Europe, such as we know it now, was derived. From this time forward to the borders of history we have to record the advance of man in cul-
