Page:Prehistoric Britain.djvu/35

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EVIDENTIAL MATERIALS
27

and, in the other, of a number of specimens of man's handicraft works, which, being largely made of such endurable substance as flint, are more abundantly met with. The successive modifications which these respective materials have undergone during a long series of ages, though different in kind, are found to bear a decided ratio to the progress of human intelligence. Thus, taking the human skull at the starting-point of humanity as comparable to that of one of the higher apes, we know, as a matter of fact, that during the onward march of time it has undergone some striking changes, both in form and capacity, before reaching the normal type of modern civilized races—changes which can be largely classified in chronological sequence. Similarly, the artificial products of man's hands show a steady improvement in type, technique and efficiency, commensurate with his progressive knowledge of the laws of nature and his ability in applying them to mechanical and utilitarian purposes. Indeed, the trail of humanity along its entire course is strewn with the discarded weapons and tools which, from time to time, had to give way to others of greater efficiency. Such obsolete objects are now only collected as curiosities to be preserved in archaeological museums.

From this vast field of anthropological and archæological materials we are expected to convey to our readers some general idea of their scientific value, in illustrating the progressive advances of the earliest British