PRE-HISTOKIC TIMES. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE first appearance of man in Europe dates from a 

 period so remote, that neither history, nor even tra- 

 dition, can throw any light on his origin, or mode of life. 

 Under these circumstances, some have supposed that the 

 past is hidden from the present by a veil, which time will 

 probably thicken, but never can remove. Thus our pre- 

 historic antiquities have been valued as monuments of ancient 

 skill and perseverance, not regarded as pages of ancient his- 

 tory; recognized as interesting vignettes, not as historical 

 pictures. Some writers have assured us that, in the words 

 of Palgrave, " We must give it up, that speechless past ; 

 whether fact or chronology, doctrine or mythology ; whether 

 in Europe, Asia, Africa, or America ; at Thebes or Palenque, 

 on Lycian shore or Salisbury Plain : lost is lost ; gone is gone 

 for ever." Others have taken a more hopeful view, but in 

 attempting to reconstruct the story of the past, they have too 

 often allowed imagination to usurp the place of research, and 

 have written in the spirit of the novelist, rather than in that 

 of the philosopher. 



Of late years, however, a new branch of knowledge has 

 arisen ; a new Science has, so to say, been born among us, 

 which deals with times and events far more ancient than any 

 which have yet fallen within the province of the archaeologist 

 The geologist reckons not by days or by years ; the whole six 



B 



