XII.] THE CAUCASIC PEOPLES. 465 



point is now firmly established, and not only Sergi, but several 

 other leading Italian authorities hold that the early inhabitants 

 of the peninsula and islands were Ligurians and Pelasgians, whom 

 they look upon as of the same stock, all of whom came from North 

 Africa, and that, despite subsequent invasions and crossings, this 

 Mediterranean stock still persists, especially in the southern pro- 

 vinces and in the islands Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. Hence it 

 seems more reasonable to bring this aboriginal element straight 

 from Africa by the stepping stones of Pantellaria, Malta, and Gozzo 

 (formerly more extensive than at present, and still strewn with 

 megalithic remains comparable to those of both continents), than 

 by the roundabout route of Iberia and Southern Gaul 1 . 



For Sicily, with which may practically be included the south 

 of Italy, we have the conclusions of Signer G. Patroni 



' . Sicilian 



based on years of intelligent and patient labours 2 . Origins- 

 To Africa this archaeologist traces the palaeolithic 

 men of the west coast of Sicily and of the caves near Syracuse 

 explored by Von Adrian 3 . " We are forced to conclude that man 

 arrived in Sicily from Africa at a time when the isthmus connect- 

 ing the island with that Continent still stood above sea-level. 

 He made his appearance about the same time as the elephant, 

 whose remains are associated with human bones especially in the 

 west. He followed the sea coasts, the shells of which offered him 

 sufficient food 4 ." He was followed by the Neolithic man, whose 

 presence has been revealed by the researches of Signer Orsi at 

 the station of Stentinello on the coast north of Syracuse. 



To Orsi is also due the discovery of what he calls the 

 " ^Eneolithic Epoch 5 ,'' represented by the bronzes of the Girgenti 

 district. Orsi assigns this culture to the Siculi, and divides it into 

 three periods, while regarding the Neolithic men of Stentinello 

 as pre-Siculi. But Patroni holds that the ^neolithic peoples 

 have a right to the historic name of Sicani, and that the true 



1 Yet Ligurians are actually planted on the North Atlantic coast of Spain 

 by S. Sempere y Miguel (Revista de Ciencias Historicas, I. v. 1887). 



2 La Civilisation Primitive dans la Sicilie Orientate, in UAnthropologie, 

 1897, p. 130 sq. ; and 295 sq. 



J Prtehistorische Sttidien atis Sicilien^ quoted by Patroni. 

 4 p. 130. 5 See p. 17. 



K. 3 



