PREHISTORIC TIMES. 



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Phoenicians obtained it. But, unless the ancients had some source of 

 tin with which we are unacquainted, it seems to be well established 

 that the Phoenician tin was mainly derived from Cornwall, and conse- 

 quently that even at this early period a considerable commerce had 

 been organized, and very distant countries brought into connection 

 with one another. "We are justified in concluding that, between b. c. 

 1500 and b. c. 1200, the Phoenicians were already acquainted with the 

 mineral fields of Spain and of Britain. 



Of the still earlier Age of Stone no less than 30,000 relics, mainly in 

 the shape of implements, are preserved in the Danish museums alone. 

 There is enough evidence to justify us in believing that there was a 

 period when society was in so barbarous a state that sticks or stones 

 (to which we must add horns and bones) were the only implements 

 with which men knew how to furnish themselves. 



Our knowledge of this ancient period is derived principally from 

 four sources : namely, the tumuli, or ancient burial-mounds ; the Lake 

 habitations of Switzerland ; shell-mounds of Denmark ; and the Bone- 

 caves. There are, indeed, many other remains of great interest, such, 

 for example, as the ancient fortifications, the " castles " and " camps " 

 which crown so many English hill-tops, and the great lines of embank- 

 ment; there are the so-called Druidical circles and the vestiges of 

 ancient habitations. The majority of these belong, however, in all 

 probability, to a later period ; and at any rate, in the present state of 

 our knowledge, we cannot say which, or how many of them, are refer- 

 able to the Stone Age. 



Flint appears to have been the stone most frequently used in Eu- 

 rope, and it has had a much more important influence on our civiliza- 

 tion than is generally supposed. Savages value it on account of its 

 hardness and mode of fracture, which is such that, with practice, a 

 good sound block can be chipped into almost any form that may be 

 required. 



In many cases block and pebbles of flint, picked up on the surface 

 of the ground, were used in the manufacture of implements ; but in 

 other cases much labor was spent to obtain flint of good quality. A 

 good illustration of this is afforded by the so-called Grime's Graves, 

 near Brandon, one of which has recently been explored by Mr. Green- 

 well. These turned out to be excavations made for the purpose of 

 obtaining flint. The end of an ancient gallery was exposed to view. 

 The flint had been hollowed out in three places, and in front of two of 

 these recesses, pointing toward the half-excavated stone, were two 

 deer-horn picks, lying just as they had been left, still coated with 

 chalk-dust, on which was in one place plainly visible the print of the 

 workman's hand. They had evidently been left at the close of a day's 

 work ; during the night the gallery had fallen in, and they had never 

 been recovered. 



The flint knives, or " flakes," simple as their forms appear, are 



