310 THE ARYAN QUESTION. vi 



the life of the pile-dwellers, from the neolithic 

 to the perfected bronze stage, there is no indication 

 of any disturbance such as must have been caused 

 by foreign invasion; and such as was produced by 

 intruders, shortly after the iron stage was reached. 

 Undoubtedly the constructors of the pile-dwell- 

 ings must have received foreign influences through 

 the channel of trade, and may have received them 

 by the slow immigration of other races. Their 

 amber, their jade, and their tin show that they had 

 commercial intercourse with somewhat distant re- 

 gions. The amber, however, takes us no further 

 than the Baltic; and it is now known that jade is 

 to be had within the boundaries of Europe, while 

 tin lay no further off than north Italy. An 

 argument in favour of oriental influence has been 

 based upon the characters of certain of the culti- 

 vated plants and domesticated animals. But even 

 that argument does not necessarily take us be- 

 yond the limits of south-eastern Europe; and it 

 needs reconsideration in view of the changes of 

 physical geography and of climate to which I have 

 drawn attention. 



In connection with this question there is an- 

 other important series of facts to be taken into 

 consideration. "When, in the seventeenth century, 

 the Eussians advanced beyond the Ural and began 

 to occupy Siberia, they found that the majority of 

 the natives used implements of stone and bone. 

 Only a few possessed tools or weapons of iron, 



