818 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



intruders were probably Libyans — tbat is, Berbers — the etlinograpby 

 of wbicli stock has been a S])ecial study with him. Doctor Brinton 

 remarks: " This identification, I believe, will finally be established. If 

 we examine the configuration of the Nile Valley and its surroundings, 

 no other theory is tenable, i)r()viding the Libyan stock extended that 

 far south of the Mediterranean at a date 3000 B. C. We know they 

 did, and much earlier^ from their very early presence in east Africa." 

 It appears to be conclusively shown by Doctor Brinton's further argu- 

 ments that the "new race" was of the Libyan stock. 



The origin of the concentric circles and other incised ornamentation 

 as decorative motives on this pottery would seem to have come from 

 the Mediterranean, perhaps north of it, where a near ai^proach is found 

 in later Neolithic stations in Itaiy, Spain, and in the lower strata of 

 Hasserlik. Could there have been a prehistoric common center of 

 development of this very common ornament in northwestern Europe, 

 from which it was carried into Scandinavia, and the valleys of certain 

 portions of France, where its occurrence is so frequently remarked in 

 bronze and other articles of personal adornment? 



It has been shown that trade routes existed in prehistoric times 

 between Italy and the Scandinavian Peninsula and Denmark, the scat- 

 tered graves en route producing amber for one side and ornaments of 

 south European manufacture on the other. Similar trade routes, which 

 were also culture routes, have also been suggested as having existed 

 between Scandinavia across northern Europe and Asia down into India. 

 Why could not like routes have been followed in prehistoric times along 

 the lines of the localities producing so much jewelry and fictile ware 

 chiefly ornamented with spirals and concentric rings'? 



That trade routes existed between the countries of the Mediterra- 

 nean, even as far east as Macedonia, has been well established, and 

 the following remarks are of interest in this connection: 



In the June number of "The Strand Magazine"^ appeared an illus- 

 trated article devoted to finds of coins in Great Britain, one illustration 

 in particular attracting my attention because of the jiresence upon the 

 reverse of a nucleated ring, which character in this connection ai^pears 

 to have no ai)parent relation with the other objects represented ui)on 

 the coin and with which it is associated. 



Upon reference to the various works on the coinage of the ancient 

 Britons, several curious, interesting, and apparently new facts present 

 themselves — facts which may with propriety be here referred to. The 

 subject seems to me to be closely related to that under consideration in 

 so far as it relates to trade or culture routes, and the adoption of char- 

 acters by a people with whose signification or import they may be unac- 

 quainted, and the ultimate replacement of such characters which may 

 be of importance in and a necessary part of the prototype, by the sub- 



1 Loudon, 1896. 



