72 DANIEL WILSON ON THE ARTISTIC 



iugs of those primitive artists alike manifest remarkable skill and observant imitation, 

 the former are the objects of special interest. Their carvings appear to have been exe- 

 cuted, vsùth rare exceptions, for the decoration of favourite implements and vpeapons, in 

 accordance with a practice common to many diverse races and conditions of society.' But 

 the drawiugs have no such motive. They more nearly correspond to the sketch, or 

 drawing from nature, of the modern artist; and furnish evidence of peculiar attributes, 

 strikingly distinguishing the race of that remote age from most others that have succeeded 

 them. 



Certain it is that, so far as present evidence goes, the greatly prolonged Neolithic 

 Period was characterized by no such artistic feeling or imitative skill. Specimens of the 

 ingenious handiwork of the artificers of Europe's later Stone Age abound. We have nume- 

 rous relics from the kitchen-middens of Denmark, the pile-villages of Switzerland, the cran- 

 uoges of Scotland and Ireland; as well as all the varied contents of cromlechs, cists, cairns 

 and barrows, diligently explored throughout Europe. But no such examples of carvings, 

 or graven representations of animals or other natural objects, have been found. The " clay 

 in the hands of the potter " is a familiar symbol of plastic response to the wall of the 

 designer. It is, indeed, easier for the practised modeller to fashion the clay into any desired 

 form, than to draw it, subject to rules of perspective, on a flat surface. Linear devices and 

 the representation of objects in intaglio, or in low relief, are also accomplished with great 

 facility on the soft clay. Hence the art of diverse races, periods, and stages of progress, 

 finds its aptest illustration in fictile ware; and the imitative faculty of widely different 

 American races may be studied in their pottery. In Mexico, apparently, we have to look 

 for the northern school of ceramic art. There, the aggressive races of the North first came 

 in contact with the civilization of Central America ; and the native aptitude for imitative 

 representation received a fresh impulse. The Indian modeller learned to work skilfully 

 in clay ; and the variety of design, combined with the c^uaiut humour of the caricaturist, 

 displayed in many of the Mexican terra-cottas, serves to indicate this class of work as 

 specially significant in relation to the present enquiry. The inventive fancy and skill of 

 the Peruvian potter illustrates in ampler variety the progress achieved by the races of the 

 southern continent. But this will more fitly come under review along with other exam- 

 ples of modern native art. For no analogous traces of contemporary modelling in clay 

 furnish material for comparison with the art of the Palœolithic Era ; though the skill of its 

 bone and ivory carvers was in no degree inferior to that of the Mexican or Peruvian 

 modeller. But the aesthetic aptitude of that old race of Europe's intellectual dawn is in 

 some respects unic^ue. In so far as their ingenious arts furnish any evidence of true racial 

 characteristics, the men of the Neolithic Era inherited none of their aesthetic feeling ; nor 

 did the imitative faculty manifest itself in enduring form until the advent of the Aryan 

 races brought with it the potentialities of Hellenic inspiration. 



The absence of nearly e^œry trace of imitative art in the prehistoric remains of 

 Britain has already been noted. It made a strong impression on my mind at an early 

 stage of my archœological researches ; for this characteristic of European art extends over 

 a period of greatly prolonged duration, marked by the advent and disappearance of races, 

 dissimilar alike in physical and mental characteristics. We have the laboriously finished 

 implements of neolithic art, the pottery of at least two distinct races seemingly prior to the 

 Celts, and then the graceful artistic productions of the Bronze Period, but still only the 



