THE FIRST STEPS 
IN THE 
STUDY OF HIGH ANTIQUITY IN EUROPE, 
BY A. MORLOT. 
FOR THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 
Ir is well known that in most countries of Europe there are found axes, 
wedges, hammers, knives, arrow-heads, &c., all of stone. The axes and wedges 
of stone are often called by the common people “thunderbolts,” (a designation 
which has also been applied to certain fossils, such as the belemnites;) and it is 
curious to meet with Fiat notion, not only in Brazil, where it was probably 
introduced by the Portuguese, but even among the Malays* and the Javanese, 
whilst the Japanese and the Chinese revere these objecfs as relics of their 
ancestors.t The truth as to their meaning seems to have dawned but later in 
Europe. Thus when, in 1734, the antiquary and numismat, Mahudel, read to 
the Academy of Paris a paper ‘on the so-called thunderbolts,” showing that 
they were the first instruments used by man, he appears to have been reproached 
for “not giving the reasons, which prove the impossibility of such stones being 
formed in the clouds.” In 1758 there appeared a remarkable work by Goguet, 
on the origin of the laws, arts, and sciences, in which the matter is treated in a 
perfectly rational manner.{ In the preface the author lays down a principle 
which deserves to be given textually: “ When I met with an almost total 
absence of facts and historical monuments, particularly for the first ages, I con- 
sulted what the authors tell us of the customs of savage nations. I thought 
that the habits of those people would furnish sure and correct information con- 
cerning the state of the first tribes.” Further on, (chap. iv, book 1,) Goguet, 
pointing to the stone axes and other objects of the same sort found in Europe, 
recognizes them as similar to those of the savages, and as having been used by 
our ancestors, before the latter had become acquainted with metal. He then 
goes on to speak of the weapons, instruments, and ornaments of copper (bronze) 
met in certain old graves in England, Switzerland, Germany, and chiefly in the 
north, and he comes to the conclusion that copper (bronze) has been used 
instead of iron, (a tenu lieu du fer,) which he finds confirmed by the most 
ancient historical traditions. Lastly, he points out that iron could only have 
been known and used later, because its common ores are not distinguished by 
any striking appearance, and because this metal is much more difficult to pro- 
duce than copper, which is easily smelted. But Goguet was in advance of his 
age, and his valuable archeological remarks were lost to his contemporaries. 
Later came M. de Caumont, who treated the matter in a first-rate manner. 
He perceived that stone implements had been the earliest in use, and that copper 
* George Windsor Earl. ‘‘The Native Races of the Indian Archipelago,” London, 1853; 
and “Journal of the Indian Archipelago,’ vol. v, p. 84. 
t Von Siebold. ** Archief vor Beschvijving of Japan,’’ quoted by Earl. 
tA. Y. Goguet. ‘‘ De l'Origine des Lois, des Arts et des Sciences,’’ sixth edition: 
Paris, 1820. 
