480 QUATERNARY. 



by Prof. Dawkins, are chiefly of Iberic types, those of the Bronze age belong to 

 Celtic types. 



According to Dr. John Evans, the Iron Age in Western Europe lasted until 

 about the Christian era ; and in Britain the Bronze Age may have extended from 

 about 1400 or 1200 B.C. to 500 or 400 B.C., and the Neolithic period for about 

 2000 or more years previously. But in this country it is not possible to fix precise 

 limits for these (to us Pre-historic) periods.' In Neolithic times the only metal 

 known was Gold. Later on, the prevalence of implements and weapons of Bronze 

 before those of Iron in this country, as in other parts of Western Europe, is 

 remarkable. Bronze (or Gun-metal) is an alloy in the proportion of nine parts 

 of copper to one of tin ; and Copper was the first metal which became of real 

 importance to man. Tin also early attracted notice, probably on account of the 

 great heaviness of its ores ; and when metals vi'ere very scarce, it would naturally 

 sometimes happen that, in order to make up the necessary quantity, some tin 

 would be adiled to copper, or vice versa. In this way Sir John Lubbock accounts 

 for the early use of Bronze.* 



In these later Pre-historic times we had dwellings like those of the Swiss Lake 

 population, as at Barton Mere in Suffolk, and at Ulrome in Holderness.* We 

 have also the Pit-dwellings such as those of Standlake, west of Oxford, of which 

 pits a model is preserved in the Ashmolean Museum ;* but many of the so-called 

 Pit-dwellings are in reality excavations made for stone or gravel.* (See p. 394.) 

 The Deneholes (see p. 420), and the Beehive pits or granaries on Portland, are 

 not without geological interest, although their precise age is uncertain. * We have 

 the Druidical remains of Avebury, and those of Stonehenge, which are referred to 

 the later part of the Bronze age. The domestic and wild animals have been 

 previously mentioned, and it will be readily acknowledged how comparatively few 

 remains are handed down for the edification of geologists, as the bones are seldom 

 preserved unless covered up in river-deposits and in peat-beds, or stored up in 

 caverns and fissures of rocks. 



Dr. Croll on astronomical data would place the Glacial deposits at a period 

 be<Tinning about 240,000 years ago, and extending down to about So,ooo years 

 ago.'' Although there is evidence that in Pleistocene times the greater part of the 

 northern hemisphere, at any rate, was subject to a considerable decrease of 

 temperature ; *" yet whether the entire globe was affected at one time, or whether 

 there was an alternate glaciation of the northern and southern hemispheres, may be 

 questioned. The cold, according to Mr. S. V. Wood, jun., was brought about, 

 not by changes in the excentricity of the earth's orbit, nor by changes in its axis, nor 

 so much by alterations in the distribution of land and water, but was due primarily 

 to a diminution of the heat-emitting power of the sun.^ On this subject, however, 

 there is considerable diversity of opinion.'" (See p. 21.) 



1 Ancient Bronze Implements, etc. 1881 ; Nature, Sept. 28, 18S2 ; see also T. 

 Wrioht, The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon. 



* Pre-historic Times, p. 4. 



3 Evans, Ancient Bronze Implements, pp. 4S6, 487 ; Dawkins, Early Man in 

 Britain, p. 352; Rev. Harry Jones, Q. J. Suffolk Inst. 1869, p. 31; F. J. 

 Bennett, Geol. Diss, etc. (Geol. Surv.), p. 19 ; C. Reid, Geol. Holderness, p. 112 ; 

 Dr. R. Munro, Brit. Assoc. 1885, Nature, Oct. 15, 18S5. 



* Proc. Roy. Soc. Antiq. iv. 213. 



* Midland Naturalist, vi. 98 ; F. C. J. Spurrell, Arch. Journ. xl. 281. 



6 T. V. Holmes, P. Geol. Assoc, viii. 404 ; Trans. Essex Field Club, iv. part 

 9; Damon, Geol. Weymouth, 1884, p. 164; Fitton, T. G. S. (2), iv. 220. 

 ■' Climate and Time in their Geological Relations, 1875. 



8 Ramsay, Phys. Geol. and Geogr. Gt. Britain, ed. 5, p. 375. 



9 G. Mag. 1883, p. 293 ; Q. J. xxxvi. 457, xxxviii. 667. 



1" See Address to Brit. Assoc. 18S6, by Sir J. W. Dawson, pp. 22-25 ; G. 

 H. Darwin, Address Math, and Phys. Sec. Brit. Assoc. 1886; and Sir R. S. Ball, 

 Nature, Oct. 21, 1886, p. 607. 



