222 ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 



In an interesting address delivered to the Club at Hod-hill 

 by Dr. Boyd Dawkins he describes his researches in that 

 ancient British camp. He mentions the circular depressions 

 which were noticeable. These he had discovered to be the 

 bases of hut-dwellings, 6ft. to 7ft. in diameter. He had 

 found the old hearths, the old utensils, and what is more to 

 our purpose, the old Querns. 



Next, as to the age of these finds. Dr. Boyd Dawkins was 

 fortunate enough to find in one of the huts a perfect skeleton. 

 Now, the skull is an index to the age in which its owner lived. 

 Let us here briefly sketch the changes which have taken 

 place in man during his habitation of this island. First, we 

 have Palaeolithic man, dwellers in the limestone caves, as at 

 Brixham and Kent's Cavern, Torquay. Then the Ice- Age 

 followed w r hich swept him away, blotting him out, as it were, 

 until he was discovered in our own time, buried under a bed 

 of stalagmite which must have taken incalculable years to 

 deposit. After this, followed what is commonly called the 

 Neolithic Age, showing an advance in civilisation ; his 

 flint implements are better executed, he is an agriculturist, 

 breeds cattle, lives no longer in caves, but in huts or houses, 

 and in one point only seems inferior to Palaeolithic man, in 

 that he has apparently lost the art of drawing for which the 

 cave-dwellers were distinguished. Probably he was non- 

 Aryan. The Age of Stone is succeeded by the Age of Bronze, 

 and that by the Age of Iron. Now both these Ages the 

 Bronze and the Iron belong to the Celtic domination. 

 There were two Celtic waves. The first of these is identified 

 with the Bronze Age, and is known as the Gaelic ; it advanced 

 as far as Scotland and Ireland. The second is identified with 

 the Iron Age, and is known as the Cymric ; it advanced to 

 the East and centre of Britain, probably driving the Gaels 

 before them, their knowledge of iron giving them, perhaps, 

 the advantage. 



Now, how are these different races distinguished ? Chiefly 

 through their burial customs. The Neoliths buried in long 

 barrows, the Bronze Age in round barrows ; and the skulls 



