40 THE HELSTONE. 



In the Morbihan in Brittany, there are huge chambered 

 tumuli, some with many carved stones. I had the pleasure of 

 visiting them and also Carnac in 1914, with a few Salisbury 

 friends, under the guidance of Mr. Doran Webb. 



The long-headed race was undoubtedly the older, and must 

 have been conquered and absorbed by the round-headed 

 (brachycephalic) Bronze Age man, for long skulls may be also 

 found in round barrows, but never round ones in long barrows. 



As to the origin of these barrow builders: Tumuli are to 

 be seen in North Africa, especially Algeria, and West Asia 

 beyond the Jordan. There is then a gap of 2,000 miles to 

 India, and further east they occur in Burmah and Japan. In 

 the steppes, North of Circassia, there are hundreds of 

 thousands near the home of the Aryans whence they may 

 have spread to the Baltic, but it is uncertain if Asia or Africa 

 was the cradle of the race or cult. There are no dolmens in 

 the Valley of the Nile, in Phoenicia, or its colonies. There is 

 no record of any great migration; so it may be that a certain 

 religion spread to many races across the world. 



In Europe they are diffused over the Western side only, 

 where they mark the course of prehistoric commerce, which 

 skirted the shores of Africa as far as the Atlantic, and after 

 passing along the coasts of Spain, Portugal, and France, ended 

 at the British Isles. Another commercial route passed through 

 Italy, the Islands of Sardinia and Corsica, across France and 

 Brittany, to the English Channel. 



The movement was probably from the Aegean to the North, 

 rather than from Scandinavia to the South. The tombs of 

 New Grange in Ireland resemble those of Crete and Mycenae 

 in Greece. 



The last period of the Neolithic Age in Italy may be fixed at 

 about 4,000 B.C., but stone tools may have been used in the 

 North centuries after the introduction of copper or bronze in 

 the South. No fixed dates are possible, for there was much 

 overlapping, and authorities disagree; but by studying sections 

 of ancient sites, such as in Crete, approximate dates are 



