

EARLY MAN 



IT is proposed in this article to trace the history of man from his 

 earliest appearance in the county to the moment when definite 

 records begin. 1 For the performance of this task, we have to rely 

 upon the tokens of his presence : here and there the skeletons of 

 his dead, but more often implements and weapons of bone and stone and 

 bronze, or again and more doubtfully the shaping of huge stones and of 

 caverns. By a happy accident the stalagmites of the Creswell Caves have 

 sealed up the successive deposits of human and animal remains. They 

 thus furnish us with a rough calendar of the earliest times which, with 

 the help of the geologist and palaeontologist, it is possible to decipher. 

 There is yet another measure of the lapse of time. The anthropologist 

 marks off the successive stages of advancing civilization, as man passes 

 from the use of rough stone tools and weapons to polished stones, and 

 again from stone to metal, first bronze, and then iron. It follows that 

 our measure of time is very different from that of the historian who is 

 helped by definite records. Instead of years we deal with geological 

 periods and with ages of culture. We have to be satisfied with a bare 

 register of succession : with saying that such and such objects come before, 

 or at the same time with, or after, other objects. Moreover the stages 

 of development overlap. Notably is this the case as man passes from 

 the use of stone to the use of metals. The finest stone tools were wrought 

 when man had already become familiar with the working of bronze. It 

 will be convenient, however, to consider the stone implements together 

 before we pass to the Bronze Age, although many of the stone imple- 

 ments belong to the Bronze Age. We begin with the Old Stone Age, 

 or palaeolithic man : then we shall consider the New Stone Age or 

 neolithic man : and lastly the Bronze Age, which will bring us to the 

 coming of the Romans and the dawn of history. 



The county of Nottingham is not rich in pre-historic remains, but 

 possesses them in sufficient variety to illustrate the life of early man. Our 

 poverty in this respect is somewhat exaggerated owing to the lack of local 

 antiquarian research. No one, for example, has done for Nottingham- 

 shire what Bateman did for Derbyshire, and every year removes some 

 landmark or memorial of the past. Hence the following pages are an 

 indication of work yet to be done, as well as an attempt to sum up the 

 results which are already ascertained. 8 



1 See index at the end of this article. 



* I have to acknowledge gratefully the assistance which has been generously given me in preparing 

 this description. The officers and many of the members of the Thoroton Society have taken great pains 

 for me ; my colleague, Prof. Carr, has also helped me much. 



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