CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



adoption of a scheme of classification of the 

 relics, illustrative of three distinct stages of cul- 

 ture, traceable in the progress of all civilised 

 nations. The idea of the succession is : 



1. There was a period for each given portion of 

 Europe when the use of metals for cutting instru- 

 ments was unknown, and man had to depend on 

 stone, bone, and other readily accessible natural 

 products, for his implements and weapons of the 

 chase or war. 



2. That this period was succeeded by one in 

 which the use of copper or bronze (copper alloyed 

 with tin) became known, and gradually super- 

 seded the use of stone. 



3. That a time arrived when bronze, in its turn, 

 gave way to iron or steel, as being a superior 

 metal for all cutting purposes, and which, as such, 

 has remained till the present day. 



This classification, however, is not to be under- 

 stood as implying any exact chronology. It is 

 simply illustrative of successive stages of culture, 

 or of progress towards the existing civilisation. 

 Neither does it imply that all implements of stone 

 are to be assigned to the Stone Age, or all imple- 

 ments of bronze to the Bronze Age ; nor that the 

 use of stone implements ceased on the introduc- 

 tion of bronze, or that those of bronze were at 

 once superseded by those of iron. 



Persistence of Forms, As certain typical forms 

 of animal life have been persistent through the long 

 succession of the geological epochs, so certain typi- 

 cal forms of implements of stone have continued in 

 use from the earliest human period until now. 

 Speaking broadly, therefore, the Stone Age still 

 continues, and thus includes the whole duration 

 of the existence of humanity. While subject to 

 fluctuations in respect of the areas over which it 

 has manifested itself, and the grades of civilisation 

 of which it has been characteristic, it has main- 

 tained its place in parallelism with the whole 

 history of human progress, and co-existed in time 

 not only with the lowest, but even with the highest 

 civilisation of which humanity has shewn itself 

 capable. It is thus obvious that, as the rates of 

 progress have been very dissimilar among different 

 sections of the human family, the Stone Age of 

 one area may have been contemporaneous with 

 the Bronze Age of another, and both of these with 

 the Iron Age of a third. Hence, also, it follows, 

 that unless we have some specialty of form, or 

 some circumstance of association, to indicate the 

 age of a particular implement of stone, it is 

 almost impossible to say whether it belongs to the 

 Stone Age of prehistoric times or not 



Theoretical Classification. It is also evident 

 that if we possessed the necessary criteria for their 

 chronological arrangement, a theoretically perfect 

 classification of the implements would present the 

 following groups : 



I. Stone Implements a, of the Stone Age ; 

 b, of the Bronze Age ; c, of the early Iron Age. 



II. Bronze Implements a, of the Bronze Age ; 

 b, of the early Iron Age. 



III. Iron Implements a, of the early Iron 

 Age ; b, of the later Iron Age. 



Thus, each of the earlier groups overlaps the 

 later, and gradually thins out, in consequence of 

 displacement .by the new material ; but the minute 

 and exact knowledge necessary for this detailed 

 classification is not at present attainable. 



Characteristics of the Ages. In dealing with 



722 



an unclassified deposit, in order to ascertain its 

 relative chronological period, it is necessary to 

 observe that each of these three ages, or stages of 

 progress, is marked, not so much by the absence 

 of the implements of the age which preceded it, 

 as by the presence of its own special materials. 



Fig. 3- War-axes of Stone used in the Bronze Age : 



a, Danish, ^ inches ; i, English, 5 inches ; c, Swedish, 8J inches 

 long. 



For instance, the Bronze Age is determined by 

 the presence of its own characteristic forms, and 

 not by the absence of the stone axes and other 

 implements of the previous age, which were in 

 fact carried down into the Age of Bronze, and used 

 until slowly displaced by the superior material 



Fig. 4. Bronze Swords : 



a, Scandinavian, 36 inches ; b, Scottish (Arthur's Seat), 26} inches 

 long. 



Similarly, the Iron Age is not marked by the 

 absence of bronze, or even of stone implements, 

 both of which were continued down into it, and 

 used for certain purposes long after iron and 

 steel had become common. The early Iron Age, 

 indeed, is remarkable for the richness and profu- 



. - 



a. and b, Flint Scraper, front and back, 4 inches ; c, Flint Flake- 

 knife, si inches long. 



sion of its ornamental bronzes; and for com- 

 moner purposes, tools and weapons of iron and 

 bronze were for a time contemporaneously in use. 

 In fact, it was always easier to cast the implement 





