EARLY MAN 



Querns and bronze celts are said to have been found near the floors, but 

 the statement lacks that precision which would make it valuable evidence 

 for antiquarian purposes. At the same time it must be admitted that 

 there is no good reason why the depressions should not mark the floors 

 of huts of Neolithic or some subsequent age. 



Depressions in the ground indicating the sites of ancient dwellings 

 and probably of the Neolithic age have been found at Roughton Heath, 

 Beeston Heath, Edgefield, Marsham Heath, Mousehold, and Eaton 

 Heath. The precise periods to which they may be assigned however 

 cannot be determined without careful and systematic exploration. 



The inhabitants of Norfolk in the Neolithic age were farmers and 

 herdsmen. They possessed domesticated animals, and this was one 

 of their most reliable sources of food supply. They had a rudimentary 

 knowledge of the potter's art and were well acquainted with spinning 

 and possibly with weaving. They were able to construct canoes and 

 seaworthy boats. Their dress consisted partly of the natural skins of 

 animals and partly of the productions of the spindle and distaff, and their 

 personal ornaments included beads and pendants of jet, amber, bone, etc. 

 The dead were buried in a contracted posture near the surface of the ground, 

 and a long oval-shaped mound or barrow was afterwards deposited over 

 the site. Weapons and other articles were usually buried with the dead 

 body, and this has led to the inference that this primitive people had a 

 belief in a future state of existence after death. 



The Neolithic man was of small stature, generally standing about 

 5 feet 5 inches high. His skull was long or oval in shape and of 

 fair capacity. The length of the skull, which is one of the most 

 characteristic marks of the race, was produced by a development at the 

 back of the head. The face was oval in outline and the cheekbones 

 only slightly developed. The forehead was low and the nose aquiline. 

 The modern Basques present the nearest resemblance to this ancient 

 race, and they are generally considered to have descended from it. 



Some of the defensive earthworks in various parts of England 

 usually known as camps are supposed upon reasonable grounds to repre- 

 sent the strongholds in which Neolithic men entrenched themselves, 

 their families and their cattle, but the difficulty of determining the 

 period to which the earthworks belong is much increased by the fact 

 that they have been occupied by successive races, and further that no 

 excavations or minute examinations of them upon a sufficiently extensive 

 scale have yet been made. The latter remark is particularly true of the 

 earthworks of Norfolk, few of which can with any degree of probability 

 be referred to a period earlier than the Roman occupation. The camps 

 at Tasburgh and Fakenham, however, are probably pre-Roman works. 



Remains of the Neolithic age, in the form of chipped and ground 

 flint and occasionally other stone, are abundant in many parts of England, 

 particularly in those districts where flint occurs naturally. Norfolk is no 

 exception to this rule, and the recorded discoveries are too numerous for 

 particular mention. The following, however, is a list of the more im- 



265 



