124 HUMAN HISTOEY 



observations at Siisa calculated that the Neolithic Age began 

 there about 20,000 years ago.^ Sir Arthur Evans estimates that 

 at least 14,000 years have elapsed since the beginning of the 

 Neolithic period at Cnossus.^ All that can be said is that the 

 Neolithic culture was flourishing in the eighth millennium b. c. in 

 many parts of Europe, having been brought from farther East, 

 where it had originated at a considerably earlier date. It has 

 proved very difficult to subdivide the Neolithic epoch into succes- 

 sive periods. In the Palaeolithic period superimposed deposits 

 containing relics of various cultures are not infrequently found, 

 thus enabling the succession of culture periods to be made out. 

 In the Neolithic period evidence of this kind is for the most part 

 lacking. It is not proposed to enter upon the subject here beyond 

 saying that three stages are recognized by French archaeologists, 

 the Campignienne, the Chasseo-Kobenhaussienne, and the Carna- 

 ceenne. The first of these stages is markedly more primitive than 

 the succeeding stages. The second is that of the Swiss Lake 

 Dwellings, and the third that of Megalithic monuments — Dolmens, 

 Menhirs, Cromlechs, Alices Couvertes, stone circles, and so on.^ 



What has been said regarding culture periods in general — 

 namely, that they are not definite periods in time in the history 

 of mankind as a whole, but epochs through which different races 

 have passed at different times — is well illustrated in the case of 

 the Neofithic. The Neolithic culture had existed some thousands 

 of years in Western Asia before it penetrated into Europe, and 

 was practised in some parts of Europe, in Britain, for instance, 

 up to about 2000 b. c. or later, for thousands of years after metals 

 had been taken into use elsewhere. In general the Neolithic 

 period has to be regarded as a period of great advance in material 

 wealth. Eelatively to Palaeolithic men, Neofithic men were rich, 

 and often lived in villages of some size. Several animals were 

 domesticated, several varieties of cereals cultivated, finen was 

 manufactured, and the vine as well as a large number of fruit- 

 trees known. It appears that many at least of the well-known 

 trading routes used in the Bronze Age were open in the Neofithic 

 Age. Some of these routes brought the Baltic into communication 

 with the Mediterranean, one began at Venice, passed over the 



' Montelius, C. I. A., 1906, vol. ii, p. 32. - Pottery from the earliest 



Neolithic at Cnossus was well made, and therefore this culture must have originated 

 considerably more than 14,000 years ago. ^ On this subject see Dechelette, 



loc. cit., vol. i, p. 336. 



