EXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST 



The huts of the Neolithic farmers and shepherds 

 were built in clusters, and defended by stock- 

 ades. Wheat and flax were raised, and linen 

 garments were added to those of fur. The dis- 

 taff and loom, in rude shape, were in use, and 

 grain was pounded in the mortar with a pestle. 

 Rude earthenware vessels were made, sometimes 

 ornamented with patterns. Canoes were also 

 in use. The dead were buried in long barrows, 

 and from the almost constant presence of arrow- 

 heads, pottery, or trinkets in these tombs it has 

 been inferred that the Neolithic men had some 

 idea of a future life, and buried these objects 

 for the use of the departed spirits, as is the cus- 

 tom among most savage races at the present 

 time. 



The celebrated lake-villages of Switzerland 

 belong to the Neolithic or early Recent period ; 

 and the remains of their cattle and of their cul- 

 tivated seeds and fruits have thrown light upon 

 the origin of the Neolithic civilization. It is 

 certain that the domestic animals did not origi- 

 nate in Europe, but were domesticated in central 

 Asia, which was the home of their wild ances- 

 tors ; and, moreover, they were not introduced 

 into Europe gradually and one by one, but sud- 

 denly and en masse. It is clear, therefore, that 

 they must have been brought in from Asia by 

 the Neolithic men ; and the same is true of the 

 four kinds of wheat, two of barley, the millet, 

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