ROUGH STONE MONUMENTS 



we must not infer from the frequency of the flint 

 implements that metal was unknown, for flint 

 continued to be used far on into the early metal 

 age. Moreover, flint tools when worn out were 

 simply thrown aside on the spot, while those of 

 metal were carefully set apart for sharpening or 

 re-casting, and are thus seldom found in large 

 numbers in an excavation. We have, therefore, 

 no means of accurately determining the date of 

 Stonehenge ; all that can be said is that the 

 occurrence of flint in such large quantities points 

 either to the neolithic age or to a comparatively 

 early date in the copper or bronze period. It is 

 unlikely that stone tools would play such a 

 considerable role in the late bronze or the iron 

 age. 



At the same time it must not be forgotten that 

 Sir Arthur Evans has spoken in favour of a date 

 in the first half of the third century B.C. He 

 believes that the great circles are religious monu- 

 ments which in form developed out of the round 

 barrows, and that Stonehenge is therefore much 

 later than some at least of the round barrows 

 around it. That it is earlier than others is clear 

 from the occurrence in some of them of chips 

 from the sarsen stones. He therefore places its 

 building late in the round barrow period, and sees 

 confirmation of this in the fact that the round 

 barrows which surround the monument are not 

 grouped in regular fashion around it, as they 



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