EARLY MAN 



THE prehistoric antiquities of Sussex are very important and 

 numerous, and entitle the county to a position second only to 

 Kent among the counties of the south-east of England. Every 

 sub-division of the prehistoric period is represented by the con- 

 tents of the museums at Lewes, Chichester, Brighton, Hastings and East- 

 bourne, and by other objects found in Sussex which are in the British 

 Museum and in various private collections. To attempt to describe in 

 detail all these antiquities would be impossible within the scope of the 

 present article. A topographical list of discoveries at the end of this 

 article, and a map marked so as to show the distribution of prehistoric 

 antiquities of various kinds throughout the county, will, it is hoped, 

 make it easy to form an idea of the evidences upon which the earliest 

 part of the story of Sussex is founded. 



The prehistoric era, commencing with the first appearance of man 

 and ending with the Roman occupation of Britain, is usually divided 

 into the following sections or ages : (i) Palseolithic Age, (2) Neolithic 

 Age, (3) Bronze Age, and (4) Prehistoric Iron Age. It is proposed to 

 follow this arrangement in dealing with the subject of Early Man in 

 Sussex, but at the very beginning it may be well to explain that these 

 several ages must be regarded, not as indicating particular periods of 

 time, but as representing successive stages in culture. 



As far as Sussex and Britain generally are concerned there is reason 

 to believe that the first appearance of man is associated with the Paleo- 

 lithic Age, when stone tools were shaped by chipping and when the 

 grinding or polishing of stone was an unknown art. The ' Eolithic 

 Age,' as it has been called, which by some is supposed to have preceded 

 the Pala2olithic, and to be represented by tools of immensely ruder types, 

 is not universally accepted, and further evidence must be produced before 

 the suspiciously irregular forms of what have been called ' eolithic 

 implements ' can be acknowledged to have been formed by man. 



The Paleolithic Age 



It is usual to consider this the earlier of the two ages of stone, and 

 there can be no question that such was the case, but the use of the term 

 ' Stone Age ' is perhaps open to the objection that it seems to imply that 

 stone alone was used for tools, weapons, and other articles. If the term 

 ' Pre-metallic Age ' could be substituted it would perhaps prevent the 



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