4 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. i. 



as we can of those who dwelt in Britain for the first two 

 centuries afterwards. We know that they carried on a 

 commerce and possessed a coinage, how they lived, and 

 how they buried their dead. The tomb on the lonely 

 moor or the swelling chalk-down, the habitation within 

 the earthen or rock-built rampart, the camps in the best 

 military positions commanding the pastures, the discov- 

 eries in dredging the rivers or in draining the morasses, 

 offer the materials for bringing the life of those men 

 before our eyes. But we can do more than this ; we 

 can indicate their advance in culture and the changes 

 wrought in their conditions of life. We can follow them 

 back to a time when they were on the continent, and 

 trace their westward progress over Europe from their 

 ancient Eastern home, from the birthplace of the nations, 

 Asgard, the mystic Garden of Eden. We can prove that 

 they were composed of two distinct elements, the older 

 or the non- Aryan Iberic, and the later or the Celtic, form- 

 ing the vanguard of the great army of the Aryan invaders ; 

 we know to what extent our civilisation is due to them, 

 and how they were influenced by the civilised peoples 

 of the Mediterranean, Phoenicians, Greeks, Etruskans, 

 and Komans. The ancient routes of trade, leading from 

 the Mediterranean and Black Sea northwards as far as 

 Scandinavia and Britain, have also been traced, and 

 we can indicate with tolerable precision what we may 

 term the overlap of history. We are now able to 

 realise that, while Egypt and Assyria were highly 

 civilised and mighty empires, while the Greeks were 

 extending their influence and power over the Mediter- 

 ranean, while the Etruskans still ruled over Lombardy, 

 and while the Phoenicians were pushing their trade 

 farther and farther northwards along the shores of 



