274 



EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. 



[CHAP. viii. 



out of the forest, but it was rather an occasional supply, 

 and did not furnish them with their main subsistence. 

 The roe and the stag, probably also the elk and the 

 reindeer, and in Ireland the Irish elk, provided them 

 with venison ; and the discovery of 

 the urus in a refuse-heap at Ciss- 

 bury by Mr. Ernest Willett, proves 

 that that large wild ox was sti]l 

 living in the forests, and some- 

 times fell a victim to the Neolithic 

 hunter. They also ate hares, wild 

 boars, and beavers. 



The Axe. 



Of all the Neolithic implements, 

 the axe was by far the most import- 

 ant. It was by the axe that man 

 achieved his greatest victory over 

 nature. Before it, aided by fire, 

 the trees of the forest fell to make 

 room for the tiller of the ground, 

 and by its sharp edge wood became 

 useful for the manufacture of various 

 articles and implements indispens- 

 able for the advancement of man- 

 kind in culture. It was immeasur- 

 ably superior to the rude flint hache 

 FIG. 100. of the Palaeolithic hunter, which 



stone Hatchet Robenhausen. could not make a straight cut in 

 wood, and which was very generally intended for use in 

 the hand, without any handle. It is therefore chosen as 

 the symbol of the Neolithic culture. 





