282 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. vm. 



crossed over into Britain from the nearest shores of the 

 Continent, and from Britain to Ireland. 



Warfare and Camps. 



The numerous heads of javelins, arrows, and spears 

 show that the Neolithic inhabitants of Britain and. Ire- 

 land were frequently at war with one another, as is now 

 the case with all lowly civilised tribes except the Eskimos. 

 The club and the axe were used in hand-to-hand com- 

 bat. For purposes of defence they constructed camps, 

 with well- engineered ramparts either of stone or earth 

 (Fig. 102), and fosses, sometimes as many as three or 

 four ramparts being formed one above another. 1 The 

 ramparts probably bore palisades, and were so placed 

 as to enable their defenders to sweep the ground within 

 range with their sling stones and arrows. It is clear 

 then, as General Lane Fox has pointed out, that their 

 owners were well acquainted with the art of war. 



These camps, varying in size, are exceedingly abun- 

 dant, and form, even in their present ruined condition, 

 striking pictures in the landscape ; as, for instance, 

 that of Mount Badon near Bath, Old Sarum near Salis- 

 bury, and Caer Caradoc near Church Stretton. They 

 were probably places of refuge belonging to a tribe or 

 clan, which afforded shelter to the flocks and herds, as 

 well as to their possessors, during the frequent raids 

 which are universal among lowly organised communities. 

 They cluster more thickly on the spots which command 

 the fertile valleys as, for example, the sides of the 

 Severn and of the Dee, and on the Chalk- downs overlook- 

 ing the rich ' ' bottoms " of the southern counties. Each 



1 " Hill Forts of Sussex," Archaologia, xlii 



