306 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. vni. 



represented on a slab in the neighbouring tomb of 

 Manne-er-h'Roek. 1 The peculiar upward curvature of 

 the handle in these figures is precisely of the same kind 

 as that presented by the wooden handle of the axe 

 obtained by Mr. R. D. Darbishire from Ehenside Tarn, 2 

 Cumberland. These engravings prove that the imple- 

 ment, which is to us a symbol of the Neolithic civilisa- 

 tion, was highly prized by its owners. It alone has 

 been drawn sufficiently well to be recognised by modern 

 anthropologists. 



Neolithic Civilisation derived from Central Asia. 



The origin of the domestic animals, as well as of 

 the cereals, proves that the Neolithic peoples migrated 

 into Europe from the south-east, from the mysterious 

 birthplace of successive races, the Ederi of mankind, 

 Central Asia. They probably came by the same routes 

 as those pursued by subsequent migrations, one branch 

 going by way of Asia Minor and Greece, and passing 

 through Italy into Spain; and another traversing the 

 region of the Don and the Volga and the great plains of 

 the Danube, and thence, undeterred by any natural 

 obstacle, penetrating to the borders of the ocean. They 

 must have occupied the Continent for a long period 

 before their arrival in this country, and Britain must 

 have been colonised long before Ireland, since the barrier 

 of sea, which kept the Eomans out of the latter island, 



pp. 361-365. Mr. Fergusson considers all these to be of comparatively 

 modern origin. Some are later than the Neolithic age, but those men- 

 tioned in the text appear to me to be undoubtedly Neolithic. 



1 Galles, Rapport d la SocieU Polymathique du Morbilian. Le 25 Nov. 

 1863. 2 Archceologia, xliv. pp. 273-292. 



