314 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. ix. 



Neolithic age. They have left traces of their presence 

 in numerous interments in chambered tombs and caves 

 in Belgium and in France, 1 as well as in Spain and 

 in Gibraltar. 2 We may therefore conclude that at one 

 period in the Neolithic age the population of Europe, 

 west of the Ehine and north of the Alps, was uniform 

 in physique, and consisted of the same small people as 

 the Neolithic inhabitants of Britain and Ireland. 



The researches of Dr. Virchow also prove that skulls 

 of the same type occur in the peat bogs of north 

 Germany and of Denmark, bearing a closer resemblance 

 to those of the Basques than to those of any other race. 3 



Identification with Iberian Race. 



The next point to be considered is their relation to 

 the present inhabitants of Europe. Have they been 

 exterminated in the struggles which have taken place 

 during repeated invasions, or are they still represented 

 in the present population ? The labours of Thurnam, 

 Busk, Virchow, Huxley, Wilson, and others, combined 

 with the observations of Dr. Broca, 4 offer most conclusive 

 evidence that they are still to be numbered among the 

 living races of Europe. 5 



The numerous skulls obtained from Basque cemeteries 

 possess exactly those characters which have been re- 

 marked above in the Neolithic tombs and caves in 



1 For details, see Cave-hunting, c. vi. 



2 Intern. Gongr. Prehist. Archeol. Norwich, vol. 1869, p. 106. 



3 Makfriaux, 1870, p. 340. 



4 Broca, Anthrop. Mem. Paris, i. p. 1, iii. p. 147. 



5 For details, see Cave-hunting, c. vi., and an Essay in Fortnightly 

 Review, Sept. 1874, p. 323. 



