CHAP, ix.] SURVIVALS FKOM NEOLITHIC AGE. 335 



age has not passed away without leaving its mark 

 behind among the non- Aryan inhabitants of France and 

 Spain, in those places where the aboriginal population 

 is to be found in its greatest purity. They point back 

 to a time when the Neolithic civilisation and Iberic 

 dialects spread over the whole of Europe north of the 

 Alps and west of the Ehine, and probably also over 

 Germany and Denmark. 



Survivals from Neolithic Age. 



The principal domestic animals and cereals, and many 

 of the European fruits, are directly traceable, as we have 

 seen, to the Neolithic age. The Neolithic population also 

 is still represented by the Iberic and Celtic peoples. It 

 is not, therefore, surprising that the Neolithic age should 

 have left traces which survived, long after it had passed 

 away, in the manners and customs of the European 

 peoples of the succeeding ages. The polished stone 

 axes were gradually supplanted, as will be seen in the 

 next chapter, for purposes of every-day use by better 

 implements of bronze, and ultimately came to be looked 

 upon with awe and respect. In Italy, France, Germany, 

 and Scandinavia, 1 in the Middle Ages, they were termed 

 thunderbolts, and were supposed to be endowed with 

 miraculous powers in healing the sick, and in averting 

 the evil eye from men and beasts. In the two last 

 countries they were termed Thor's hammers (Thor's 



1 Evans, Ancient Stone Implements, c. iii. Cartaillac, UAge de la Pierre 

 dans les Souvenirs et les Superstitions Populaires. Paris, 8vo. 1878. 

 Mahudel, "Sur les pretendues pierres de fondre," Mattfriaux, 1875, p. 

 145. This paper was read in 1730. Moscardo, MaUriaux, 1876, p. 1. 

 Montelius, La Suede Prthistorique, Stockholm, 1874, 8vo. (Nilsson, Paris. 



