CHAP, ix.] SURVIVALS FROM NEOLITHIC AGE. 337 



cemetery of Caranda 1 in the commune of Fere-en- 

 Tardenois, Aisne, in which great numbers of flint flakes 

 and arrow-heads, and in some cases fragments of polished 

 stone scrapers were found along with a battle axe, and 

 the characteristic Merovingian brooches interred with 

 the bodies. Their abundance is accounted for by the 

 fact of the cemetery having been situated near the spot 

 where the flint implements were manufactured, like 

 that described at Cissbury. In other Merovingian 

 cemeteries the flint implements are scarce, and are, 

 according to M. de Mortillet, found under conditions 

 which show them to have been used as amulets. In 

 Britain, therefore, we may conclude that flint flakes were 

 used in burial ceremonies in the Komano- British age, as 

 late as the fourth century after Christ, and in France as 

 late as the Frankish conquest. A parallel case of 

 survival in religious ceremonial, after the things had 

 passed away from every-day life, is that of the sacer- 

 dotal vestments in the Christian churches, in which the 

 ordinary dress of the Koman gentleman of the time has 

 been preserved. 



The Neolithic civilisation formerly spread over 

 Northern Africa, the whole of Europe, and Asia, the 

 islands of the Pacific, and the Americas, and lingered 

 in remote places until the introduction of iron in the 

 course of the present century. In the days of Captain 

 Cook it was to be studied in nearly all the islands of 

 the Pacific, and perhaps may still survive in some 

 remote islet as yet unvisited by European sailors. 



MaMriaux, 1875, p. 105. 



