104 GEOLOGY OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT 



Bronze implements were introduced into this country 

 probably some time about B.C. 1800-1500 ; and bronze 

 continued to be the best material of manufacture till the 

 introduction of iron some two or three centuries before the 

 visit of Julius Caesar to these Islands. To the early bronze 

 age belong the graves of ancient chieftains known as 

 round barrows, of which many are to be seen on the Island 

 downs. Funeral urns and other remains have been found 

 in these, some of which are now in the museum at Caris- 

 brooke Castle. Belonging to later times are the remains 

 of the Roman villa at Brading and smaller remains of 

 villas in other places ; and cemeteries of Anglo-Saxon 

 date, rich in weapons and ornaments, which have been 

 excavated on Chessil and Bowcombe Downs. But the 

 study of the remains of ancient man forms a science in 

 itself Archaeology. In studying the periods of Palaeo- 

 lithic and Neolithic man we have stood on the borderland 

 where Geology and Archaeology meet. We have seen that 

 vast geological changes have taken place since man ap- 

 peared on earth. We must remember that the geological 

 record is still in process of being written. It is not the 

 record of a time sundered from the present day, but con- 

 tinuous with our own times ; and it is by the study of 

 processes still in operation that we are able to read the 

 story of the past. 



