326 



THE HUMAN SPECIES 



ferruginous soil of Africa. This is supported by the fact that the 

 present African aborigines obtain iron quite easily in spite of 

 their primitive apparatus, and work it into finished articles. 



When the question arises as to where in 

 Europe the point of junction between the Bronze 

 and Iron Ages is most clearly seen, the anthro- 

 pologist will point to the town of Hallstatt, situ- 

 ated on the lake of the same name, where in 

 prehistoric times dwelt a people who had become 

 rich owing to the possession of salt beds, and 

 have left behind them in their graves valuable 

 treasures, such as weapons of iron and imple- 

 ments and ornaments of bronze. 



Similar researches in the lands of the ancient 



PC 



Norici, Veneti and Etrusci have shown that it 

 is here that the birthplace of the implements 

 := of iron and bronze found at Hallstatt is to be 



rt 



E sought, and that from here a brisk export trade 

 arose towards the West and North. The mer- 

 v chants on their travels found iron weapons and 



O 



| tools, and even iron ornaments, more and more 

 c sought after, and this continued till iron in its 

 ^ victorious course reached even to the peoples of 

 J the North and gradually crushed out the bronze 

 > civilisation which had formerly flourished there. 

 j The final victory of iron in mid-Europe must be 

 reckoned from the beginning of the fifth century 

 B.C. The locality after which this period is 

 named is La Tene, a place on the Lake of 

 Neuenburg, where on the bottom of the lake 

 a whole stratum of beautifully made iron 

 weapons, tools and ornaments has been found. 

 The iron industry attained its greatest develop- 

 ment under the Romans who became successors 

 to the civilisation of La Tene, and spread their 

 manufactures over all the countries of which they became 

 possessed. 



Among utensils, or useful objects, one of the most useful, 

 owing to its portability, is earthenware; it is also of great 



