354 TH E HUMAN SPECIES 



A well-developed sense of colour is shown in the large 

 ceremonial urns and platters taken from the barrows of south- 

 west Germany. They have geometrical patterns deeply en- 

 graved on the clay, and painted with various colours. 



In Greece, and the Greek colonies, the painting of their 

 beautifully shaped vases soon began. These vases were turned 

 on a wheel, and were much valued throughout antiquity ; even 

 now they are the delight of all lovers of Art. 



It is not iron itself that has left its mark on the art of the 

 early Iron Age. Still less can this be said of the later Iron 

 Age (La Tene), which may be put at about B.C. 400. 



The Celts indeed, the diffusers of the La Tene civilisation, 

 were masterly ironsmiths, who employed this valuable metal not 

 only to manufacture arms and tools for the household and the 

 field, but also for ornaments of every description. The output, 

 however, was modest, unless we reckon the patterns engraved 

 on the iron sword blades, the animals' heads on their chains, 

 and the enamel inlaid work on the more deeply-cut engravings. 

 The characteristic ornaments of this period are the triangle, 

 the spiral, and especially the conventional flower pattern which 

 are all rare in the previous periods. The Celts, however, em- 

 ployed it extensively ; and even hundreds of years later it 

 appears in the miniature paintings executed by the Irish monks. 

 On the other hand, the pottery turned on the wheel was fault- 

 lessly made though considered poor from the artistic point of 

 view. 



The art of La Tene, which we know mainly from its relics, 

 leads on into historic times times in which Greek Art, the 

 model for all subsequent ages, was fully developed, and in which 

 that of Egypt was already waning. When we take a general 

 survey of the prehistoric art of Europe, that of the palaeolithic 

 hunters is the only one which strikes us as autochthonous. 



The subsequent periods can only be understood by duly 

 considering the influence of the south and east, where even in 

 the grey dawn of the world, races were established endowed 

 with what we must regard as a most amazing genius for Art. 

 Thence, from Egypt and from the coasts and islands of the 

 ^Egsean Sea, from Asia Minor in the Mesopotamia!! " hinter- 

 lands," flowed forth the European races in devious lines, stimu- 



