252 STONEHENGE AND THE STARS 



escaped his scrutiny. We may suppose, therefore, 

 that all the object must have been converted into 

 carbonate ; but, at any rate, it is quite clear that 

 there must have been something of a coppery 

 nature in contact with the stone and, therefore, 

 that it must have been erected at a period when 

 that metal was known. That the tooling was done 

 with stone implements is no bar to the possibility 

 of Stonehenge having been erected during what 

 is known as the Bronze period. Many of the most 

 shapely and most carefully executed stone imple- 

 ments seem undoubtedly to have been made 

 during that period and even during the Iron Age 

 in England, and one must not forget that many 

 of the combatants even at Senlac fought with 

 stone mauls. At the same time it seems probable, 

 to say the least, that if Stonehenge had been 

 erected during the full swing of the Bronze Age 

 some implements of that material would have 

 been found during the progress of the excavation, 

 which, however, was not the case. From the fact, 

 then, that copper was known, but that no metal 

 implements were discovered, we may draw the 

 conclusion that the monument was erected at the 

 very beginning of what is known as the Bronze 

 Age, and we may set ourselves to inquire when 

 that Age may be supposed to have commenced 

 in Britain. Here we enter a region where surmise 

 alone is possible, but it may be said that Mon- 

 telius, who is a leading authority on the subject, 

 has assigned the date of about 2000 B.C. as the 

 probable period of the commencement of this 

 Age in Northern Italy. Sir John Evans suggests 



