146 



REPORT 1869. 



" For he, peradventure willing to please one in authority, forced all his skill to 

 make the resemblance of the best fashion. 



" And so the multitude, allured by the grace of the work, took him now for a 

 God, which a little before was but honoured as a man.' 



The worship of principles may be regarded as a still further stage in the natural 

 development of religion. 



It is important to observe that each stage of religion is superimposed on the 

 preceding, and that bygone beliefs linger on among the children and the ignorant. 

 Thus witchcraft is still believed in by the ignorant, and fairy tales flourish in the 

 nursery. 



It certainly appears to me that the gradual development of religious ideas among 

 the lower races of men is a fair argument in opposition to the view that savages 

 are degenerate descendants of civilized ancestors. Archbishop Whately would 

 admit the connexion between these different phases of religious belief, but I think 

 he would find it very difficult to show any process of natural degradation and decay 

 which could explain the quaint errors and opinions of the lower races of men, or to 

 account for the lingering belief in witchcraft, and other similar absurdities in 

 civilized races, excepting by some such train of reasoning as that, which I have 

 endeavoured to sketch. 



There is another caseiu this memoir wherein the Duke, although generally a fair 

 opponent, brings forward an unsupportable accusation. He criticises severely the 

 " Four Ages," generally admitted by archsologists, especially referring to the 

 terms "Palaeolithic" and " Neolithic," which are used to denote' the two earlier. 



I have no wish to take to myself in particular the blame which the Duke impar- 

 tially extends to archteologists in general, but having suggested the two terms in 

 question, I will simply place side by side the passage in which they first appeared, 

 and the Duke's criticism, and confidently ask whether there is any foundation for 

 the sweeping accusation made by the noble Duke. 



The Duke says, " For here I must My words, in proposing the terms, 

 observe that Archaeologists are using were as follows : — 



are using 



language on this subject which, if not 

 positively erroneous, requires, at least, 

 more rigorous definitions and limita- 

 tions of meaning than they are disposed 

 to attend to. They talk of an Old Stone 

 Age (Palaeolithic), and of a Newer 

 Stone Age (Neolithic), and of a Bronze 

 Age, and of an Iron Age. Now, there 

 is no proof whatever that such Ages 

 ever existed in the world. It may 

 be true, and it probably is true, that 

 most nations in the progress of the 

 Arts have passed through the stages of 

 using stone for implements before they 

 were acquainted with the use of metals. 

 Even this, however, may not be true of 

 all nations. In Africa there appears to 

 be no traces of any time when the na- 

 tives were not acquainted with the use 

 of iron ; and I am informed by Su" 

 Samuel Baker that iron ore is so common 

 in Africa, and of a kind so easily re- 

 ducible by heat, and its use might well 

 be discovered by the rudest tribes, who 

 were in the habit of lighting fires. Then 

 again it is to be remembered that there 

 are some countries in the world where 

 stone is as rare and difficult to get as 

 metals. The gi-eat alluvial plains of 

 Mesopotamia are a case in pomt. Ac- 



" From the careful study of the re- 

 mains which have come down to us, it 

 would appear that the prehistoric Archas- 

 ology may be divided into four great 

 epochs. 



" Firstly. That of Drift ; when man 

 shared the possession of Europe with 

 the INIammoth, the Cave-bear, the wool- 

 ly-haired rhinoceros and other extinct 

 animals. This we may call the " Palaeo- 

 lithic " period. 



"Secondly. The later or polished Stone 

 Age ; a period characterized by beautiful 

 weapons and instruments made of flint 

 and other kinds of stone, in which, how- 

 ever, we find no trace of the knowledge 

 of any metal, excepting gold, which 

 seems to have been sometimes used for 

 ornaments. This we may call the Neo- 

 lithic period. 



" Thirdly. The Bronze Age, in which 

 bronze was used for arms and cutting 

 instruments of all kinds. 



" Fourthly. Thelron Age, in which that 

 metal had superseded bronze for arms, 

 axes, knives, &c. ; bronze, however, still 

 being in common use for ornaments, and 

 frequently also for the handles of swords 

 and other arms, but never for the blades. 



" Stone weapons, however, of many 



