COMPARATIVE ARCHAOLOGY. | 161 
some fortuitous circumstances had hitherto resisted the dis- 
integrating forces of nature. ‘The other comprises a miscel- 
laneous assortment of man’s handicraft works in the form of 
discarded or lost tools, weapons, and ornaments, which, being 
largely made of stone, shells, and other endurable substances, 
are more abundantly met with. It is this part of the dual 
classification that falls within the province of archeology 
proper. From this standpoint archeology may be said to be 
the earliest stage of history, so that the latter is a mere 
strengthening of the methods of the former by the addition 
of the art of writing to the common stock of unwritten 
materials already used in recording passing events. History 
is thus the proximal end of one continuous line of research 
which has its distal end in that very remote period which deals 
with the earliest traces of humanity. Not long ago classical 
scholars were applying the word archeology to the artistic 
remains of Greece and Rome, the unwritten records being held 
as too trivial to be discussed under Classical Archeology. 
But the title, Prehistoric Archeology, correctly limits its 
scope to the Flotsam and Jetsam which can be picked up on 
the trail of humanity. 
We are indebted to Scandinavian savants for the first 
serious attempt to unravel the unwritten records of their 
country. Despairing of being able to get satisfactory infor- 
mation of the early history of their people from the Sagas and 
other traditionary sources, they began, about the beginning of 
last century, to subject the archeological materials, so pro- 
fusely scattered over these northern lands, to the most crucial 
tests that scientific ingenuity could devise. Impressed by 
the abundance and beauty of the stone and bronze implements 
found in the debris of ancient inhabited sites, the abodes of 
the dead, concealed hoards, and stray surface finds, they 
adopted the novel method of classifying these relics according 
to a system which has since become famous as the three ages 
of Stone, Bronze, and Iron. This method was founded 
on a statement by Lucretius in his De natura deorum. 
“ Anciently,’’ says this writer, ‘‘ man’s armour were his 
hands, nails, and teeth, together with stones and sticks from 
