A Prehistoric Burial Place. 519 



1. The drifted materials, called " Quaternary " or " Diluvial," 

 and contemporary with the gradual excavation of our valleys, con- 

 tain instruments of flint, the work of human hands. 



2. After the foriuation of the valleys and the sinking to nearly 

 their present level of the waters that had formed them, and before 

 the extinction, or the emigration to colder climates, of the flora and 

 fauna which characterize the Quaternary period, the caverns in these 

 valleys were occupied by a race of hunters, who used for arms and 

 implements worked bone or fragments of flint. Later in their history, 

 their implements are found engraved with sufficiently faithful repre- 

 sentations of the animals they pursued in the chase ; but apparently 

 the potter's art was unknown to them. 



3. After the occupation of the caves and rock-shelters by these 

 reindeer-hunters, and the extinction or emigration of the animals on 

 which they lived, a race more advanced in civilization took possession 

 of them, and left, in the fragments of pottery and instruments of 

 polished stone, traces of a higher degree of civilization. 



4. This race was followed by others, who built the Megalithic 

 monuments ascribed to Druidic worship, and who, in burying 

 their dead, whether in cavern's or otherwise, raised tumuli of earth, 

 or cairns of rough stones, to mark their primitive sepulchres. These 

 races were migratory in their habits, and followed from north to 

 south the coasts of Western Europe. While still using stone for 

 their implements, they, through contact with the more highly 

 civilized nations of the southern seas, were enabled to procure 

 bronze, which was, as a general rule, fashioned into ornaments only. 



5. This metal speedily, whenever practicable, replaced the ruder 

 implements of stone ; but the quantity to be procured varied so con- 

 siderably with the locality, that in many places it was looked on as 

 too valuable for weapons ; and, as a rule, stone continued to be the 

 chief source of supply for hard tools or weapons. 



6. Finally, towards the end of the previous " age," that is to say, 

 when bronze, by commerce or by actually a more advanced stage of 

 civilization, became more generally used, there appeared on the 

 slope of the Alpine ranges races who used swords of iron ; and from 

 that time forward bronze took a secondary position, and iron became 

 the material for the arms of the warriors. This brings us down to 

 historic times, and we have passed from the men who probably saw 

 in activity the volcanic mountains of Auvergne, or the great glaciers 

 of the Jura and the Vosges, to the Gaul, who threw his iron sword 

 into the balance which weighed the ransom of Rome. 



It is difficult, we may remark, to indicate any distinct line of 

 demarcation between these different periods. Necessarily in later 

 times the exchange of materials became the earliest type of com- 

 merce. But it seems impossible to imagine that these successive 

 and sufficiently distinct traces of life should be that of one and the 

 same race. In the struggle for existence in early times the extinction 

 or emigration of animals, and consequent disappearance of the means 

 of livelihood, would naturally lead to a change of locality of races 

 who used them for food. The difference of level at which the relics 



