﻿Prof. Manto'Vani — Is Man Tertiary ? 437 



objects just described, some beautiful vessels of perfect work, re- 

 sembling those of the ancient Etruscans. There have also been 

 occasionally found hatchets perfectly polished, made of a kind of 

 stone (a Jadeite) that is not found in Italy. From what region were 

 these objects derived? My opinion is that a foreign and more civi- 

 lized people was in communication with the native inhabitants of 

 Italy during this period, and that a kind of commerce was probably 

 established, and that in process of time this people (certainly a more 

 advanced a)id civilized race) became the invaders, and that the 

 primitive population of Italy, being less civilized, disappeared 

 entirely. 



Upon such an hypothesis the presence of metals mixed with these 

 flint implements and this rude pottery may easily be explained. 

 For it cannot be supposed that a race of men who had attained to 

 the art of separating metals from their ores by smelting, should yet 

 continue to manufacture flint- weapons, and to use them in preference 

 to those of bronze or iron. 



I prefer rather to adopt the conclusion that the introduction of 

 metals is good evidence of the presence of a moi'e civilized foreign 

 people, who at first were in occasional communication with the pre- 

 existing population for purposes of trade, and in later times occupied 

 the country. It is necessary to observe that the metallic objects 

 met with consist for the most part of spears and hatchets carefully 

 cast in bronze, which, although an easilj'^ fusible material, proves that 

 the people who worked in it were well instructed in the use of the 

 ores of copper and tin. We do not find any trace of iron, the use 

 of which is cer'tainly referable to a posterior age, owing no doubt to 

 the greater difficulty attending the treatment of this metal. 



I believe that prior to the introduction of bronze, some metals 

 more easily fusible were employed, and 1 remember to have once 

 examined a leaden spear-head of rough workmanship, but which 

 had evidently been fused and moulded. This object was found in 

 a bed of Quaternary gravel. But this single fact is scarcely suffi- 

 cient by itself to establish that lead was the first metal employed by 

 man, although the instance above cited seems deserving to be placed 

 on record. 



From the facts stated it seems to me that the existence of a 

 transition period between the Palaeolithic or Archa3olithic and the 

 Neolithic ages (which I would propose to name the Miolithic period) 

 is admissil>le, and it would be of great importance to learn whether 

 the researches carried on in other countries give the same results as 

 those which have been obtained here. 



Certainly in Central Italy this transition period is distinctly 

 indicated, and marks a very clear epoch in the primitive history of 

 human civilization. 



Admitting then this new period which I have proposed, and 

 taking the Archaeolithic or Palaeolithic period as a point of departure, 

 to this would succeed the Miolithic, and I conceive that during this 

 middle period the primitive inhabitants of Central Italy were divided 

 into two different populations, which were probably represented by 



