NEOLITHIC, BRONZE, AND IRON AGES. 365 



ceding Palaeolithic Period. Nay, the time which has elapsed 

 from the close of the latter age even up to the present day can- 

 not for a moment compare with the aeons during which the men 

 of the Old Stone Period occupied Europe. The deciphering of 

 the relative antiquity of Neolithic remains is thus in large part 

 the province of the archaeologist and the anthropologist rather 

 than the geologist. A close comparison of the human relics 

 and remains has already cleared up much that was obscure, 

 and we may hope that as time advances our knowledge of 

 the different phases through which civilisation progressed dur- 

 ing the New Stone Period will be considerably increased, and 

 that we will yet learn much more of the various races 

 which then occupied Europe contemporaneously or succes- 

 sively. For my present purpose, however, it will be sufficient 

 to give a very brief account of some of the more interesting 

 "finds" of Neolithic relics, with the view of showing the 

 contrast that obtained between Neolithic and Palaeolithic 

 times. 



Amongst the accumulations of Neolithic age which are 

 thought by many archaeologists to be oldest are the well-known 

 " Kjokkenmodingr," or kitchen -middens of Denmark. These 

 are heaps and mounds composed principally of shells of edible 

 molluscs, of which the most abundant are oyster, cockle, mussel, 

 and periwinkle. Commingled with the shells occur bones of 

 mammals, birds, and fish in less or greater abundance, and like- 

 wise many implements of stone, bone, and horn, together with 

 potsherds. The middens are met with generally near the coast, 

 and principally on the shores of the Lymfjord and the Kattegat ; 

 they would appear, indeed, never to be found on the borders of 

 the North Sea. They form mounds or banks that vary in height 

 from three or five feet up to ten feet, with a width of 150 to 200 

 feet, and a length of sometimes nearly 350 yards. Where the 

 shores are low and shelving, the mounds occur at only a few 

 feet above high-tide mark, but they reach a somewhat higher 

 level when the coast is more abrupt. They very often show 

 hollows or depressions on the top, and such of them as have 



