26 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



It was found that these relies could be properly divided into 

 three divisions, which would represent three different stages 

 of advancement, called the Age of Stone, Age of Bronze, and 

 Age of Iron. 



Each of these ages had continued for a long period, and 

 reached a high degree of perfection, and from these objects 

 much was learned of the early history of man in that region. 



In 1853 public attention was called to the discovery of the 

 relics of the Swiss Lake Dwellers of prehistoric times, where 

 different stages of advancement were foimd, and the further 

 discovery was made that, while the men of ancient Denmark 

 polished their stone implements, there had been a previous race 

 whose implements were only chipped or flaked, and the Stone 

 Age was divided into the Paleolithic or Ancient Stone Age, 

 and Neolithic or Recent Stone Age. 



From the time of the discovery of these facts, prehistoric 

 anthropology has advanced to an important rank among the 

 sciences. 



It was learned that Egypt and China had written history be- 

 fore the dawn of civilization in Europe, and the historic period 

 for those countries extended back into the more remote ages of 

 antiquity, and more recent discoveries resulting from system- 

 atic exploration of the sites of ancient and long buried cities of 

 Assja'ia and other regions, have demonstrated the use of written 

 characters by which fragments of the history of long forgotten 

 nations and peoples are brought down to us. have carried the 

 Historic Period to and beyond the time when, according to 

 former belief, the world itself had not been formed. 



For a long time the markings and hieroglyphics on the ruins 

 and buildings of Ancient Egypt and Assyria were looked upon 

 as mere ornamentation, or evidence of rude artistic taste of the 

 builders, but the long continued study of enthusiastic anti- 

 quarians resulted in the discovery that the hieroglyphics were 

 symbolic characters, whose combinations formed picture writ- 

 ings readily deciphered and interpreted, and that other curious 

 combinations of peculiar markings were examples of certain 

 dead languages, used by peoples and nations, whose existence 

 had been previously conjectured from tradition, or casual men- 

 tion in the mythical writings of antiquity. 



One of the most important aids to the interpretation of 

 ancient writings was the discovery of the famous ''Rosetta 

 Stone" which contains three inscriptions. The first in hiero- 

 glyphic or picture writing— styled by the Egyptians, "writing 

 of sacred words," — was used on monuments and buildings. 



It is the oldest form of writing known. 



The second is demotic, the stvle in general use among the 



