LECTURE V. 



INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF PREHISTORIC 

 ARCHAEOLOGY?- 



Prehistoric Archaeology has but lately made good 



its right to recognition as a branch of science ; and 



still, perhaps, there are some who are disposed to 



question the claim. We can never, they say, become 



wise beyond what is written : ancient poems and 



histories contain all that we can ever know about old 



times and bygone races of men ; by the study of 



antiquities we may often corroborate, and occasionally 



perhaps even correct, the statements of ancient writers, 



but beyond this we can never hope to penetrate. 



The ancient monuments and remains themselves may 



excite our interest, but can teach us nothing. This 



opinion is as old as the time of Horace : in one of 



his best known Odes he tells us that — 



" Yixere fortes ante Agamemnona 

 Multi ; sed omnes illacrymabiles 

 Urgentur, ignotique longa 



Nocte, carent quia vate sacro." 



1 I have discussed the Antiquity of Man, and his primitive con- 

 dition in its more material aspects, at greater length in my work 

 on Prehistoric Times, and have endeavoured to trace up the course 

 of his social and moral development in . a second, On the Origin of- 

 Civilization. 



