MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 75 



discussing loose implements not associated with surround- 

 ings which clearly determine their period. , 



The majority of the prehistoric remains in the Isle of 

 Man belong to the Neolithic and the Bronze periods, and 

 it may well have been that in this remote and limited area 

 these stages of civilisation may have each persisted on to 

 later times than in other parts of Europe. It is impossible 

 to assign dates for such " ages " in our district, but it may 

 be of interest to note that the Neolithic period is said by 

 Reinach to have extended at Crete from 4500 to 2800 b.c. 

 It probably continued much later in our Western Isles. 

 The knowledge of copper and bronze is supposed to have 

 reached Crete about 2800 B.C., and in France Montelius 

 estimates that the Bronze Age commenced in 2000 and 

 ended about 850 b.c 



The earliest traces of man met with in our district 

 show him to have been then in the Neolithic stage of 

 civilisation. 



Structural remains of the period are difficult to 

 identify at first sight, and can only be determined with 

 certainty by careful excavation and examination. They 

 consist of habitations, camps or forts, and burial places. 

 We have also examples of " Neolithic floors or platforms," 

 that is to say, areas of the ancient surface where flint 

 implements of many kinds have been actually manufac- 

 tured. At the West Craig and the Lagagh in Andreas, at 

 Cass-ny-Hawin, near Ronalds way, at Ballakaighan, 

 Grerman, and at Port St. Mary, have been found great 

 accumulations of cores, chips, and worked flints of very 

 primitive type. 



On the brooghs overlooking Ramsey Mooragh, building 

 operations about 20 years ago disclosed an area, at a depth 

 of from four to six feet below the surface, which was 

 strewn with flint cores from which implements had been 



