The Stone Period. 



27 



and in some other respects, present striking analogies to the pre- 

 historic bronze-using people of Europe. 1 



Imperfect, however, as the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Periods are 

 as tests of culture, they contrast in this respect very favourably 

 when examined, side by side with the other industrial arts. For 

 instance, it might be imagined that the art of making pottery would 

 furnish us with one of the very best tests of culture ; but, at the 

 outset, we find that certain of the lower savages, such as the 

 Australians, Fuegians, and Bushmen, when first observed by 

 Europeans, did not make pottery, and were absolutely ignorant of 

 its use. Some pre-historic races also appear to have been un- 

 acquainted with the art of making pottery. None has been found 

 associated with the flint implements of the Drift ; and scarcely any, 

 if any, which can be assigned with certainty to the period of the 

 cave-dwellers of Dordogne and the south of France. Nevertheless, 

 speaking generally, knowledge or ignorance of the potter's art 

 affords a fair low-level test of races, separating the lower savage 

 from the upper savage ; but that this rule is not universally appli- 

 cable is shown from the fact that the Tahitians and New Zealanders 

 did not make pottery, while the much lower Papuans of New Cale- 

 donia, and the Fijians were potters. 



Having thus explained my views of what I believe the Stone 

 Period to be, you will be in possession of the key to the 

 system adopted in the arrangement of the Blackmore Collection. 

 In that collection you will find the specimens classed partly as tests 

 of culture, partly according to the country in which they were found. 

 For example, the stone implements found in France ; in the drift, 

 the caves, and upon the surface soil, are each arranged in a separate 

 group, because each series is believed to represent a distinct stag-e of 

 culture ; in such instances the classification by country ceases 

 to be a primary, and becomes only a secondary sub-division. 



In a National Ethnographical Museum, such as the Christy 

 Collection, a general system of classification by country may 



1 See E. B. Tylor, in Trans. International Congr. Pre-hist. Archwol., 18G8, 

 pp. 11—14. 



