24* The Seventeenth General Meeting. 



It is highly probable that many copper implements were re-cast 

 during the Bronze Period with the addition of tin, and that the 

 comparative scarcity of ancient copper tools is, in part, due to this 

 circumstance. 



Then there is the Iron Period, during* which the art of reducing 

 iron from its ores was discovered, and this metal superseded the use 

 of both stone and bronze for cutting* instruments and for many 

 other purposes. It is probable that no absolute uniformity has 

 prevailed with regard to the sequence of these culture-stages, in 

 some counties the Stone Period may have lingered on much longer 

 than in others, and in some counties perhaps neither a Copper nor 

 Bronze Period may have existed. But in every country there appears 

 to have been a Stone Period, although it by no means follows that 

 the ancestors of the present occupants of the soil were the stone- 

 using people. Indeed, in dealing with these culture-periods, no 

 general rules can be applied to the remains found in various counties 

 and districts, each series of facts has to be separately and cautiously 

 investigated before we can venture to pronounce an opinion upon it. 



It is natural that every young science should have to pass through 

 a stage in which its teachings are misunderstood, and, not unfre- 

 quently, are misrepresented. Pre-historic Archaeology appears to 

 be still in this phase of its existence, and in particular, these typical 

 stages of human culture, — The Stone Period, the Bronze Period, 

 and the Iron Period, — have provoked the criticism of some who have, 

 and many who have not, made themselves sufficiently acquainted 

 with the published views of archaeologists upon the subject. For 

 instance, in an article which has recently appeared in the " Quarterly 

 Review" under the title of " Non- Historic Times/'' allusion is thus 

 made to the classification of pre-historic remains by the Danish 

 antiquaries : — " First came an age when the country was inhabited 

 by savages, ignorant of the use of metals, and only employing 

 stone and bone for all the purposes for which tools were necessary/'' 

 So far well, but then follows : — " And as a corollary to this, every 

 monument which contained no metal, or in which any flint imple- 

 ments were found, was at once relegated to these remote ages." 

 The writer then adds : — " There was a delightful simplicity about 



