436 
Prof. Mantovani — Is Man Tcrtiary ? 
the alluvial deposits having, as already stated, been produced by the 
action of water derived from tbe melting of the snows of the glacial 
epoch, it follows that the animals, whose remains occur therein, 
and the makers of the flint implements associated with them, were 
living hefore the Glacial period which destroyed so many of the 
great Mammalia. 
Man must therefore have appeared at the end of the Pliocene 
period, and during this eai'ly time he was in the Paheolithic era, as 
evidenced by the fabrication of bis weapons of silex. No metals 
nor pottery of any kind have heen found in these formations. 
Let ns now examine the evidence relative to man during the 
Neolitliic age. The Roman country is very rieh indeed in remains 
referable to this more recent epoch. Everywhere in the surface 
soil are found extraordinary quantities of flint knives and spear- 
lieads, finely formed and polished, and sometimes magnificent 
hatchets of smoothed stone. These objects are not only found 
scattered over the surface of the soil, but they are frequently met 
with accumulated in limestone caverns, imbedded in Stalagmite, 
and associated with them are the fragments resulting from the 
manufacture of the weapons themselves, in fact a true manufactory 
of Neolithic implements ; a thing unknown in the Palaeolithic period, 
the weapons of which are so inferior in finish and workmanship. 
Whilst antiquaries divide the prehistoric period into two distinct 
epochs, namely, the Palceolithic (or Archaeolithic) and the Neolithic, 
the difference in workmanship between the objects which have been 
found is so great, that for a long time I helieved it might be possible 
to define an intermediate or transition period from the Palaeolithic to 
the Neolithic. And, indeed, I believe we have found in this district 
good evidence of such a transitional stage, which I would propose 
should be designated the Miolithic period. 
This new period embraces two very distinct althougli contem- 
poraneous geological formations. These are, ( a ) the recent traver- 
tine (so-called to distinguish it from the ancient travertine already 
described), and ( b ) the ‘peperino’ formation, a kind of volcanic tuff 
which occurs in thick strata around the Latial Volcanos. In these 
two formations are imbedded not only a great quantity of worked 
flints but also pottery. The flint weapons are not rough like the 
Palaeolithic, nor are they so smoothed and highly finished as in the 
Neolithic period. The pottery is made of a kind of marl entirely 
worked with the hands witliout the use of the potter’s wheel, which 
was evidently unknown ; and the vessels are very imperfectly 
baked, or perhaps only sun-dried. Under the ‘ peperino ’ of the 
Latial Volcanos a vast necropolis exists, where hundreds of these 
Utensils lie buried beneath the volcanic dust. The improvement in 
the manufacture of flint weapons as compared with the Palaeolithic 
type and the presence of a necropolis are certainly indicative of 
progress in the social condition of these ancient inhabitants of Italy. 
But here a fact of the highest importance must be mentioned, 
namely, that in the necropolis above mentioned, and also in the 
tombs inclosed in the recent travertine, we found mixed with the 
