XV. 
PRE-HISTORIC MAN IN BRITAIN. 
By Henry Hicks, M.D., P.B.S., P.G.S. 
A Lecture delivered at St. Albans, 25 th March, 1889. 
The term “ Pre-historic ” is used to indicate the whole period 
relating to man disclosed by geological and archaeological evidence 
as distinguished from what is known to us by written records. 
Time, however, will not allow me this evening to refer to more 
than a limited portion of that period; I shall therefore confine 
my remarks chiefly to the earliest stages as unfolded by com¬ 
paratively recent researches. 
The evidence that man occupied this country at a very remote 
period in the world’s history, as compared with the time indicated 
by any written record, has been derived mainly from the finding of 
the implements which he used, in association with the remains 
of extinct animals, in limestone caverns and in valley-gravels 
which are known geologically to be of great antiquity. Prom 
the finding of the implements we learn that he lived in this 
country in association with the lion, hyaena, mammoth, woolly 
rhinoceros, etc., and that the geographical and the climatic con¬ 
ditions were at that time very unlike those which have since 
prevailed. Much evidence bearing on this question has of late 
years been accumulated. Hot long ago, however, geologists were 
very loth to believe in this great antiquity for the human race, 
and every conceivable objection was raised against such views. It 
was not until the researches carried on in the valley of the Somme in 
Prance by M. Boucher de Perthes and Dr. Bigollot, described by Prof. 
Prestwich, Dr. John Evans, and others, and in the Brixham Cave 
in Devonshire by Mr. Pengelly, about thirty years ago, that the 
evidence was considered decisive, though facts tending strongly to 
such a conclusion had been obtained in Kent’s Cavern and elsewhere 
at an earlier period. In addition to the evidence as to man’s 
antiquity derived from the associated animal remains, we find, in 
the implements used by him at the various stages, an indication that 
his development towards a state of civilisation was very gradual, and 
that it must have extended over a vast period. The most important 
stages in this advance have received, from the character of the 
implements used, the names of the Stone age, the Bronze age, and 
the Iron age. Of these the earliest was the Stone age, when 
implements and ornaments were formed exclusively of stone, wood, 
horn, or bone. The use of metal for such purposes was then quite 
unknown. This was succeeded by the age of Bronze, when the 
implements were either made of that metal or of copper. In time 
iron superseded bronze for arms, axes, knives, etc., and the term 
Iron age is given to this period, although bronze was still in 
common use for ornaments, and frequently also for handles to 
swords and other arms. Some stone weapons also continued in use 
during the ages of Bronze and Iron. 
