THE PIT-DWELLERS
1. Other remains not so ancient as these oldest stone implements, but
still very ancient, are found nearer the surface than the remains of
the River-Drift Men. They are the remains of people who, like the
Drift Men, knew nothing of metals, and used stone weapons and tools,
but better made. They had learned to shape and finish their tools by
rubbing, grinding, and polishing them, and were, evidently, a more
advanced race of men than the Cave or Drift Men.
2. For the most part we have to go to somewhat desolate parts of
England to find traces of them now. In fact, those traces would long
ago have disappeared had they not been in places which were so wild and
difficult to get at, that it was not worth any man's while to cultivate
them. The spade and the plough would very soon remove all traces of
them. In fact, the plough _has_ removed many traces of these ancient
men, and most of the specimens of their tools and weapons, which
you can see in museums, were found by men employed in ploughing and
preparing the land for crops.
3. You must not suppose that we can fix a date when these men first
appeared, as we can fix an exact date for the landing of Julius
Cæsar, or the sealing of Magna Carta. Neither can we say for how many
centuries they occupied land in what we now call Britain. It was a long
period, at any rate, and during that time their manners and their
customs changed very, very slowly.
[Illustration: Polished Implements of Flint, Stone, &c.
Polished Flint Wedge; Granite Wedge or Axe; Stone Axe; Stone Axe; Bone
Comb; Flint Arrow Heads; Harpoon Head of Flint; Saw-edged Flint Knife;
Circular-edged Flint Knife.]
4. The lowest forms of savage life seem very much alike, all the world
over. Savages are hunters, and do not as a rule cultivate the soil.
Now hunters must follow their prey from place to place, so that we
should expect these early men to have no settled homes. But even the
earliest Pit Men had advanced beyond this lowest stage, for they had
flocks and herds and dogs. No doubt they hunted as well; but they were
mainly a pastoral people, and at first did not till the soil. Races of
men who did not till the soil are called =Non-Aryan=. They chose for
their settlements the tops of hills, and avoided the narrow valleys and
low-lying lands.
5. The =Pit-Dwellers= are so called from the simple fact that they had
their homes in pits--not, however, dug anywhere and anyhow. The hole
in the ground is the simplest notion of a house. When in your summer
holiday by the sea you see the little boys and girls digging deep holes
in the sand to make "houses", they are doing in play what the early
Pit-Dwellers did in real earnest.
6. The pits were usually some six or eight feet in diameter; and they
probably had cone-shaped roofs, formed by poles tied together, and
covered with peat. In the centre of the hut was the hearth, which
was made of flints carefully placed together. The hut would hold two
or three people, and the fire on the hearth was its most important
feature. The hut in the centre of the group belonged to the head of the
family, and other huts were ranged round it.
7. Surrounding the group was an earthen rampart for further protection;
and these earthworks can still be traced in many parts of the country.
The huts have gone, of course, and all that can be seen in most cases
now is a number of circular patches in the turf, slightly hollowed.
People living in the neighbourhood will very likely speak of them as
"fairy rings". It is from a careful examination of these hollows that
learned men have been able to gather much information concerning the
habits of these Pit-Dwellers.
8. We English folk speak proudly of "hearth and home"; they are the
centre of our social life, and the idea has come down to us through all
these long, long ages. The hearth and the fire upon it was the centre
of the life of these men, and the head of a family was also its priest.
9. Some of the best known of these pit-dwellings are found near
Brighthampton, in Oxfordshire; at Wortebury, near Weston-super-Mare;
and along the Cotswolds, looking over the Severn Valley; and at
Hurstbourne, in Hampshire.
10. In the course of time this race seems to have learned something
in the way of cultivating the ground. The hilltops, where they built
their huts, were only suited for their cattle, and in order to find
soil which they could till they had to go outside their earthwork, and
some distance down the hill-slope. By their way of digging the ground
they gradually, in the course of many years, carved broad terraces, one
below the other, on the hillsides. There are some very marked traces of
such terraces still to be seen near Hitchin and Luton.[1]
11. In the course of time--how long ago it is still quite impossible to
say--a race of men, more advanced than these early Pit-Dwellers, found
their way to this part of the world. They were more civilized, and were
=Aryans=; that is, they were cultivators of the soil. You may be pretty
sure that fighting took place between the two races.
12. The newer race preferred to make their settlements near running
streams. In the middle of each settlement there would be an open space,
or meeting-ground, usually a small hill or a mound, round which their
huts were built. Beyond this was the garden-ground, then the ground
where the grain was grown, and beyond that the grazing-lands. These men
began cultivating at the bottom of the hillsides and valleys, and as
they required more ground they would advance higher up the slopes.
13. Gradually to this race came the knowledge of metals, and we reach
the =Bronze Age=, and so, step by step, we come to the =Iron Age=.
=Summary.=--The remains of the Pit-Dwellers are found on desolate
heaths and moorlands. These men used stone weapons, which they
smoothed and polished. They had a greater variety of tools than
the Drift Men. They were a non-Aryan race; that is, they did not
till the soil. They were a pastoral people; that is, they kept
cattle. Their settlements were on the hilltops. Their houses
were pits, covered with a rough kind of roof, and were placed in
clusters. In the centre of each dwelling was a hearth made of
stones. All that can be seen of them now are circular hollows,
often called "fairy rings". The clusters of huts were usually
enclosed by an earthen wall or rampart. In course of time they
learned to cultivate the ground. They worked _downhill_, and
carved out many hillsides into broad terraces, which can still
be traced in some places, as between Hitchin and Luton. An Aryan
race also found its way here. These cultivated the soil, but their
settlements were in the _valleys_, near running streams. An Aryan
settlement had an _open space_ in the centre, or meeting-ground.
The huts were built round this. Then came the garden-ground, and
then the grazing-lands. They began cultivating from the _bottom_
of the hills, and worked upwards. In time they learned the use of
metal--bronze,--and gradually also they came to know the value of
iron.