MAN OF THE NEOLITHIC.
From the human bones found in peat-bogs and tumuli, man is represented
as having a narrow but round skull, with a projecting ridge above the
eyebrows, showing he was round-headed, his eyebrows overhanging, small
of stature though stout, and having a great resemblance to the
Laplanders. In many respects the race was much superior to that of the
preceding epoch. Man advanced rapidly in the arts, and made great
progress in civilization. He had passed out of the barbarous, and might
be called a semi-barbarian.
_Habitations._--Man's habitation varied according to the locality. In
the extreme south of France he continued for a considerable length of
time to occupy the caves and rock-shelters; in Switzerland, the
pile-buildings, and in Denmark he undoubtedly had rude huts placed close
together and in proximity to the shell-heaps.
_Clothing._--Clothing also varied according to locality. Where the wild
animals were numerous their skins were used--there being no incentive to
substitute other material. Coarse material made of fibrous plants had
come into use. The lake-dwellers clothed themselves with this material,
and completely protected their bodies. They also used sandals for their
feet, as these have been found with the usual indications of usage.
_Food._--Where wild animals could be obtained they were used, and the
marrow of the long bones extracted. To this, fish and birds were added.
In Denmark the principal food was the different species of the edible
mollusk. In Switzerland a higher order and greater variety of food was
used. The meat of the wild animals, birds, and fish was varied with
bread made of barley and wheat, and fruit and berries. The meat was not
only obtained from the wild animal, but they provided against the
uncertainty of the chase by domesticating the boar, ox, sheep, and goat.
The horse and dog were domesticated to assist in the chase, but
sometimes served for food, probably during a famine.
If these people were cannibals, the evidence must rest solely on the
human bones discovered at a dolmen near the village of Hammer, Denmark,
which had been subjected to the action of fire. They were found together
with some flint implements. But this evidence is not sufficient to lead
to the conclusion that at the funeral banquets human flesh was used
along with the roasted stag.
_Arts and Manufactures._--The flint hatchets of the refuse-heaps are
generally of an imperfect type; the long knives indicate a considerable
amount of skill; the bodkins, spear-heads, and scrapers are but little
improved. In the latter part of this epoch, the various kinds of
implements, especially in Switzerland, attained to a surprising degree
of perfection, in so much so, it is difficult to understand how this was
achieved without the use of metal. They were made into various shapes,
and with the design of pleasing the eye.
Besides the various types of implements common to the different
countries, the tribes of Denmark manufactured a drilled hatchet, which
is combined in various ways with the hammer. A specimen of this type is
represented in Fig. 16, now in the Museum of Copenhagen. It is pierced
with a round hole, in which the handle was fixed. The cutting edge
describes an arc of a circle, and the other end is wrought into sharp
angular edges.
New inventions were brought into use. Among them was a comb which,
according to shape, might be compared to the dung-fork of the American
stables. Ornaments for the body, made of various materials were
fashioned. Pottery was still in a rough state, though gradually
improving. The loom was invented, and various kinds of cloth were
manufactured. Also out of the fibrous plants cordage was made, which
again was fashioned into nets for fishing. Many canoes at various places
have been found, showing that they were not only used for fishing but
also for carrying cargoes. Workshops were established, and there the
stone implements were made and polished; one of these shops was at
Pressigny.
[Illustration: FIG. 16. DANISH AXE-HAMMER, DRILLED FOR HANDLE.]
Some idea may be had of the vast number of stone implements which occur,
when it is considered that in the Museum of Copenhagen there are about
twelve thousand, consisting of flint axes, wedges, broad, narrow, and
hollow chisels; poniards, lance-heads, arrow-heads, flint flakes, and
half-moon-shaped implements. In other collections in Denmark there are
twenty thousand implements. The museum at Stockholm contains about
sixteen thousand, and the Royal Irish Academy owns seven hundred
flint-flakes, five hundred and twelve celts, more than four hundred
arrow-heads, fifty spear-heads, seventy-five scrapers, and numerous
other objects of stone, such as sling-stones, hammers, whetstones,
grain-crushers, etc.[75] Some of these implements, however, may belong
to other epochs.
War must have been carried on to a considerable extent, as fortified
camps have been discovered in Belgium, at Furfooz, and other places.
Their weapons were the axe, the arrow, the spear, and possibly the
knife. These were wrought with great care.
_Agriculture._--Man commenced to till the ground in this age, and thus
laid the true foundation of civilization. He probably was forced to do
it. The beasts of the forest were gradually decreasing. They had
nourished him in the infancy of his mind, and now he should begin to
look to the soil, and by the cultivation of its products he must sustain
his life. His principal implement of agriculture must have been the
sharpened stick, pointed with deer-horn. He cultivated the cereals, made
his corn-mill, and stored the grain for winter use.
_Burial._--How the colonists of the lake-dwellings disposed of their
dead is unknown. In Denmark, and many other places, the dead were buried
in dolmens or tumuli. A dolmen is a monument consisting of several
perpendicular stones covered with a great block or slab. When it is
surrounded by circles of stone it takes the name _cromlech_. The dolmens
occur also in Scandinavia, France, and Brittany. They were formerly
considered to have been Druidical sacrificial altars. They were usually
covered over with earth, and in them were buried from one to twenty
persons, accompanied with their implements. When a person died, the tomb
was reopened to receive the new occupant. At such a time fire was used
for the purpose of purifying the atmosphere of the tomb. In Brittany, in
the vicinity of the tombs, there were set up in the ground enormous
blocks of stone, that have received the name of _menhirs_, the most
noted of which is that at Carnac. When these dolmens remain in the state
in which they were left, still covered with earth, they take the name of
_tumuli_. Comparatively few of the tumuli belong to the neolithic. In
these, large numbers of bodies have been found, and none of them in a
natural position, but cramped up and their heads resting between the
knees.
Judging from the calcined bones, which are frequently met with at the
tomb, it may be inferred that victims were offered during the funeral
ceremonies, perchance a slave, or the widow. Lubbock is of opinion that
when a woman died in giving birth to a child, or even while still
suckling it, the child was interred alive with her.[76]
This hypothesis is substantiated by the great number of cases in which
the skeleton of a woman and child have been found together. In the
ceremonies at the tomb, some read the belief in a future state of
existence. The evidence, however, is no clearer than that in the
previous epochs. Man undoubtedly had such a belief, but science does not
reveal it.