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EARLY MAN as were left in limestone caves, by thick coatings of stalagmite, and for a considerable encroachment of the sea owing to the gradual depression of the land between Britain, France, Germany, Denmark and Scandi- navia. The palaeolithic and neolithic ages were probably continuous in southern Europe, northern Africa and in Asia ; the local break in Britain being caused by the depression of the land and its isolation from the continent of Europe. The general contour of the country and its river drainage was much the same in neolithic times as now. Neolithic man probably arrived in Britain across the Straits of Dover by means of rude canoes formed of tree trunks hollowed out by fire, or on rafts, but the actual date of his arrival is unknown. He came long before the introduction of bronze. Sir John Evans states that cutting tools of stone began to be superseded in this country 500 or 600 years B.C. 1 He probably migrated to this country from the east or south-east, from lands that were the native homes of some of the quadrupeds he brought with him, viz. from the central plateau of Asia. In this position domestic animals had been for long ages under the dominion of man. This conclusion as to the place from which neolithic man started is confirmed by the seeds he brought with him and planted, such as wheat, barley, culinary peas, etc. The land at the beginning of the neolithic period consisted of thick virgin forest, bush and bog ; there were probably few men and consequently no roads or trackways. The climate was wet, more hot in summer and more cold in winter than now. The exposed heights, such as the chalk hills of Bedfordshire, were probably covered with bush. The lowlands were forest and swamp. The neolithic folk in course of time occupied all parts of Great Britain. They were Iberians, a long-headed race which dominated northern and western Spain and gave the ancient name of Iberia to what is now Spain and Portugal. They were the Silures of Tacitus, the men who erected cromlechs, made avenues or alignments of unhewn stones, threw up long tumuli or barrows, and in places where large stones occurred constructed chambered tumuli and erected circles of large stones. There is what appears to be a remarkable long barrow on Dunstable Downs near Pascombe Pit, but its age must remain uncertain till it has been opened and the contents examined. On the northern base of Dun- stable Downs and on the northern side of the Icknield Way a consider- able number of interments are reported to have been disturbed in 1784. These, at the time, were considered to be comparatively modern, and to represent the people of Dunstable who had died of the plague in 1603 and 1625. The remains of a long barrow standing east and west still exist in a mutilated state in Union Street, Dunstable. Fifty years ago this barrow was very distinct and was called Mill-bank, from its former use as a foundation for a windmill. Two hundred yards to the east was 1 Sir John Evans, Ancient Stone Implements, ed. 2, p. 147. 159