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EARLY MAN THE present article on Early Man in Herefordshire covers only those periods which are antecedent to the occupation of Britain by the Romans. In attempting to reconstruct the outlines of this remote age, no assistance must be expected from inscriptions or written documents. The whole period is essentially prehistoric, and the only light which can be expected is derived from the antiquities themselves, the conditions under which they are found, and a comparison of them with the prehistoric remains of other districts. Implements of flint or stone and bronze and iron, sepulchral structures and deposits, and traces of dwellings and encampments, are the main sources to which we must turn for the elucida- tion of these early times. In certain parts of England the Palaeolithic Age is represented by imple- ments, but in Herefordshire, as far as recorded discoveries show, there are no certain traces of man's presence before the Neolithic Age. The Neolithic Age The age or period known as the Neolithic lies entirely within the pre- metallic part of the prehistoric past. Separated from the earlier or Palaeo- lithic Age by something more perhaps than a mere interval of time, and from the age of bronze by a great advance in culture, it forms a most important phase in the story of human progress and civilization. The physical forces which made Britain an island, severing it from the continent of Europe, were in operation between the Palaeolithic and Neo- lithic Periods, and, whatever may have been the case in other parts of the world, it can hardly be doubted that there was at that time an absolute break of continuity of human life in Britain. The Neolithic Age is of special interest to Englishmen, therefore, because it represents what may be regarded in a sense as the earliest chapter in the history of the people who now inhabit this island. Considering the great antiquity of the Neolithic Age (there are no pre- cise data by which this antiquity can be measured in years), it is remarkable how much is known of the distribution, occupations, dwellings, arts and burial customs of the Neolithic people. To mention only a few points, it may be remarked that man made his tools of flint, stone, and numerous other materials, grinding as well as chipping those of stone in order to obtain an 157