EARLY MAN
three successive major stages of development; but the distinction does not imply man's exclusive use of these materials, except at the superior limit of time. Some of the best examples of stone implements are the small polished hammers found in 'round barrows,' the burial mounds characteristic of the bronze age associated with the early Celtic population.[1] The overlap indicated is general, and it is by no means possible to assign some objects to any special age. Since, however, some method of classification is necessary for dealing with numbers of ancient remains, especially in regard to the implements and weapons, which are the most plentiful, a Bronze Age is usually supposed to begin with the first observed use of bronze, and similarly an Iron Age with the incipient use of that material. But neither the periods themselves in respect of different localities nor the materials involved in each are mutually exclusive.
In the following pages the remains of Early Man are described under three main heads as follows:—
- Stone implements and remains of the Neolithic Period.
- Bronze implements and remains of the Early Celtic Period.
- Iron implements and remains of the Late Celtic Period.
- Remains not included in this classification, being of doubtful age or miscellaneous character.
This nomenclature is not so concise as the usual 'Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age' upon which it is based, but it is proportionately less open to misinterpretation. It has also one other advantage in that it continues to associate the remains with the idea that a people made and used them. In any other regard the objects lose their chief interest as material remains of the human past, and become merely lifeless examples of special forms or technical series. To separate archæology from its relation to humanity is not only to deprive early history of its fundamental material, but is inimical to a proper interpretation of all early remains. It should never be forgotten in the study of these objects that they are the products of man's hands, made by him to serve some purpose; therefore every fact of human interest associated with an object of antiquity should be deemed equal in importance with the form and character of the thing itself. Such facts are perhaps scanty and to be gleaned only partially and indirectly, as from the position and place in which an object is found, its association with other objects, its own use and theirs. It is only in this way that it may be possible for intelligent and tempered imagination to catch a glimpse of the real life of olden times.
I. STONE IMPLEMENTS AND REMAINS OF THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD
The county of Lancaster has yielded no evidence of man in that primitive stage of development which is defined from the rough implements of stone which he used as paleolithic. Rough implements of stone are found, indeed, but from their association generally with objects
- ↑ E.g. the urn at Winwick, near Warrington, containing a bronze dagger and small stone axe-hammer, p. 240.
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