A brief history of the nations and of their progress in civilization . the water on piles as a means of safety against attacksof enemies, had cattle, cultivated trees, and wove cloth. Bronze and Iron Ages. —The stone age was followed by the ageof bronze, when implements were made of copper, or a mixtureof copper and tin. The relics do not indicate so wide a gap between the neo-lithic and the bronze ages as that between the paleolithic andthe neolithic. In many lands rude structures are found whichare composed of huge stones. These structures are of uncer-tain date, and served originally as sep
A brief history of the nations and of their progress in civilization . the water on piles as a means of safety against attacksof enemies, had cattle, cultivated trees, and wove cloth. Bronze and Iron Ages. —The stone age was followed by the ageof bronze, when implements were made of copper, or a mixtureof copper and tin. The relics do not indicate so wide a gap between the neo-lithic and the bronze ages as that between the paleolithic andthe neolithic. In many lands rude structures are found whichare composed of huge stones. These structures are of uncer-tain date, and served originally as sepulchers and sometimesas altars. They are called dolmens or cromlechs. Stonehenge,near Salisbury, is one of the best known of these ancient monu- BRONZE AND IRON AGES 11 ments. From its remains the lines of the two concentric cir-cles and of the two ellipses within them can be distinctlytraced. The implements found in the tumuli or barrows nearby, which stand in some relation to the cromlech, are of it is the opinion of some learned archaeologists that. Stonbhenge the old Britons who built Stonehenge lived in the bronzeperiod; but this opinion is not accepted by all. Finally, we reach the traces of the more advanced iron age,when this metal was brought into use in the making of toojsfor industry and weapons of war. It is to be observed thatthe lines between these several ages are not sharply eras lap over one another. Nor is there evidence thatthese several steps of progress in one region were contem-poraneous with like steps in every other. Moreover, it cannotbe affirmed, in the present state of our knowledge, that in allpeoples once civilized there was at some time a passage throughthese consecutive eras. It may be remarked that the productsleft behind from prehistoric time afford no proof that theintellectual capacity of men was inferior to what it is drawings — for example, drawings of the reindeer on boneby the paleolithic inhabitants of F
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectworldhistory, bookyea
