The _castellieri_ of Istria, which the Slavonian peasants call _starigrad_, are as yet but little known. Doubtless an examination of them will bring out their resemblance to the _nurhags_ and _talayoti_. They are, however, more than mere towers, forming regular _enceintes_ between walls formed of two facings of dry stones, the space between which is filled in with smaller stones. There are fifteen of these _castellieri_ in the district of Albona, a little town on the southeast of Trieste. They were at first attributed to the Roman epoch, but later researches relegate them rather to prehistoric times, and the discovery near them of numerous stone implements rather tends to support this latter opinion, but it must not be considered conclusive. Perhaps we ought also to connect with the earliest ages of humanity the stations recently discovered in Spain by MM. Siret.26 These were evidently centres of population, surrounded by walls of a very primitive description. We shall have to refer again to these discoveries; we will only add now that in the black earth forming the soil were found worked flints, polished diorite hatchets, pierced shells, with various pieces of pottery, and mills for grinding corn. So far, however though many of the stations have been explored, no trace has been found of the use of metals. A vast period of time, countless centuries, indeed, have passed away since the close of the Paleolithic epoch. The burghs, _nurhags_, and _castellieri_ show the progress of civilization, and at the same time prove that this progress extended throughout Europe, and that at a time not so very far removed from our own. The close resemblance between buildings of different dates enables us to speak with certainty of the connection between the races which succeeded each other in Europe. The importance of these conclusions is very great, and will be brought out still more in our study of megalithic monuments. 1 “El hombre seguramente habitaba las corazas de los Glyptodon Pero no siempre las colocaba en la posicion que acabo de indicar.”—“La Antiguedad del Hombre en el Plata,” vol. ii., p. 532. 2 “On Some Recent Researches in Cone-Caves in Wales,” _Proc. Geol., Asso_., vol. ix. “On the Flynnon, Benno, and Gwyu Caves,” _Geol. Mag_., Dec., 1886. 3 _Revue des Questions Scientifiques_, April, 1887. 4 “Odyssey,” book ix., v. 105–124. 5 Æschylus: “Prometheus Bound.” 6 A. Maury: “La Vieille Civilisation Scandinave,” _Revue des Deux Mondes_, September, 1880. 7 F. de Olivera: “As Raças dos Kjoekkenmoeddings de Mugem,” Lisbon, 1881. 8 _Report Peabody Museum_, 1882. 9 _Report Peabody Museum_, 1882 and 1885. 10 Brinton: “Notes on the Floridian Peninsula,” Philadelphia, 1849. 11 We take many of these details from Dr. Gross’ excellent work on the “Pile Dwellings of Switzerland.” 12 Virchow: “Drei Schädel aus der Schweiz.” 13 _Revue d’Anthropologie_, 1887, p. 607. 14 G. Cotteau: _Nature_, 1877, first week, p. 161.