The Ethnology of the British IslandsLatham, R. G. (Robert Gordon)
History
The Ethnology of the British Islands
Latham, R. G. (Robert Gordon)
Ethnology -- Great Britain
Undoubted specimens of weaving and undoubted specimens of pottery, occur
during the Bronze period. Lead, too, is found in some of the bronze
alloys; the word itself being, apparently, of Keltic origin. Whether the
same could not be referred to the Stone period is uncertain. It is
probable, however, that whilst the implements were of stone and bone,
the dress was of skin.
Nothing has yet been said about the dwellings of the early islanders.
This is because it is difficult to assign a date to their remains. They
may belong to the Bronze--they may belong to the Stone period. They may
be more recent than either. At any rate, however, relics of ancient
domestic architecture exist. A foundation sunk in the earth, with stone
walls of loose masonry, and covered, most probably, with reeds and
branches, suggests the idea of a subterranean granary, for which the old
houses of the earliest Britons have been mistaken; but, nevertheless, it
belonged to a house. On the floor of this we find charred bones, and
enormous heaps of oyster and mussel shells. Stone handmills, too, denote
the use of corn; though from the character of the ancient Flora,
vegetable forms of food must have been rarer than animal.
Iron was known in Cæsar's time. How much earlier is doubtful. So was
silver. Both were of later date than gold and bronze; and more than this
it is not safe to say. Of the great monolithic buildings, it is
reasonable to suppose that they are later than the Stone, and earlier
than the Historical, period. Druidism, however, in its germs may be of
any antiquity; not, however, if we suppose that the first introduction
of bronze coincided with the first introduction of the Kelts.
An Iron period succeeds the Bronze; but it will not be the subject of
our immediate consideration, inasmuch as it coincides pretty closely
with the historic epoch. The sequence, however, requires further notice.
That there should be a period in the history of mankind when the use of
metals, and the arts of metallurgy were wholly unknown, and that during
such a period, imperfect implements of bone and stone should minister to
the wants of an underfed and defenceless generation, is not so much a
particular fact in British ethnology as a general doctrine founded upon
our _a priori_ views, and applicable to the history of man at large. For
if each of the useful arts have its own proper origin, referrible to
some particular place, time, and community, there must have been an era
when it was wanting to mankind. Hence, an ante-metallic age is as much
the conception of the speculator, as the discovery of the investigator.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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