The Neolithic inhabitants of this country, whom the Goidelic Celts found here on their arrival, were ethnologically a small dark-haired, black-eyed race, with long skulls of a type which is still to be seen amongst the Silurians of South Wales.[44] The ethnological characteristics of the Goidels were entirely different: they were tall, fair-haired, round-headed, with high cheek-bones, a large mouth, and aquiline nose. In studying the past much must necessarily be more or less conjectural, and we can never hope to see otherwise than “as in a glass darkly.” As far, however, as it is possible to ascertain the facts, it appears probable that the advancing wave of Goidelic Celts did not entirely overwhelm the aborigines or drive them before it. Most likely the big Goidels made the small Iberians “hewers of wood and drawers of water,” and in time either absorbed them or themselves became absorbed. [44] Boyd Dawkins’ _Early Man in Britain_, chapter ix. THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE BRONZE AGE IN EUROPE Actual dates in years can only be ascertained by means of historical documents, and therefore no chronology of the ages of Stone, Bronze, and Iron is possible except where contact can be established between the prehistoric (or non-historic) races living in those stages of culture in Northern and Central Europe, and the more advanced civilisations on the shores of the Mediterranean and in Asia. Long before direct contact took place between the northern barbarians and the Egyptians, Assyrians, Phœnicians, Greeks, Romans, and other great nations of antiquity, through invasions or immigrations, a more indirect contact must have existed for centuries, owing to the trade in such things as amber, gold, bronze, and tin. Dates have been fixed approximately by the finding of imported objects in different countries, and by studying their geographical distribution. Other almost untouched fields of investigation which would help to solve many of the problems of prehistoric chronology, are the migration of symbols and patterns and comparative ornament. The attempts that have been made to fix the duration of the Ages of Stone and Bronze in actual years are at the best mere guesses, but it may be worth while stating the conclusions arrived at by some of the leading European archæologists, so as to give a rough idea of the time at which bronze was in use for the manufacture of implements and weapons in different countries. Egypt during the greater part of its existence as a civilised nation was in the Bronze Age. The copper mines of the Sinaitic peninsula were worked as early as the Fourth Dynasty, as is proved by the rock inscriptions of Sneferu (B.C. 3998-3969) at Wady Maghera.[45] Bronze was certainly used by the ancient Egyptians in the fourteenth century B.C., and in the tomb of Queen Aah Hotep, although bronze weapons were found, iron was conspicuous by its absence, indicating that the latter metal had not come into general use in the fifteenth century B.C.