Museum Notes

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22519, 29 September 1938, Page 2 (Supplement)

Museum Notes

(By R> S. Duff)

Following the immense period of the Old Stone Age (100,000 to 8000 8.C.), so called because the stone tools were chipped into form, cornea the New Stone Age (Neolithic), so called because stone tools were ground into form on large blocks of sandstone. Ground stone adzes from Denmark are shown in the illustration.

Actually the change from chipped Stone to ground stone is the least important part bf this new period. The importance of the new period is in a complete change of life. For until now man had always been a wandering hunter, sallying forth from caves and rock shelters in

pursuit of any game,which went by. For the first time in his history man ceased to depend on following wandering animals for food, and settled down in permanent villages. The first houses were constructed. Instead of hunting cattle, sheep, pigs, and goats man domesticated them and bred herds which were always available for food when he wanted them; The first animal to be domesticated was the dog, probably because it had long followed the wandering hunters to feed on the bones man threw aside, and had become half tame of its own accord;

Another invention of great importance was that of pottery. For the first time food could be boiled. This meant a great range of new foods—soups, stews, porridges, etc. Seeds of wild grasses, formerly of

THE NEW STONE AGE

little use for food, could nqw be ground into meal and boiled. Selected grasses were cared for, and finally planted in prepared ground. Cultivation commenced and fields Of grain appeared, namely barley, wheat, and millet.

Man had become, a tender of animals and a cultivator of crops. A most important result of living in settled villages was warfare, which probably now first appeared on a large scale. For now the settled village • contained accumulated wealth, it was surrounded by herds and crops. It was worth capturing and it was worth defending, and thus the first armies arose.

Neolithic man built his first villages in suitable positions for defence; in the Swiss lakes villages were built on piles away from the shore: another method was the terraced and palisaded hill fort, the remains of which are found in many parts of Britain and Europe.

The New Stone Age came in about 8000 B.C. and paved the way for the beginning of civilisation as we know it to-day. About 4000 B.C. metals began to be discovered in Asia and Egypt. Wandering travellers and traders from Egypt and Mesopotamia “discovered” the savages of Europe hewing out canoes with stone adzes, and taught them the use of metal. With the replacement of stone by metal the age of pre-history ceased in Europe and the age of written history came in.