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If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: Ancient Britain and the Invasions of Julius Caesar Author: Thomas Rice Holmes Release Date: June 15, 2018 [EBook #57336] Language: English *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANCIENT BRITAIN--INVASIONS--CAESAR *** Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Wayne Hammond and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net ANCIENT BRITAIN AND THE INVASIONS OF JULIUS CAESAR BY T. RICE HOLMES H O N . L ITT .D. (D UBLIN ) AUTHOR OF ‘A HISTORY OF THE INDIAN MUTINY’ ‘CAESAR’S CONQUEST OF GAUL,’ ETC. ‘There seems no human thought so primitive as to have lost its bearing on our own thought, nor so ancient as to have broken its connection with our own life’.—E. B. T YLO R OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1907 HENRY FROWDE, M.A. PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD LONDON, EDINBURGH NEW YORK AND TORONTO PREFACE This book is in one sense a companion of my Caesar’s Conquest of Gaul ; and much that was written in the preface of that volume is equally applicable here. The last three chapters of Part I, and the later articles in Part II, are intended to do for Britain what I formerly tried to do for Gaul; but whereas the main object was then to illustrate the conquest, and the opening chapter was merely introductory, my aim in these pages has been to tell the story of man’s life in our island from the earliest times in detail. What has been called ‘prehistory’ cannot be written without knowledge of archaeology; but from the historical standpoint archaeological details must be handled, not for their own sake, but only in so far as they illustrate the development of culture. The two books are constructed on the same principle: in this, as in the other, the second part is devoted to questions which could not properly be discussed in narrative or quasi-narrative chapters, though I am encouraged by the judgement of expert critics, British, American, and Continental, of Caesar’s Conquest of Gaul , to hope that general readers who are interested in these matters may not find the articles which deal with them tedious. Those on Stonehenge, Ictis, and the ethnology of Britain, although they controvert certain opinions which are commonly accepted, will, I hope, tend to place facts in their true light. Two articles deal with well-worn themes,—the identity of the Portus Itius, and the place of Caesar’s landing in Britain. These problems have been pronounced by eminent scholars, including Mommsen, to be insoluble; nevertheless, I venture to affirm that in both cases the inquiry has now been worked out to demonstration. Critics who may be disposed to regard this claim as arrogant or frivolous will, I trust, read the articles through before passing judgement upon them. The questions would have been settled long ago if any competent writer had bestowed upon them as much care as has been expended in investigating Hannibal’s passage over the Alps. Books and articles on various branches of the study of ancient Britain are practically innumerable; no other book, intended to treat it comprehensively from the beginning to the Roman invasion of A.D. 43, has, so far as I know, yet appeared. I wish to express my gratitude to all who have in any way helped me. I am indebted to Sir John Evans for figures 1-6, 8-11, 14, 15, and 18-29, as well as for an opinion, most kindly given, in regard to certain coins which are not mentioned in his Coins of the Ancient Britons ; to the Director of the British Museum for figures 30, 36-9, 41, 43, and 44; to the Society of Antiquaries for figures 7, 13, 16, 31, 35, and 40; to the Delegates of the Oxford University Press for figures 12 and 32-4; to Dr. Joseph Anderson for figure 17; and to Canon Greenwell for a proof of a valuable and interesting article—‘Early Iron Age Burials in Yorkshire’—which, I believe, is to appear in Archaeologia . Captain Tizard, R.N., F.R.S., kindly answered various questions which I asked him about tidal currents. Mr. E. J. Webb, Sir George Darwin, Professor Postgate, Professor Haverfield, Mr. Clement Reid, F.R.S., Mr. George Barrow, F.G.S., Captain J. Iron, Commander Richmond, R.N., and Commander Boxer, R.N., gave me information, which, in every instance, will be found, acknowledged either in footnotes of Part I, or in Part II, on various points of detail. It is vain to plead that work would have been better if circumstances had been more favourable. But if any indulgence may be accorded to an author who, except on holidays, can only find leisure for writing or research after he has fulfilled the duties of an exacting profession, and who, in order to gain time, has worked steadily throughout his vacations for nearly thirty years, I am entitled to it. 11 D OURO P LACE , K ENSINGTON , W. October 19, 1907 CONTENTS PAGE P REFACE iii L IST OF I LLUSTRATIONS xv PART I CHAPTER I I NTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER II THE PALAEOLITHIC AGE Reasons for devoting a chapter to the Palaeolithic Age 13 Tertiary Man 13 The Ice Age 14 Continental Britain 19 The relation of palaeolithic man to the Ice Age 22 ‘Eolithic’ man? 25 The environment of palaeolithic man in Britain 30 Whence did he come? 30 Chronological puzzles 31 Palaeolithic skeletons 33 Palaeolithic artists 35 Range of the palaeolithic hunters in Britain 35 Where their tools have been found 36 Inhabited caves 37 Cave implements and river-drift implements 38 Divers forms of tools 41 Palaeolithic workshops 42 Handles 44 Uses of tools 45 Culture of the palaeolithic inhabitants of Britain 45 Religion 49 Totemism 51 Was the domestication of animals a result of totemism? 55 Magic 57 Was there a ‘hiatus’ between the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic Age? 59 CHAPTER III THE NEOLITHIC AGE The early neolithic immigrants 62 The origins of British civilization were neolithic 63 Geography of neolithic Britain 64 Who were the later neolithic invaders? 64 Evidence from dolmens 65 Relics of the neolithic population: their settlements 67 Flint mines and implement factories 69 Difficulty of determining age of stone implements 71 Indefiniteness of the prehistoric ‘Ages’ 72 Stone implements 73 The two main divisions of flint implement 73 How flint implements were made 73 Celts 75 Their uses 77 Chisels and gouges 77 Axes, axe-hammers, anvils, and mullers 78 Implements made of flakes 79 Javelin-heads and arrow-heads 80 Bone implements 82 Pygmy flints 82 Specialization of industries 83 A lost art 83 Dwellings 84 Food and cookery 88 Agriculture 89 Treatment of women 91 Duration of life 91 Clothing and ornaments 91 Trepanning 92 The couvade 94 Hill-forts 95 Primitive writing 99 Sepulture: barrows and cairns 100 Inhumation and incineration 110 Human sacrifice 112 Traces (?) of cannibalism 113 Interment of animals 114 Religion 115 An alien invasion: period of transition 119 CHAPTER IV THE BRONZE AGE AND THE VOYAGE OF PYTHEAS A Copper Age preceded the Bronze Age in certain countries, but has not been proved to have existed in Britain 121 Bronze implements used for many centuries in Europe before the Iron Age 123 Where did the European bronze culture originate? 124 Origin and affinities of the bronze culture of Britain 126 Period of its commencement 126 Physical characters of the late neolithic and early bronze-using invaders of Britain 127 Their social organization 128 Character and results of the invasions: the invaders poor in bronze weapons 129 Evidence of finds as to the settlements of the invaders 129 Stone implements used long after the introduction of bronze 132 Hill-forts 132 Primitive metallurgy 139 Bronze implements:—celts 139 Sickles 144 The Arreton Down hoard 145 Halberds 145 Shields, swords, spears 145 Moulds 148 Decoration of weapons 149 Hoards 149 Pasturage 150 Agriculture 151 Signs of amelioration in the conditions of life 152 Dwellings 153 Lake-dwellings 153 Hut-circles 154 Inhabited camps 156 The Heathery Burn Cave 157 Dress 160 Pins and buttons 161 Weapons mounted with gold or amber 162 Ornaments 163 Distribution of wealth: sources of gold, ivory, and amber 167 Why was Wiltshire exceptionally rich in ornaments? 169 British trade and the spiral 170 Comparative backwardness of culture in Britain 171 The information obtainable from graves 172 Round barrows, cairns, and sepulchral circles 173 Chronology of the barrows 181 Cremation and inhumation 184 Sepulchral pottery 191 The ‘drums’ of Folkton Wold and their significance 199 Sepulchral evidence as to religion 200 Engraved stones 205 Sun-worship 207 Stone circles and other megalithic monuments 207 Stonehenge 213 The voyage of Pytheas 217 Ictis 221 ‘Ultima Thule’ 224 Pytheas and the ethnology of Britain 227 The passing of the Bronze Age 230 CHAPTER V THE EARLY IRON AGE Iron probably introduced into Britain by Gallic invaders 231 The Belgae preceded by other Brythons, who began to arrive about 400 B.C. 232 Ethnology of the invaders 234 The order in which the various tribes arrived unknown 235 ‘Late Celtic’ art 236 Coral and enamel 237 Swords and scabbards 238 Mirrors 239 Brooches and pins 240 Ornaments 241 Woodwork 241 Pottery 242 The noblest creation of Late Celtic art 244 Imported objects of art 246 British ships and coracles 247 Trackways 247 Coinage 248 Iron currency bars 250 Mining 251 Agriculture 252 Dwellings of the rich 254 Towns 254 Hill-forts 255 Some permanently inhabited 257 Hunsbury 259 Inhabited caves; pit-dwellings; ‘Picts’ houses’; beehive houses; and brochs 260 The Glastonbury marsh-village 263 Dress 264 Reading and writing 265 Inequalities in culture 266 Intertribal war and political development 268 Instances of female sovereignty: the condition of women 269 Political and social conditions of Britain and Gaul compared 270 Religion 271 Sepulchral usages 286 The Druids 289 Ties between Britons and Gauls 299 How the Britons were affected by Caesar’s campaigns in Gaul 300 CHAPTER VI CAESAR’S FIRST INVASION OF BRITAIN Caesar obliged to secure his rear before invading Britain 301 He contemplated invasion as early as 56 B.C. 301 Campaign against the Veneti necessary in order to secure command of the Channel 303 Campaign against the Morini 305 Its failure leaves Caesar’s base not quite secure 305 Caesar determines to sail from the Portus Itius (Boulogne) 306 He attempts to obtain information about Britain from Gallic traders 307 Gaius V olusenus sent to reconnoitre the opposite coast 308 Envoys from British tribes sent to Caesar to promise submission 308 He commissions Commius to return with them and gain over tribes 309 V olusenus’s voyage of reconnaissance 309 Kentishmen prepare for resistance 312 Certain clans of the Morini spontaneously promise to submit 312 Caesar’s expeditionary force 313 Sabinus and Cotta sent to punish the recalcitrant Morini and the Menapii 314 Caesar’s voyage 314 His cavalry transports fail to put to sea in time 314 He anchors off the Dover cliffs 315 Late in the afternoon he sails on to Walmer—Deal 316 The landing vigorously resisted 316 Caesar’s victory indecisive owing to want of cavalry 317 The Romans encamp 317 British chiefs sue for peace 318 The cavalry transports dispersed by a gale 318 Caesar’s fleet partially wrecked 319 The British chiefs prepare to renew hostilities 320 Caesar labours to retrieve the disaster 320 The 7th legion surprised and attacked while cutting corn 321 Military operations suspended owing to bad weather 322 The Britons, attempting to rush Caesar’s camp, are defeated with heavy loss 323 Caesar compelled by the approach of the equinox to return to Gaul 323 Causes of his partial failure 323 Two transports fail to make the Portus Itius: the troops whom they carried attacked by the Morini 324 Punishment of the Morini and Menapii 324 Thanksgiving service at Rome for Caesar’s success 325 CHAPTER VII CAESAR’S SECOND INVASION OF BRITAIN Caesar builds a fleet for a second expedition 326 Mandubracius flees from Britain and takes refuge with Caesar 327 Caesar winters in Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum 327 His correspondence with Cicero 327 Cicero’s hopes and fears about the second British expedition 329 Caesar returns to Gaul 329 He is obliged to march to the country of the Treveri 330 Returning to the Portus Itius, he finds fleet and army assembled 331 He resolves to take Gallic chiefs of doubtful fidelity as hostages to Britain 331 Dumnorix resolves not to go 332 The fleet weatherbound 332 The fate of Dumnorix 333 Caesar sets sail, leaving Labienus in charge of Gaul 333 The fleet drifts north-eastward out of its course 334 The landing-place, between Sandown Castle and Sandwich, reached by rowing 335 Leaving the fleet at anchor in charge of a brigade, Caesar marches against the Britons 335 forces the passage of the Stour near Canterbury 337 and storms a fort to which they had retreated 337 Next morning he sends three columns in pursuit 337 but is forced to recall them by news that many of his ships had been wrecked 338 He beaches the ships, constructs a naval camp, and repairs damage 338 Results of the disaster 338 Caesar again marches towards Canterbury. Cassivellaunus elected commander-in-chief of the Britons 339 The Romans harassed by British charioteers 340 Trebonius routs the Britons 341 The British infantry disperse 341 War-chariots versus Roman troops 341 Caesar marches for the country of Cassivellaunus 343 whose chariots harass his cavalry 344 Caesar crosses the Thames 345 Cassivellaunus orders the kings of Kent to attack the naval camp 346 Caesar enters the country of the Trinovantes, who furnish hostages and grain 346 Five of the confederate tribes submit 346 Attack on the naval camp repulsed 347 Caesar’s hurried journey to the coast and its significance 348 Cassivellaunus sues for peace 349 Caesar and his army return to Gaul 350 Caesar’s description of Britain 351 Review of Caesar’s invasions of Britain 352 CHAPTER VIII THE RESULTS OF CAESAR’S INVASIONS OF BRITAIN The importance of Caesar’s British expeditions underestimated by his contemporaries and by historians 355 Development of British commerce 357 The British inscribed coinage and its historical value 358 The dynasties of Cassivellaunus and Commius 361 Tasciovanus 361 Epaticcus and Cunobeline 361 Cunobeline’s coins prove growth of Roman influence in Britain 362 His conquests 362 Flight of Dubnovellaunus and Tincommius (?), the son of Commius, to Rome 363 The later adventures of Commius 364 His conquests in Britain 365 Tincommius, Verica, and Eppillus 365 Augustus contemplates an invasion of Britain 367 Why he abandoned his intention 367 Continued growth of Roman influence in Britain 368 Cessation of British coinage in certain districts which had belonged to the sons of Commius 368 Relations of Cunobeline with Rome 369 His exiled son, Adminius, takes refuge with Caligula 369 Death of Cunobeline 370 Unpopularity of his dynasty intensified on the accession of his sons, Caratacus and Togodumnus 370 Invasion of Britain by Aulus Plautius 371 Review of British history from 54 B.C. to A.D. 43 371 The Roman conquest and its results 372 Permanence in English history of prehistoric and Celtic elements 372 PART II PAGE T HE E THNOLOGY OF A NCIENT B RITAIN .— I. Introduction 375 II. The methods of anthropology 376 III. Eolithic man(?) 379 IV . Palaeolithic man 380 V . The Pygmies (?) 390 VI. Neolithic man 393 VII. The ‘Pictish Question’ 409 VIII. The Round-heads 424 IX. The Celts 444 X. Conclusion 455 T HE N AMES ΠΡΕΤΑΝΙΚΑΙ ΝΗΣΟΙ, B RITANNI , AND B RITANNIA 459 T HE B IRTHDAY OF R ELIGION 461 D UMBUCK , L ANGBANK , D UNBUIE 463 I NHUMATION AND C REMATION 465 S EPULCHRAL P OTTERY 467 S TONEHENGE 468 T HE C ASSITERIDES , I CTIS , AND THE B RITISH T RADE IN T IN .— I. The Cassiterides 483 II. Ictis and the British trade in tin 499 D ENE - HOLES 515 T HE C OAST BETWEEN C ALAIS AND THE S OMME IN THE T IME OF C AESAR 517 T HE C ONFIGURATION OF THE C OAST OF K ENT IN THE T IME OF C AESAR 518 I. Between Ramsgate and Sandown Castle 519 II. Between Sandown Castle and Walmer Castle 521 III. The Goodwin Sands 525 IV . The South Foreland and the Dover Cliffs 528 V . Dover Harbour 530 VI. Between Dover and Sandgate 531 VII. Romney Marsh 532 P ORTUS I TIUS .— I. Review of the controversy 552 II. The data furnished by Caesar, Strabo, and Ptolemy 554 III. Caesar sailed from the Portus Itius on both his expeditions 556 IV . The value of Caesar’s estimate of the distance between the Portus Itius and Britain 557 V . The estuary of the Somme 558 VI. Ambleteuse 563 VII. Calais 565 VIII. Wissant 565 IX. Boulogne 585 T HE P LACE OF C AESAR ’ S L ANDING IN B RITAIN .— I. Introduction 595 II. The data furnished by Caesar and other ancient writers 596 III. The day on which Caesar landed in 55 B.C. 600 IV . Did Caesar land at the same place in both his expeditions? 603 V . The various theories about Caesar’s place of landing 604 VI. The question of the tides 605 VII. The theory that Caesar landed at Pevensey 611 VIII. The theory that Caesar landed at Lympne or Hythe 622 IX. The theory that Caesar landed at Hurst 638 X. The theory that Caesar landed between Hurst and Kennardington 639 XI. The theory that Caesar landed opposite Walmer and Deal 644 XII. The theory that Caesar landed at Richborough or Sandwich 662 T HE C REDIBILITY OF C AESAR ’ S N ARRATIVE OF HIS I NV ASIONS OF B RITAIN 666 T HE D ISEMBARKATION OF THE R OMANS IN 55 B.C. 673 T HE S ITE OF C AESAR ’ S C AMP IN 55, AND OF HIS N A V AL C AMP IN 54 B.C. 673 T HE W AR -C HARIOTS OF THE B RITONS 674 T HE O PERATIONS OF THE B RITONS DURING THE LAST FEW D AYS OF C AESAR ’ S F IRST E XPEDITION 677 W HERE DID C AESAR ENCOUNTER THE B RITONS ON THE M ORNING AFTER HIS S ECOND L ANDING IN B RITAIN ? 678 C AESAR ’ S EARLIER O PERATIONS IN 54 B.C. ( B. G. , v. 9-11) 685 C AESAR ’ S S ECOND C OMBAT WITH THE B RITONS IN 54 B.C. 688 T HE C OMBAT BETWEEN T REBONIUS AND THE B RITONS 692 W HERE DID C AESAR CROSS THE T HAMES ? 692 C AESAR ’ S P ASSAGE OF THE T HAMES 698 T HE S ITE OF C ASSIVELLAUNUS ’ S S TRONGHOLD 699 D ID L ONDINIUM EXIST IN C AESAR ’ S T IME ? 703 T HE J ULIAN C ALENDAR AND THE C HRONOLOGY OF C AESAR ’ S I NV ASIONS OF B RITAIN 706 T OPOGRAPHICAL N OTES 735 A DDENDA 739 I NDEX 743 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURE PAGE 1 Harpoon-head (Kent’s Cavern) 43 2 Flint flake (Reculver) 43 3 ‘Tongue-shaped’ implement (Biddenham, Bedfordshire) 43 4 Oval implement (Dartford Heath) 43 5 Rough-hewn celt (Mildenhall, Suffolk) 75 6 Polished celt (Coton, Cambridgeshire) 75 7 Hafted celt (Solway Moss) 76 8 Chisel (Burwell, Cambridgeshire) 77 9 Double-edged axe-head (Hunmanby, Yorkshire) 78 10 Flint knife (Saffron Walden) 79 11 Curved blade (Fimber, Yorkshire) 80 12 Leaf-shaped arrow-head (Yorkshire Wolds) 81 13 Lozenge-shaped arrow-head (Yorkshire Wolds) 81 14 Triangular arrow-head (Amotherby, Yorkshire) 81 15 Barbed arrow-head (Rudstone) 81 16 Ground-plan of chambered barrow (Uley) 104 17 Horned cairn of Get 106 18 Flat bronze celt (East Riding of Yorkshire) 142 19 Flanged bronze celt (Norfolk) 142 20 Flanged bronze celt with stop-ridge (Northumberland) 142 21 Winged bronze celt (Dorchester, Oxfordshire) 143 22 Looped palstave (Brassington, Derbyshire) 143 23 Socketed celt (Kingston, Surrey) 143 24 Arreton Down blade 145 25 Bronze shield (Yetholm, Roxburghshire) 146 26 Leaf-shaped bronze sword (Battersea) 147 27 Bronze spear-head (Thames) 148 28 Jet button (Rudstone) 161 29 Bronze torque (Wedmore, Somersetshire) 164 30 Gold lunette (Llanllyfni, Carnarvonshire) 164 31 Amber necklace (Lake, Wiltshire) 166 32 Drinking-cup 192 33 Food-vessel 193 34 Cinerary urn (Goodmanham, Yorkshire Wolds) 193 35 Incense-cup (Bulford, Wiltshire) 194 36 Chalk ‘drum’ (Folkton Wold) 200 37 Bronze mirror (Trelan Bahow, Cornwall) 239 38 Brooch (Water Eaton, Oxfordshire) 240 39 Wooden bowl (Glastonbury) 242 40 Late Celtic urn (Shoebury, Essex), 243 41 Patterns on Late Celtic pottery (Glastonbury), 243 42 Late Celtic shield (Battersea) 245 43 Bronze open-work ring (Stanwick, N.R. Yorkshire) 265 44 Circle of interments (Aylesford) 287 MAPS South-Eastern Britain to face page 305 East Kent to face page 313 Romney Marsh and Hythe harbour (illustrating theories of their topography in 55-4 B.C. ) 531 [The maps of South-Eastern Britain and East Kent, like all maps of Ancient Britain, are inevitably inexact; but the errors are unimportant. The Dover cliffs, for instance, have lost by erosion, but one cannot say how much (see pages 528-30); nor is it possible to indicate the exact nature of the slight change which the coast has undergone between Sandown Castle and Walmer Castle (pages 521-5). Again, I have not attempted to delineate the coast west of Pevensey or west or north of Reculver precisely as it was in 55 B.C. , because, even if such an attempt had been successful, nothing would have been gained for the purpose of this book. As far as possible, however, the maps represent the conclusions reached in the article on the configuration of the coast of Kent in the time of Caesar. The outline of Richborough harbour and of the estuary between Thanet and the mainland is intended to show approximately the high-water mark of spring tides. At low tide the channel was very narrow (page 519).] ANCIENT BRITAIN AND THE INVASIONS OF JULIUS CAESAR CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION When Caesar was about to sail on his first expedition to Britain, he summoned the Gallic traders whose vessels used to ply between Gaul and the Kentish coast, and tried to elicit from them information; but, to quote his own words, ‘he could not find out either the extent of the island, or what tribes dwelt therein, or their size, or their method of fighting, or their manners and customs, or what harbours were capable of accommodating a large flotilla.’ Even after he had seen the country and its inhabitants with his observant eyes he was not much better informed: all that he could learn about the aborigines he summed up in a single sentence; and later writers, Greek, Italian, and mediaeval—Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, Augustus Caesar, Pomponius Mela, Tacitus, Suetonius, Dion Cassius, Herodian, and the rest—added very little to the knowledge which he had gathered. Yet the materials which are now available for a description of prehistoric and pre-Roman Britain, however limited their range, are so abundant that the difficulty is to use them with discrimination and to fashion the essential into a work of art. How have these materials been obtained? When the general reader takes up a history, he accepts the narrative in a spirit more or less sceptical. He knows that it has been composed, either directly or at second hand, from written, perhaps also from oral testimony; and he rarely troubles himself to inquire what the evidence is, or with what diligence and acuteness it has been sifted. But when he is invited to read an account of the evolution of culture among people who recorded nothing and of whom nothing was recorded, it is natural that he should insist upon peering into the writer’s workshop that he may judge for himself what the materials are worth. During many centuries, while the materials were most abundant, they remained unused. Many of them were rifled by treasure-seekers, carted away by builders, or destroyed by the plough. Even when the Renaissance turned men’s minds to the study of the past, they had no thought of any sources of information except the written documents which they were only beginning to learn how to use. The Italian scholar, Raymond de Marliano, the Dutch geographer, Abraham Ortels, made futile guesses about topographical questions suggested by Caesar’s Commentaries , but never dreamed that there was anything to be learned of a people who had lived in Britain when the South Foreland and Cape Grisnez were still undivided. Camden travelled over the length and breadth of England, amassing stores of information, much of which he did not know how to interpret, and built up geographical theories upon place-names, which, in default of linguistic science, were of necessity worthless. Even the great French scholars of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries—Chifflet, Du Fresne, Scaliger, Sanson, and d’Anville—although their geographical essays are still worth reading, failed to determine the port from which Caesar had sailed to Britain. Stukeley, who was one of the first to excavate barrows and describe their contents and who made valuable observations of some of our megalithic monuments, encumbered his folios with fanciful speculations which only served to entertain his contemporaries and to mislead posterity. 1 But these men had no access to the sources which are now open to many who are intellectually their inferiors; and, notwithstanding the smallness of their achievement, they did their work as pioneers. About the middle of the eighteenth century a spirit of antiquarian curiosity was aroused in England. The Society of Antiquaries, which had been founded in 1717, received in 1752 a charter from George the Second; and in 1770 appeared the first number of their principal organ, Archaeologia , which is still in course of publication. Many of the earlier papers were crude and superficial, showing keen interest in the things of the past, but naturally betraying ignorance of the methods by which alone the significance of antiquarian discoveries could be ascertained. Early in the nineteenth century, however, Sir Richard Colt Hoare and his friend, William Cunnington, began to excavate the barrows of Wiltshire; and with their labours the era of scientific investigation may be said to have begun. Hoare had in earlier life been an ardent fox-hunter; but, as he grew older, he found that barrow-digging was a pastime more exciting still. Craniology was at that time unborn; and Hoare omitted to measure the numerous skeletons which he discovered or to utilize them for the advancement of ethnology. Even the work that he professed to do was often marred by a lack of thoroughness which, although it was inevitable in a pioneer, irritated the critical spirit of later explorers. 2 But with all its limitations the Ancient History of North and South Wiltshire , the first volume of which appeared in 1812, was an important work. A few years earlier, John Frere had recorded in Archaeologia 3 the discoveries of stone implements which he had made at Hoxne in Suffolk. Such discoveries had of course in innumerable instances passed unrecorded. In the British Isles, as in many other lands, flint arrow-heads were regarded by the peasants who found them as fairy-darts; while stone axes, which in Scotland, Ireland, and Cornwall, are still deemed to possess medical virtues, were said to have fallen from the sky. 4 In the time of Charles the Second, however, Sir Robert Sibbald, greatly daring, affirmed that the fairy-darts had been made by man; 5 and nearly a century before the time of Frere an implement, which has since been assigned to the Palaeolithic Age, had been found near Gray’s Inn Lane, and had been vaguely described as ‘a British weapon’. But Frere saw that the tools which he had collected were not to be ascribed even to the ‘painted savages’ who had resisted the invasion of Caesar; and although even he did not suspect their immeasurable antiquity, he declared that they must have belonged to ‘a very remote period indeed’ and to ‘a people who had not the use of metals’. In 1824 Dr. Buckland, who had spent some years in exploring ossiferous caves, published an account of his work in Reliquiae Diluvianae , a book which, by attributing the phenomena that it recorded to an universal deluge, impelled geological research in a wrong direction, and delayed for many years the recognition of the truth that the earlier human occupants of the caves had been contemporary with the mammoth and other extinct animals. Soon afterwards MacEnery, whose example was followed by Godwin Austen, examined Kent’s Cavern near Torquay, a task which was systematically completed some five-and-twenty years ago by a committee of the British Association. It was not, however, before the middle of the nineteenth century that the knowledge of the Stone Ages began to be built up on a sound foundation. From 1841 to 1860 Boucher de Perthes was patiently exploring in the neighbourhood of Abbeville and Amiens the gravels which the river Somme had deposited in the Pleistocene Period, and collecting flints which were proved to have been shaped by the hands of man. Lyell, Prestwich, John Evans, Lubbock, and Flower visited the scene of his labours, and testified to the authenticity of his discoveries; and after long controversy the most reluctant were forced to admit that the human race had existed at a period infinitely more remote than had hitherto been imagined. Similar discoveries were soon made in England, in various European countries, in Africa, Asia, and America. In our islands, as well as on the Continent, as antiquarian zeal became more widely diffused, the need of organized effort was felt; and, side by side with the leading academies—the Society of Antiquaries, the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, the Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, the Royal Irish Academy, the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, and the Cambrian Archaeological Association—local societies were gradually formed in every important provincial town. Accident from time to time revealed objects for which no search had been made. Ploughmen guiding their teams, navvies working upon roads or in railway-cuttings, miners and quarrymen, labourers draining land, sportsmen groping after game which they had shot, came upon antiquities of the nature of which they were ignorant. Evans, in the intervals of leisure which he could win