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diff --git a/43750-0.txt b/43750-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec1b048 --- /dev/null +++ b/43750-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11819 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43750 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 43750-h.htm or 43750-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43750/43750-h/43750-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43750/43750-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://archive.org/details/ancientmaninbrit00mackuoft + + +Transcriber's note: + + Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + + Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). + + In the text and the Index of this book there are letters + with diacritical marks not available in the Latin-1 + character set used for this e-book: + [=a] represents an a with a macron above it, + [)e] represents an e with a breve above it. + [)i] represents an i with a breve above it, + [)o] represents an o with a breve above it, + [)u] represents an u with a breve above it. + + Please see the end of this book for further notes. + + + + + +ANCIENT MAN IN BRITAIN + + + [Illustration: + + Copyright, 1915, by Charles Scribner's Sons + + HEAD OF A CRÔ-MAGNON MAN + + After the restoration modelled by J. H. McGregor. Reproduced by + permission from _Men of the Old Stone Age_ by Henry Fairfield + Osborn.] + + +ANCIENT MAN IN BRITAIN + +by + +DONALD A. MACKENZIE + +Author of "Egyptian Myth and Legend" +"Myths of Crete and Pre-Hellenic Europe" "Colour Symbolism" &c. + +With Foreword by G. Elliot Smith, F.R.S. + + + + + + + +Blackie And Son Limited +50 Old Bailey, London; Glasgow, Bombay +Printed in Great Britain +1922 + + + + +FOREWORD + + +In his Presidential Address to the Royal Anthropological Institute +this year the late Dr. Rivers put his finger upon the most urgent +need for reform in the study of Man, when he appealed for "the Unity +of Anthropology". No true conception of the nature and the early +history of the human family can be acquired by investigations, +however carefully they may be done, of one class of evidence only. +The physical characters of a series of skulls can give no reliable +information unless their exact provenance and relative age are known. +But the interpretation of the meaning of these characters cannot be +made unless we know something of the movements of the people and the +distinctive peculiarities of the inhabitants of the foreign lands +from which they may have come. No less important than the study of +their physical structure is the cultural history of peoples. The +real spirit of a population is revealed by its social and industrial +achievements, and by its customs and beliefs, rather than by the +shape of the heads and members of its units. The revival of the +belief in the widespread diffusion of culture in early times has, +as one of its many important effects, directed attention to the +physical peculiarities of the mixed populations of important foci +of civilization throughout the world. Such inquiries have not only +enabled the student of human structure to detect racial affinities +where he might otherwise have neglected to look for them, but on the +other hand they have been able to give the investigator of cultural +diffusion evidence of the most definite and irrefutable kind in +corroboration of the reality of his inferences. + +At the present time students are just awakening to the fact that no +adequate idea of the anthropology of any area can be acquired unless +every kind of evidence, somatic and cultural, be taken into account, +and the problems of the particular locality are integrated with those +worldwide movements of men and of civilization of which the people +and culture of that locality form a part. + +The great merit of Mr. Donald Mackenzie's book is due in the main +to the fact that he has taken this wider vision of his subject and +interpreted the history of early man in Britain, not simply by +describing the varieties of head-form or of implements, customs and +beliefs, but rather by indicating how these different categories of +information can be put into their appropriate setting in the history +of mankind as a whole. There is nothing of technical pedantry about +Mr. Mackenzie's writing. He has made himself thoroughly familiar with +the customs and beliefs of the whole world, as his remarkable series +of books on mythology has revealed, and in the process of acquiring +this mass of information he has not sacrificed his common sense and +powers of judgment. He has been able to see clearly through this +amazing jumble of confusing statements the way in which every phase +of civilization in all parts of the world is closely correlated with +the rest; and he has given luminous expression to this clear vision +of the history of man and civilization as it affects Britain. + + G. ELLIOT SMITH. + + The University of London. + + + + +PREFACE + + +This volume deals with the history of man in Britain from the +Ice Age till the Roman period. The evidence is gleaned from the +various sciences which are usually studied apart, including +geology, archæology, philology, ethnology or anthropology, &c., +and the writer has set himself to tell the story of Ancient Man +in a manner which will interest a wider circle of readers than +is usually reached by purely technical books. It has not been +assumed that the representatives of Modern Man who first settled +in Europe were simple-minded savages. The evidence afforded by the +craftsmanship, the burial customs, and the art of the Crô-Magnon +races, those contemporaries of the reindeer and the hairy mammoth +in South-western France, suggests that they had been influenced by +a centre of civilization in which considerable progress had already +been achieved. There is absolutely no evidence that the pioneers were +lacking in intelligence or foresight. If we are to judge merely by +their skeletons and the shapes and sizes of their skulls, it would +appear that they were, if anything, both physically and mentally +superior to the average present-day inhabitants of Europe. Nor were +they entirely isolated from the ancient culture area by which they +had been originally influenced. As is shown, the evidence afforded by +an Indian Ocean sea-shell, found in a Crô-Magnon burial cavern near +Mentone, indicates that much has yet to be discovered regarding the +activities of the early people. + +In writing the history of Ancient Man in Britain, it has been found +necessary to investigate the Continental evidence. When our early +ancestors came from somewhere, they brought something with them, +including habits of life and habits of thought. The story unfolded +by British finds is but a part of a larger story; and if this larger +story is to be reconstructed, our investigations must extend even +beyond the continent of Europe. The data afforded by the "Red Man of +Paviland", who was buried with Crô-Magnon rites in a Welsh cave, not +only emphasize that Continental and North African cultural influences +reached Britain when the ice-cap was retreating in Northern Europe, +but that from its very beginnings the history of our civilization +cannot be considered apart from that of the early civilization of +the world as a whole. The writer, however, has not assumed in this +connection that in all parts of the world man had of necessity to +pass through the same series of evolutionary stages of progress, +and that the beliefs, customs, crafts, arts, &c., of like character +found in different parts of the world were everywhere of spontaneous +generation. There were inventors and discoverers and explorers in +ancient times as there are at present, and many new contrivances +were passed on from people to people. The man who, for instance, +first discovered how to "make fire" by friction of fire-sticks was +undoubtedly a great scientist and a benefactor of his kind. It is +shown that shipbuilding had a definite area of origin. + +The "Red Man of Paviland" also reveals to us minds pre-occupied with +the problems of life and death. It is evident that the corpse of the +early explorer was smeared with red earth and decorated with charms +for very definite reasons. That the people who thus interred their +dead with ceremony were less intelligent than the Ancient Egyptians +who adopted the custom of mummification, or the Homeric heroes who +practised cremation, we have no justification for assuming. + +At the very dawn of British history, which begins when the earliest +representatives of Modern Man reached our native land, the influences +of cultures which had origin in distant areas of human activity came +drifting northward to leave an impress which does not appear to be +yet wholly obliterated. We are the heirs of the Ages in a profounder +sense than has hitherto been supposed. + +Considered from this point of view, the orthodox scheme of +Archæological Ages, which is of comparatively recent origin, leaves +much to be desired. If anthropological data have insisted upon one +thing more than another, it is that modes of thought, which govern +action, were less affected by a change of material from which +artifacts (articles made by man) were manufactured than they were by +religious ideas and by new means for obtaining the necessary food +supply. A profounder change was effected in the habits of early man +in Britain by the introduction of the agricultural mode of life, +and the beliefs, social customs, &c., connected with it, than could +possibly have been effected by the introduction of edged implements +of stone, bone, or metal. + +As a substitute for the Archæological Ages, the writer suggests +in this volume a new system, based on habits of life, which may +be found useful for historical purposes. In this system the terms +"Palæolithic", "Neolithic", &c., are confined to industries. +"Neolithic man", "Bronze Age man", "Iron Age man", and other terms of +like character may be favoured by some archæologists, but they mean +little or nothing to most anatomists, who detect different racial +types in a single "Age". A history of ancient man cannot ignore one +set of scientists to pleasure another. + +Several chapters are devoted to the religious beliefs and customs of +our ancestors, and it is shown that there is available for study in +this connection a mass of evidence which the archæological agnostics +are too prone to ignore. The problem of the megalithic monuments must +evidently be reconsidered in the light of the fuller anthropological +data now available. Indeed, it would appear that a firmer basis than +that afforded by "crude evolutionary ideas" must be found for British +archæology as a whole. The evidence of surviving beliefs and customs, +of Celtic philology and literature, of early Christian writings, and +of recent discoveries in Spain, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, cannot, to +say the least of it, be wholly ignored. + +In dealing with the race problem, the writer has sifted the available +data which throw light on its connection with the history of British +culture, and has written as he has written in the hope that the +growth of fuller knowledge on the subject will be accompanied by the +growth of a deeper sympathy and a deeper sense of kinship than has +hitherto prevailed in these islands of ours, which were colonized +from time to time by groups of enterprising pioneers, who have left +an enduring impress on the national character. The time is past for +beginning a history of Britain with the Roman invasion, and for the +too-oft-repeated assertion that before the Romans reached Britain our +ancestors were isolated and half civilized. + + DONALD A. MACKENZIE. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAP. Page + + I. BRITONS OF THE STONE AGE 1 + + II. EARLIEST TRACES OF MODERN MAN 8 + + III. THE AGE OF THE "RED MAN" OF WALES 19 + + IV. SHELL DEITIES AND EARLY TRADE 35 + + V. NEW RACES IN EUROPE 49 + + VI. THE FAITHFUL DOG 61 + + VII. ANCIENT MARINERS REACH BRITAIN 67 + + VIII. NEOLITHIC TRADE AND INDUSTRIES 79 + + IX. METAL WORKERS AND MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS 87 + + X. CELTS AND IBERIANS AS INTRUDERS AND TRADERS 109 + + XI. RACES OF BRITAIN AND IRELAND 121 + + XII. DRUIDISM IN BRITAIN AND GAUL 140 + + XIII. THE LORE OF CHARMS 157 + + XIV. THE WORLD OF OUR ANCESTORS 167 + + XV. WHY TREES AND WELLS WERE WORSHIPPED 176 + + XVI. ANCIENT PAGAN DEITIES 195 + + XVII. HISTORICAL SUMMARY 209 + + INDEX 231 + + + + +LIST OF PLATES + + + Page + + HEAD OF A CRÔ-MAGNON MAN _Frontispiece_ + + EXAMPLES OF LOWER PALÆOLITHIC INDUSTRIES FOUND IN + ENGLAND 12 + + WESTERN EUROPE DURING THE THIRD INTER-GLACIAL EPOCH 16 + + EXAMPLES OF PALÆOLITHIC ART 56 + + FLINT LANCE HEADS FROM IRELAND 80 + + CHIPPED AND POLISHED ARTIFACTS FROM SOUTHERN ENGLAND 80 + + THE RING OF STENNIS, ORKNEY 96 + + MEGALITHS--KIT'S COTY HOUSE, KENT; TRETHEVY STONE, + CORNWALL 100 + + ENAMELLED BRONZE SHIELD 116 + + EUROPEAN TYPES 124 + + RUINS OF PICTISH TOWER AT CARLOWAY, LEWIS 128 + + A SCOTTISH "BROCH" (MOUSA, SHETLAND ISLES) 132 + + A SARDINIAN NURAGHE 136 + + MEGALITHS--DOLMEN, NEAR BIRORI, SARDINIA; TYNEWYDD + DOLMEN 160 + + ONE OF THE GREAT TRILITHONS, STONEHENGE 172 + + BRONZE URN AND CAULDRON 204 + + BRONZE BUCKLERS OR SHIELDS 224 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Page + + CHELLEAN _COUP DE POING_ OR "HAND AXE" 14 + + UPPER PALÆOLITHIC IMPLEMENTS 21 + + SKULL OF A CRÔ-MAGNON MAN: FRONT AND SIDE VIEWS 24 + + OUTLINE OF A MAMMOTH 33 + + NECKLACE OF SEA SHELLS 39 + + GEOMETRIC OR "PYGMY" FLINTS 54 + + A NOTABLE EXAMPLE OF LATE MAGDALENIAN CULTURE 58 + + HORN AND BONE IMPLEMENTS 59 + + SKETCH OF A BOAT, AND CRUDE DRAWING OF A SIMILAR BOAT 75 + + MAP OF ENGLAND & WALES 82 + + LONG-HEAD (DOLICHOCEPHALIC) SKULL 88 + + BROAD-HEAD (BRACHYCEPHALIC) SKULL 88 + + BEADS FROM BRONZE AGE BARROWS 105 + + WEAPONS AND RELIGIOUS OBJECTS 114 + + CULT ANIMALS AND "WONDER BEASTS" 154 + + DIAGRAM OF THE GAELIC AIRTS 169 + + SEAL OF CITY OF GLASGOW 185 + + + + +ANCIENT MAN IN BRITAIN + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Britons of the Stone Age + + Caricatures of Early Britons--Enterprising Pioneers--Diseases + and Folk-cures--Ancient Surgical Operations--Expert + Artisans--Organized Communities--Introduction of + Agriculture--Houses and Cooking Utensils--Spinning and + Weaving--Different Habits of Life--The Seafarers. + + +The Early Britons of the Stone Age have suffered much at the hands +of modern artists, and especially the humorous artists. They +are invariably depicted as rude and irresponsible savages, with +semi-negroid features, who had perforce to endure our rigorous and +uncertain climate clad in loosely fitting skin garments, and to go +about, even in the depth of winter, barefooted and bareheaded, their +long tangled locks floating in the wind. + +As a rule, the artists are found to have confused ideas regarding the +geological periods. Some place the white savages in the age when the +wonderful megalithic monuments were erected and civilization was well +advanced, while others consign them to the far-distant Cretaceous Age +in association with the monstrous reptiles that browsed on tropical +vegetation, being unaware, apparently, that the reptiles in question +ceased to exist before the appearance of the earliest mammals. +Not unfrequently the geological ages and the early stages of human +culture are hopelessly mixed up, and monsters that had been extinct +for several million years are shown crawling across circles that were +erected by men possessed of considerable engineering skill. + +It is extremely doubtful if our remote ancestors of the Stone Age +were as savage or as backward as is generally supposed. They were, to +begin with, the colonists who made Britain a land fit for a strenuous +people to live in. We cannot deny them either courage or enterprise, +nor are we justified in assuming that they were devoid of the +knowledge and experience required to enable them to face the problems +of existence in their new environment. They came from somewhere, and +brought something with them; their modes of life did not have origin +in our native land. + +Although the early people lived an open-air life, it is doubtful if +they were more physically fit than are the Britons of the twentieth +century. They were certainly not immune from the ravages of disease. +In their graves are found skeletons of babies, youths, and maidens, +as well as those of elderly men and women; some spines reveal +unmistakable evidence of the effects of rheumatism, and worn-down +teeth are not uncommon. It is possible that the diseases associated +with marshy localities and damp and cold weather were fairly +prevalent, and that there were occasional pestilences with heavy +death-rates. Epidemics of influenza and measles may have cleared +some areas for periods of their inhabitants, the survivors taking +flight, as did many Britons of the fifth century of our own era, +when the country was swept by what is referred to in a Welsh book[1] +as "the yellow plague", because "it made yellow and bloodless all +whom it attacked". At the same time recognition must be given to +the fact that the early people were not wholly ignorant of medical +science. There is evidence that some quite effective "folk cures" +are of great antiquity--that the "medicine-men" and sorcerers of +Ancient Britain had discovered how to treat certain diseases by +prescribing decoctions in which herbs and berries utilized in modern +medical science were important ingredients. More direct evidence is +available regarding surgical knowledge and skill. On the Continent +and in England have been found skulls on which the operation known +as trepanning--the removing of a circular piece of skull so as to +relieve the brain from pressure or irritation--was successfully +performed, as is shown by the fact that severed bones had healed +during life. The accomplished primitive surgeons had used flint +instruments, which were less liable than those of metal to carry +infection into a wound. One cannot help expressing astonishment that +such an operation should have been possible--that an ancient man who +had sustained a skull injury in a battle, or by accident, should +have been again restored to sanity and health. Sprains and ordinary +fractures were doubtless treated with like skill and success. In +some of the incantations and charms collected by folk-lorists are +lines which suggest that the early medicine-men were more than +mere magicians. One, for instance, dealing with the treatment of a +fracture, states: + + "He put marrow to marrow; he put pith to pith; he put bone to + bone; he put membrane to membrane; he put tendon to tendon; he + put blood to blood; he put tallow to tallow; he put flesh to + flesh; he put fat to fat; he put skin to skin; he put hair to + hair; he put warm to warm; he put cool to cool." + + [1] _Book of Llan Daf._ + +"This," comments a medical man, "is quite a wonderful statement +of the aim of modern surgical 'co-aptation', and we can hardly +believe such an exact form of words imaginable without a very clear +comprehension of the natural necessity of correct and precise +setting."[2] + + [2] Dr. Hugh Cameron Gillies in _Home Life of the Highlanders_, + Glasgow, 1911, pp. 85 _et seq._ + +The discovery that Stone Age man was capable of becoming a skilled +surgeon is sufficient in itself to make us revise our superficial +notions regarding him. A new interest is certainly imparted to +our examination of his flint instruments. Apparently these served +him in good stead, and it must be acknowledged that, after all, a +stone tool may, for some purposes, be quite as adequate as one of +metal. It certainly does not follow that the man who uses a sharper +instrument than did the early Briton is necessarily endowed with a +sharper intellect, or that his ability as an individual artisan is +greater. The Stone Age man displayed wonderful skill in chipping +flint--a most difficult operation--and he shaped and polished stone +axes with so marked a degree of mathematical precision that, when +laid on one side, they can be spun round on a centre of gravity. His +saws were small, but are still found to be quite serviceable for the +purposes they were constructed for, such as the cutting of arrow +shafts and bows, and the teeth are so minute and regular that it is +necessary for us to use a magnifying glass in order to appreciate the +workmanship. Some flint artifacts are comparable with the products of +modern opticians. The flint workers must have had wonderfully keen +and accurate eyesight to have produced, for instance, little "saws" +with twenty-seven teeth to the inch, found even in the north of +Scotland. In Ancient Egypt these "saws" were used as sickles. + +Considerable groups of the Stone Age men of Britain had achieved a +remarkable degree of progress. They lived in organized communities, +and had evidently codes of laws and regularized habits of life. They +were not entirely dependent for their food supply on the fish they +caught and the animals they slew and snared. Patches of ground were +tilled, and root and cereal crops cultivated with success. Corn was +ground in handmills;[3] the women baked cakes of barley and wheat +and rye. A rough but serviceable pottery was manufactured and used +for cooking food, for storing grain, nuts, and berries, and for +carrying water. Houses were constructed of wattles interwoven between +wooden beams and plastered over with clay, and of turf and stones; +these were no doubt thatched with heather, straw, or reeds. Only a +small proportion of the inhabitants of Ancient Britain could have +dwelt in caves, for the simple reason that caves were not numerous. +Underground dwellings, not unlike the "dug-outs" made during the +recent war, were constructed as stores for food and as winter +retreats. + + [3] A pestle or stone was used to pound grain in hollowed slabs + or rocks before the mechanical mill was invented. + +As flax was cultivated, there can be little doubt that comfortable +under-garments were worn, if not by all, at any rate by some of +the Stone Age people. Wool was also utilized, and fragments of +cloth have been found on certain prehistoric sites, as well as +spindle-whorls of stone, bone, and clay, wooden spindles shaped so +as to serve their purpose without the aid of whorls, bone needles, +and crochet or knitting-pins. Those who have assumed that the +Early Britons were attired in skin garments alone, overlook the +possibility that a people who could sew, spin, and weave, might also +have been skilled in knitting, and that the jersey and jumper may +have a respectable antiquity. The art of knitting is closely related +to that of basket-making, and some would have it that many of the +earliest potters plastered their clay inside baskets of reeds, and +that the decorations of the early pots were suggested by the markings +impressed by these. It is of interest to note in this connection +that some Roman wares were called _bascaudæ_, or "baskets", and +that the Welsh _basged_--_basg_, from which our word "basket" is +derived, signify "network" and "plaiting". The decoration of some +pots certainly suggests the imitation of wickerwork and knitting, +but there are symbols also, and these had, no doubt, a religious +significance. + +It does not follow, of course, that all the Early Britons of the +so-called Stone Age were in the same stage of civilization, or +that they all pursued the same modes of life. There were then, as +there are now, backward as well as progressive communities and +individuals, and there were likewise representatives of different +races--tall and short, spare and stout, dark and fair men and women, +who had migrated at different periods from different areas of origin +and characterization. Some peoples clung to the sea-shore, and +lived mainly on deep-sea fish and shell-fish; others were forest +and moorland hunters, who never ventured to sea or cultivated +the soil. There is no evidence to indicate that conflicts took +place between different communities. It may be that in the winter +season the hunters occasionally raided the houses and barns of the +agriculturists. The fact, however, that weapons were not common +during the Stone Age cannot be overlooked in this connection. The +military profession had not come into existence. + +Certain questions, however, arise in connection with even the most +backward of the Stone Age peoples. How did they reach Britain, and +what attracted them from the Continent? Man did not take to the sea +except under dire necessity, and it is certain that large numbers +could not possibly have crossed the English Channel on logs of wood. +The boatbuilder's craft and the science of navigation must have +advanced considerably before large migrations across the sea could +have taken place. When the agricultural mode of life was introduced, +the early people obtained the seeds of wheat and barley, and, as +these cultivated grasses do not grow wild in Britain, they must have +been introduced either by traders or settlers. + +It is quite evident that the term "Stone Age" is inadequate in +so far as it applies to the habits of life pursued by the early +inhabitants of our native land. Nor is it even sufficient in dealing +with artifacts, for some people made more use of horn and bone than +of stone, and these were represented among the early settlers in +Britain. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Earliest Traces of Modern Man + + The Culture Ages--Ancient Races--The Neanderthals--Crô-Magnon + Man--The Evolution Theory--Palæolithic Ages--The Transition + Period--Neanderthal Artifacts--Birth of Crô-Magnon + Art--Occupations of Flint-yielding Stations--Ravages of + Disease--Duration of Glacial and Inter-glacial Periods. + + +In 1865, Sir John Lubbock (afterwards Lord Avebury), writing in the +_Prehistoric Times_, suggested that the Stone Age artifacts found in +Western Europe should be classified into two main periods, to which +he applied the terms Palæolithic (Old Stone) and Neolithic (New +Stone). The foundations of the classification had previously been +laid by the French antiquaries M. Boucher de Perthes and Edouard +Lartet. It was intended that Palæolithic should refer to rough +stone implements, and Neolithic to those of the period when certain +artifacts were polished. + +At the time very little was known regarding the early peoples who had +pursued the flint-chipping and polishing industries, and the science +of geology was in its infancy. A great controversy, which continued +for many years, was being waged in scientific circles regarding +the remains of a savage primitive people that had been brought to +light. Of these the most notable were a woman's skull found in 1848 +in a quarry at Gibraltar, the Cannstadt skull, found in 1700, which +had long been lying in Stuttgart Museum undescribed and unstudied, +and portions of a male skeleton taken from a limestone cave in +Neanderthal, near Dusseldorf, in 1857. Some refused to believe that +these, and other similar remains subsequently discovered, were human +at all; others declared that the skulls were those of idiots or that +they had been distorted by disease. Professor Huxley contended that +evidence had been forthcoming to prove the existence in remote times +of a primitive race from which modern man had evolved. + +It is unnecessary here to review the prolonged controversy. One of +its excellent results was the stimulation of research work. A number +of important finds have been made during the present century, which +have thrown a flood of light on the problem. In 1908 a skeleton was +discovered in a grotto near La Chapelle-aux-Saints in France, which +definitely established the fact that during the earlier or lower +period of the Palæolithic Age a Neanderthal race existed on the +Continent, and, as other remains testify, in England as well. This +race became extinct. Some hold that there are no living descendants +of Neanderthal man on our globe; others contend that some peoples, or +individuals, reveal Neanderthaloid traits. The natives of Australia +display certain characteristics of the extinct species, but they +are more closely related to Modern Man (_Homo sapiens_). There were +pre-Neanderthal peoples, including Piltdown man and Heidelberg man. + +During the Palæolithic Age the ancestors of modern man appeared in +Western Europe. These are now known as the Crô-Magnon races. + +In dealing with the Palæolithic Age, therefore, it has to be borne in +mind that the artifacts classified by the archæologists represent the +activities, not only of different races, but of representatives of +different species of humanity. Neanderthal man, who differed greatly +from Modern man, is described as follows by Professor Elliot Smith: + + "His short, thick-set, and coarsely built body was carried in a + half-stooping slouch upon short, powerful, and half-flexed legs + of peculiarly ungraceful form. His thick neck sloped forward + from the broad shoulders to support the massive flattened head, + which protruded forward, so as to form an unbroken curve of + neck and back, in place of the alteration of curves, which + is one of the graces of the truly erect _Homo sapiens_. The + heavy overhanging eyebrow ridges, and retreating forehead, + the great coarse face, with its large eye-sockets, broad + nose, and receding chin, combined to complete the picture of + unattractiveness, which it is more probable than not was still + further emphasized by a shaggy covering of hair over most of + the body. The arms were relatively short, and the exceptionally + large hands lacked the delicacy and the nicely balanced + co-operation of thumb and fingers, which is regarded as one of + the most distinctive of human characteristics."[4] + + [4] _Primitive Man._ + +As Professor Osborn says: "the structure of the hand is a matter +of the highest interest in connection with the implement-making +powers of the Neanderthals". He notes that in the large and robust +Neanderthal hand, "the joint of the metacarpal bone which supports +the thumb is of peculiar form, convex, and presenting a veritable +convex condyle, whereas in the existing human races the articular +surface of the upper part of the thumb joint is saddle-shaped, that +is concave from within backward, and convex from without inward". The +Neanderthal fingers were "relatively short and robust".[5] + + [5] _Men of the Old Stone Age_ (1916), pp. 240-1. + +The Crô-Magnons present a sharp contrast to the Neanderthals. In all +essential features they were of modern type. They would, dressed in +modern attire, pass through the streets of a modern city without +particular notice being taken of them. One branch of the Crô-Magnons +was particularly tall and handsome, with an average height for the +males of 6 feet 1-1/2 inches, with chests very broad in the upper +part, and remarkably long shin-bones that indicate swiftness of foot. +The Neanderthals had short shins and bent knees, and their gait must +have been slow and awkward. The Crô-Magnon hand was quite like that +of the most civilized men of to-day. + +It is of importance to bring out these facts in connection with +the study of the development of early civilization in our native +land, because of the prevalence of the theory that in collections +of stone implements, dating from remote Palæolithic times till the +Neolithic Age, a complete and orderly series of evolutionary stages +can be traced. "As like needs", says one writer in this connection, +"produce like means of satisfaction, the contrivances with which men +in similar stages of progress overcome natural obstacles are in all +times very much the same."[6] Hugh Miller, the Cromarty stonemason +and geologist, was one of the first to urge this view. In 1835, he +wrote in his _Scenes and Legends_, (1st edition, pp. 31, 32): + + "Man in a savage stage is the same animal everywhere, and his + constructive powers, whether employed in the formation of a + legendary story or of a battleaxe, seem to expatiate almost + everywhere in the same rugged track of invention. For even the + traditions of this first stage may be identified, like its + weapons of war, all the world over."[7] + + [6] _British Museum--A Guide to the Antiquities of the Stone + Age_, p. 76 (1900). + + [7] Miller had adopted the "stratification theory" of Professor + William Robertson of Edinburgh University, who, in his _The + History of America_ (1777), wrote: "Men in their savage state + pass their days like the animals round them, without knowledge or + veneration of any superior power". + +He had written in this vein after seeing the collection of stone +weapons and implements in the Northern Institution at Inverness. "The +most practised eye", he commented, "can hardly distinguish between +the weapons of the Old Scot and the New Zealander." Eyes have become +more practised in dealing with flints since Miller's time. Andrew +Lang remembered his Miller when he wrote: + + "Now just as the flint arrowheads are scattered everywhere, in + all the continents and isles--and everywhere are much alike, + and bear no very definite marks of the special influence of + race--so it is with the habits and legends investigated by the + student of folk-lore".[8] + + [8] _Custom and Myth_ (1910 edition), p. 13. Lang's views + regarding flints are worthless. + +The recent discovery that the early flints found in Western +Europe and in England were shaped by the Neanderthals and the +pre-Neanderthals compels a revision of this complacent view of an +extraordinarily difficult and complex problem. It is obvious that +the needs and constructive powers of the Neanderthals, whose big +clumsy hands lacked "the delicate play between the thumb and fingers +characteristic of modern races", could not have been the same as +those of the Crô-Magnons, and that the finely shaped implements of +the Crô-Magnons could not have been evolved from the rough implements +of the Neanderthals. The craftsmen of one race may, however, have +imitated, or attempted to imitate, the technique of those of another. + +There was a distinct break in the continuity of culture during the +Palæolithic Age, caused by the arrival in Western Europe of the +ancestors of Modern Man. The advent of the Crô-Magnons in Europe +"represents on the cultural side", as Professor Elliot Smith says in +_Primitive Man_, "the most momentous event in its history". + + [Illustration: Mousterian type + + (from Suffolk)] + + [Illustration: Acheulian type + + (from Suffolk)] + + [Illustration: Photos. Oxford University Press + + Chellean type + + (from the Thames gravel)] + + [Illustration: + + Photo. Mansell + + EXAMPLES OF LOWER PALÆOLITHIC INDUSTRIES FOUND IN ENGLAND + + (British Museum)] + +Some urge that the term "Palæolithic" should now be discarded +altogether, but its use has become so firmly established that +archæologists are loth to dispense with it. The first period of +human culture has, however, had to be divided into "Lower" and +"Upper Palæolithic"--Lower closing with the disappearance of +the Neanderthals, and Upper beginning with the arrival of the +Crô-Magnons. These periods embrace the sub-divisions detected during +the latter half of last century by the French archæologists, and are +now classified as follows: + +Lower Palæolithic-- + + 1. Pre-Chellean. + + 2. Chellean (named after the town of Chelles, east of Paris). + + 3. Acheulian (named after St. Acheul in Somme valley). + + 4. Mousterian (named after the caves of Le Moustier in the + valley of the River Vézère). + +Upper Palæolithic-- + + 1. Aurignacian (named after Aurignac, Haute Garonne). + + 2. Solutrean (named after Solutré, Saône-et-Loire). + + 3. Magdalenian (named after La Madeleine in the valley of the + River Vézère). + +Then follows, in France, the Azilian stage (named after Mas d'Azil, +a town at the foot of the Pyrenees) which is regarded as the link +between Upper Palæolithic and Neolithic. But in Western Europe, +including Britain, there were really three distinct cultures during +the so-called "Transition Period". These are the Azilian, the +Tardenoisian, and the Maglemosian. These cultures were associated +with the movements of new peoples in Europe. + +The pre-Chellean flints (also called Eoliths) were wrought by the +pre-Neanderthals. Chellean probably represents the earliest work +in Europe of a pre-Neanderthal type like Piltdown man. The most +characteristic implement of this phase is the _coup de poing_ +or pear-shaped "hand axe", which was at first roughly shaped and +unsymmetrical. It was greatly improved during the Acheulian stage, +and after being finely wrought in Mousterian times, when it was not +much used, was supplanted by smaller and better chipped implements. +The Neanderthals practised the Mousterian industry. + + [Illustration: Chellean _Coup de Poing_ or "Hand Axe" Right-hand + view shows sinuous cutting edge.] + +A profound change occurred when the Aurignacian stage of culture was +inaugurated by the intruding Crô-Magnons. Skilled workers chipped +flint in a new way, and, like the contemporary inhabitants of North +Africa, shaped artifacts from bone; they also used reindeer horn, and +the ivory tusks of mammoths. The birth of pictorial art took place in +Europe after the Crô-Magnons arrived. + +It would appear that the remnants of the Neanderthals in the late +Mousterian stage of culture were stimulated by the arrival of the +Crô-Magnons to imitate new flint forms and adopt the new methods +of workmanship. There is no other evidence to indicate that the +Crô-Magnons came into contact with communities of the Neanderthals. +In these far-off days Europe was thinly peopled by hunters who +dwelt in caves. The climate was cold, and the hairy mammoth and +the reindeer browsed in the lowlands of France and Germany. Italy +was linked with Africa; the grass-lands of North Africa stretched +southward across the area now known as the Sahara desert, and dense +forests fringed the banks of the River Nile and extended eastward to +the Red Sea. + +Neanderthal man had originally entered Europe when the climate was +much milder than it is in our own time. He crossed over from Africa +by the Italian land-bridge, and he found African fauna, including +species of the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, lion, and the +hyæna, jackal, and sabre-tooth tiger in Spain, France, Germany. +Thousands of years elapsed and the summers became shorter, and the +winters longer and more severe, until the northern fauna began to +migrate southward, and the African fauna deserted the plains and +decaying forests of Europe. Then followed the Fourth Glacial phase, +and when it was passing away the Neanderthals, who had long been in +the Mousterian phase of culture, saw bands of Crô-Magnons prospecting +and hunting in southern Europe. The new-comers had migrated from some +centre of culture in North Africa, and appear to have crossed over +the Italian land-bridge. It is unlikely that many, if any, entered +Europe from the east. At the time the Black Sea was more than twice +its present size, and glaciers still blocked the passes of Asia Minor. + +A great contrast was presented by the two types of mankind. The +short, powerfully built, but slouching and slow-footed Neanderthals +were, in a conflict, no match for the tall, active, and swift-footed +Crô-Magnons, before whom they retreated, yielding up their +flint-working stations, and their caves and grottoes. It may be, +as some suggest, that fierce battles were fought, but there is no +evidence of warfare; it may be that the Neanderthals succumbed to +imported diseases, as did so many thousands of the inhabitants of +the Amazon Valley, when measles and other diseases were introduced +by the Spaniards. The fact remains that the Neanderthals died out +as completely as did the Tasmanians before the advance of British +settlers. We do not know whether or not they resisted, for a time, +the intrusion of strangers on their hunting-grounds. It may be that +the ravages of disease completed the tragic history of such relations +as they may have had with the ancestors of Modern Man. + +At this point, before we deal with the arrival in Britain of +the representatives of the early races, it should be noted that +differences of opinion exist among scientists regarding the +geological horizons of the Palæolithic culture stages. In the +Pleistocene Age there appear to have been four great glacial epochs +and two minor ones. Geological opinion is, however, divided in this +connection. + + [Illustration: WESTERN EUROPE DURING THE THIRD INTER-GLACIAL EPOCH + + (According to the Abbé Breuil the Strait of Gibraltar was open + and the Balearic group a great island.)] + +During the First Glacial epoch the musk-ox, now found in the Arctic +regions, migrated as far south as Sussex. The Pliocene[9] mammals +were not, however, completely exterminated; many of them survived +until the First Interglacial epoch, which lasted for about 75,000 +years--that is three times longer than the First Glacial epoch. The +Second Glacial epoch is believed to have extended over 25,000 years. +It brought to the southern shores of the Baltic Sea the reindeer +and the hairy mammoth. Then came the prolonged Second Interglacial +stage which prevailed for about 200,000 years. The climate of Europe +underwent a change until it grew warmer than it is at the present +day, and trees, not now found farther north than the Canary Islands, +flourished in the forests of southern France. The Third Glacial stage +gradually came on, grew in intensity, and then declined during a +period estimated at about 25,000 years. It was followed by the Third +Interglacial epoch which may have extended over at least 100,000 +years. African animals returned to Europe and mingled with those +that wandered from Asia and the survivors in Europe of the Second +Interglacial fauna. The Fourth Glacial epoch, which is believed +to have lasted for about 25,000 years, was very severe. All the +African or Asiatic mammals either migrated or became extinct with the +exception of lions and hyænas, and the reindeer found the western +plains of Europe as congenial as it does the northern plains at the +present time. + + [9] The last division of the Tertiary period. + +During the Fourth Post-glacial epoch there were for a period of about +25,000 years[10] partial glaciations and milder intervals, until +during the Neolithic Age of the archæologists the climate of Europe +reached the phase that at present prevails. + + [10] It must be borne in mind that the lengths of these periods + are subject to revision. Opinion is growing that they were not + nearly so long as here stated. + +When, then, did man first appear in Europe? According to some +geologists, and especially Penck and James Geikie, the Chellean +phase of culture originated in the Second Interglacial epoch and +the Mousterian endured until the Third Interglacial stage, when +the Neanderthals witnessed the arrival of the Crô-Magnon peoples. +Boule, Breuil, and others, however, place the pre-Chellean, +Chellean, Acheulian, and early Mousterian stages of Lower (or Early) +Palæolithic culture in the Third Interglacial epoch, and fix the +extermination of Neanderthal man, in his late Mousterian culture +stage, at the close of the Fourth Glacial epoch. This view is now +being generally accepted. It finds favour with the archæologists, +and seems to accord with the evidence they have accumulated. The +Upper Palæolithic culture of Crô-Magnon man, according to some, began +in its Aurignacian phase about 25,000 years ago; others consider, +however, that it began about five or six thousand years ago, and was +contemporaneous with the long pre-Dynastic civilization of Egypt. At +the time England was connected with the Continent by a land-bridge, +and as the climate grew milder the ancestors of modern man could walk +across from France to the white cliffs of Dover which were then part +of a low range of mountains. As will be shown, there is evidence that +the last land movement in Britain did not begin until about 3000 B.C. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The Age of the "Red Man" of Wales + + An Ancient Welshman--Aurignacian Culture in Britain--Coloured + Bones and Luck Charms--The Cave of Aurignac--Discovery at + Crô-Magnon Village--An Ancient Tragedy--Significant Burial + Customs--Crô-Magnon Characters--New Race Types in Central + Europe--Galley Hill Man--The Piltdown Skull--Ancient Religious + Beliefs--Life Principle in Blood--Why Body-painting was + practised--"Sleepers" in Caves--Red Symbolism in different + Countries--The Heart as the Seat of Life--The Green Stone + Talisman--"Soul Substance". + + +The earliest discovery of a representative of the Crô-Magnons was +made in 1823, when Dr. Buckland explored the ancient cave-dwelling of +Paviland in the vicinity of Rhossilly, Gower Peninsula, South Wales. +This cave, known as "Goat's Hole", is situated between 30 and 40 +feet above the present sea-level, on the face of a steep sandstone +cliff about 100 feet in height; it is 60 feet in length and 200 feet +broad, while the roof attains an altitude of over 25 feet. When this +commodious natural shelter was occupied by our remote ancestors +the land was on a much lower level than it is now, and it could be +easily reached from the sea-shore. Professor Sollas has shown that +the Paviland cave-dwellers were in the Aurignacian stage of culture, +and that they had affinities with the tall Crô-Magnon peoples on the +Continent.[11] + + [11] _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_, Vol. + XLIII, 1913. + +A human skeleton of a tall man was found in the cave deposit in +association with the skull and tusks of a hairy mammoth, and with +implements of Aurignacian type. Apparently the Aurignacian colonists +had walked over the land-bridge connecting England with France many +centuries before the land sank and the Channel tides began to carve +out the white cliffs of Dover. + +In his description of the bones of the ancient caveman, who has been +wrongly referred to as the "Red Lady of Paviland", Dr. Buckland wrote: + + "They were all of them stained superficially with a dark + brick-red colour, and enveloped by a coating of a kind of + ruddle, composed of red micaceous oxide of iron, which stained + the earth, and in some parts extended itself to the distance of + about half an inch around the surface of the bones. The body + must have been entirely surrounded or covered over at the time + of its interment with this red substance." + +Near the thighs were about two handfuls of small shells (_Nerita +litoralis_) which had evidently formed a waist girdle. Over forty +little rods of ivory, which may have once formed a long necklace, lay +near the ribs. A few ivory rings and a tongue-shaped implement or +ornament lay beside the body, as well as an instrument or charm made +of the metacarpal bone of a wolf. + +The next great discovery of this kind was made twenty-nine years +later. In 1852 a French workman was trying to catch a wild rabbit on +a lower slope of the Pyrenees, near the town of Aurignac in Haute +Garonne, when he made a surprising find. From the rabbit's burrow +he drew out a large human bone. A slab of stone was subsequently +removed, and a grotto or cave shelter revealed. In the debris were +found portions of seventeen skeletons of human beings of different +ages and both sexes. Only two skulls were intact. + + [Illustration: Upper Palæolithic Implements + + 1, Aurignacian (Chatelperron point). 2, 3, Aurignacian (keeled + scrapers). 4, Aurignacian point. 5, Magdalenian ("parrot-beak" + graving tool). 6, Solutrean (laurel-leaf point). 7, 8, 9, + Solutrean (drill, awl, and "shouldered" point). 10, 11, 12, + Magdalenian.] + +This discovery created a stir in the town of Aurignac, and there +was much speculation regarding the tragedy that was supposed to +have taken place at some distant date. A few folks were prepared to +supply circumstantial details by connecting the discovery with vague +local traditions. No one dreamt that the burial-place dated back a +few thousand years, or, indeed, that the grotto had really been a +burial-place, and the mayor of the town gave instructions that the +bones should be interred in the parish cemetery. + +Eight years elapsed before the grotto was visited by M. Louis Lartet, +the great French archæologist. Outside the stone slab he found the +remains of an ancient hearth, and a stone implement which had been +used for chipping flints. In the outer debris were discovered, +too, the bones of animals of the chase, and about a hundred flint +artifacts, including knives, projectiles, and sling-stones, besides +bone arrows, tools shaped from reindeer horns, and an implement like +a bodkin of roe-deer horn. It transpired that the broken bones of +animals included those of the cave-lion, the cave-bear, the hyæna, +the elk, the mammoth, and the woolly-haired rhinoceros--all of which +had been extinct in that part of the world for thousands of years. + +As in the Paviland cave, there were indications that the dead had +been interred with ornaments or charms on their bodies. Inside +the grotto were found "eighteen small round and flat plates of a +white shelly substance, made of some species of cockle (_Cardium_) +pierced through the middle, as if for being strung into a bracelet". +Perforated teeth of wild animals had evidently been used for a like +purpose. + +The distinct industry revealed by the grotto finds has been named +Aurignacian, after Aurignac. Had the human bones not been removed, +the scientists would have definitely ascertained what particular +race of ancient men they represented. + +It was not until the spring of 1868 that a flood of light was thrown +on the Aurignacian racial problem. A gang of workmen were engaged +in the construction of a railway embankment in the vicinity of the +village of Crô-Magnon, near Les Eyzies, in the valley of the River +Vézère, when they laid bare another grotto. Intimation was at once +made to the authorities, and the Minister of Public Instruction +caused an investigation to be made under the direction of M. Louis +Lartet. The remains of five human skeletons were found. At the back +of the grotto was the skull of an old man--now known as "the old +man of Crô-Magnon"--and its antiquity was at once emphasized by the +fact that some parts of it were coated by stalagmite caused by a +calcareous drip from the roof of rock. Near "the old man" was found +the skeleton of a woman. Her forehead bore signs of a deep wound that +had been made by a cutting instrument. As the inner edge of the bone +had partly healed, it was apparent she had survived her injury for +a few weeks. Beside her lay the skeleton of a baby which had been +prematurely born. The skeletons of two young men were found not far +from those of the others. Apparently a tragic happening had occurred +in ancient days in the vicinity of the Crô-Magnon grotto. The victims +had been interred with ceremony, and in accordance with the religious +rites prevailing at the time. Above three hundred pierced marine +shells, chiefly of the periwinkle species (_Littorina littorea_), +which are common on the Atlantic coasts, and a few shells of _Purpura +lapillus_ (a purple-yielding shell), _Turitella communis_, &c., +were discovered besides the skeletons. These, it would appear, +had been strung to form necklaces and other ornamental charms. M. +Lartet found, too, a flat ivory pendant pierced with two holes, and +was given two other pendants picked up by young people. Near the +skeletons were several perforated teeth, a split block of gneiss with +a smooth surface, the worked antlers of a reindeer that may have been +used as a pick for excavating flint, and a few chipped flints. Other +artifacts of Aurignacian type were unearthed in the debris associated +with the grotto, which appears to have been used as a dwelling-place +before the interments had taken place. + + [Illustration: Skull of a Crô-Magnon Man: front and side views + From the Grotte des Enfants, Mentone. (After Verneau.)] + +The human remains of the Crô-Magnon grotto were those of a tall +and handsome race of which the "Red Man" of Paviland was a +representative. Other finds have shown that this race was widely +distributed in Europe. The stature of the men varied from 5 feet +10-1/2 inches to 6 feet 4-1/2 inches on the Riviera, that of the +women being slightly less. That the Crô-Magnons were people of high +intelligence is suggested by the fact that the skulls of the men +and women were large, and remarkably well developed in the frontal +region. According to a prominent anatomist the Crô-Magnon women had +bigger brains than has the average male European of to-day. All these +ancient skulls are of the dolichocephalic (long-headed) type. The +faces, however, were comparatively broad, and shorter than those of +the modern fair North-Europeans, while the cheek-bones were high--a +characteristic, by the way, of so many modern Scottish faces. + +This type of head--known as the "disharmonic", because a broad face +is usually a characteristic of a broad skull, and a long face of +a long skull--has been found to be fairly common among the modern +inhabitants of the Dordogne valley. These French descendants of the +Crô-Magnons are, however, short and "stocky", and most of them have +dark hair and eyes. Crô-Magnon types have likewise been identified +among the Berbers of North Africa, and the extinct fair-haired +Guanches of the Canary Islands, in Brittany, on the islands of +northern Holland, and in the British Isles.[12] + + [12] For principal references see _The Races of Europe_, W. Z. + Ripley, pp. 172 _et seq._, and _The Anthropological History of + Europe_, John Beddoe (Rhind lectures for 1891; revised edition, + 1912), p. 47. + +A comparatively short race, sometimes referred to as the +"Combe-Capelle", after the rock-shelter at Combe-Capelle, near +Montferrand, Perigord, was also active during the stage of +Aurignacian culture. An adult skeleton found in this shelter was +that of a man only 5 feet 3 inches in height. The skull is long and +narrow, with a lofty forehead, and the chin small and well developed. +It has some similarity to modern European skulls. The skeleton had +been subjected for thousands of years to the dripping of water +saturated with lime, and had consequently been well preserved. Near +the head and neck lay a large number of perforated marine shells +(_Littorina_ and _Nassa_). A collection of finely-worked flints of +early Aurignacian type also lay beside the body. + +Reference may also be made here to the finds in Moravia. Fragmentary +skull caps from Brüx and Brünn are regarded as evidence of a race +which differed from the tall Crô-Magnons, and had closer affinities +with Combe-Capelle man. Some incline to connect the Brünn type with +England, the link being provided by a skeleton called the "Galley +Hill" after the place of its discovery below Gravesend and near +Northfleet in Kent. Scientists regard him as a contemporary of the +Aurignacian flint-workers of Combe-Capelle and Brünn. "Both the Brüx +and Brünn skulls", writes Professor Osborn, "are harmonic; they do +not present the very broad, high cheek-bones characteristic of the +Crô-Magnon race,[13] the face being of a narrow modern type, but not +very long. There is a possibility that the Brünn race was ancestral +to several later dolichocephalic groups which are found in the region +of the Danube and of middle and southern Germany."[14] + + [13] That is, the tall representatives of the Crô-Magnon races. + + [14] _Men of the Old Stone Age_, pp. 335-6. + +The Galley Hill man had been buried in the gravels of the "high +terrace", 90 feet above the Thames. His bones when found were much +decayed and denuded, and the skull contorted. The somewhat worn +"wisdom tooth" indicates that he was a "fully-grown adult, though +probably not an aged individual". Those who think he was not as old +as the flints and the bones of extinct animals found in the gravels, +regard him as a pioneer of the Brünn branch of the Aurignacians. + +The Piltdown skull appears to date back to a period vastly more +ancient than Neanderthal times. + +Our special interest in the story of early man in Britain is with +the "Red Man" of Paviland and Galley Hill man, because these were +representatives of the species to which we ourselves belong. The +Neanderthals and pre-Neanderthals, who have left their Eoliths +and Palæoliths in our gravels, vanished like the glaciers and the +icebergs, and have left, as has been indicated, no descendants in our +midst. Our history begins with the arrival of the Crô-Magnon races, +who were followed in time by other peoples to whom Europe offered +attractions during the period of the great thaw, when the ice-cap was +shrinking towards the north, and the flooded rivers were forming the +beds on which they now flow. + +We have little to learn from Galley Hill man. His geological horizon +is uncertain, but the balance of the available evidence tends to show +he was a pioneer of the medium-sized hunters who entered Europe from +the east, during the Aurignacian stage of culture. It is otherwise +with the "Red Man" of Wales. We know definitely what particular +family he belonged to; he was a representative of the tall variety +of Crô-Magnons. We know too that those who loved him, and laid his +lifeless body in the Paviland Cave, had introduced into Europe the +germs of a culture that had been radiated from some centre, probably +in the ancient forest land to the east of the Nile, along the North +African coast at a time when it jutted far out into the Mediterranean +and the Sahara was a grassy plain. + +The Crô-Magnons were no mere savages who lived the life of animals +and concerned themselves merely with their material needs. They +appear to have been a people of active, inventive, and inquiring +minds, with a social organization and a body of definite beliefs, +which found expression in their art and in their burial customs. +The "Red Man" was so called by the archæologists because his bones +and the earth beside them were stained, as has been noted, by "red +micaceous oxide of iron". Here we meet with an ancient custom of +high significance. It was not the case, as some have suggested, that +the skeleton was coloured after the flesh had decayed. There was no +indication when the human remains were discovered that the grave had +been disturbed after the corpse was laid in it. The fact that the +earth as well as the bones retained the coloration affords clear +proof that the corpse had been smeared over with red earth which, +after the flesh had decayed, fell on the skeleton and the earth +and gravel beside it. But why, it will be asked, was the corpse +so treated? Did the Crô-Magnons paint their bodies during life, +as do the Australians, the Red Indians, and others, to provide "a +substitute for clothing"? That cannot be the reason. They could not +have concerned themselves about a "substitute" for something they +did not possess. In France, the Crô-Magnons have left pictorial +records of their activities and interests in their caves and other +shelters. Bas reliefs on boulders within a shelter at Laussel show +that they did not wear clothing during the Aurignacian epoch which +continued for many long centuries. We know too that the Australians +and Indians painted their bodies for religious and magical +purposes--to protect themselves in battle or enable them to perform +their mysteries--rain-getting, food-getting, and other ceremonies. +The ancient Egyptians painted their gods to "make them healthy". +Prolonged good health was immortality. + +The evidence afforded by the Paviland and other Crô-Magnon burials +indicates that the red colour was freshly applied before the dead was +laid in the sepulchre. No doubt it was intended to serve a definite +purpose, that it was an expression of a system of beliefs regarding +life and the hereafter. + +Apparently among the Crô-Magnons the belief was already prevalent +that the "blood is the life". The loss of life appeared to them to +be due to the loss of the red vitalizing fluid which flowed in the +veins. Strong men who received wounds in conflict with their fellows, +or with wild animals, were seen to faint and die in consequence +of profuse bleeding; and those who were stricken with sickness +grew ashen pale because, as it seemed, the supply of blood was +insufficient, a condition they may have accounted for, as did the +Babylonians of a later period, by conceiving that demons entered +the body and devoured the flesh and blood. It is not too much to +suppose that they feared death, and that like other Pagan religions +of antiquity theirs was deeply concerned with the problem of how +to restore and prolong life. Their medicine-men appear to have +arrived at the conclusion that the active principle in blood was +the substance that coloured it, and they identified this substance +with red earth. If cheeks grew pale in sickness, the flush of health +seemed to be restored by the application of a red face paint. The +patient did not invariably regain strength, but when he did, the +recovery was in all likelihood attributed to the influence of the +blood substitute. Rest and slumber were required, as experience +showed, to work the cure. When death took place, it seemed to be a +deeper and more prolonged slumber, and the whole body was smeared +over with the vitalizing blood substitute so that, when the spell of +weakness had passed away, the sleeper might awaken, and come forth +again with renewed strength from the cave-house in which he had been +laid. + +The many persistent legends about famous "sleepers" that survive till +our own day appear to have originally been connected with a belief in +the return of the dead, the antiquity of which we are not justified +in limiting, especially when it is found that the beliefs connected +with body paint and shell ornaments and amulets were introduced +into Europe in early post-glacial times. Ancient folk heroes might +be forgotten, but from Age to Age there arose new heroes to take +their places; the habit of placing them among the sleepers remained. +Charlemagne, Frederick of Barbarossa, William Tell, King Arthur, the +Fians, and the Irish Brian Boroimhe, are famous sleepers. French +peasants long believed that the sleeping Napoleon would one day +return to protect their native land from invaders, and during the +Russo-Japanese war it was whispered in Russia that General Skobeleff +would suddenly awake and hasten to Manchuria to lead their troops to +victory. For many generations the Scots were convinced that James IV, +who fell at Flodden, was a "sleeper". His place was taken in time +by Thomas the Rhymer, who slept in a cave and occasionally awoke to +visit markets so that he might purchase horses for the great war +which was to redden Tweed and Clyde with blood. Even in our own day +there were those who refused to believe that General Gordon, Sir +Hector MacDonald, and Lord Kitchener, were really dead. The haunting +belief in sleeping heroes dies hard. + +Among the famous groups of sleeping heroes are the Seven Sleepers +of Ephesus--the Christians who had been condemned to death by the +Emperor Decius and concealed themselves in a cave where they slept +for three and a half centuries. An eighteenth century legend tells +of seven men in Roman attire, who lay in a cave in Western Germany. +In Norse Mythology, the seven sons of Mimer sleep in the Underworld +awaiting the blast of the horn, which will be blown at Ragnarok when +the gods and demons will wage the last battle. The sleepers of Arabia +once awoke to foretell the coming of Mahomet, and their sleeping dog, +according to Moslem beliefs, is one of the ten animals that will +enter Paradise. + +A representative Scottish legend regarding the sleepers is located at +the Cave of Craigiehowe in the Black Isle, Ross-shire, a few miles +distant from the Rosemarkie cave. It is told that a shepherd once +entered the cave and saw the sleepers and their dog. A horn, or as +some say, a whistle, hung suspended from the roof. The shepherd blew +it once and the sleepers shook themselves; he blew a second time, +and they opened their eyes and raised themselves on their elbows. +Terrified by the forbidding aspect of the mighty men, the shepherd +refrained from blowing a third time, but turned and fled. As he left +the cave he heard one of the heroes call after him: "Alas! you have +left us worse than you found us." As whistles are sometimes found in +Magdalenian shelters in Western and Central Europe, it may be that +these were at an early period connected with the beliefs about the +calling back of the Crô-Magnon dead. The ancient whistles were made +of hare--and reindeer-foot bone. The clay whistle dates from the +introduction of the Neolithic industry in Hungary. + +The remarkable tendency on the part of mankind to cling to and +perpetuate ancient beliefs and customs, and especially those +connected with sickness and death, is forcibly illustrated by the +custom of smearing the bodies of the living and dead with red ochre. +In every part of the world red is regarded as a particularly "lucky +colour", which protects houses and human beings, and imparts vitality +to those who use it. The belief in the protective value of red +berries is perpetuated in our own Christmas customs when houses are +decorated with holly, and by those dwellers in remote parts who still +tie rowan berries to their cows' tails so as to prevent witches and +fairies from interfering with the milk supply. Egyptian women who +wore a red jasper in their waist-girdles called the stone "a drop of +the blood of Isis (the mother goddess)". + +Red symbolism is everywhere connected with lifeblood and the "vital +spark"--the hot "blood of life". Brinton[15] has shown that in the +North American languages the word for blood is derived from the word +for red or the word for fire. The ancient Greek custom of painting +red the wooden images of gods was evidently connected with the belief +that a supply of lifeblood was thus assured, and that the colour +animated the Deity, as Homer's ghosts were animated by a blood +offering when Odysseus visited Hades. "The anointing of idols with +blood for the purpose of animating them is", says Farnell, "a part +of old Mediterranean magic."[16] The ancient Egyptians, as has been +indicated, painted their gods, some of whom wore red garments; a +part of their underworld Dewat was "Red Land", and there were "red +souls" in it.[17] In India standing stones connected with deities +are either painted red or smeared with the blood of a sacrificed +animal. The Chinese regard red as the colour of fire and light, and +in their philosophy they identify it with _Yang_, the chief principle +of life;[18] it is believed "to expel pernicious influences, and +thus particularly to symbolize good luck, happiness, delight, and +pleasure". Red coffins are favoured. The "red gate" on the south +side of a cemetery "is never opened except for the passage of an +Emperor".[19] The Chinese put a powdered red stone called _hun-hong_ +in a drink or in food to destroy an evil spirit which may have taken +possession of one. Red earth is eaten for a similar reason by the +Polynesians and others. Many instances of this kind could be given to +illustrate the widespread persistence of the belief in the vitalizing +and protective qualities associated with red substances. In Irish +Gaelic, Professor W. J. Watson tells me, "ruadh" means both "red" and +"strong". + + [15] _Myths of the New World_, p. 163. + + [16] _Cults of the Greek States_, Vol. V. p. 243. + + [17] Budge, _Gods of the Egyptians_. Vol. I, p. 203. + + [18] De Groot, _The Religious System of China_, Book I, pp. 216-7. + + [19] _Ibid._, Book I, pp. 28 and 332. + +The Crô-Magnons regarded the heart as the seat of life, having +apparently discovered that it controls the distribution of blood. +In the cavern of Pindal, in south-western France, is the outline +of a hairy mammoth painted in red ochre, and the seat of life is +indicated by a large red heart. The painting dates back to the early +Aurignacian period. In other cases, as in the drawing of a large +bison in the cavern of Niaux, the seat of life and the vulnerable +parts are indicated by spear--or arrowheads incised on the body. The +ancient Egyptians identified the heart with the mind. To them the +heart was the seat of intelligence and will-power as well as the +seat of life. The germ of this belief can apparently be found in the +pictorial art and burial customs of the Aurignacian Crô-Magnons. + + [Illustration: Outline of a Mammoth painted in red ochre in the + Cavern of Pindal, France + + The seat of life is indicated by a large red heart. (After + Breuil.)] + +Another interesting burial custom has been traced in the Grimaldi +caves. Some of the skeletons were found to have small green stones +between their teeth or inside their mouths.[20] No doubt these +were amulets. Their colour suggests that green symbolism has not +necessarily a connection with agricultural religion, as some have +supposed. The Crô-Magnons do not appear to have paid much attention +to vegetation. In ancient Egypt the green stone (Khepera) amulet +"typified the germ of life". A text says, "A scarab of green stone +... shall be placed in the heart of a man, and it shall perform for +him the 'opening of the mouth'"--that is, it will enable him to +speak and eat again. The scarab is addressed in a funerary text, "My +heart, my mother. My heart whereby I came into being." It is believed +by Budge that the Egyptian custom of "burying green basalt scarabs +inside or on the breasts of the dead" is as old as the first Dynasty +(_c._ 3400 B.C.).[21] How much older it is one can only speculate. +"The Mexicans", according to Brinton, "were accustomed to say that +at one time all men have been stones, and that at last they would +all return to stones, and acting literally on this conviction they +interred with the bones of the dead a small green stone, which was +called 'the principle of life'."[22] In China the custom of placing +jade tongue amulets for the purpose of preserving the dead from +decay and stimulating the soul to take flight to Paradise is of +considerable antiquity.[23] Crystals and pebbles have been found +in ancient British graves. It may well be that these pebbles were +regarded as having had an intimate connection with deities, and +perhaps to have been coagulated forms of what has been called "life +substance". Of undoubted importance and significance was the ancient +custom of adorning the dead with shells. As we have seen, this was a +notable feature of the Paviland cave burial. The "Red Man" was not +only smeared with red earth, but "charmed" or protected by shell +amulets. In the next chapter it will be shown that this custom not +only affords us a glimpse of Aurignacian religious beliefs, but +indicates the area from which the Crô-Magnons came. + + [20] I am indebted to the Abbé Breuil for this information which + he gave me during the course of a conversation. + + [21] Budge, _Gods of the Egyptians_, Vol. I, p. 358. These + scarabs have not been found in the early Dynastic graves. Green + malachite charms, however, were used in even the pre-Dynastic + period. + + [22] _The Myths of the New World_, p. 294. According to Bancroft + the green stones were often placed in the mouths of the dead. + + [23] Laufer, _Jade_, pp. 294 _et seq._ (Chicago, 1912). + +Professor G. Elliot Smith was the first to emphasize the importance +attached in ancient times to the beliefs associated with the divine +"giver of life". + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Shell Deities and Early Trade + + Early Culture and Early Races--Did Civilization originate in + Europe?--An Important Clue--Trade in Shells between Red Sea + and Italy--Traces of Early Trade in Central Europe--Religious + Value of Personal Ornaments--Importance of Shell Lore--Links + between Far East and Europe--Shell Deities--A Hebridean Shell + Goddess--"Milk of Wisdom"--Ancient Goddesses as Providers of + Food--Gaelic "Spirit Shell" and Japanese "God Body"--Influence + of Deities in Jewels, &c.--A Shakespearean Reference--Shells + in Crô-Magnon Graves--Early Sacrifices--Hand Colours in + Palæolithic Caves--Finger Lore and "Hand Spells". + + +When the question is asked, "Whence came the Crô-Magnon people of +the Aurignacian phase of culture?" the answer usually given is, +"Somewhere in the East". The distribution of the Aurignacian sites +indicates that the new-comers entered south-western France by way of +Italy--that is, across the Italian land-bridge from North Africa. Of +special significance in this connection is the fact that Aurignacian +culture persisted for the longest period of time in Italy. The +tallest Crô-Magnons appear to have inhabited south-eastern France +and the western shores of Italy. "It is probable", says Osborn, +referring to the men six feet four and a half inches in height, "that +in the genial climate of the Riviera these men obtained their finest +development; the country was admirably protected from the cold winds +of the north, refuges were abundant, and game by no means scarce, to +judge from the quantity of animal bones found in the caves. Under +such conditions of life the race enjoyed a fine physical development +and dispersed widely."[24] + + [24] _Men of the Old Stone Age_, pp. 297-8. + +It does not follow, however, that the tall people originated +Aurignacian culture. As has been indicated, the stumpy people +represented by Combe-Capelle skeletons were likewise exponents of +it. "It must not be assumed", as Elliot Smith reminds us, "that the +Aurignacian culture was necessarily invented by the same people who +introduced it into Europe, and whose remains were associated with +it ... for any culture can be transmitted to an alien people, even +when it has not been adopted by many branches of the race which was +responsible for its invention, just as gas illumination, oil lamps, +and even candles are still in current use by the people who invented +the electric light, which has been widely adopted by many foreign +peoples. This elementary consideration is so often ignored that it +is necessary thus to emphasize it, because it is essential for any +proper understanding of the history of early civilization."[25] + + [25] Primitive Man (_Proceedings of the British Academy_, Vol. + VII). + +No trace of Aurignacian culture has, so far, been found outside +Europe. "May it not, therefore," it may be asked, "have originated +in Italy or France?" In absence of direct evidence, this possibility +might be admitted. But an important discovery has been made at +Grimaldi in La Grotte des Enfants (the "grotto of infants"--so called +because of the discovery there of the skeletons of young Crô-Magnon +children). Among the shells used as amulets by those who used the +grotto as a sepulchre was one (_Cassis rufa_) that had been carried +either by a migrating folk, or by traders, along the North African +coast and through Italy from some south-western Asian beach. The find +has been recorded by Professor Marcellin Boule.[26] + + [26] _Les Grottes de Grimaldi (Baousse-Rousse)_, Tome I, fasc. + II--_Géologie et Paléontologie_ (Monaco, 1906), p. 123. + +In a footnote, G. Dollfus writes: + + "_Cassis rufa, L._, an Indian ocean shell, is represented in + the collection at Monaco by two fragments; one was found in the + lower habitation level D, the other is probably of the same + origin. The presence of this shell is extraordinary, as it has + no analogue in the Mediterranean, neither recent nor fossil; + there exists no species in the North Atlantic or off Senegal + with which it could be confounded. The fragments have traces of + the reddish colour preserved, and are not fossil; one of them + presents a notch which has determined a hole that seems to have + been made intentionally. The species has not yet been found in + the Gulf of Suez nor in the raised beaches of the Isthmus. M. + Jousseaume has found it in the Gulf of Tadjoura at Aden, but it + has not yet been encountered in the Red Sea nor in the raised + beaches of that region. The common habitat of _Cassis rufa_ is + Socotra, besides the Seychelles, Madagascar, Mauritius, New + Caledonia, and perhaps Tahiti. The fragments discovered at + Mentone have therefore been brought from a great distance at a + very ancient epoch by prehistoric man." + +After the Crô-Magnon peoples had spread into Western and Central +Europe they imported shells from the Mediterranean. At Laugerie +Basse in the Dordogne, for instance, a necklace of pierced shells +from the Mediterranean was found in association with a skeleton. +Atlantic shells could have been obtained from a nearer sea-shore. +It may be that the Rhone valley, which later became a well-known +trade route, was utilized at an exceedingly remote period, and that +cultural influences occasionally "flowed" along it. "Prehistoric man" +had acquired some experience as a trader even during the "hunting +period", and he had formulated definite religious beliefs. + +It has been the habit of some archæologists to refer to shell and +other necklaces, &c., as "personal ornaments". The late Dr. Robert +Munro wrote in this connection: + + "We have no knowledge of any phase of humanity in which the + love of personal ornament does not play an important part in + the life of the individual. The savage of the present day, + who paints or tattoos his body, and adorns it with shells, + feathers, teeth, and trinkets made of the more gaudy materials + at his disposal, may be accepted as on a parallel with the + Neolithic people of Europe.... Teeth are often perforated + and used as pendants, especially the canines of carnivorous + animals, but such ornaments are not peculiar to Neolithic + times, as they were equally prevalent among the later + Palæolithic races of Europe."[27] + + [27] _Prehistoric Britain_, pp. 142-3. + +Modern savages have very definite reasons for wearing the so-called +"ornaments", and for painting and tattooing their bodies. They +believe that the shells, teeth, &c., afford them protection, and +bring them luck. Earpiercing, distending the lobe of the ear, +disfiguring the body, the pointing, blackening, or knocking out +of teeth, are all practices that have a religious significance. +Even such a highly civilized people as the Chinese perpetuate, in +their funerary ceremonies, customs that can be traced back to an +exceedingly remote period in the history of mankind. It is not due to +"love of personal ornament" that they place cowries, jade, gold, &c., +in the mouth of the dead, but because they believe that by so doing +the body is protected, and given a new lease of life. The Far Eastern +belief that an elixir of ground oyster shells will prolong life in +the next world is evidently a relic of early shell lore. Certain +deities are associated with certain shells. Some deities have, like +snails, shells for "houses"; others issue at birth from shells. The +goddess Venus (Aphrodite) springs from the froth of the sea, and is +lifted up by Tritons on a shell; she wears a love-girdle. Hathor, the +Egyptian Venus, had originally a love-girdle of shells. She appears +to have originated as the personification of a shell, and afterwards +to have personified the pearl within the shell. In early Egyptian +graves the shell-amulets have been found in thousands. The importance +of shell lore in ancient religious systems has been emphasized by +Mr. J. Wilfrid Jackson in his _Shells as Evidence of the Migrations +of Early Culture_.[28] He shows why the cowry and snail shells were +worn as amulets and charms, and why men were impelled "to search +for them far and wide and often at great peril". "The murmur of the +shell was the voice of the god, and the trumpet made of a shell +became an important instrument in initiation ceremonies and in temple +worship." Shells protected wearers against evil, including the evil +eye. In like manner protection was afforded by the teeth and claws +of carnivorous animals. In Asia and Africa the belief that tigers, +lions, &c., will not injure those who are thus protected is still +quite widespread. + + [28] London, 1917. + + [Illustration: Necklace of Sea Shells, from the cave of + Crô-Magnon. (After E. Lartet.)] + +It cannot have been merely for love of personal ornaments that the +Crô-Magnons of southern France imported Indian Ocean shells, and +those of Central and Western Europe created a trade in Mediterranean +shells. Like the ancient inhabitants of the Nile Valley who in +remote pre-dynastic times imported shells, not only from the +Mediterranean but from the Red Sea, along a long and dangerous +desert trade-route, they evidently had imparted to shells a definite +religious significance. The "luck-girdle" of snail-shells worn by +the "Red Man of Paviland" has, therefore, an interesting history. +When the Crô-Magnons reached Britain they brought with them not +only implements invented and developed elsewhere, but a heritage +of religious beliefs connected with shell ornaments and with the +red earth with which the corpse was smeared when laid in its last +resting-place. + +The ancient religious beliefs connected with shells appear to have +spread far and wide. Traces of them still survive in districts +far separated from one another and from the area of origin--the +borderlands of Asia and Africa. In Japanese mythology a young god, +Ohonamochie--a sort of male Cinderella--is slain by his jealous +brothers. His mother makes appeal to a sky deity who sends to her aid +the two goddesses Princess Cockleshell and Princess Clam. Princess +Cockleshell burns and grinds her shell, and with water provided by +Princess Clam prepares an elixir called "nurse's milk" or "mother's +milk". As soon as this "milk" is smeared over the young god, he is +restored to life. In the Hebrides it is still the custom of mothers +to burn and grind the cockle-shell to prepare a lime-water for +children who suffer from what in Gaelic is called "wasting". In +North America shells of _Unio_ were placed in the graves of Red +Indians "as food for the dead during the journey to the land of +spirits". The pearls were used in India as medicines. "The burnt +powder of the gems, if taken with water, cures hæmorrhages, prevents +evil spirits working mischief in men's minds, cures lunacy and all +mental diseases, jaundice, &c.... Rubbed over the body with other +medicines it cures leprosy and all skin diseases."[29] The ancient +Cretans, whose culture was carried into Asia and through Europe by +their enterprising sea-and-land traders and prospectors, attached +great importance to the cockle-shell which they connected with their +mother goddess, the source of all life and the giver of medicines +and food. Sir Arthur Evans found a large number of cockle-shells, +some in Faeince, in the shrine of the serpent goddess in the ruins +of the Palace of Knossos. The fact that the Cretans made artificial +cockle-shells is of special interest, especially when we find that in +Egypt the earliest use to which gold was put was in the manufacture +of models of snail-shells in a necklace.[30] In different countries +cowrie shells were similarly imitated in stone, ivory, and metal.[31] + + [29] _Shells as Evidence of the Migrations of Early Culture_, pp. + 84-91. + + [30] G. A. Reisner. _Early Dynastic Cemeteries of Naga-ed-Der_, + Vol. I, 1908, Plates 6 and 7. + + [31] Jackson's _Shells_, pp. 128, 174, 176, 178. + +Shells were thought to impart vitality and give protection, not only +to human beings, but even to the plots of the earliest florists +and agriculturists. "Mary, Mary, quite contrairie", who in the +nursery rhyme has in her garden "cockle-shells all in row", was +perpetuating an ancient custom. The cockle-shell is still favoured +by conservative villagers, and may be seen in their garden plots and +in graveyards. Shells placed at cottage doors, on window-sills, and +round fire-places are supposed to bring luck and give security, like +the horse-shoe on the door. + +The mother goddess, remembered as the fairy queen, is still +connected with shells in Hebridean folk-lore. A Gaelic poet refers +to the goddess as "the maiden queen of wisdom who dwelt in the +beauteous bower of the single tree where she could see the whole +world and where no fool could see her beauty". She lamented the +lack of wisdom among women, and invited them to her knoll. When +they were assembled there the goddess appeared, holding in her hand +the _copan Moire_ ("Cup of Mary"), as the blue-eyed limpet shell is +called. The shell contained "the ais (milk) of wisdom", which she +gave to all who sought it. "Many", we are told, "came to the knoll +too late, and there was no wisdom left for them."[32] A Gaelic poet +says the "maiden queen" was attired in emerald green, silver, and +mother-of-pearl. + + [32] Dr. Alexander Carmichael, _Carmina Gadeiica_, Vol. II, + pp.247 _et seq._ Mr. Wilfrid Jackson, author of _Shells as + Evidence of the Migrations of Early Culture_, tells me that the + "blue-eyed limpet" is our common limpet--_Patella vulgata_--the + Lepas, Patelle, Jambe, OEil de boue, Bernicle, or Flie of the + French. In Cornwall it is the "Crogan", the "Bornigan", and + the "Brennick". It is "flither" of the English, "flia" of the + Faroese, and "lapa" of the Portuguese. A Cornish giant was once, + according to a folk-tale, set to perform the hopeless task of + emptying a pool with a single limpet which had a hole in it. + Limpets are found in early British graves and in the "kitchen + middens". They are met with in abundance in cromlechs, on the + Channel Isles and in Brittany, covering the bones and the skulls + of the dead. Mr. Jackson thinks they were used like cowries for + vitalizing and protecting the dead. + +Here a particular shell is used by an old goddess for a specific +purpose. She imparts knowledge by providing a magic drink referred to +as "milk". The question arises, however, if a deity of this kind was +known in early times. Did the Crô-Magnons of the Aurignacian stage of +culture conceive of a god or goddess in human form who nourished her +human children and instructed them as do human mothers? The figure +of a woman, holding in her hand a horn which appears to have been +used for drinking from, is of special interest in this connection. As +will be shown, the Hebridean "maiden" links with other milk-providing +deities. + +The earliest religious writings in the world are the Pyramid Texts +of ancient Egypt which, as Professor Breasted so finely says, +"vaguely disclose to us a vanished world of thought and speech". They +abound "in allusions to lost myths, to customs and usages long since +ended". Withal, they reflect the physical conditions of a particular +area--the Nile Valley, in which the sun and the river are two +outstanding natural features. There was, however, a special religious +reason for connecting the sun and the river. + +In these old Pyramid Texts are survivals from a period apparently +as ancient as that of early Aurignacian civilization in Europe, +and perhaps, as the clue afforded by the Indian shell found in the +Grimaldi cave, not unconnected with it. The mother goddess, for +instance, is prayed to so that she may suckle the soul of the dead +Pharaoh as a mother suckles her child and never wean him.[33] Milk +was thus the elixir of life, and as the mother goddess of Egypt is +found to have been identified with the cowrie--indeed to have been +the spirit or personification of the shell--the connection between +shells and milk may have obtained even in Aurignacian times in +south-western Europe. That the mother goddess of Crô-Magnons had a +human form is suggested by the representations of mothers which have +been brought to light. An Aurignacian statuette of limestone found +in the cave of Willendorf, Lower Austria, has been called the "Venus +of Willendorf". She is very corpulent--apparently because she was +regarded as a giver of life. Other statues of like character have +been unearthed near Mentone, and they have a striking resemblance +to the figurines of fat women found in the pre-dynastic graves +of Egypt and in Crete and Malta. The bas-relief of the fat woman +sculptured on a boulder inside the Aurignacian shelter of Laussel may +similarly have been a goddess. In her right hand she holds a bison's +horn--perhaps a drinking horn containing an elixir. Traces of red +colouring remain on the body. A notable fact about these mysterious +female forms is that the heads are formal, the features being +scarcely, if at all, indicated. + + [33] Breasted, _Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt_, p. 130. + +Even if no such "idols" had been found, it does not follow that +the early people had no ideas about supernatural beings. There are +references in Gaelic to the _coich anama_ (the "spirit case", or +"soul shell", or "soul husk"). In Japan, which has a particularly +rich and voluminous mythology, there are no idols in Shinto temples. +A deity is symbolized by the _shintai_ (God body), which may be a +mirror, a weapon, or a round stone, a jewel or a pearl. A pearl is +a _tama_; so is a precious stone, a crystal, a bit of worked jade, +or a necklace of jewels, ivory, artificial beads, &c. The soul of +a supernatural being is called _mi-tama--mi_ being now a honorific +prefix, but originally signifying a water serpent (dragon god). The +shells, of which ancient deities were personifications, may well have +been to the Crô-Magnons pretty much what a _tama_ is to the Japanese, +and what magic crystals were to mediæval Europeans who used them for +magical purposes. It may have been believed that in the shells, green +stones, and crystals remained the influence of deities as the power +of beasts of prey remained in their teeth and claws. The ear-rings +and other Pagan ornaments which Jacob buried with Laban's idols +under the oak at Shechem were similarly supposed to be god bodies or +coagulated forms of "life substance". All idols were temporary or +permanent bodies of deities, and idols were not necessarily large. +It would seem to be a reasonable conclusion that all the so-called +ornaments found in ancient graves were supposed to have had an +intimate connection with the supernatural beings who gave origin to +and sustained life. These ornaments, or charms, or amulets, imparted +vitality to human beings, because they were regarded as the substance +of life itself. The red jasper worn in the waist girdles of the +ancient Egyptians was reputed, as has been stated, to be a coagulated +drop of the blood of the mother goddess Isis. Blood was the essence +of life. + +The red woman or goddess of the Laussel shelter was probably coloured +so as to emphasize her vitalizing attributes; the red colour animated +the image. + +An interesting reference in Shakespeare's _Hamlet_ to ancient +burial customs may here be quoted, because it throws light on the +problem under discussion. When Ophelia's body is carried into +the graveyard[34] one of the priests says that as "her death was +doubtful" she should have been buried in "ground unsanctified"--that +is, among the suicides and murderers. Having taken her own life, she +was unworthy of Christian burial, and should be buried in accordance +with Pagan customs. In all our old churchyards the takers of life +were interred on the north side, and apparently in Shakespeare's +day traditional Pagan rites were observed in the burials of those +regarded as Pagans. The priest in _Hamlet_, therefore, says of +Ophelia: + + She should in ground unsanctified have lodged + Till the last trumpet; _for charitable prayers, + Shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her_. + + [34] _Hamlet_, V. i. + +There are no shards (fragments of pottery) in the Crô-Magnon graves, +but flints and pebbles mingle with shells, teeth, and other charms +and amulets. Vast numbers of perforated shells have been found in the +burial caves near Mentone. In one case the shells are so numerous +that they seem to have formed a sort of burial mantle. "Similarly," +says Professor Osborn, describing another of these finds, "the female +skeleton was enveloped in a bed of shells not perforated; the legs +were extended, while the arms were stretched beside the body; there +were a few pierced shells and a few bits of silex. One of the large +male skeletons of the same grotto had the lower limbs extended, +the upper limbs folded, and was decorated with a gorget and crown +of perforated shells; the head rested on a block of red stone." In +another case "heavy stones protected the body from disturbance; the +head was decorated with a circle of perforated shells _coloured in +red_, and implements of various types were carefully placed on the +forehead and chest". The body of the Combe-Capelle man "was decorated +with a necklace of perforated shells and surrounded with a great +number of fine Aurignacian flints. It appears", adds Osborn, "that +in all the numerous burials of these grottos of Aurignacian age and +industry of the Crô-Magnon race we have the burial standards which +prevailed in western Europe at this time."[35] + + [35] _Men of the Old Stone Age_, pp.304-5. + +It has been suggested by one of the British archæologists that the +necklaces of perforated cowrie shells and the red pigment found +among the remains of early man in Britain were used by children. +This theory does not accord with the evidence afforded by the +Grimaldi caves, in which the infant skeletons are neither coloured +nor decorated. Occasionally, however, the children were interred in +burial mantles of small perforated shells, while female adults were +sometimes placed in beds of unperforated shells. Shells have been +found in early British graves. These include _Nerita litoralis_, and +even _Patella vulgata_, the common limpet. Holes were rubbed in them +so that they might be strung together. In a megalithic cist unearthed +in Phoenix Park, Dublin, in 1838, two male skeletons had each beside +them perforated shells (_Nerita litoralis_). During the construction +of the Edinburgh and Granton railway there was found beside a +skeleton in a stone cist a quantity of cockle-shell rings. Two dozen +perforated oyster-shells were found in a single Orkney cist. Many +other examples of this kind could be referred to.[36] + + [36] A Red Sea cowry shell (_Cyproea minor_) found on the site of + Hurstbourne station (L. & S. W. Railway, main line) in Hampshire, + was associated with "Early Iron Age" artifacts. (Paper read by J. + R. le B. Tomlin at meeting of Linnæan Society, June 14, 1921.) + +In the Crô-Magnon caverns are imprints of human hands which had been +laid on rock and then dusted round with coloured earth. In a number +of cases it is shown that one or more finger joints of the left hand +had been cut off. + +The practice of finger mutilation among Bushman, Australian, and Red +Indian tribes, is associated with burial customs and the ravages +of disease. A Bushman woman may cut off a joint of one of her +fingers when a near relative is about to die. Red Indians cut off +finger-joints when burying their dead during a pestilence, so as +"to cut off deaths"; they sacrificed a part of the body to save the +whole. In Australia finger mutilation is occasionally practised. +Highland Gaelic stories tell of heroes who lie asleep to gather power +which will enable them to combat with monsters or fierce enemies. +Heroines awake them by cutting off a finger joint, a part of the ear, +or a portion of skin from the scalp.[37] + + [37] For references see my _Myths of Crete and Pre-Hellenic + Europe_, pp.30-31. + +The colours used in drawings of hands in Palæolithic caves are black, +white, red, and yellow, as the Abbé Breuil has noted. In Spain and +India, the hand prints are supposed to protect dwellings from evil +influences. Horse-shoes, holly with berries, various plants, shells, +&c, are used for a like purpose among those who in our native land +perpetuate ancient customs. + +The Arabs have a custom of suspending figures of an open hand from +the necks of their children, and the Turks and Moors paint hands upon +their ships and houses, "as an antidote and counter charm to an evil +eye; for five is with them an unlucky number; and 'five (fingers, +perhaps) in your eyes' is their proverb of cursing and defiance". In +Portugal the hand spell is called the _figa_. Southey suggests that +our common phrase "a fig for him" was derived from the name of the +Portuguese hand amulet.[38] + + [38] Notes to _Thalaba_, Book V, Canto 36. + +"The figo for thy friendship" is an interesting reference by +Shakespeare.[39] Fig or figo is probably from _fico_, a snap of +the fingers, which in French is _faire la figue_, and in Italian +_far le fiche_. Finger snapping had no doubt originally a magical +significance. + + [39] _Henry V_, V, iii, 6. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +New Races in Europe + + The Solutrean Industry--A Racial and Cultural + Intrusion--Decline of Aurignacian Art--A God-cult--The + Solutrean Thor--Open-air Life--Magdalenian Culture--Decline of + Flint Working--Horn and Bone Weapons and Implements--Revival + of Crô-Magnon Art--The Lamps and Palettes of Cave Artists--The + Domesticated Horse--Eskimos in Europe--Magdalenian + Culture in England--The Vanishing Ice--Reindeer migrate + Northward--New Industries--Tardenoisian and Azilian + Industries--Pictures and Symbols of Azilians--"Long-heads" + and "Broad-heads"--Maglemosian Culture of Fair + Northerners--Pre-Neolithic Peoples in Britain. + + +In late Aurignacian times the influence of a new industry was felt +in Western Europe. It first came from the south, and reached as +far north as England where it can be traced in the caverns. Then, +in time, it spread westward and wedge-like through Central Europe +in full strength, with the force and thoroughness of an invasion, +reaching the northern fringe of the Spanish coast. This was the +Solutrean industry which had distinctive and independent features +of its own. It was not derived from Aurignacian but had developed +somewhere in Africa--perhaps in Somaliland, whence it radiated along +the Libyan coast towards the west and eastward into Asia. The main or +"true" Solutrean influence entered Europe from the south-east. It did +not pass into Italy, which remained in the Aurignacian stage until +Azilian times, nor did it cross the Pyrenees or invade Spain south of +the Cantabrian Mountains. The earlier "influence" is referred to as +"proto-Solutrean". + +Solutrean is well represented in Hungary where no trace of +Aurignacian culture has yet been found. Apparently that part of +Europe had offered no attractions for the Crô-Magnons. + +Who the carriers of this new culture were it is as yet impossible to +say with confidence. They may have been a late "wave" of the same +people who had first introduced Aurignacian culture into Europe, +and they may have been representative of a different race. Some +ethnologists incline to connect the Solutrean culture with a new +people whose presence is indicated by the skulls found at Brünn +and Brüx in Bohemia. These intruders had lower foreheads than the +Crô-Magnons, narrower and longer faces, and low cheek-bones. It +may be that they represented a variety of the Mediterranean race. +Whoever they were, they did not make much use of ivory and bone, +but they worked flint with surpassing skill and originality. Their +technique was quite distinct from the Aurignacian. With the aid +of wooden or bone tools, they finished their flint artifacts by +pressure, gave them excellent edges and points, and shaped them with +artistic skill. Their most characteristic flints are the so-called +laurel-leaf (broad) and willow-leaf (narrow) lances. These were +evidently used in the chase. There is no evidence that they were +used in battle. Withal, their weapons had a religious significance. +Fourteen laurel-leaf spear-heads of Solutrean type which were found +together at Volgu, Saône-et-Loire, are believed to have been a votive +offering to a deity. At any rate, these were too finely worked and +too fragile, like some of the peculiar Shetland and Swedish knives +of later times, to have been used as implements. One has retained +traces of red colouring. It may be that the belief enshrined in the +Gaelic saying, "Every weapon has its demon", had already come into +existence. In Crete the double-axe was in Minoan times a symbol of a +deity;[40] and in northern Egypt and on the Libyan coast the crossed +arrows symbolized the goddess Neith; while in various countries, and +especially in India, there are ancient stories about the spirits of +weapons appearing in visions and promising to aid great hunters and +warriors. The custom of giving weapons personal names, which survived +for long in Europe, may have had origin in Solutrean times. + + [40] For other examples see Mr. Legge's article in _Proceedings + of the Society of Biblical Archæology_, 1899. p. 310. + +Art languished in Solutrean times. Geometrical figures were incised +on ivory and bone; some engraving of mammoths, reindeer, and lions +have been found in Moravia and France. When the human figure was +depicted, the female was neglected and studies made of males. It +may be that the Solutreans had a god-cult as distinguished from the +goddess-cult of the Aurignacians, and that their "flint-god" was an +early form of Zeus, or of Thor, whose earliest hammer was of flint. +The Romans revered "Jupiter Lapis" (silex). When the solemn oath was +taken at the ceremony of treaty-making, the representative of the +Roman people struck a sacrificial pig with the _silex_ and said, "Do +thou, Diespiter, strike the Roman people as I strike this pig here +to-day, and strike them the more, as thou art greater and stronger". +Mr. Cyril Bailey (_The Religion of Ancient Rome_, p. 7) expresses the +view that "in origin the stone is itself the god". + +During Solutrean times the climate of Europe, although still cold, +was drier that in Aurignacian times. It may be that the intruders +seized the flint quarries of the Crô-Magnons, and also disputed +with them the possession of hunting-grounds. The cave art declined +or was suspended during what may have been a military regime and +perhaps, too, under the influence of a new religion and new social +customs. Open-air camps beside rock-shelters were greatly favoured. +It may be, as has been suggested, that the Solutreans were as expert +as the modern Eskimos in providing clothing and skin-tents. Bone +needles were numerous. They fed well, and horse-flesh was a specially +favoured food. + +In their mountain retreats, the Aurignacians may have concentrated +more attention than they had previously done on the working of +bone and horn; it may be that they were reinforced by new races +from north-eastern Europe, who had been developing a distinctive +industry on the borders of Asia. At any rate, the industry known as +Magdalenian became widespread when the ice-fields crept southward +again, and southern and central Europe became as wet and cold as in +early Aurignacian times. Solutrean culture gradually declined and +vanished and Magdalenian became supreme. + +The Magdalenian stage of culture shows affinities with Aurignacian +and betrays no influence of Solutrean technique. The method of +working flint was quite different. The Magdalenians, indeed, appear +to have attached little importance to flint for implements of the +chase. They often chipped it badly in their own way and sometimes +selected flint of poor quality, but they had beautiful "scrapers" +and "gravers" of flint. It does not follow, however, that they +were a people on a lower stage of culture than the Solutreans. New +inventions had rendered it unnecessary for them to adopt Solutrean +technique. Most effective implements of horn and bone had come into +use and, if wars were waged--there is no evidence of warfare--the +Magdalenians were able to give a good account of themselves with +javelins and exceedingly strong spears which were given a greater +range by the introduction of spear-throwers--"cases" from which +spears were thrown. The food supply was increased by a new method of +catching fish. Barbed harpoons of reindeer-horn had been invented, +and no doubt many salmon, &c., were caught at river-side stations. + +The Crô-Magnons, as has been found, were again in the ascendant, and +their artistic genius was given full play as in Aurignacian times, +and, no doubt, as a result of the revival of religious beliefs that +fostered art as a cult product. Once again the painters, engravers, +and sculptors adorned the caves with representations of wild animals. +Colours were used with increasing skill and taste. The artists +had palettes on which to mix their colours, and used stone lamps, +specimens of which have been found, to light up their "studios" in +deep cave recesses. During this Magdalenian stage of culture the art +of the Crô-Magnons reached its highest standard of excellence, and +grew so extraordinarily rich and varied that it compares well with +the later religious arts of ancient Egypt and Babylonia. + +The horse appears to have been domesticated. There is at Saint +Michel d'Arudy a "Celtic" horse depicted with a bridle, while at +La Madeleine was found a "bâton de commandement" on which a human +figure, with a stave in his right hand, walks past two horses which +betray no signs of alarm. + +Our knowledge is scanty regarding the races that occupied Europe +during Magdalenian times. In addition to the Crô-Magnons there +were other distinctive types. One of these is represented by the +Chancelade skeleton found at Raymonden shelter. Some think it betrays +Eskimo affinities and represents a racial "drift" from the Russian +steppes. In his _Ancient Hunters_ Professor Sollas shows that there +are resemblances between Eskimo and Magdalenian artifacts. + +The Magdalenian culture reached England, although it never penetrated +into Italy, and was shut out from the greater part of Spain. It +has been traced as far north as Derbyshire, on the north-eastern +border of which the Cresswell caves have yielded Magdalenian +relics, including flint-borers, engravers, &c., and bone implements, +including a needle, an awl, chisels, an engraving of a horse on bone, +&c. Kent's Cavern, near Torquay in Devonshire, has also yielded +Magdalenian flints and implements of bone, including pins, awls, +barbed harpoons, &c. + +During early Magdalenian times, however, our native land did not +offer great attractions to Continental people. The final glacial +epoch may have been partial, but it was severe, and there was a +decided lowering of the temperature. Then came a warmer and drier +spell, which was followed by the sixth partial glaciation. Thereafter +the "great thaw" opened up Europe to the invasion of new races from +Asia and Africa. + +Three distinct movements of peoples in Europe can be traced in +post-Magdalenian times, and during what has been called the +"Transition Period", between the Upper Palæolithic and Lower +Neolithic Ages or stages. The ice-cap retreated finally from +the mountains of Scotland and Sweden, and the reindeer migrated +northward. Magdalenian civilization was gradually broken up, and the +cave art suffered sharp decline until at length it perished utterly. +Trees flourished in areas where formerly the reindeer scraped the +snow to crop moss and lichen, and rich pastures attracted the +northward migrating red deer, the roe-deer, the ibex, the wild boar, +wild cattle, &c. + +The new industries are known as the Tardenoisian, the Azilian, and +the Maglemosian. + + [Illustration: Geometric or "Pygmy" Flints. (After Breuil.) + + 1, From Tunis and Southern Spain. 2, From Portugal. 3, 4, Azilian + types. 5, 6, 7, Tardenoisian types.] + +Tardenoisian flints are exceedingly small and beautifully worked, +and have geometric forms; they are known as "microliths" and "pygmy +flints". They were evidently used in catching fish, some being hooks +and others spear-heads; and they represent a culture that spread +round the Mediterranean basin: these flints are found in northern +Egypt, Tunis, Algeria, and Italy; from Italy they passed through +Europe into England and Scotland. A people who decorated with scenes +of daily life rock shelters and caves in Spain, and hunted red deer +and other animals with bows and arrows, were pressing northward +across the new grass-lands towards the old Magdalenian stations. Men +wore pants and feather head-dresses; women had short gowns, blouses, +and caps, as had the late Magdalenians, and both sexes wore armlets, +anklets, and other ornaments of magical potency. Females were nude +when engaged in the chase. The goddess Diana had evidently her human +prototypes. There were ceremonial dances, as the rock pictures show; +women lamented over graves, and affectionate couples--at least they +seem to have been affectionate--walked hand in hand as they gradually +migrated towards northern Spain, and northern France and Britain. The +horse was domesticated, and is seen being led by the halter. Wild +animal "drives" were organized, and many victims fell to archer and +spearman. Arrows were feathered; bows were large and strong. Symbolic +signs indicate that a script similar to those of the Ægean area, +the northern African coast, and pre-dynastic Egypt was freely used. +Drawings became conventional, and ultimately animals and human beings +were represented by signs. This culture lasted after the introduction +of the Neolithic industry in some areas, and in others after the +bronze industry had been adopted by sections of the people. + +When the Magdalenian harpoon of reindeer horn was imitated by the +flat harpoon of red-deer horn, this new culture became what is known +as Azilian. It met and mingled with Tardenoisian, which appears to +have arrived later, and the combined industries are referred to as +Azilian-Tardenoisian. + +While the race-drifts, represented by the carriers of the Azilian and +Tardenoisian industries, were moving into France and Britain, another +invasion from the East was in progress. It is represented in the +famous Ofnet cave where long-heads and broad-heads were interred. The +Asiatic Armenoids (Alpine type) had begun to arrive in Europe, the +glaciers having vanished in Asia Minor. Skulls of broad-heads found +in the Belgian cave of Furfooz, in which sixteen human skeletons were +unearthed in 1867, belong to this period. The early Armenoids met and +mingled with representatives of the blond northern race, and were the +basis of the broad-headed blonds of Holland, Denmark, and Belgium. + + [Illustration: EXAMPLES OF PALÆOLITHIC ART + + The objects include: handles of knives and daggers carved in + ivory and bone, line drawings of wild animals, faces of masked + men, of animal-headed deity or masked man with arms uplifted + (compare Egyptian "Ka" attitude of adoration), of wild horses on + perforated _bâton de commandement_, of man stalking a bison, of + seal, cow, reindeer, cave-bear, &c., and perforated amulets.] + +Maglemosian culture is believed to have been introduced by the +ancestors of the fair peoples of Northern Europe. It has been +so named after the finds at Maglemose in the "Great Moor", near +Mullerup, on the western coast of Zeeland. A lake existed at this +place at a time when the Baltic was an inland water completely +shut off from the North Sea. In a peat bog, formerly the bed of the +lake, were found a large number of flint and bone artifacts. These +included Tardenoisian microliths, barbed harpoons of bone, needles +of bone, spears of bone, &c. Bone was more freely used than horn +for implements and weapons. The animals hunted included the stag, +roe-deer, moose, wild ox, and wild boar. Dogs were domesticated. +It appears that the Maglemosians were lake-dwellers. Their houses, +however, had not been erected on stilts, but apparently on a floating +platform of logs, which was no doubt anchored or moored to the shore. +There are traces of Magdalenian influence in Maglemosian culture. +Although many decorative forms on bone implements and engravings on +rocks are formal and symbolic, there are some fine and realistic +representations of animals worthy of the Magdalenian cave artists. +Traces of the Maglemosian racial drift have been obtained on both +sides of the Baltic and in the Danish kitchen middens. Engravings +on rocks at Lake Onega in Northern Russia closely resemble typical +Maglemosian work. Apparently the northern fair peoples entered Europe +from Western Siberia, and in time were influenced by Neolithic +culture. But before the Europeans began to polish their stone +implements and weapons, the blond hunters and fishermen settled not +only in Denmark and Southern Sweden and Norway but also in Britain. + +At the time when the Baltic was an inland fresh-water lake, the +southern part of the North Sea was dry land, and trees grew on Dogger +Bank, from which fishermen still occasionally lift in their trawls +lumps of "moor-log" (peat) and the bones of animals, including those +of the reindeer, the red deer, the horse, the wild ox, the bison, the +Irish elk, the bear, the wolf, the beaver, the woolly rhinoceros, +the mammoth, and the walrus. No doubt the Maglemosians found their +way over this "land-bridge", crossing the rivers in rude boats, and +on foot when the rivers were frozen. Evidence has been forthcoming +that they also followed the present coast line towards Boulogne, near +which a typical Maglemosian harpoon has been discovered. + + [Illustration: A Notable Example of late Magdalenian Culture: + engraving on bone of browsing reindeer. From Kesserloch, + Switzerland. (After Heim.)] + +Traces of Maglemosian influence have been found as far north as +Scotland on the Hebridean islands of Oronsay and Risga. The MacArthur +cave at Oban reveals Azilian artifacts. In the Victoria cave near +Settle in Yorkshire a late Magdalenian or proto-Azilian harpoon +made of reindeer-horn is of special interest, displaying, as it +does, a close connection between late Magdalenian and early Azilian. +Barbed harpoons, found at the shelter of Druimvargie, near Oban, are +Azilian, some displaying Maglemosian features. Barbed harpoons of +bone, and especially those with barbs on one side only, are generally +Maglemosian, while those of horn and double-barbed are typically +Azilian. + + [Illustration: Horn and Bone Implements + + Harpoons: 1 and 2, from MacArthur Cave, Oban; 3, from Laugerie + Basse rock-shelter, France; 4, from shell-heap, Oronsay, + Hebrides; 5, from bed of River Dee near Kirkcudbright; 6, from + Palude Brabbie, Italy--all of Azilian type. 8, Reindeer-horn + harpoon of late Magdalenian, or proto-Azilian, type from Victoria + Cave, near Settle, Yorks. 9, Maglemosian, or Azilian-Maglemosian, + harpoon from rock-shelter, Druimvargie, Oban. 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, + and 14, bone and deer-horn implements from MacArthur Cave, Oban.] + +Apparently the fair Northerners, the carriers of Maglemosian culture, +and the dark Iberians, the carriers of Azilian culture, met and +mingled in Scotland and England long before the Neolithic industry +was introduced. There were also, it would appear, communities in +Britain of Crô-Magnons, and perhaps of other racial types that +existed on the Continent and in late Magdalenian times. The fair +peoples of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland are not therefore +all necessarily descendants of Celts, Angles, Saxons, and Vikings. +The pioneer settlers in the British Isles, in all probability, +included blue and grey-eyed and fair or reddish-haired peoples who +in Scotland may have formed the basis of the later Caledonian type, +compared by Tacitus to the Germans, but bearing an undoubted Celtic +racial name, the military aristocrats being Celts.[41] + + [41] The Abbé Breuil, having examined the artifacts associated + with the Western Scottish harpoons, inclines to refer to + the culture as "Azilian-Tardenoisian". At the same time he + considers the view that Maglemosian influence was operating is + worthy of consideration. He notes that traces of Maglemosian + culture have been reported from England. The Abbé has detected + Magdalenian influence in artifacts from Campbeltown, Argyllshire + (_Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries in Scotland_, 1921-2). + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +The Faithful Dog + + Transition Period between Palæolithic and Neolithic + Ages--Theory of the Neolithic Edge--Crô-Magnon Civilization was + broken up by Users of Bow and Arrow--Domesticated Dog of Fair + Northerners--Dogs as Guides and Protectors of Man--The Dog in + Early Religion--Dog Guides of Souls--The Dog of Hades--Dogs and + Death--The Scape-dog in Scotland--Souls in Dog Form--Traces of + Early Domesticated Dogs--Romans imported British Dogs. + + +The period we have now reached is regarded by some as that of +transition between the Palæolithic and Neolithic Ages, and by +others as the Early Neolithic period. It is necessary, therefore, +that we should keep in mind that these terms have been to a great +extent divested of the significance originally attached to them. +The transition period was a lengthy one, extending over many +centuries during which great changes occurred. It was much longer +than the so-called "Neolithic Age". New races appeared in Europe and +introduced new habits of life and thought, new animals appeared and +animals formerly hunted by man retreated northward or became extinct; +the land sank and rose; a great part of the North Sea and the English +Channel was for a time dry land, and trees grew on the plateau now +marked by the Dogger Bank during this "Transition Period", and +before it had ended the Strait of Dover had widened and England was +completely cut off from the Continent. + +Compared with these great changes the invention of the polished +axe edge seems almost trivial. Yet some writers have regarded +this change as being all-important. "On the edge ever since its +discovery", writes one of them with enthusiasm, "has depended and +probably will depend to the end of time the whole artistic and +artificial environment of human existence, in all its infinite varied +complexity.... By this discovery was broken down a wall that for +untold ages had dammed up a stagnant, unprogressive past, and through +the breach were let loose all the potentialities of the future +civilization of mankind. It was entirely due to the discovery of the +edge that man was enabled, in the course of time, to invent the art +of shipbuilding."[42] + + [42] Eirikr Magnusson in _Notes on Shipbuilding and Nautical + Terms_, London, 1906. + +This is a very sweeping claim and hardly justified by the evidence +that of late years has come to light. Much progress had been +achieved before the easy method of polishing supplanted that of +secondary working. The so-called Palæolithic implements were not +devoid of edges. What really happened was that flint-working was +greatly simplified. The discovery was an important one, but it +was not due to it alone that great changes in habits of life were +introduced. Long before the introduction of the Neolithic industry, +the earliest traces of which in Western Europe have been obtained +at Campigny near the village of Blangy on the River Bresle, the +Magdalenian civilization of the Crô-Magnons had been broken up by the +Azilian-Tardenoisian intruders in Central and Western Europe and by +the Maglemosians in the Baltic area. + +The invading hordes in Spain, so far as can be gathered from rock +pictures, made more use of bows and arrows than of spears, and it +may be that their social organization was superior to that of the +Magdalenians. Their animal "drives" suggest as much. It may be +that they were better equipped for organized warfare--if there was +warfare--and for hunting by organizing drives than the taller and +stronger Crô-Magnons. When they reached the Magdalenian stations they +adopted the barbed harpoon, imitating reindeer-horn forms in red-deer +horn. + +The blond Maglemosians in the Baltic area introduced from Asia the +domesticated dog. They were thus able to obtain their food supply +with greater ease than did the Solutreans with their laurel-leaf +lances, or the Magdalenians with their spears tipped with bone or +horn. When man was joined by his faithful ally he met with more +success than when he pursued the chase unaided. Withal, he could +take greater risks when threatened by the angry bulls of a herd, and +operate over more extended tracks of country with less fear of attack +by beasts of prey. His dogs warned him of approaching peril and +guarded his camp by night. + +Hunters who dwelt in caves may have done so partly for protection +against lions and bears and wolves that were attracted to hunters' +camps by the scent of flesh and blood. No doubt barriers had to be +erected to shield men, women, and children in the darkness; and it +may be that there were fires and sentinels at cave entrances. + +The introduction of the domesticated dog may have influenced the +development of religious beliefs. Crô-Magnon hunters appear to have +performed ceremonies in the depths of caverns where they painted and +carved wild animals, with purpose to obtain power over them. Their +masked dances, in which men and women represented wild animals, +chiefly beasts of prey, may have had a similar significance. The +fact that, during the Transition Period, a cult art passed out of +existence, and the caves were no longer centres of culture and +political power, may have been directly or indirectly due to the +domestication of the dog and the supremacy achieved by the intruders +who possessed it. + +There can be no doubt that the dog played its part in the development +of civilization. As much is suggested by the lore attaching to this +animal. It occupies a prominent place in mythology. The dog which +guided and protected the hunter in his wanderings was supposed to +guide his soul to the other world. + + He thought admitted to that equal sky, + His faithful dog would bear him company. + +In Ancient Egypt the dog-headed god Anubis was the guide and +protector of souls. Apuatua, an early form of Osiris, was a dog god. +Yama, the Hindu god of death, as Dharma, god of justice, assumed his +dog form to guide the Panadava brothers to Paradise, as is related +in the Sanskrit epic the _Mahá-bhárata_[43]. The god Indra, the +Hindu Jupiter, was the "big dog", and the custom still prevails +among primitive Indian peoples of torturing a dog by pouring hot oil +into its ears so that the "big dog" may hear and send rain. In the +_Mahá-bhárata_ there is a story about Indra appearing as a hunter +followed by a pack of dogs. As the "Wild Huntsman" the Scandinavian +god Odin rides through the air followed by dogs. The dog is in Greek +mythology the sentinel of Hades; it figures in a like capacity in +the Hades of Northern Mythology. Cuchullin, the Gaelic hero, kills +the dog of Hades and takes its place until another dog is found and +trained, and that is why he is called "Cu" (the dog) of Culann. A +pool in Kildonan, Sutherland, which was reputed to contain a pot +of gold, was supposed to be guarded by a big black dog with two +heads. A similar legend attaches to Hound's Pool in the parish of +Dean Combe, Devonshire. In different parts of the world the dog is +the creator and ancestor of the human race, the symbol of kinship, +&c. The star Sirius was associated with the dog. In Scotland and +Ireland "dog stones" were venerated. A common surviving belief is +that dogs howl by night when a sudden death is about to occur. This +association of the dog with death is echoed by Theocritus. "Hark!" +cries Simaetha, "the dogs are barking through the town. Hecate is +at the crossways. Haste, clash the brazen cymbals." The dog-god of +Scotland is remembered as _an cù sìth_ ("the supernatural dog"); +it is as big as a calf, and by night passes rapidly over land and +sea. A black demon-dog--the "Moddey Dhoo"--referred to by Scott in +_Peveril of the Peak_ was supposed to haunt Peel Castle in the Isle +of Man. A former New Year's day custom in Perthshire was to send away +from a house door a scape-dog with the words, "Get away you dog! +Whatever death of men or loss of cattle would happen in this house +till the end of the present year, may it all light on your head." A +similar custom obtained among Western Himalayan peoples. Early man +appears to have regarded his faithful companion as a supernatural +being. There are Gaelic references to souls appearing in dog form to +assist families in time of need. Not only did the dog attack beasts +of prey; in Gaelic folk-tales it is the enemy of fairies and demons, +and especially cave-haunting demons. Early man's gratitude to and +dependence on the dog seems to be reflected in stories of this kind. + + [43] Pronounced ma-haw'-baw'-rata (the two final _a_'s are short). + +When the Baltic peoples, who are believed to be the first "wave" of +blond Northerners, moved westward towards Denmark during the period +of the "great thaw", they must have been greatly assisted by the +domesticated dog, traces of which are found in Maglemosian stations. +Bones of dogs have been found in the Danish kitchen middens and +in the MacArthur cave at Oban. It may be that the famous breed of +British hunting dogs which were in Roman times exported to Italy were +descended from those introduced by the Maglemosian hunters. Seven +Irish dogs were in the fourth century presented to Symmachus, a Roman +consul, by his brother. "All Rome", the grateful recipient wrote, +"view them with wonder and thought they must have been brought hither +in iron cages." + +Great dogs were kept in Ancient Britain and Ireland for protection +against wolves as well as for hunting wild animals. The ancient Irish +made free use in battle of large fierce hounds. In the folk-stories +of Scotland dogs help human beings to attack and overcome +supernatural beings. Dogs were the enemies of the fairies, mermaids, +&c. + +Dog gods figure on the ancient sculptured stones of Scotland. The +names of the Irish heroes Cuchullin and Con-chobar were derived from +those of dog deities. "Con" is the genitive of "Cu" (dog). + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Ancient Mariners Reach Britain + + Reindeer in Scotland--North Sea and English Channel + Land-bridges--Early River Rafts and River Boats--Breaking + of Land-bridges--Coast Erosion--Tilbury Man--Where were + first Boats Invented?--Ancient Boats in Britain--"Dug-out" + Canoes--Imitations of Earlier Papyri and Skin Boats--Cork + Plug in Ancient Clyde Boat--Early Swedish Boats--An African + Link--Various Types of British Boats--Daring Ancient + Mariners--The Veneti Seafarers--Attractions of Early Britain + for Colonists. + + +The Maglemosian (Baltic) and Azilian (Iberian) peoples, who reached +and settled in Britain long before the introduction of the Neolithic +industry, appear, as has been shown, to have crossed the great +land-bridge, which is now marked by the Dogger Bank, and the narrowed +land-bridge that connected England and France. No doubt they came at +first in small bands, wandering along the river banks and founding +fishing communities, following the herds of red deer and wild cows +that had moved northward, and seeking flints, &c. The Crô-Magnons, +whose civilization the new intruders had broken up on the Continent, +were already in Britain, where the reindeer lingered for many +centuries after they had vanished from France. The reindeer moss +still grows in the north of Scotland. Bones and horns of the reindeer +have been found in this area in association with human remains as +late as of the Roman period. In the twelfth century the Norsemen +hunted reindeer in Caithness.[44] Cæsar refers to the reindeer in +the Hercynian forest of Germany (_Gallic War_, VI, 26). + + [44] _The Orkneyinga Saga_, p. 182, Edinburgh, 1873, and + _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, Vol. + VIII. + +The early colonists of fair Northerners who introduced the +Maglemosian culture into Britain from the Baltic area could not have +crossed the North Sea land-bridge without the aid of rafts or boats. +Great broad rivers were flowing towards the north. The Elbe and the +Weser joined one another near the island of Heligoland, and received +tributaries from marshy valleys until a long estuary wider than is +the Wash at present was formed. Another long river flowed northward +from the valley of the Zuyder Zee, the mouth of which has been traced +on the north-east of the Dogger Bank. The Rhine reached the North +Sea on the south-west of the Dogger Bank, off Flamborough Head; its +tributaries included the Meuse and the Thames. The Humber and the +rivers flowing at present into the Wash were united before entering +the North Sea between the mouth of the Rhine and the coast of East +Riding. + +The Dogger Bank was then a plateau. Trawlers, as has been stated, +sometimes lift from its surface in their trawl nets lumps of peat, +which they call "moor-log", and also the bones of wild animals, +including the wild ox, the wild horse, red deer, reindeer, the elk, +the bear, the wolf, the hyæna, the beaver, the walrus, the woolly +rhinoceros, and the hairy mammoth. In the peat have been found the +remains of the white birch, the hazel, sallow, and willow, seeds +of bog-bean, fragments of fern, &c. All the plants have a northern +range. In some pieces of peat have been found plants and insects that +still flourish in Britain.[45] + + [45] Clement Reid, _Submerged Forests_, pp. 45-7. London, 1913. + +The easiest crossing to Britain was over the English Channel +land-bridge. It was ultimately cut through by the English Channel +river, so that the dark Azilian-Tardenoisian peoples from Central and +Western Europe and the fair Maglemosians must have required and used +rafts or boats before polished implements of Neolithic type came into +use. In time the North Sea broke through the marshes of the river +land to the east of the Thames Estuary and joined the waters of the +English Channel. The Strait of Dover was then formed. At first it +may have been narrow enough for animals to swim across or, at any +rate, for the rude river boats or rafts of the early colonists to be +paddled over in safety between tides. Gradually, however, the strait +grew wider and wider; the chalk cliffs, long undermined by boring +molluscs and scouring shingle, were torn down by great billows during +winter storms. + +It may be that for a long period after the North Sea and English +Channel were united, the Dogger Bank remained an island, and that +there were other islands between Heligoland and the English coast. +Pliny, who had served with the Roman army in Germany, writing in the +first century of our era, refers to twenty-three islands between +the Texel and the Eider in Schleswig-Holstein. Seven of these have +since vanished. The west coast of Schleswig has, during the past +eighteen hundred years, suffered greatly from erosion, and alluvial +plains that formerly yielded rich harvests are now represented by +sandbanks. The Goodwin Sands, which stretch for about ten miles off +the Kentish coast, were once part of the fertile estate of Earl +Godwin which was destroyed and engulfed by a great storm towards the +end of the eleventh century. The Gulf of Zuyder Zee was formerly a +green plain with many towns and villages. Periodic inundations since +the Roman period have destroyed flourishing Dutch farms and villages +and eaten far into the land. There are records of storm-floods +that drowned on one occasion 20,000, and on another no fewer than +100,000 inhabitants.[46] It is believed that large tracts of land, +the remnants of the ancient North Sea land-bridge, have been engulfed +since about 3000 B.C., as a result not merely of erosion but the +gradual submergence of the land. This date is suggested by Mr. +Clement Reid. + + [46] The dates of the greatest disasters on record are 1421, + 1532, and 1570. There were also terrible inundations in the + seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and in 1825 and 1855. + +"The estimate", he says, "may have to be modified as we obtain +better evidence; but it is as well to realize clearly that we are +not dealing with a long period of great geological antiquity; we +are dealing with times when the Egyptian, Babylonian, and Minoan +(Cretan) civilizations flourished. Northern Europe was then probably +barbarous, and metals had not come into use;[47] but the amber trade +of the Baltic was probably in full swing. Rumours of any great +disaster, such as the submergence of thousands of square miles and +the displacement of large populations, might spread far and wide +along the trade routes." It may be that the legend of the Lost +Atlantis was founded on reports of such a disaster, that must have +occurred when areas like the Dogger Bank were engulfed. It may be +too that the gradual wasting away of lands that have long since +vanished propelled migrations of peoples towards the smiling coasts +of England. According to Ammianus the Druids stated that some of the +inhabitants of Gaul were descendants of refugees from sea-invaded +areas. + + [47] It was not necessarily barbarous because metal weapons had + not been invented. + +The gradual sinking of the land and the process of coast erosion +has greatly altered the geography of England. The beach on which +Julius Cæsar landed has long since vanished, the dwellings of the +ancient Azilian and Maglemosian colonists, who reached England in +post-Glacial times, have been sunk below the English Channel. When +Tilbury Docks were being excavated Roman remains were found embedded +in clay several feet below high-water mark. Below several layers of +peat and mud, and immediately under a bank of sand in which were +fragments of decomposed wood, was found the human skeleton known as +"Tilbury man". The land in this area was originally 80 feet above its +present level.[48] But while England was sinking Scotland was rising. +The MacArthur cave at Oban, in which Azilian hunters and fishermen +made their home on the sea-beach, is now about 30 feet above the old +sea-level. + + [48] _Submerged Forests_, p. 120. + +Before Dover Strait had been widened by the gradual sinking of the +land and the process of coast erosion, and before the great islands +had vanished from the southern part of the North Sea, the early +hunters and fishermen could have experienced no great difficulty in +reaching England. It is possible that the Azilian, Tardenoisian, and +Maglemosian peoples had made considerable progress in the art of +navigation. Traces of the Tardenoisian industry have been obtained +in Northern Egypt, along the ancient Libyan coast of North Africa +where a great deal of land has been submerged, and especially at +Tunis, and in Algiers, in Italy, and in England and Scotland, as has +been noted. There were boats on the Mediterranean at a very early +period. The island of Crete was reached long before the introduction +of copper-working by seafarers who visited the island of Melos, and +there obtained obsidian (natural glass) from which sharp implements +were fashioned. Egyptian mariners, who dwelt on the Delta coast, +imported cedar, not only from Lebanon but from Morocco, as has been +found from the evidence afforded by mummies packed with the sawdust +of cedar from the Atlas Mountains.[49] When this trade with Morocco +began it is impossible to say with certainty. Long before 3000 B.C., +however, the Egyptians were building boats that were fitted with +masts and sails. The ancient mariners were active as explorers and +traders before implements of copper came into use. + + [49] _The Cairo Scientific Journal_, Vol. III. No. 32 (May, + 1909), p. 105. + +Here we touch on a very interesting problem. Where were boats first +invented and the art of navigation developed? Rafts and floats +formed by tying together two trees or, as in Egypt, two bundles of +reeds, were in use at a very early period in various countries. In +Babylonia the "kufa", a great floating basket made watertight with +pitch or covered with skins, was an early invention. It was used +as it still is for river ferry boats. But ships were not developed +from "kufas". The dug-out canoe is one of the early prototypes of +the modern ocean-going vessel. It reached this country before the +Neolithic industry was introduced, and during that period when +England was slowly sinking and Scotland was gradually rising. Dug-out +canoes continued to come during the so-called "Neolithic" stage of +culture ere yet the sinking and rising of land had ceased. "That +Neolithic man lived in Scotland during the formation of this beach +(the 45-to 50-foot beach) is proved", wrote the late Professor James +Geikie, "by the frequent occurrence in it of his relics. At Perth, +for example, a dug-out canoe of pine was met with towards the bottom +of the carse clays; and similar finds have frequently been recorded +from the contemporaneous deposits in the valleys of the Forth and the +Clyde."[50] + + [50] _Antiquity of Man in Europe_, p. 274, Edinburgh, 1914. The + term "Neolithic" is here rather vague. It applies to the Azilians + and Maglemosians as well as to later peoples. + +How did early man come to invent the dug-out? Not only did he hollow +out a tree trunk by the laborious process of burning and by chipping +with a flint adze, he dressed the trunk so that his boat could be +balanced on the water. The early shipbuilders had to learn, and did +learn, for themselves, "the values of length and beam, of draught and +sweet lines, of straight keel; with high stem to breast a wave and +high stern to repel a following sea". The fashioning of a sea-worthy, +or even a river-worthy boat, must have been in ancient times as +difficult a task as was the fashioning of the first aeroplane in our +own day. Many problems had to be solved, many experiments had to +be made, and, no doubt, many tragedies took place before the first +safe model-boat was paddled across a river. The early experimenters +may have had shapes of vessels suggested to them by fish and birds, +and especially by the aquatic birds that paddled past them on the +river breast with dignity and ease. But is it probable that the +first experiments were made with trees? Did early man undertake the +laborious task of hewing down tree after tree to shape new models, +until in the end he found on launching the correctly shaped vessel +that its balance was perfect? Or was the dug-out canoe an imitation +of a boat already in existence, just as a modern ship built of +steel or concrete is an imitation of the earlier wooden ships? The +available evidence regarding this important phase of the shipping +problem tends to show that, before the dug-out was invented, boats +were constructed of light material. Ancient Egypt was the earliest +shipbuilding country in the world, and all ancient ships were +modelled on those that traded on the calm waters of the Nile. Yet +Egypt is an almost treeless land. There the earliest boats--broad, +light skiffs--were made by binding together long bundles of the +reeds of papyrus. Ropes were twisted from papyrus as well as from +palm fibre.[51] It would appear that, before dug-outs were made, the +problems of boat construction were solved by those who had invented +papyri skiffs and skin boats. In the case of the latter the skins +were stretched round a framework, sewed together and made watertight +with pitch. We still refer to the "seams" and the "skin" of a boat. + + [51] Breasted, _A History of Egypt_, pp. 96-7. + +The art of boat-building spread far and wide from the area of origin. +Until recently the Chinese were building junks of the same type +as they did four or five hundred years earlier. These junks have +been compared by more than one writer to the deep-sea boats of the +Egyptian Empire period. The Papuans make "dug-outs" and carve eyes +on the prows as did the ancient Egyptians and as do the Maltese, +Chinese, &c., in our own day. Even when only partly hollowed, the +Papuan boats have perfect balance in the water as soon as they are +launched.[52] The Polynesians performed religious ceremonies when +cutting down trees and constructing boats.[53] In their incantations, +&c., the lore of boat-building was enshrined and handed down. The +Polynesian boat was dedicated to the _mo-o_ (dragon-god). We still +retain a relic of an ancient religious ceremony when a bottle of wine +is broken on the bows of a vessel just as it is being launched. + + [52] Wollaston, _Pygmies and Papuans (The Stone Age To-day in + Dutch New Guinea)_, London, 1912, pp. 53 et seq. + + [53] Westervelt, _Legends of Old Honolulu_, pp. 97 _et seq._ + +After the Egyptians were able to secure supplies of cedar wood from +the Atlas Mountains or Lebanon, by drifting rafts of lashed trees +along the coast line, they made dug-out vessels of various shapes, +as can be seen in the tomb pictures of the Old Kingdom period. These +dug-outs were apparently modelled on the earlier papyri and skin +boats. A ship with a square sail spread to the wind is depicted on an +Ancient Egyptian two-handed jar in the British Museum, which is of +pre-dynastic age and may date to anything like 4000 or 5000 B.C. At +that remote period the art of navigation was already well advanced, +no doubt on account of the experience gained on the calm waters of +the Nile. + + [Illustration: (_a_) Sketch of a boat from Victoria Nyanza, after + the drawing in Sir Henry Stanley's _Darkest Africa_. Only the + handles of the oars are shown. In outline the positions of some + of the oarsmen are roughly represented. + + (_b_) Crude drawing of a similar boat carved upon the rocks + in Sweden during the Early Bronze Age, after Montelius. By + comparison with (_a_) it will be seen that the vertical + projections were probably intended to represent the oarsmen. + + The upturned hook-like appendage at the stern is found in ancient + Egyptian and Mediterranean ships, but is absent in the modern + African vessel shown in (_a_). + + These figures are taken from Elliot Smith's _Ancient Mariners_ + (1918).] + +The existence of these boats on the Nile at a time when great +race migrations were in progress may well account for the early +appearance of dug-outs in Northern Europe. One of the Clyde canoes, +found embedded in Clyde silt twenty-five feet above the present +sea-level, was found to have a plug of cork which could only have +come from the area in which cork trees grow--Spain, Southern France, +or Italy.[54] It may have been manned by the Azilians of Spain whose +rock paintings date from the Transition period. Similar striking +evidence of the drift of culture from the Mediterranean area towards +Northern Europe is obtained from some of the rock paintings and +carvings of Sweden. Among the canoes depicted are some with distinct +Mediterranean characteristics. One at Tegneby in Bohuslän bears a +striking resemblance to a boat seen by Sir Henry Stanley on Lake +Victoria Nyanza. It seems undoubted that the designs are of common +origin, although separated not only by centuries but by barriers of +mountain, desert, and sea extending many hundreds of miles. From +the Maglemosian boat the Viking ship was ultimately developed; the +unprogressive Victoria Nyanza boatbuilders continued through the +Ages repeating the design adopted by their remote ancestors. In both +vessels the keel projects forward, and the figure-head is that of +a goat or ram. The northern vessel has the characteristic inward +curving stern of ancient Egyptian ships. As the rock on which it +was carved is situated in a metal-yielding area, the probability is +that this type of vessel is a relic of the visits paid by searchers +for metals in ancient times, who established colonies of dark miners +among the fair Northerners and introduced the elements of southern +culture. + + [54] Lyell, _Antiquity of Man_, p. 48. + +The ancient boats found in Scotland are of a variety of types. One +of those at Glasgow lay, when discovered, nearly vertical, with prow +uppermost as if it had foundered; it had been built "of several +pieces of oak, though without ribs". Another had the remains of an +outrigger attached to it: beside another, which had been partly +hollowed by fire, lay two planks that appear to have been wash-boards +like those on a Sussex dug-out. A Clyde clinker-built boat, eighteen +feet long, had a keel and a base of oak to which ribs had been +attached. An interesting find at Kinaven in Aberdeenshire, several +miles distant from the Ythan, a famous pearling river, was a dug-out +eleven feet long, and about four feet broad. It lay embedded at the +head of a small ravine in five feet of peat which appears to have +been the bed of an ancient lake. Near it were the stumps of big oaks, +apparently of the Upper Forestian period. + +Among the longest of the ancient boats that have been discovered +are one forty-two feet long, with an animal head on the prow, from +Loch Arthur, near Dumfries, one thirty-five long from near the River +Arun in Sussex, one sixty-three feet long excavated near the Rother +in Kent, one forty-eight feet six inches long, found at Brigg, +Lincolnshire, with wooden patches where she had sprung a leak, and +signs of the caulking of cracks and small holes with moss. + +These vessels do not all belong to the same period. The date of the +Brigg boat is, judging from the geological strata, between 1100 and +700 B.C. It would appear that some of the Clyde vessels found at +twenty-five feet above the present sea-level are even older. Beside +one Clyde boat was found an axe of polished green-stone similar to +the axes used by Polynesians and others in shaping dug-outs. This +axe may, however, have been a religious object. To the low bases of +some vessels were fixed ribs on which skins were stretched. These +boats were eminently suitable for rough seas, being more buoyant than +dug-outs. According to Himilco the inhabitants of the OEstrymnides, +the islands "rich in tin and lead", had most sea-worthy skiffs. +"These people do not make pine keels, nor", he says, "do they know +how to fashion them; nor do they make fir barks, but, with wonderful +skill, fashion skiffs with sewn skins. In these hide-bound vessels, +they skim across the ocean." Apparently they were as daring mariners +as the Oregon Islanders of whom Washington Irving has written: + + "It is surprising to see with what fearless unconcern these + savages venture in their light barks upon the roughest and + most tempestuous seas. They seem to ride upon the wave like + sea-fowl. Should a surge throw the canoe upon its side, and + endanger its over turn, those to the windward lean over the + upper gunwale, thrust their paddles deep into the wave, and by + this action not merely regain an equilibrium, but give their + bark a vigorous impulse forward." + +The ancient mariners whose rude vessels have been excavated around +our coasts were the forerunners of the Celtic sea-traders, who, +as the Gaelic evidence shows, had names not only for the North +Sea and the English Channel but also for the Mediterranean Sea. +They cultivated what is known as the "sea sense", and developed +shipbuilding and the art of navigation in accordance with local +needs. When Julius Cæsar came into conflict with the Veneti of +Brittany he tells that their vessels were greatly superior to those +of the Romans. "The bodies of the ships", he says, "were built +entirely of oak, stout enough to withstand any shock or violence.... +Instead of cables for their anchors they used iron chains.... The +encounter of our fleet with these ships was of such a nature that +our fleet excelled in speed alone, and the plying of oars; for +neither could our ships injure theirs with their rams, so great +was their strength, nor was a weapon easily cast up to them owing +to their height.... About 220 of their ships ... sailed forth from +the harbour." In this great allied fleet were vessels from our own +country.[55] + + [55] Cæsar's _Gallic War_, Book III, c. 13-15. + +It must not be imagined that the "sea sense" was cultivated because +man took pleasure in risking the perils of the deep. It was stern +necessity that at the beginning compelled him to venture on long +voyages. After England was cut off from France the peoples who had +adopted the Neolithic industry must have either found it absolutely +necessary to seek refuge in Britain, or were attracted towards it by +reports of prospectors who found it to be suitable for residence and +trade. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Neolithic Trade and Industries + + Attractions of Ancient Britain--Romans search for Gold, + Silver, Pearls, &c.--The Lure of Precious Stones and + Metals--Distribution of Ancient British Population--Neolithic + Settlements in Flint-yielding Areas--Trade in + Flint--Settlements on Lias Formation--Implements from + Basic Rocks--Trade in Body-painting Materials--Search for + Pearls--Gold in Britain and Ireland--Agriculture--The Story + of Barley--Neolithic Settlers in Ireland--Scottish Neolithic + Traders--Neolithic Peoples not Wanderers--Trained Neolithic + Craftsmen. + + +The "drift" of peoples into Britain which began in Aurignacian times +continued until the Roman period. There were definite reasons for +early intrusions as there were for the Roman invasion. "Britain +contains to reward the conqueror", Tacitus wrote,[56] "mines of gold +and silver and other metals. The sea produces pearls." According to +Suetonius, who at the end of the first century of our era wrote the +_Lives of the Cæsars_, Julius Cæsar invaded Britain with the desire +to enrich himself with the pearls found on different parts of the +coast. On his return to Rome he presented a corselet of British +pearls to the goddess Venus. He was in need of money to further his +political ambitions. He found what he required elsewhere, however. +After the death of Queen Cleopatra sufficient gold and silver flowed +to Rome from Egypt to reduce the loan rate of interest from 12 to 4 +per cent. Spain likewise contributed its share to enrich the great +predatory state of Rome.[57] + + [56] _Agricola_, Chap. XII. + + [57] Smith, _Roman Empire_. + +Long ages before the Roman period the early peoples entered Britain +in search of pearls, precious stones, and precious metals because +these had a religious value. The Celts of Gaul offered great +quantities of gold to their deities, depositing the precious metals +in their temples and in their sacred lakes. Poseidonius of Apamea +tells that after conquering Gaul "the Romans put up these sacred +lakes to public sale, and many of the purchasers found quantities +of solid silver in them". He also says that gold was similarly +placed in these lakes.[58] Apparently the Celts believed, as did the +Aryo-Indians, that gold was "a form of the gods" and "fire, light, +and immortality", and that it was a "life giver".[59] Personal +ornaments continued to have a religious value until Christian times. + + [58] _Strabo_--IV, c. 1-13. + + [59] _Satapatha-Brahmana_, Pt. V, "Sacred Books of the East", + XLIV, pp. 187, 203, 236. 239, 348-50. + + [Illustration: FLINT LANCE-HEADS FROM IRELAND (British Museum)] + + [Illustration: + + Photo Oxford University Press + + CHIPPED AND POLISHED ARTIFACTS FROM SOUTHERN ENGLAND (British + Museum)] + +As we have seen when dealing with the "Red Man of Paviland", the +earliest ornaments were shells, teeth of wild animals, coloured +stones, ivory, &c. Shells were carried great distances. Then arose +the habit of producing substitutes which were regarded as of great +potency as the originals. The ancient Egyptians made use of gold to +manufacture imitation shells, and before they worked copper they +wore charms of malachite, which is an ore of copper. They probably +used copper first for magical purposes just as they used gold. +Pearls found in shells were regarded as depositories of supernatural +influence, and so were coral and amber (see Chapter XIII). Like +the Aryo-Indians, the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks, and others +connected precious metals, stones, pearls, &c., with their deities, +and believed that these contained the influence of their deities, +and were therefore "lucky". These and similar beliefs are of great +antiquity in Europe and Asia and North Africa. It would be rash +to assume that they were not known to the ancient mariners who +reached our shores in vessels of Mediterranean type. + +The colonists who were attracted to Britain at various periods +settled in those districts most suitable for their modes of life. +It was necessary that they should obtain an adequate supply of the +materials from which their implements and weapons were manufactured. +The distribution of the population must have been determined by the +resources of the various districts. + +At the present day the population of Britain is most dense in +those areas in which coal and iron are found and where commerce is +concentrated. In ancient times, before metals were used, it must +have been densest in those areas where flint was found--that is, +on the upper chalk formations. If worked flints are discovered in +areas which do not have deposits of flint, the only conclusion that +can be drawn is that the flint was obtained by means of trade, just +as Mediterranean shells were in Aurignacian and Magdalenian times +obtained by hunters who settled in Central Europe. In Devon and +Cornwall, for instance, large numbers of flint implements have been +found, yet in these counties suitable flint was exceedingly scarce +in ancient times, except in East Devon, where, however, the surface +flint is of inferior character. In Wilts and Dorset, however, the +finest quality of flint was found, and it was no doubt from these +areas that the early settlers in Cornwall and Devon received their +chief supplies of the raw material, if not of the manufactured +articles. + +In England, as on the Continent, the most abundant finds of the +earliest flint implements have been made in those areas where the +early hunters and fishermen could obtain their raw materials. River +drift implements are discovered in largest numbers on the chalk +formations of south-eastern England between the Wash and the estuary +of the Thames. + +The Neolithic peoples, who made less use of horn and bone than +did the Azilians and Maglemosians, had many village settlements +on the upper chalk in Dorset and Wiltshire, and especially at +Avebury where there were veritable flint factories, and near the +famous flint mines at Grimes Graves in the vicinity of Weeting +in Norfolk and at Cissbury Camp not far from Worthing in Sussex. +Implements were likewise made of basic rocks, including quartzite, +ironstone, green-stone, hornblende schist, granite, mica-schist, +&c.; while ornaments were made of jet, a hydrocarbon compound +allied to cannel coal, which takes on a fine polish, Kimeridge +shale and ivory. Withal, like the Aurignacians and Magdalenians, +the Neolithic-industry people used body paint, which was made with +pigments of ochre, hæmatite, an ore of iron, and ruddle, an earthy +variety of iron ore. + +In those districts, where the raw materials for stone implements, +ornaments, and body paint were found, traces survive of the +activities of the Neolithic peoples. Their graves of long-barrow type +are found not only in the chalk areas but on the margins of the lias +formations. Hæmatite is found in large quantities in West Cumberland +and north Lancashire and in south-western England, while the chief +source of jet is Whitby in Yorkshire, where it occurs in large +quantities in beds of the Upper Lias shale. + + [Illustration: Map of ENGLAND & WALES] + +Mr. W. J. Perry, of Manchester University, who has devoted special +attention to the study of the distribution of megalithic monuments, +has been drawing attention to the interesting association of these +monuments with geological formations.[60] In the Avebury district stone +circles, dolmens, chambered barrows, long barrows, and Neolithic +settlements are numerous; another group of megalithic monuments occurs +in Oxford on the margin of the lias formation, and at the south-end of +the great iron field extending as far as the Clevelands. According to +the memoir of the geological survey, there are traces of ancient surface +iron-workings in the Middle Lias formation of Oxfordshire, where red and +brown hæmatite were found. Mr. Perry notes that there are megalithic +monuments in the vicinity of all these surface workings, as at Fawler, +Adderbury, Hook Norton, Woodstock, Steeple Aston, and Hanbury. +Apparently the Neolithic peoples were attracted to the lias formatio +because it contains hæmatite, ochre, shale, &c. There are significant +megaliths in the Whitby region where the jet is so plentiful. Amber was +obtained from the east coast of England and from the Baltic. + + [60] _Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical + Society_, 1921. + +The Neolithic peoples appear to have searched for pearls, which are +found in a number of English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish rivers, and +in the vicinity of most, if not all, of these megaliths occur. Gold +was the first metal worked by man, and it appears to have attracted +some of the early peoples who settled in Britain. The ancient +seafarers who found their way northward may have included searchers +for gold and silver. The latter metal was at one time found in great +abundance in Spain, while gold was at one time fairly plentiful in +south-western England, in North Wales, in various parts of Scotland +and especially in Lanarkshire, and in north-eastern, eastern, and +western Ireland. That there was a "drift" of civilized peoples into +Britain and Ireland during the period of the Neolithic industry is +made evident by the fact that the agricultural mode of life was +introduced. Barley does not grow wild in Europe. The nearest area in +which it grew wild and was earliest cultivated was the delta area of +Egypt, the region from which the earliest vessels set out to explore +the shores of the Mediterranean. It may be that the barley seeds +were carried to Britain not by the overland routes alone to Channel +ports, but also by the seafarers whose boats, like the Glasgow one +with the cork plug, coasted round by Spain and Brittany, and crossed +the Channel to south-western England and thence went northward to +Scotland. As Irish flints and ground axe-heads occur chiefly in +Ulster, it may be that the drift of early Neolithic settlers into +County Antrim, in which gold was also found, was from south-western +Scotland. The Neolithic settlement at Whitepark Bay, five miles from +the Giant's Causeway, was embedded at a considerable depth, showing +that there has been a sinking of the land in this area since the +Neolithic industry was introduced. + +Neolithic remains are widely distributed over Scotland, but these +have not received the intensive study devoted to similar relics in +England. Mr. Ludovic Mann, the Glasgow archæologist, has, however, +compiled interesting data regarding one of the local industries that +bring out the resource and activities of early man. On the island of +Arran is a workable variety of the natural volcanic glass, called +pitch-stone, that of other parts of Scotland and of Ireland being +"too much cracked into small pieces to be of use". It was used by +the Neolithic settlers in Arran for manufacturing arrowheads, and +as it was imported into Bute, Ayrshire, and Wigtownshire, a trade +in this material must have existed. "If", writes Mr. Mann, "the +stone was not locally worked up into implements in Bute, it was so +manipulated on the mainland, where workshops of the Neolithic period +and the immediately succeeding overlap period yielded long fine +flakes, testifying to greater expertness in manufacturing there than +is shown by the remains in the domestic sites yet awaiting adequate +exploration in Arran. The explanation may be that the Wigtownshire +flint knappers, accustomed to handle an abundance of flint, were +more proficient than in most other places, and that the pitch-stone +was brought to them as experts, because the material required even +more skilful handling than flint".[61] In like manner obsidian, as +has been noted, was imported into Crete from the island of Melos by +seafarers, long before the introduction of metal working.[62] + + [61] _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, + 1917-18, pp. 149 _et seq._ + + [62] See my _Myths of Crete and pre-Hellenic Europe_ under + "Obsidian" in Index. + +It will be seen that the Neolithic peoples were no mere wandering +hunters, as some have represented them to have been, but they had +their social organization, their industries, and their system of +trading by land and sea. They settled not only in those areas where +they could procure a regular food supply, but those also in which +they obtained the raw materials for implements, weapons, and the +colouring material which they used for religious purposes. They made +pottery for grave offerings and domestic use, and wooden implements +regarding which, however, little is known. Withal, they had their +spinners and weavers. The conditions prevailing in Neolithic +settlements must have been similar to those of later times. There +must have been systems of laws to make trade and peaceful social +intercourse possible, and no doubt these had, as elsewhere, a +religious basis. Burial customs indicate a uniformity of beliefs over +wide areas. The skill displayed in working stone was so great that +it cannot now be emulated. Ripple-flaking has long been a lost art. +Craftsmen must have undergone a prolonged period of training which +was intelligently controlled under settled conditions of life. It is +possible that the so-called Neolithic folk were chiefly foreigners +who exploited the riches of the country. The evidence in this +connection will be found in the next chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Metal Workers and Megalithic Monuments + + "Broad-heads" of Bronze Age--The Irish Evidence--Bronze + Introduced by Traders--How Metals were Traced--A Metal Working + Tribe--Damnonii in England, Scotland, and Ireland--Miners + as Slaves--The Lot of Women Workers--Megalithic Monuments + in English Metal-yielding Areas--Stone Circles in Barren + Localities--Early Colonies of Easterners in Spain--Egyptian + and Babylonian Relics associated with British Jet and Baltic + Amber--A New Flint Industry of Eastern Origin--British + Bronze identical with Continental--Ancient Furnaces of + Common Origin--"Stones of Worship" adorned with Metals--The + "Maggot God" of Stone Circles--Ancient Egyptian Beads at + Stonehenge--Earliest Authentic Date in British History--The Aim + of Conquests. + + +It used to be thought that the introduction of metal working +into Britain was the result of an invasion of alien peoples, who +partly exterminated and partly enslaved the long-headed Neolithic +inhabitants. This view was based on the evidence afforded by a new +type of grave known as the "Round Barrow". In graves of this class +have been found Bronze Age relics, a distinctive kind of pottery, and +skulls of broad-heads. The invasion of broad-heads undoubtedly took +place, and their burial customs suggest that their religious beliefs +were not identical with those of the long-heads. But it remains to be +proved that they were the actual introducers of the bronze industry. +They do not appear to have reached Ireland, where bronze relics are +associated with a long-headed people of comparatively low stature. + +The early Irish bronze forms were obviously obtained from Spain, +while early English bronze forms resemble those of France and Italy. +Cutting implements were the first to be introduced. This fact does +not suggest that a conquest took place. The implements may have been +obtained by traders. Britain apparently had in those ancient times +its trading colonies, and was visited by active and enterprising +seafarers. + + [Illustration: Long-head (Dolichocephalic) Skull] + + [Illustration: Broad-head (Brachycephalic) Skull Both these + specimens were found in "Round" Barrows in the East Riding of + Yorkshire] + +The discovery of metals in Britain and Ireland was, no doubt, first +made by prospectors who had obtained experience in working them +elsewhere. They may have simply come to exploit the country. How +these men conducted their investigations is indicated by the report +found in a British Museum manuscript, dating from about 1603, in +which the prospector gives his reason for believing that gold was +to be found on Crawford Moor in Lanarkshire. He tells that he saw +among the rocks what Scottish miners call "mothers" and English +miners "leaders" or "metalline fumes". It was believed that the +"fumes" arose from veins of metal and coloured the rocks as smoke +passing upward through a tunnel blackens it, and leaves traces on the +outside. He professed to be able to distinguish between the colours +left by "fumes" of iron, lead, tin, copper, or silver. On Crawford +Moor he found "sparr, keel, and brimstone" between rocks, and +regarded this discovery as a sure indication that gold was _in situ_. +The "mothers" or "leaders" were more pronounced than any he had ever +seen in Cornwall, Somersetshire, about Keswick, or "any other mineral +parts wheresoever I have travelled".[63] Gold was found in this area +of Lanarkshire in considerable quantities, and was no doubt worked +in ancient times. Of special interest in this connection is the fact +that it was part of the territory occupied by Damnonians,[64] who +appear to have been a metal-working people. Besides occupying the +richest metal-yielding area in Scotland, the Damnonians were located +in Devon and Cornwall, and in the east-midland and western parts +of Ireland, in which gold, copper, and tin-stone were found as in +south-western England. The Welsh _Dyfneint_ (Devon) is supposed by +some to be connected with a form of this tribal name. Another form +in a Yarrow inscription is Dumnogeni. In Ireland Inber Domnann is +the old name of Malahide Bay north of Dublin. Domnu, the genitive of +which is Domnann, was the name of an ancient goddess. In the Irish +manuscripts these people are referred to as Fir-domnann,[65] and +associated with the Fir-bolg (the men with sacks). A sack-carrying +people are represented in Spanish rock paintings that date from +the Azilian till early "Bronze Age" times. In an Irish manuscript +which praises the fair and tall people, the Fir-bolg and Fir-domnann +are included among the black-eyed and black-haired people, the +descendants of slaves and churls, and "the promoters of discord among +the people". + + [63] R. W. Cochrane Patrick, _Early Records relating to Mining in + Scotland_. Edinburgh, 1878, p. xxviii. + + [64] The _Damnonii_ or _Dumnonii_. + + [65] The Fir-domnann were known as "the men who used to deepen + the earth", or "dig pits". Professor J. MacNeil in _Labor + Gabula_, p. 119. They were thus called "Diggers" like the modern + Australians. The name of the goddess referred to the depths (the + Underworld). It is probable she was the personification of the + metal-yielding earth. + +The reference to "slaves" is of special interest because the lot of +the working miners was in ancient days an extremely arduous one. +In one of his collected records which describes the method "of the +greatest antiquity" Diodorus Siculus (A.D. first century) tells how +gold-miners, with lights bound on their foreheads, drove galleries +into the rocks, the fragments of which were carried out by frail +old men and boys. These were broken small by men in the prime of +life. The pounded stone was then ground in handmills by women: three +women to a mill and "to each of those who bear this lot, death is +better than life". Afterwards the milled quartz was spread out on an +inclined table. Men threw water on it, work it through their fingers, +and dabbed it with sponges until the lighter matter was removed and +the gold was left behind. The precious metal was placed in a clay +crucible, which was kept heated for five days and five nights. It may +be that the Scandinavian references to the nine maidens who turn the +handle of the "world mill" which grinds out metal and soil, and the +Celtic references to the nine maidens who are associated with the +Celtic cauldron, survive from beliefs that reflected the habits and +methods of the ancient metal workers. + +It is difficult now to trace the various areas in which gold was +anciently found in our islands. But this is not to be wondered at. +In Egypt there were once rich goldfields, especially in the Eastern +Desert, where about 100 square miles were so thoroughly worked in +ancient times that "only the merest traces of gold remain".[66] Gold, +as has been stated, was formerly found in south-western England, +North Wales, and, as historical records, archæological data, and +place names indicate, in various parts of Scotland and Ireland. +During the period of the "Great Thaw" a great deal of alluvial gold +must have distributed throughout the country. Silver was found +in various parts. In Sutherland it is mixed with gold as it is +elsewhere with lead. Copper was worked in a number of districts +where the veins cannot in modern times be economically worked, and +tin was found in Ireland and Scotland as well as in south-western +England, where mining operations do not seem to have been begun, as +Principal Sir John Rhys has shown,[67] until after the supplies of +surface tin were exhausted. Of special interest in connection with +this problem is the association of megalithic monuments with ancient +mine workings. An interesting fact to be borne in mind in connection +with these relics of the activities and beliefs of the early peoples +is that they represent a distinct culture of complex character. +Mr. T. Eric Peet[68] shows that the megalithic buildings "occupy a +very remarkable position along a vast seaboard which includes the +Mediterranean coast of Africa and the Atlantic coast of Europe. +In other words, they lie entirely along a natural sea route." He +gives forcible reasons for arriving at the conclusion that "it is +impossible to consider megalithic building as a mere phase through +which many nations passed, and it must therefore have been a system +originating with one race, and spreading far and wide, owing either +to trade influence or migration". He adds: + + "Great movements of races by sea were not by any means unusual + in primitive days. In fact, the sea has always been less of + an obstacle to early man than the land with its deserts, + mountains, and unfordable rivers. There is nothing inherently + impossible or even improbable in the suggestion that a great + immigration brought the megalithic monuments from Sweden to + India or vice versa. History is full of instances of such + migrations." + + [66] Alford, _A Report on Ancient and Prospective Gold Mining in + Egypt_, 1900, and _Mining in Egypt_ (by Egyptologist). + + [67] _Celtic Britain_, pp. 44 _et seq._ (4th edition). + + [68] _Rough Stone Monuments_, London, 1912, pp. 147-8. + +But there must have been a definite reason for these race movements. +It cannot be that in all cases they were forced merely by natural +causes, such as changes of climate, invasions of the sea, and +the drying up of once fertile districts, or by the propelling +influences of stronger races in every country from the British Isles +to Japan--that is, in all countries in which megalithic monuments +of similar type are found. The fact that the megalithic monuments +are distributed along "a vast seaboard" suggests that they were +the work of people who had acquired a culture of common origin, +and were attracted to different countries for the same reason. +What that attraction was is indicated by studying the elements of +the megalithic culture. In a lecture delivered before the British +Association in Manchester in 1915, Mr. W. J. Perry threw much light +on the problem by showing that the carriers of the culture practised +weaving linen, and in some cases the use of Tyrian purple, pearls, +precious stones, metals, and conch-shell trumpets, as well as curious +beliefs and superstitions attached to the latter, while they +"adopted certain definite metallurgical methods, as well as mining". +Mr. Perry's paper was subsequently published by the Manchester +Literary and Philosophical Society. It shows that in Western Europe +the megalithic monuments are distributed in those areas in which +ancient pre-Roman and pre-Greek mine workings and metal washings have +been traced. "The same correspondence", he writes, "seems to hold in +the case of England and Wales. In the latter country the counties +where megalithic structures abound are precisely those where mineral +deposits and ancient mine-workings occur. In England the grouping in +Cumberland, Westmorland, Northumberland, Durham, and Derbyshire is +precisely that of old mines; in Cornwall the megalithic structures +are mainly grouped west of Falmouth, precisely in that district where +mining has always been most active." + +Pearls, amber, coral, jet, &c., were searched for as well as metals. +The megalithic monuments near pearling rivers, in the vicinity of +Whitby, the main source of jet, and in Denmark and the Baltic area +where amber was found were, in all likelihood, erected by people who +had come under the spell of the same ancient culture. + +When, therefore, we come to deal with groups of monuments in areas +which were unsuitable for agriculture and unable to sustain large +populations, a reasonable conclusion to draw is that precious metals, +precious stones, or pearls were once found near them. The pearling +beds may have been destroyed or greatly reduced in value,[69] or the +metals may have been worked out, leaving but slight if any indication +that they were ever _in situ_. Reference has been made to the traces +left by ancient miners in Egypt where no gold is now found. In +our own day rich gold fields in Australia and North America have +been exhausted. It would be unreasonable for us to suppose that the +same thing did not happen in our country, even although but slight +traces of the precious metal can now be obtained in areas which were +thoroughly explored by ancient miners. + + [69] The Scottish pearling beds have suffered great injury in + historic times. They are the property of the "Crown", and no one + takes any interest in them except the "pearl poachers". + +When early man reached Scotland in search of suitable districts in +which to settle, he was not likely to be attracted by the barren +or semi-barren areas in which nature grudged soil for cultivation, +where pasture lands were poor and the coasts were lashed by great +billows for the greater part of the year, and the tempests of winter +and spring were particularly severe. Yet in such places as Carloway, +fronting the Atlantic on the west coast of Lewis, and at Stennis +in Orkney, across the dangerous Pentland Firth, are found the most +imposing stone circles north of Stonehenge and Avebury. Traces of +tin have been found in Lewis, and Orkney has yielded traces of lead, +including silver-lead, copper and zinc, and has flint in glacial +drift. Traces of tin have likewise been found on the mainlands of +Ross-shire and Argyllshire, in various islands of the Hebrides and +in Stirlingshire. The great Stonehenge circle is like the Callernish +and Stennis circles situated in a semi-barren area, but it is an area +where surface tin and gold were anciently obtained. One cannot help +concluding that the early people, who populated the wastes of ancient +Britain and erected megalithic monuments, were attracted by something +more tangible than the charms of solitude and wild scenery. They +searched for and found the things they required. If they found gold, +it must be recognized that there was a psychological motive for the +search for this precious metal. They valued gold, or whatever other +metal they worked in bleak and isolated places, because they had +learned to value it elsewhere. + +Who were the people that first searched for, found, and used metals +in Western Europe? Some have assumed that the natives themselves did +so "as a matter of course". Such a theory is, however, difficult to +maintain. Gold is a useless metal for all practical purposes. It is +too soft for implements. Besides, it cannot be found or worked except +by those who have acquired a great deal of knowledge and skill. The +men who first "washed" it from the soil in Britain must have obtained +the necessary knowledge and skill in a country where it was more +plentiful and much easier to work, and where--and this point is a +most important one--the magical and religious beliefs connected with +gold have a very definite history. Copper, tin, and silver were even +more difficult to find and work in Britain. The ancient people who +reached Britain and first worked metals or collected ores were not +the people who were accustomed to use implements of bone, horn, and +flint, and had been attracted to its shores merely because fish, +fowl, deer, and cows, were numerous. The searchers for metals must +have come from centres of Eastern civilization, or from colonies of +highly skilled peoples that had been established in Western Europe. +They did not necessarily come to settle permanently in Britain, but +rather to exploit its natural riches. + +This conclusion is no mere hypothesis. Siret,[70] the Belgian +archæologist, has discovered in southern Spain and Portugal traces +of numerous settlements of Easterners who searched for minerals, +&c., long before the introduction of bronze working in Western +Europe. They came during the archæological "Stone Age"; they even +introduced some of the flint implements classed as Neolithic by the +archæologists of a past generation. + + [70] _L'Anthropologie_, 1921, contains a long account of his + discoveries. + +These Eastern colonists do not appear to have been an organized +people. Siret considers that they were merely groups of people +from Asia--probably the Syrian coast--who were in contact with +Egypt. During the Empire period of Egypt, the Egyptian sphere of +influence extended to the borders of Asia Minor. At an earlier period +Babylonian influence permeated the Syrian coast and part of Asia +Minor. The religious beliefs of seafarers from Syria were likely +therefore to bear traces of the Egyptian and Babylonian religious +systems. Evidence that this was the case has been forthcoming in +Spain. + +These Eastern colonists not only operated in Spain and Portugal, but +established contact with Northern Europe. They exported what they +had searched for and found to their Eastern markets. No doubt, they +employed native labour, but they do not appear to have instructed the +natives how to make use of the ores they themselves valued so highly. +In time they were expelled from Spain and Portugal by the people or +mixed peoples who introduced the working of bronze and made use of +bronze weapons. These bronze carriers and workers came from Central +Europe, where colonies of peoples skilled in the arts of mining and +metal working had been established. In the Central European colonies +Ægean and Danubian influences have been detected. + + [Illustration: + + Valentine + + THE RING OF STENNIS, ORKNEY (see page 94)] + +Among the archæological finds, which prove that the Easterners +settled in Iberia before bronze working was introduced among the +natives, are idol-like objects made of hippopotamus ivory from Egypt, +a shell (_Dentalium elephantum_) from the Red Sea, objects made from +ostrich eggs which must have been carried to Spain from Africa, +alabaster perfume flasks, cups of marble and alabaster of Egyptian +character which had been shaped with copper implements, Oriental +painted vases with decorations in red, black, blue, and green,[71] +mural paintings on layers of plaster, feminine statuettes in +alabaster which Siret considers to be of Babylonian type, for they +differ from Ægean and Egyptian statuettes, a cult object (found in +graves) resembling the Egyptian _ded_ amulet, &c. The Iberian burial +places of these Eastern colonists have arched cupolas and entrance +corridors of Egyptian-Mycenæan character. + + [71] The colours blue and green were obtained from copper. + +Of special interest are the beautifully worked flints associated with +these Eastern remains in Spain and Portugal. Siret draws attention +to the fact that no trace has been found of "flint factories". This +particular flint industry was an entirely new one. It was not a +development of earlier flint-working in Iberia. Apparently the new +industry, which suddenly appears in full perfection, was introduced +by the Eastern colonists. It afterwards spread over the whole +maritime west, including Scandinavia where the metal implements +of more advanced countries were imitated in flint. This important +fact emphasizes the need for caution in making use of such a term +as "Neolithic Age". Siret's view in this connection is that the +Easterners, who established trading colonies in Spain and elsewhere, +prevented the local use of metals which they had come to search +for and export. It was part of their policy to keep the natives in +ignorance of the uses to which metals could be put. + +Evidence has been forthcoming that the operations of the Eastern +colonies in Spain and Portugal were extended towards the maritime +north. Associated with the Oriential relics already referred to, +Siret has discovered amber from the Baltic, jet from Britain +(apparently from Whitby in Yorkshire) and the green-stone called +"callais" usually found in beds of tin. The Eastern seafarers +must have visited Northern Europe to exploit its virgin riches. A +green-stone axe was found, as has been stated, near the boat with the +cork plug, which lay embedded in Clyde silt at Glasgow. Artifacts of +callais have been discovered in Brittany, in the south of France, in +Portugal, and in south-eastern Spain. In the latter area, as Siret +has proved, the Easterners worked silver-bearing lead and copper. + +The colonists appear to have likewise searched for and found gold. A +diadem of gold was discovered in a necropolis in the south of Spain, +where some eminent ancient had been interred. This find is, however, +an exception. Precious metals do not as a rule appear in the graves +of the period under consideration. + +As has been suggested, the Easterners who exploited the wealth of +ancient Iberia kept the natives in ignorance. "This ignorance", Siret +says, "was the guarantee of the prosperity of the commerce carried +on by the strangers.... The first action of the East on the West +was the exploitation for its exclusive and personal profit of the +virgin riches of the latter." These early Westerners had no idea of +the use and value of the metals lying on the surface of their native +land, while the Orientals valued them, were in need of them, and were +anxious to obtain them. As Siret puts it: + + "The West was a cow to be milked, a sheep to be fleeced, a + field to be cultivated, a mine to be exploited." + +In the traditions preserved by classical writers, there are +references to the skill and cunning of the Phoenicians in commerce, +and in the exploitation of colonies founded among the ignorant +Iberians. They did not inform rival traders where they found metals. +"Formerly", as Strabo says, "the Phoenicians monopolized the trade +from Gades (Cadiz) with the islanders (of the Cassiterides); and +they kept the route a close secret." A vague ancient tradition is +preserved by Pliny, who tells that "tin was first fetched from +Cassiteris (the tin island) by Midacritus".[72] We owe it to the +secretive Phoenicians that the problem of the Cassiterides still +remains a difficult one to solve. + + [72] _Nat. Hist._, VII, 56 (57), § 197. + +To keep the native people ignorant the Easterners, Siret believes, +forbade the use of metals in their own colonies. A direct result +of this policy was the great development which took place in the +manufacture of the beautiful flint implements already referred to. +These the natives imitated, never dreaming that they were imitating +some forms that had been developed by a people who used copper in +their own country. When, therefore, we pick up beautiful Neolithic +flints, we cannot be too sure that the skill displayed belongs +entirely to the "Stone Age", or that the flints "evolved" from +earlier native forms in those areas in which they are found. + +The Easterners do not appear to have extracted the metals from +their ores either in Iberia or in Northern Europe. Tin-stone and +silver-bearing lead were used for ballast for their ships, and they +made anchors of lead. Gold washed from river beds could be easily +packed in small bulk. A people who lived by hunting and fishing were +not likely to be greatly interested in the laborious process of +gold-washing. Nor were they likely to attach to gold a magical and +religious value as did the ancient Egyptians and Sumerians. + +So far as can be gathered from the Iberian evidence, the period of +exploitation by the colonists from the East was a somewhat prolonged +one. How many centuries it covered we can only guess. It is of +interest to find, in this connection, however, that something was +known in Mesopotamia before 2000 B.C. regarding the natural riches +of Western Europe. Tablets have recently been found on the site +of Asshur, the ancient capital of Assyria, which was originally a +Sumerian settlement. These make reference to the Empire of Sargon of +Akkad (_c._ 2600 B.C.), which, according to tradition, extended from +the Persian Gulf to the Syrian coast. Sargon was a great conqueror. +"He poured out his glory over the world", declares a tablet found a +good many years ago. It was believed, too, that Sargon embarked on +the Mediterranean and occupied Cyprus. The fresh evidence from the +site of Asshur is to the effect that he conquered Kaptara (? Crete) +and "the Tin Land beyond the Upper Sea" (the Mediterranean). The +explanation may be that he obtained control of the markets to which +the Easterners carried from Spain and the coasts of Northern Europe +the ores, pearls, &c., they had searched for and found. It may +be, therefore, that Britain was visited by Easterners even before +Sargon's time, and that the Glasgow boat with the plug of cork was +manned by dark Orientals who were prospecting the Scottish coast +before the last land movement had ceased--that is, some time after +3000 B.C. + + [Illustration: MEGALITHS + + Upper: Kit's Coty House, Kent. Lower: Trethevy Stone, Cornwall.] + +When the Easterners were expelled from Spain by a people from +Central Europe who used weapons of bronze, some of them appear to +have found refuge in Gaul. Siret is of opinion that others withdrew +from Brittany, where subsidences were taking place along the +coast, leaving their megalithic monuments below high-water mark, +and even under several feet of water as at Morbraz. He thinks that +the settlements of Easterners in Brittany were invaded at one and +the same time by the enemy and the ocean. Other refugees from the +colonies may have settled in Etruria, and founded the Etruscan +civilization. Etruscan menhirs resemble those of the south of France, +while the Etruscan crozier or wand, used in the art of augury, +resembles the croziers of the megaliths, &c., of France, Spain, +and Portugal. There are references in Scottish Gaelic stories +to "magic wands" possessed by "wise women", and by the mothers +of Cyclopean one-eyed giants. Ammianus Marcellinus, quoting +Timagenes,[73] attributes to the Druids the statement that part of the +inhabitants of Gaul were indigenous, but that some had come from the +farthest shores and districts across the Rhine, "having been expelled +from their own lands by frequent wars and the encroachments of the +ocean". + + [73] Timagenes (_c._ 85-5 B.C.), an Alexandrian historian, + wrote a history of the Gauls which was made use of by Ammianus + Marcellinus (A.D. fourth century), a Greek of Antioch, and the + author of a history of the Roman Emperors. + +The bronze-using peoples who established overland trade routes in +Europe, displacing in some localities the colonies of Easterners and +isolating others, must have instructed the natives of Western Europe +how to mine and use metals. Bronze appears to have been introduced +into Britain by traders. That the ancient Britons did not begin +quite spontaneously to work copper and tin and manufacture bronze +is quite evident, because the earliest specimens of British bronze +which have been found are made of ninety per cent of copper and ten +per cent of tin as on the Continent. "Now, since a knowledge of the +compound", wrote Dr. Robert Munro, "implies a previous acquaintance +with its component elements, it follows that progress in metallurgy +had already reached the stage of knowing the best combination of +these metals for the manufacture of cutting tools before bronze was +practically known in Britain."[74] + + [74] _Prehistoric Britain_, p. 145. + +The furnaces used were not invented in Britain. Professor Gowland +has shown that in Europe and Asia the system of working mines +and melting metals was identical in ancient times. Summarizing +Professor Gowland's articles in _Archæologia_ and the _Journal of +the Royal Anthropological Institute_, Mr. W. J. Perry writes in this +connection:[75] "The furnaces employed were similar; the crucibles +were of the same material, and generally of the same form; the +process of smelting, first on the surface and then in the crucibles +was found everywhere, even persisting down to present times in the +absence of any fresh cultural influence. The study of the technique +of mining and smelting has served to consolidate the floating +mass of facts which we have accumulated, and to add support for +the contention that one cultural influence is responsible for the +earliest mining and smelting and washing of metals and the getting +of precious stones and metals. The cause of the distribution of the +megalithic culture was the search for certain forms of material +wealth." + + [75] _The Relationship between the Geographical Distribution of + Megalithic Monuments and Ancient Mines_, pp. 21 _et seq._ + +That certain of the megalithic monuments were intimately connected +with the people who attached a religious value to metals is brought +out very forcibly in the references to pagan customs and beliefs +in early Christian Gaelic literature. There are statements in the +Lives of St. Patrick regarding a pagan god called "Cenn Cruach" and +"Crom Cruach" whose stone statue was "adorned with gold and silver, +and surrounded by twelve other statues with bronze ornaments". The +"statue" is called "the king idol of Erin", and it is stated that +"the twelve idols were made of stone, but he ('Crom Cruach') was of +gold". To this god of a stone circle were offered up "the firstlings +of every issue and the chief scions of every clan". Another idol was +called Crom Dubh ("Black Crom"), and his name "is still connected", +O'Curry has written, "with the first Sunday of August in Munster +and Connaught". An Ulster idol was called Crom Chonnaill, which +was either a living animal or a tree, or was "believed to have +been such", O'Curry says. De Jubainville translates _Cenn Cruach_ +as "Bloody Head" and _Crom Cruach_ as "Bloody Curb" or "Bloody +Crescent". O'Curry, on the other hand, translates _Crom Cruach_ +as "Bloody Maggot" and _Crom Dubh_ as "Black Maggot". In Gaelic +legends "maggots" or "worms" are referred to as forms of supernatural +beings. The maggot which appeared on the flesh of a slain animal was +apparently regarded as a new form assumed by the indestructible +soul, just as in the Egyptian story of Bata the germ of life passes +from his bull form in a drop of blood from which two trees spring +up, and then in a chip from one of the trees from which the man +is restored in his original form.[76] A similar belief, which is +widespread, is that bees have their origin as maggots placed in +trees. One form of the story was taken over by the early Christians, +which tells that Jesus was travelling with Peter and Paul and asked +hospitality from an old woman. The woman refused it and struck Paul +on the head. When the wound putrified maggots were produced. Jesus +took the maggots from the wound and placed them in the hollow of a +tree. When next they passed that way, "Jesus directed Paul to look +in the tree hollow where, to his surprise, he found bees and honey +sprung from his own head".[77] The custom of placing crape on hives +and "telling the bees" when a death takes place, which still survives +in the south of England and in the north of Scotland, appears to be +connected with the ancient belief that the maggot, bee, and tree were +connected with the sacred animal and the sacred stone in which was +the spirit of a deity. Sacred trees and sacred stones were intimately +connected. Tacitus tells us that the Romans invaded Mona (Anglesea), +they destroyed the sacred groves in which the Druids and black-robed +priestesses covered the altars with the blood of captives.[78] +There are a number of dolmens on this island and traces of ancient +mine-workings, indicating that it had been occupied by the early +seafarers who colonized Britain and Ireland and worked metals. A +connection between the tree cult of the Druids and the cult of the +builders of megaliths is thus suggested by Tacitus, as well as by +the Irish evidence regarding the Ulster idol Crom Chonnaill, referred +to above (see also Chapter XII). + + [76] A worm crept from the heart of a dead Phoenix, and gave + origin to a new Phoenix.--_Herodotus_, II, 73. + + [77] Rendel Harris, _The Ascent of Olympus_, p. 2. + + [78] _Annals of Tacitus_, Book XIV, Chapter 29-30. + +Who were the people that followed the earliest Easterners and visited +our shores to search like them for metals and erect megalithic +monuments? It is impossible to answer that question with certainty. +There were after the introduction of bronze working, as has been +indicated, intrusions of aliens. These included the introducers of +the short-barrow method of burial and the later introducers of burial +by cremation. It does not follow that all intrusions were those of +conquerors. Traders and artisans may have come with their families in +large numbers and mingled with the earlier peoples. Some intruders +appear to have come by overland routes from southern and central +France and from Central Europe and the Danube valley, while others +came across the sea from Spain. That a regular over-seas trade-route +was in existence is indicated by the references made by classical +writers to the Cassiterides (Tin Islands). Strabo tells that the +natives "bartered tin and hides with merchants for pottery, salt, and +articles of bronze". The Phoenicians, as has been noted, "monopolized +the trade from Gades (Cadiz) with the islanders and kept the route +a close secret". It was probably along this sea-route that Egyptian +blue beads reached Britain. Professor Sayce has identified a number +of these in Devizes Museum, and writes: + + "They are met with plentifully in the Early Bronze Age tumuli + of Wiltshire in association with amber beads and barrel-shaped + beads of jet or lignite. Three of them come from Stonehenge + itself. Similar beads of ivory have been found in a Bronze Age + cist near Warminster: if the material is really ivory it must + have been derived from the East. The cylindrical faience beads, + it may be added, have been discovered in Dorsetshire as well as + in Wiltshire." + +Professor Sayce emphasizes that these blue beads "belong to one +particular period in Egyptian history, the latter part of the +Eighteenth Dynasty and the earlier part of the Nineteenth Dynasty.... +The period to which they belong may be dated 1450-1250 B.C., and as +we must allow some time for their passage across the trade routes +to Wiltshire an approximate date for their presence in the British +barrows will be 1300 B.C." + + [Illustration: Beads from Bronze Age Barrows on Salisbury Plain + + The large central bead and the small round ones are of amber; the + long plain ones are of jet; and the long segmented or notched + beads are of an opaque blue substance (faience).] + +Dr. H. R. Hall, of the British Museum, who discovered, at Deir +el-Bahari in Egypt, "thousands of blue glaze beads of the exact +particular type of those found in Britain", says that they date back +till "about 1500 B.C.". He noted the resemblance before Professor +Sayce had written. "It is gratifying", he comments, "that the +Professor agrees that the Devizes beads are undoubtedly Egyptian, as +an important voice is thereby added to the consensus of opinion on +the subject." Similar beads have been found in the "Middle Bronze Age +in Crete and in Western Europe". Dr. Hall thinks the Egyptian beads +may have reached Britain as early as "about 1400 B.C.".[79] We have +thus provided for us an early date in British history, based on the +well authenticated chronology of the Empire period of Ancient Egypt. +Easterners, or traders in touch with Easterners, reached our shores +carrying Egyptian beads shortly before or early in the fourteenth +century B.C. At this time amber was being imported into the south of +England from the Baltic, while jet was being carried from Whitby in +Yorkshire. + + [79] The _Journal of Egyptian Archæology_, Vol. I, part I, pp. + 18-19. + +After the introduction of bronze working in Western Europe the +natives began to work and use metals. These could not have been +Celts, for in the fourteenth century B.C. the Celts had not yet +reached Western Europe.[80] The earliest searchers for metals who +visited Britain must therefore have been the congeners of those who +erected the megalithic monuments in the metal-yielding areas of Spain +and Portugal and north-western France. + + [80] It may be that Celtic chronology will have to be readjusted + in the light of recent discoveries. + +It would appear that the early Easterners exploited the virgin riches +of Western Europe for a long period--perhaps for over a thousand +years--and that, after their Spanish colonies were broken up by a +bronze-using people from Central Europe, the knowledge of how to +work metals spread among the natives. Overland trade routes were +then opened up. At first these were controlled in Western Europe by +the Iberians. In time the Celts swept westward and formed with the +natives mixed communities of Celtiberians. The Easterners appear to +have inaugurated a new era in Western European commerce after the +introduction of iron working. They had colonies in the south and +west of Europe and on the North African coast, and obtained supplies +of metals, &c., by sea. They kept the sea-routes secret. British +ores, &c., were carried to Spain and Carthage. After Pytheas visited +Britain (see next chapter) the overland trade-route to Marseilles was +opened up. Supplies of surface tin having become exhausted, tin-mines +were opened in Cornwall. The trade of Britain then came under the +control of Celtiberian and Celtic peoples, who had acquired their +knowledge of shipbuilding and navigation from the Easterners and the +mixed descendants of Eastern and Iberian peoples. + +It does not follow that the early and later Easterners were all of +one physical type. They, no doubt, brought with them their slaves, +including miners and seamen, drawn from various countries where they +had been purchased or abducted. + +The men who controlled the ancient trade were not necessarily +permanent settlers in Western Europe. When the carriers of bronze +from Central Europe obtained control of the Iberian colonies, many +traders may have fled to other countries, but many colonists, and +especially the workers, may have become the slaves of the intruders, +as did the Fir-bolgs of Ireland who were subdued by the Celts. +The Damnonians of Britain and Ireland who occupied mineral areas +may have been a "wave" of early Celtic or Celtiberian people. +Ultimately the Celts came, as did the later Normans, and formed +military aristocracies over peoples of mixed descent. The idea +that each intrusion involved the extermination of earlier peoples +is a theory which does not accord with the evidence of the ancient +Gaelic manuscripts, of classical writers, of folk tradition, and of +existing race types in different areas in Britain and Ireland. + +A people who exterminated those they conquered would have robbed +themselves of the chief fruits of conquest. In ancient as in later +times the aim of conquest was to obtain the services of a subject +people and the control of trade. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +Celts and Iberians as Intruders and Traders + + Few Invasions in 1000 Years--Broad-heads--The Cremating + People--A New Religion--Celtic People in Britain--The + Continental Celts--Were Celts Dark or Fair?--Fair Types in + Britain and Ireland--Celts as Pork Traders--The Ancient + Tin Trade--Early Explorers--Pytheas and Himilco--The + Cassiterides--Tin Mines and Surface Tin--Cornish Tin--Metals in + Hebrides and Ireland--Lead in Orkney--Dark People in Hebrides + and Orkney--Celtic Art--Homeric Civilization in Britain and + Ireland--Why Romans were Conquerors. + + +The beginnings of the Bronze and Iron Ages in Britain are, according +to the chronology favoured by archæologists, separated by about a +thousand years. During this long period only two or three invasions +appear to have taken place, but it is uncertain, as has been +indicated, whether these came as sudden outbursts from the Continent +or were simply gradual and peaceful infiltrations of traders and +settlers. We really know nothing about the broad-headed people who +introduced the round-barrow system of burial, or of the people who +cremated their dead. The latter became predominant in south-western +England and part of Wales. In the north of England the cremating +people were less numerous. If they were conquerors they may have, +as has been suggested, represented military aristocracies. It may +be, however, on the other hand, that the cremation custom had in +some areas more a religious than a racial significance. The beliefs +associated with cremation of the dead may have spread farther than +the people who introduced the new religion. It would appear that the +habit of burning the dead was an expression of the beliefs that souls +were transported by means of fire to the Otherworld paradise. As much +is indicated by Greek evidence. Homer's heroes burned their dead, +and when the ghost of Patroklos appeared to his friend Achilles in a +dream, he said: "Thou sleepest, and hast forgotten me, O Achilles. +Not in my life wast thou unmindful of me, but in my death. Bury me +with all speed, that I may pass the gates of Hades. Far off the +spirits banish me, the phantoms of men outworn, nor suffer me to +mingle with them beyond the River, but vainly I wander along the +wide-gated dwelling of Hades. Now give me, I pray pitifully of thee, +thy hand, for never more again shall I come back from Hades, when ye +have given me my due of fire."[81] The Arab traveller Ibn Haukal, who +describes a tenth-century cremation ceremony at Kieff, was addressed +by a Russ, who said: "As for you Arabs you are mad, for those who +are the most dear to you, and whom you honour most, you place in the +ground, where they will become a prey to worms, whereas with us they +are burned in an instant and go straight to Paradise."[82] + + [81] _Iliad_, XXIII, 75 (Lang, Leaf, and Myers' translation, p. + 452). + + [82] _The Mythology of the Eddas_, pp. 538-9 (_Transactions of + the Royal Society of Literature_, second series, Vol. XII). + +The cremating people, who swept into Greece and became the over-lords +of the earlier settlers, were represented in the western movement of +tribes towards Gaul and Britain. It is uncertain where the cremation +custom had origin. Apparently it entered Europe from Asia. The Vedic +Aryans who invaded Northern India worshipped the fire-god Agni, who +was believed to carry souls to Paradise; they cremated their dead and +combined with it the practice of _suttee_, that is, of burning the +widows of the dead. In Gaul, however, as we gather from Julius Cæsar, +only those widows suspected of being concerned in the death of their +husbands were burned. The Norsemen, however, were acquainted with +_suttee_. In one of the Volsung lays Brynhild rides towards the pyre +on which Sigurd is being burned, and casts herself into the flames. +The Russians strangled and burned widows when great men were cremated. + +The cremating people erected megalithic monuments, some of which +cover their graves in Britain and elsewhere. + +In some districts the intruders of the Bronze Age were the earliest +settlers. The evidence of the graves in Buchan, Aberdeenshire, for +instance, shows that the broad-heads colonized that area. It may be +that, like the later Norsemen, bands of people sought for new homes +in countries where the struggle for existence would be less arduous +than in their own, which suffered from over population, and did not +land at points where resistance was offered to them. Agriculturists +would, no doubt, select areas suitable for their mode of life and +favour river valleys, while seafarers and fishermen would cling to +the coasts. The tendency of fishermen and agriculturists to live +apart in separate communities has persisted till our own time. There +are fishing villages along the east coast of Scotland the inhabitants +of which rarely intermarry with those who draw their means of +sustenance from the land. + +During the Bronze Age Celtic peoples were filtering into Britain from +Gaul. They appear to have come originally from the Danube area as +conquerors who imposed their rule on the people they subjected. Like +the Achæans who overran Greece they seem to have originally been a +vigorous pastoral people who had herds of pigs, were "horse-tamers", +used chariots, and were fierce and impetuous in battle. In time +they crossed the Rhine and occupied Gaul. They overcame the +Etruscans. In 390 B.C. they sacked Rome. Their invasion of Greece +occurred in the third century, but their attempt to reach Delphi was +frustrated. Crossing into Asia Minor they secured a footing in the +area subsequently known as Galatia, and their descendants there were +addressed in an epistle by St. Paul. + +Like the Achæans, the Celts appear to have absorbed the culture of +the Ægean area and that of the Ægean colony at Hallstatt in Austria. +They were withal the "carriers" of the La Tène Iron Age culture to +Britain and Ireland. The potter's wheel was introduced by them into +Britain during the archæological early Iron Age. It is possible that +the cremating people of the Bronze Age were a Celtic people. But +later "waves" of the fighting charioteers did not cremate their dead. + +Sharp difference of opinion exists between scholars regarding +the Celts. Some identify them with the dark-haired, broad-headed +Armenoids, and others with the tall and fair long-headed people +of Northern Europe. It is possible that the Celts were not a pure +race, but rather a confederacy of peoples who were influenced at +different periods by different cultures. That some sections were +confederacies or small nations of blended people is made evident by +classic references to the Celtiberians, the Celto-Scythians, the +Celto-Ligyes, the Celto-Thracians, and the Celtillyrians. On reaching +Britain they mingled with the earlier settlers, forming military +aristocracies, and dominating large areas. The fair Caledonians +of Scotland had a Celtic tribal name, and used chariots in battle +like the Continental Celts. Two Caledonian personal names are +known--Calgacus ("swordsman") and Argentocoxus ("white foot"). In +Ireland the predominant tribes before and during the early Roman +period were of similar type. Queen Meave of Connaught was like +Queen Boadicea[83] of the Iceni, a fair-haired woman who rode to +battle in a chariot. + + [83] _Boudicca_ was her real name. + + [Illustration: Weapons and Religious Objects (British Museum) + + Bronze socketed celts, bronze dagger, sword and spear-heads from + Thames; two bronze boars with "sun-disc" ears, which were worn + on armour; bronze "sun-disc" from Ireland; "chalk drum" from + grave (Yorkshire), with ornamentation showing butterfly and St. + Andrew's Cross symbols; warrior with shield, from rock carving + (Denmark).] + +The Continental trade routes up the Danube and Rhone valleys leading +towards Britain were for some centuries under the control of the +Celts. It was no doubt to obtain a control over trade that they +entered Britain and Ireland. On the Continent they engaged in pork +curing, and supplied Rome and indeed the whole of Italy with smoked +and salted bacon. Dr. Sullivan tells that among the ancient Irish +the general name for bacon was _tini_. Smoke-cured hams and flitches +were called _tineiccas_, which "is almost identical in form with +the Gallo-Roman word _taniaccae_ or _tanacae_ used by Varro for +hams imported from Transalpine Gaul into Rome and other parts of +Italy". Puddings prepared from the blood of pigs--now known as "black +puddings"--were, we learn from Varro, likewise exported from Gaul to +Italy. The ancient Irish were partial to "black puddings".[84] It +would appear, therefore, that the so-called dreamy Celt was a greasy +pork merchant. + + [84] Introduction to O'Curry's _Manners and Customs of the + Ancient Irish_, Vol. I, pp. ccclxix _et seq._ + +According to Strabo the exports from Britain in the early part of the +first century consisted of gold, silver, and iron, wheat, cattle, +skins, slaves, and dogs; while the imports included ivory ornaments, +such as bracelets, amber beads, and glass. Tin was exported from +Cornwall to Gaul, and carried overland to Marseilles, but this does +not appear to have been the earliest route. As has been indicated, +tin appears to have been carried, before the Celts obtained control +of British trade, by the sea route to the Carthaginian colonies in +Spain. + +The Carthaginians had long kept secret the sources of their supplies +of tin from the group of islands known as the Cassiterides. About +322 B.C., however, the Greek merchants at Marseilles fitted out an +expedition which was placed in charge of Pytheas, a mathematician, +for the purpose of exploring the northern area. This scholar wrote an +account of his voyage, but only fragments of it quoted by different +ancient authors have come down to us. He appears to have coasted +round Spain and Brittany, and to have sailed up the English Channel +to Kent, to have reached as far north as Orkney and Shetland, and +perhaps, as some think, Iceland, to have crossed the North Sea +towards the mouth of the Baltic, and explored a part of the coast +of Norway. He returned to Britain, which he appears to have partly +explored before crossing over to Gaul. In an extract from his diary, +quoted by Strabo, he tells that the Britons in certain districts not +detailed grew corn, millet, and vegetables. Such of them as had corn +and honey made a beverage from these materials. They brought the +corn ears into great houses (barns) and threshed them there, for on +account of the rain and lack of sunshine out-door threshing floors +were of little use to them. Pytheas noted that in Britain the days +were longer and the nights brighter than in the Mediterranean area. +In the northern parts he visited the nights were so short that the +interval between sunset and sunrise was scarcely perceptible. The +farthest north headland of Britain was Cape Orcas.[85] Six days sail +north of Britain lay Thule, which was situated near the frozen sea. +There a day lasted six months and a night for the same space of time. + + [85] _Orcas_ is a Celtic word signifying "young boar". + +Another extract refers to hot springs in Britain, and a presiding +deity identified with Minerva, in whose temple "the fires never go +out, yet never whiten into ashes; when the fire has got dull it +turns into round lumps like stones". Apparently coal was in use at a +temple situated at Bath. Timæus, a contemporary of Pytheas, quoting +from the lost diary of the explorer, states that tin was found on an +island called Mictis, lying inwards (northward) at a distance of six +days' sail from Britain. The natives made voyages to and from the +island in their canoes of wickerwork covered with hides. Mictis could +not have been Cornwall or an island in the English Channel. Strabo +states that Crassus, who succeeded in reaching the Cassiterides, +announced that the distance to them was greater than that from the +Continent to Britain, and he found that the tin ore lay on the +surface. Evidently tin was not mined on the island of Mictis as it +was in Cornwall in later times. + +An earlier explorer than Pytheas was Himilco, the Carthaginian. He +reached Britain about 500 B.C. A Latin metrical rendering of his lost +work was made by Rufus Festus Avienus in the fourth century of our +era. Reference is made to the islands called the OEstrymnides that +"raise their heads, lie scattered, and are rich in tin and lead". +These islands were visited by Himilco, and were distant "two days +voyage from the Sacred Island (Ireland) and near the broad Isle of +the Albiones". As Rufus Festus Avienus refers to "the hardy folk of +Britain", his Albiones may have been the people of Scotland. The +name Albion was originally applied to England and Scotland. In the +first century, however, Latin writers never used "Albion" except as +a curiosity, and knew England as Britain. According to Himilco, the +Tartessi of Spain were wont to trade with the natives of the northern +tin islands. Even the Carthaginians "were accustomed to visit these +seas". From other sources we learn that the Phoenicians carried tin +from the Cassiterides direct to the Spanish port of Corbilo, the +exact location of which is uncertain. + + [Illustration: ENAMELLED BRONZE SHIELD (from the Thames near + Battersea) + + (British Museum)] + +It is of special importance to note that the tin-stone was collected +on the surface of the islands before mining operations were +conducted elsewhere. In all probability the laborious work of digging +mines was not commenced before the available surface supplies became +scanty. According to Sir John Rhys[86] the districts in southern +England, where surface tin was first obtained, were "chiefly +Dartmoor, with the country round Tavistock and that around St. +Austell, including several valleys looking towards the southern coast +of Cornwall. In most of the old districts where tin existed, it is +supposed to have lain too deep to have been worked in early times." +When, however, Poseidonius visited Cornwall in the first century of +our era, he found that a beginning had been made in skilful mining +operations. It may be that the trade with the Cassiterides was +already languishing on account of changed political conditions and +the shortage of supplies. + + [86] _Celtic Britain_, p. 44. + +Where then were the Cassiterides? M. Reinach struck at the heart of +the problem when he asked, "In what western European island is tin +found?" Those writers who have favoured the group of islands off the +north-western coast of Spain are confronted by the difficulty that +these have failed to yield traces of tin, while those writers who +favour Cornwall and the Scilly Islands cannot ignore the precise +statements that the "tin islands" were farther distant from the +Continent than Britain, and that in the time of Pytheas tin was +carried from Mictis, which was six days' sail from Britain. The fact +that traces of tin, copper, and lead have been found in the Hebrides +is therefore of special interest. Copper, too, has been found in +Shetland, and lead and zinc in Orkney. Withal there are Gaelic +place-names in which _staoin_ (tin) is referred to, in Islay, Jura +(where there are traces of old mine-workings), in Iona, and on the +mainland of Ross-shire. Traces of tin are said to have been found in +Lewis where the great stone circle of Callernish in a semi-barren +area indicates the presence at one time in its area of a considerable +population. The Hebrides may well have been the OEstrymnides of +Himilco and the Cassiterides of classical writers. Jura or Iona may +have been the Mictis of Pytheas. Tin-stone has been found in Ireland +too, near Dublin, in Wicklow, and in Killarney. + +The short dark people in the Hebrides and Orkney may well be, like +the Silurians of Wales, the descendants of the ancient mine workers. +They have been referred to by some as descendants of the crews of +wrecked ships of the Spanish Armada, and by others as remnants of the +Lost Ten Tribes. + +In Irish Gaelic literature, however, there is evidence that the +dark people were in ancient times believed to be the descendants +of the Fir-bolgs (men with sacks), the Fir-domnann (the men who +dug the ground), and the Galioin (Gauls). Campbell in his _West +Highland Tales_ has in a note referred to the dark Hebrideans. +"Behind the fire", he wrote, "sat a girl with one of those strange +faces which are occasionally to be seen in the Western Isles, a +face which reminded me of the Nineveh sculptures, and of faces seen +in San Sebastian. Her hair was black as night, and her clear dark +eyes glittered through the peat smoke. Her complexion was dark, and +her features so unlike those who sat about her that I asked if she +were a native of the island (of Barra), and learned that she was a +Highland girl." It may be that the dark Eastern people were those who +introduced the Eastern and non-Celtic, non-Teutonic prejudice against +pork as food into Scotland. In Ireland the Celtic people apparently +obliterated the "taboo" at an early period. + +It was during the Archæological Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages that +the Celtic artistic patterns reached England. These betray affinities +with Ægean motifs, and they were afterwards developed in Ireland and +Scotland. In both countries they were fused with symbols of Egyptian +and Anatolian origin. + +Like the Celts and the pre-Hellenic people of Greece and Crete, the +Britons and the Irish wore breeches. The Roman poet, Martial,[87] +satirizes a _life_ "as loose as the old breeches of a British +pauper". Claudian, the poet, pictures Britannia with her cheeks +tattoed and wearing a sea-coloured cloak and a cap of bear-skin. The +fact that the Caledonians fought with scanty clothing, as did the +Greeks, and as did the Highlanders in historic times, must not be +taken as proof that they could not manufacture cloth. According to +Rhys, Briton means a "cloth clad"[88] person. The bronze fibulæ found +at Bronze Age sites could not have been used to fasten heavy skins. + + [87] _Ep._ X, 22. + + [88] _Celtic Britain_ (4th edition), p. 212. + +When the Romans reached Britain, the natives, like the heroes of +Homer, used chariots, and had weapons of bronze and iron. The +archæology of the ancient Irish stories is of similar character. + +In the Bronze Age the swords were pointed and apparently used chiefly +for thrusting. The conquerors who introduced the unpointed iron +swords were able to shatter the brittle bronze weapons. These iron +swords were in turn superseded by the pointed and well-tempered +swords of the Romans. But it was not only their superior weapons, +their discipline, and their knowledge of military strategy that +brought the Romans success. England was broken up into a number of +petty kingdoms. "Our greatest advantage", Tacitus confessed, "in +dealing with such powerful people is that they cannot act in concert; +it is seldom that even two or three tribes will join in meeting a +common danger; and so while each fights for himself they are all +conquered together."[89] + + [89] Tacitus, _Agricola_, Chap. XII. +When the Britons, under Agricola, began to adopt Roman civilization +they "rose superior", Tacitus says, "by the forces of their natural +genius, to the attainments of the Gauls". In time they adopted the +Roman dress,[90] which may have been the prototype of the kilt. The +Roman language supplanted the Celtic dialects in certain parts of +England. + + [90] _Agricola_, Chap. XXI. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Races of Britain and Ireland + + Colours of Ancient Races and Mythical Ages--Caucasian + Race Theory--The Aryan or Indo-European Theory--Races and + Languages--Celts and Teutons--Fair and Dark Palæolithic Peoples + in Modern Britain--Mediterranean Man--The Armenoid or Alpine + Broad-heads--Ancient British Tribes--Cruithne and Picts--The + Picts of the "Brochs" as Pirates and Traders--Picts and + Fairies--Scottish Types--Racial "Pockets". + + +The race problem has ever been one of engrossing interest to +civilized peoples. In almost every old mythology we meet with +theories that were formulated to account for the existence of +the different races living in the world, and for the races that +were supposed to have existed for a time and became extinct. An +outstanding feature of each racial myth is that the people among +whom it grew up are invariably represented to be the finest type of +humanity. + +A widespread habit, and one of great antiquity, was to divide +the races, as the world was divided, into four sections, and to +distinguish them by their colours. The colours were those of the +cardinal points and chiefly Black, White, Red, and Yellow. The same +system was adopted in dealing with extinct races. Each of these +were coloured according to the Age in which they had existence, and +the colours were connected with metals. In Greece and India, for +instance, the "Yellow Age" was a "Golden Age", the "White Age" a +"Silver Age", the "Red Age" a "Bronze Age", and the "Black Age" an +"Iron Age". + +Although the old theories regarding the mythical ages and mythical +races have long been discarded, the habit of dividing mankind and +their history into four sections, according to colours and the +metals chiefly used by them, is not yet extinct. We still speak of +the "Black man", the "Yellow man", the "Red man", and the "White +man". Archæologists have divided what they call the "pre-history of +mankind" into the two "Stone Ages", the "Bronze Age" and the "Iron +Age". The belief that certain races have become extinct as the +result of conquest by invaders is still traceable in those histories +that refer, for instance, to the disappearance of "Stone Age man" +or "Bronze Age man", or of the British Celts, or of the Picts of +Scotland. + +That some races have completely disappeared there can be no shadow +of a doubt. As we have seen, Neanderthal man entirely vanished from +the face of the globe, and has not left a single descendant among the +races of mankind. In our own day the Tasmanians have become extinct. +These cases, however, are exceptional. The complete extinction of a +race is an unusual thing in the history of mankind. A section may +vanish in one particular area and yet persist in another. As a rule, +in those districts where races are supposed to have perished, it is +found that they have been absorbed by intruders. In some cases the +chief change has been one of racial designation and nationality. + +Crô-Magnon man, who entered Europe when the Neanderthals were +hunting the reindeer and other animals, is still represented in +our midst. Dr. Collignon, the French ethnologist, who has found +many representatives of this type in the Dordogne valley where +their ancestors lived in the decorated cave-dwellings before their +organization was broken up by the Azilian and other intruders, shows +that the intrusion of minorities of males rarely leaves a permanent +change in a racial type. The alien element tends to disappear. +"When", he writes, "a race is well seated in a region, fixed to +the soil by agriculture, acclimatized by natural selection and +sufficiently dense, it opposes, for the most precise observations +confirm it, an enormous resistance to new-comers, whoever they may +be." Intruders of the male sex only may be bred out in time. + +Our interest here is with the races of Britain and Ireland, but, as +our native islands were peopled from the Continent, we cannot ignore +the evidence afforded by Western and Northern Europe when dealing +with our own particular phase of the racial problem. + +It is necessary in the first place to get rid of certain old theories +that were based on imperfect knowledge or wrong foundations. One +theory applies the term "Caucasian Man" to either a considerable +section or the majority of European peoples. "The utter absurdity of +the misnomer Caucasian, as applied to the blue-eyed and fair-haired +Aryan (?) race of Western Europe, is revealed", says Ripley,[91] "by +two indisputable facts. In the first place, this ideal blond type +does not occur within many hundred miles of Caucasia; and, secondly, +nowhere along the great Caucasian chain is there a single native +tribe making use of a purely inflectional or Aryan language." + + [91] _Races of Europe_, p. 436. + +The term "Aryan" is similarly a misleading one. It was invented +by Professor Max Müller and applied by him chiefly to a group +of languages at a time when races were being identified by the +languages they spoke. These peoples--with as different physical +characteristics as have Indians and Norseman, or Russians and +Spaniards, who spoke Indo-European, or, as German scholars have +patriotically adapted the term, Indo-Germanic languages--were +regarded by ethnologists of the "philological school" as members of +the one Indo-European or Aryan race or "family". Language, however, +is no sure indication of race. The spread of a language over wide +areas may be accounted for by trade or political influence or +cultural contact. In our own day the English language is spoken by +"Black", "Yellow", and "Red", as well as by "White" peoples. + +A safer system is to distinguish racial types by their physical +peculiarities. When, however, this system is applied in Europe, as +elsewhere, we shall still find differences between peoples. Habits +of thought and habits of life exercise a stronger influence over +individuals, and groups of individuals, than do, for instance, the +shape of their heads, the colours of their hair, eyes, and skin, or +the length and strength of their limbs. Two particular individuals +may be typical representatives of a distinct race and yet not only +speak different languages, but have a different outlook on life, and +different ideas as to what is right and what is wrong. Different +types of people are in different parts of the world united by their +sense of nationality. They are united by language, traditions, and +beliefs, and by their love of a particular locality in which they +reside or in which their ancestors were wont to reside. A sense +of nationality, such as unites the British Empire, may extend to +far-distant parts of the world. + + [Illustration: EUROPEAN TYPES + + I, Mediterranean. II, Crô-Magnon. III, Armenoid (Alpine). IV, + Northern.] + +But, while conscious of the uniting sense of nationality, our +people are at the same time conscious of and interested in their +physical differences and the histories of different sections of our +countrymen. The problem as to whether we are mainly Celtic or +mainly Teutonic is one of perennial interest. + +Here again, when dealing with the past, we meet with the same +condition of things that prevail at the present day. Both the ancient +Celts and the people they called Teutons ("strangers") were mixed +peoples with different physical peculiarities. The Celts known to +the Greeks were a tall, fair-haired people. In Western Europe, as +has been indicated, they mingled with the dark Iberians, and a +section of the mingled races was known to the Romans as Celtiberians. +The Teutons included the tall, fair, long-headed Northerners, and +the dark, medium-sized, broad-headed Central Europeans. Both the +fair Celts and the fair Teutons appear to have been sections of +the northern race known to antiquaries as the "Baltic people", or +"Maglemosians", who entered Europe from Siberia and "drifted" along +the northern and southern shores of the Baltic Sea--the ancient +"White Sea" of the "White people" of the "White North". As we have +seen, other types of humanity were "drifting" towards Britain at the +same time--that is, before the system of polishing stone implements +and weapons inaugurated what has been called the "Neolithic Age". + +As modern-day ethnologists have found that the masses of the +population in Great Britain and Ireland are of the early types known +to archæologists as Palæolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age men, the +race history of our people may be formulated as follows: + +The earliest inhabitants of our islands whose physical +characteristics can be traced among the living population were the +Crô-Magnon peoples. These were followed by the fair Northerners, +the "carriers" of Maglemosian culture, and the dark, medium-sized +Iberians, who were the "carriers" of Azilian-Tardenoisian culture. +There were thus fair people in England, Scotland, and Ireland +thousands of years before the invasions of Celts, Angles, Saxons, +Jutes, Norsemen, or Danes. + +For a long period, extending over many centuries, the migration +"stream" from the Continent appears to have been continuously +flowing. The carriers of Neolithic culture were in the main +Iberians of Mediterranean racial type--the descendants of the +Azilian-Tardenoisian peoples who used bows and arrows, and broke up +the Magdalenian civilization of Crô-Magnon man in western and central +Europe. This race appears to have been characterized in north and +north-east Africa. "So striking", writes Professor Elliot Smith, +"is the family likeness between the early Neolithic peoples of the +British Isles and the Mediterranean and the bulk of the population, +both ancient and modern, of Egypt and East Africa, that a description +of the bones of an Early Briton of that remote epoch might apply in +all essential details to an inhabitant of Somaliland."[92] + + [92] _The Ancient Egyptians_, p. 58. + +This proto-Egyptian (Iberian) people were of medium stature, had +long skulls and short narrow faces, and skeletons of slight and +mild build; their complexions were as dark as those of the southern +Italians in our own day, and they had dark-brown or black hair with +a tendency to curl; the men had scanty facial hair, except for a +chin-tuft beard. + +These brunets introduced the agricultural mode of life, and, as they +settled on the granite in south-western England, appear to have +searched for gold there, and imported flint from the settlers on the +upper chalk formation. + +In time Europe was invaded from Asia Minor by increasing numbers of +an Asiatic, broad-headed, long-bearded people of similar type to +those who had filtered into Central Europe and reached Belgium and +Denmark before Neolithic times. This type is known as the "Armenoid +race" (the "Alpine race" of some writers). It was quite different +from the long-headed and fair Northern type and the short, brunet +Mediterranean (proto-Egyptian and Iberian) type. The Armenoid +skeletons found in the early graves indicate that the Asiatics were a +medium-sized, heavily-built people, capable, as the large bosses on +their bones indicate, of considerable muscular development. + +During the archæological Bronze Age these Armenoids reached Britain +in considerable numbers, and introduced the round-barrow method of +burial. They do not appear, however, as has been indicated, to have +settled in Ireland. + +At a later period Britain was invaded by a people who cremated their +dead. As they thus destroyed the evidence that would have afforded us +an indication of their racial affinities, their origin is obscure. + +While these overland migrations were in progress, considerable +numbers of peoples appear to have reached Britain and Ireland by sea +from northern and north-western France, Portugal, and Spain. They +settled chiefly in the areas where metals and pearls were once found +or are still found. "Kitchen middens" and megalithic remains are in +Ireland mainly associated with pearl-yielding rivers. + +The fair Celts and the darker Celtiberians were invading and settling +in Britain before and after the Romans first reached its southern +shores. During the Roman period, the ruling caste was mainly of +south-European type, but the Roman legions were composed of Gauls, +Germans, and Iberians, as well as Italians. No permanent change +took place in the ethnics of Britain during the four centuries of +Roman occupation. The Armenoid broad-heads, however, became fewer: +"the disappearance", as Ripley puts it, "of the round-barrow men +is the last event of the prehistoric period which we are able to +distinguish". The inhabitants of the British Isles are, on the whole, +long-headed. "Highland and lowland, city or country, peasant or +philosopher, all are", says Ripley, "practically alike in respect to +this fundamental racial characteristic." Broad-headed types are, of +course, to be found, but they are in the minority. + + [Illustration: + + Valentine + + RUINS OF PICTISH TOWER AT CARLOWAY, LEWIS + + Modern "black house" in the foreground.] + +The chief source of our knowledge regarding the early tribes or +little nations of Britain and Ireland is the work of Ptolemy, the +geographer, who lived between A.D. 50 and 150, from which the +earliest maps were compiled in the fourth century. He shows that +England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland were divided among a number of +peoples. The Dumnonii,[93] as has been stated, were in possession of +Devon and Cornwall, as well as of a large area in the south-western +and central lowlands of Scotland. Near them were the Durotriges, who +were also in Ireland. Sussex was occupied by the Regni and Kent by +the Cantion. The Atrebates, the Belgæ, and the Parisii were invaders +from Gaul during the century that followed Cæsar's invasion. The +Belgæ lay across the neck of the land between the Bristol Channel +and the Isle of Wight; the Atrebates clung to the River Thames, +while the Parisii, who gave their name to Paris, occupied the east +coast between the Wash and the Humber. Essex was the land of the +Iceni or Eceni, the tribe of Boadicea (Boudicca). Near them were the +Catuvellauni (men who rejoiced in battle) who were probably rulers of +a league, and the Trinovantes, whose name is said to signify "very +vigorous". The most important tribe of the north and midlands of +England was the Brigantes,[94] whose sphere of influence extended to +the Firth of Forth, where they met the Votadini, who were probably +kinsmen or allies. On the north-west were the Setantii, who appear +to have been connected with the Brigantes in England and Ireland. +Cuchullin, the hero of the Red Branch of Ulster, was originally named +Setanta.[95] In south Wales the chief tribe was the Silures, whose +racial name is believed to cling to the Scilly (Silura) Islands. +They were evidently like the Dumnonii a metal-working people. +South-western Wales was occupied by the Demetæ (the "firm folk"). In +south-western Scotland, the Selgovæ ("hunters") occupied Galloway, +their nearest neighbours being the Novantæ of Wigtownshire. The +Selgovæ may have been those peoples known later as the Atecotti. From +Fife to southern Aberdeenshire the predominant people on the east +were the Vernicones. In north-east Aberdeenshire were the Tæxali. +To the west of these were the Vacomagi. The Caledonians occupied +the Central Highlands from Inverness southward to Loch Lomond. In +Ross-shire were the Decantæ, a name resembling Novantæ and Setantii. +The Lugi and Smertæ (smeared people) were farther north. The Cornavii +of Caithness and North Wales were those who occupied the "horns" or +"capes". Along the west of Scotland were peoples called the Cerones, +Creones, and Carnonacæ, or Carini, perhaps a sheep-rearing people. +The Epidii were an Argyll tribe, whose name is connected with that +of the horse--perhaps a horse-god.[96] Orkney enshrines the tribal +name of the boar--perhaps that of the ancient boar-god represented +on a standing stone near Inverness with the sun symbol above its +head. The Gaelic name of the Shetlanders is "Cat". Caithness is the +county of the "Cat" people, too. Professor Watson reminds us that the +people of Sutherland are still "Cats" in Gaelic, and that the Duke of +Sutherland is referred to as "Duke of the Cats". + + [93] Englished "Damnonians" (Chapter IX). + + [94] Tacitus says that the Brigantes were in point of numbers the + most considerable folkin Britain (_Agricola_, Chapter XVII). + + [95] Evidently Cuchullin and other heroes of the "Red Branch" in + Ireland were descended from peoples who had migrated into Ireland + from Britain. Their warriors in the old manuscript tales receive + their higher military training in Alba. It is unlikely they would + have been trained in a colony. + + [96] Ancient sacred stones with horses depicted on them survive + in Scotland. In Harris one horse-stone remains in an old church tower. + +The Picts are not mentioned by Ptolemy. They appear to have been an +agricultural and sea-faring people who (_c._ A.D. 300) engaged in +trade and piracy. A flood of light has been thrown on the Pictish +problem by Professor W. J. Watson, Edinburgh.[97] He shows that +when Agricola invaded Scotland (A.D. 85) the predominant people +were the Caledonians. Early in the third century the Caledonians +and Mæatæ--names which included all the tribes north of Hadrian's +Wall--were so aggressive that Emperor Septimus Severus organized a +great expedition against them. He pressed northward as far as the +southern shore of the Moray Firth, and, although he fought no battle, +lost 50,000 men in skirmishes, &c. The Caledonians and Mæatæ rose +again, and Severus was preparing a second expedition when he died +at York in A.D. 211. His son, Caracalla, withdrew from Scotland +altogether. The Emperor Constantius, who died at York in A.D. 306, +had returned from an expedition, not against the Caledonians, but +against the Picts. The Picts were beginning to become prominent. In +360 they had again to be driven back. They had then become allies +of the Scots from Ulster, who were mentioned in A.D. 297 by the +orator Eumenius, as enemies of the Britons in association with the +Picti. Professor Watson, drawing on Gaelic evidence, dates the first +settlement of the Scots in Argyll "about A.D. 180". + + [97] _The Picts_, Inverness, 1921 (lecture delivered to the + Gaelic Society of Inverness and reprinted from _The Inverness + Courier_). + +In 368 the Caledonians were, like the Verturiones, a division of the +Picts. Afterwards their tribal name disappeared. That the Picts and +Caledonians were originally separate peoples is made clear by the +statement of a Roman orator who said: "I do not mention the woods +and marshes of the Caledonians, the Picts, and others". In 365 the +Pecti, Saxons, Scots, and Atecotti harassed the Britons. Thus by the +fourth century the Picts had taken the place of the Caledonians as +the leading tribe, or as the military aristocrats of a great part of +Scotland, the name of which, formerly Caledonia, came to be Pictland, +Pictavia. + +Who then were the Picts? Professor Watson shows that the racial name +is in old Norse "Pettr", in Old English "Peohta", and in old Scots +"Pecht"[98] These forms suggest that the original name was "Pect". +Ammianus refers to the "Pecti". In old Welsh "Peith-wyr" means +"Pict-men" and "Peith" comes from "Pect". The derivation from the +Latin "pictus" (painted) must therefore be rejected. It should be +borne in mind in this connection that the Ancient Britons stained +their bodies with woad. The application of the term "painted" to +only one section of them seems improbable. "Pecti", says Professor +Watson, "cannot be separated etymologically from Pictones, the name +of a Gaulish tribe on the Bay of Biscay south of the Loire, near +neighbours of the Veneti. Their name shows the same variation +between Pictones and Pectones. We may therefore claim Pecti as a +genuine Celtic word. It is of the Cymric or Old British and Gaulish +type, not of the Gaelic type, for Gaelic has no initial P, while +those others have." Gildas (_c._ A.D. 570), Bede (_c._ A.D. 730), and +Nennius (_c._ A.D. 800) refer to the Picts as a people from the north +of Scotland. Nennius says they occupied Orkney first. The legends +which connect the Picts with Scythia and Hercules were based on +Virgil's mention of "picti Agathyrsi" and "picti Geloni" (_Æneid_ IV, +146, _Georgics_, II, 115) combined with the account by Herodotus (IV, +10) of the descent of Gelonus and Agathyrsus from Hercules. Of late +origin therefore was the Irish myth that the Picts from Scythia were +called Agathyrsi and were descended from Gelon, son of Hercules. + + [98] The fact that in the Scottish Lowlands the fairies were + sometimes called "Pechts" has been made much of by those who + contend that the prototypes of the fairies were the original + inhabitants of Western Europe. This theory ignores the + well-established custom of giving human names to supernatural + beings. In Scotland the hill-giants (Fomorians) have been + re-named after Arthur (as in Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh), Patrick + (Inverness), Wallace (Eildon Hills), Samson (Ben Ledi), &c. + In like manner fairies were referred to as Pechts. The Irish + evidence is of similar character. The Danann deities were + consigned to fairyland. Donald Gorm, a West Highland chief, gave + his name to an Irish fairy. Fairyland was the old Paradise. + Arthur, Thomas the Rhymer, Finn-mac-Coul, &c., became "fairy-men" + after death. A good deal of confusion has been caused by + mistranslating the Scottish Gaelic word _sith_ (Irish _sidhe_) + as "fairy". The word _sith_ (pronounced _shee_) means anything + unearthly or supernatural, and the "peace" of supernatural + life--of death after life, as well as the silence of the + movements of supernatural beings. The cuckoo was supposed to + dwell for a part of the year in the underworld, and was called + _eun sith_ ("supernatural bird"). Mysterious epidemics were + _sith_ diseases. There were _sith_ (supernatural) dogs, cats, + mice, cows, &c., as well as _sith_ men and _sith_ women. + +There never were Picts in Ireland, except as visitors. The theory +about the Irish Picts arose by mistranslating the racial name +"Cruithne" as "Picts". Communities of Cruithne were anciently settled +in the four provinces of Ireland, but Cruithne means Britons not +Picts. + + [Illustration: + + Valentine + + A SCOTTISH "BROCH" (Mousa, Shetland Isles) + + Compare with Sardinian _Nuraghe_, page 136.] + +The ancient name of Great Britain was Albion, while Ireland was in +Greek "Ierne", and in Latin "Iubernia" (later "Hibernia"). The racial +name was applied by Pliny to Albion and Hibernia when he referred +to the island group as "Britanniæ". Ptolemy says that Albion is "a +Britannic isle" and further that Albion (England and Scotland) was +an island "belonging to the Britannic Isles". Ireland was also a +Britannic isle. It is therefore quite clear that the Britons were +regarded as the predominant people in England, Wales, Scotland, +and Ireland, and that the verdict of history includes Ireland in +the British Isles. The Britons were P-Celts, and their racial +name "Pretan-Pritan" became in the Gaelic language of the Q-Celts +"Cruithen", plural "Cruithne". + +In Latin the British Isles are called after their inhabitants, +the rendering being "Britanni", while in Greek it is "Pretannoi" or +"Pretanoi". As Professor W. J. Watson and Professor Sir J. Morris +Jones, two able and reliable philologists, have insisted, the Greek +form is the older and more correct, and the Latin form is merely an +adaptation of the Greek form. + +In the early centuries of our era the term "Britannus" was shortened +in Latin to "Britto" plural "Brittones". This diminutive form, which +may be compared with "Scotty" for Scotsman, became popular. In +Gaelic it originated the form "Breatain", representing "Brittones" +(Britons), which was applied to the Britons of Strathclyde, Wales, +and Cornwall, who retained their native speech under Roman rule; +in Welsh, the rendering was "Brython". The Welsh name for Scotland +became "Prydyn". The northern people of Scotland, having come under +the sway of the Picts, were referred to as Picts just as they became +"Scots" after the tribe of Scots rose into prominence. In this sense +the Scottish Cruithne were Picts. But the Cruithne (Britons) of +Ireland were never referred to as Picts. Modern scholars who have +mixed up Cruithne and Picts are the inventors of the term "Irish +Picts". + +The Picts of Scotland have been traditionally associated with the +round buildings known as "brochs", which are all built on the same +plan. "Of 490 known brochs", says Professor W. J. Watson, "Orkney +and Shetland possess 145, Caithness has 150, and Sutherland 67--a +total of 362. On the mainland south of Sutherland there are 10 in +Ross, 6 Inverness-shire, 2 in Forfar, 1 in Stirling, Midlothian, +Selkirk, and Berwick-shires, 3 in Wigtownshire. In the Isles there +are 28 in Lewis, 10 in Harris, 30 in Skye, 1 in Raasay, and at least +5 in the isles of Argyll. The inference is that the original seat of +the broch builders must have been in the far north, and that their +influence proceeded southwards. The masonry and contents of the +brochs prove them to be the work of a most capable people, who lived +partly at least by agriculture and had a fairly high standard of +civilization.... The distribution of the brochs also indicate that +their occupants combined agriculture with sea-faring.... The Wigtown +brochs, like the west coast ones generally, are all close to the sea, +and in exceedingly strong positions." + +These Scottish brochs bear a striking resemblance to the _nuraghi_ +of the island of Sardinia. Both the broch and the _nuraghe_ have +low doorways which "would at once put an enemy at a disadvantage in +attempting to enter". + +Describing the Sardinian structures, Mr. T. Eric Peet writes:[99] +"All the _nuraghi_ stand in commanding situations overlooking large +tracts of country, and the more important a position is from a +strategical point of view the stronger will be the _nuraghe_ which +defends it". Ruins of villages surround these structures. "There +cannot be the least doubt", says Peet, "that in time of danger the +inhabitants drove their cattle into the fortified enclosure, entered +it themselves, and then closed the gates." + + [99] _Rough Stone Monuments_, pp. 82 _et seq._ + +In the Balearic Islands are towers called _talayots_ which "resemble +rather closely", in Peet's opinion, the _nuraghi_ of Sardinia. +The architecture of the _talayots_, the _nuraghi_, and the brochs +resembles that of the bee-hive tombs of Mycenæ (pre-Hellenic Greece). +There are no brochs in Ireland. The "round towers" are of Christian +origin (between ninth and thirteenth centuries A.D.). A tomb at +Labbamologa, County Cork, however, resembles the tombs of the +Balearic Isles and Sardinia (Peet, _Rough Stone Monuments_, pp. 43-4). + +The Picts appear to have come to Scotland from the country of the +ancient Pictones, whose name survives in Poitiers (Poictiers) and +the province of Poitou in France. These Pictones were anciently +rivals of the Veneti, the chief sea-traders in Western and Northern +Europe during the pre-Roman period. We gather from Cæsar that the +Pictones espoused the cause of the Romans when the Veneti and their +allies revolted. They and their near neighbours, the Santoni, +supplied Cæsar with ships.[100] These were apparently skiffs which +were much lighter and smaller than the imposing vessels of the +Veneti. As the big vessels of the Armada were no match for the +smaller English vessels, so were the Veneti ships no match for the +skiffs of the Pictones. + + [100] _De Bello Gallico_, Book III, Chapter II. + +The Picts who settled in Orkney appear to have dominated the eastern +and western Scottish sea-routes. It is possible that they traded with +Scandinavia and imported Baltic amber. Tacitus states that the Baltic +people, who engaged in the amber trade, spoke a dialect similar to +that of Britain, worshipped the mother-goddess, and regarded the boar +as the symbol of their deity.[101] Orkney, as has been noted, is +derived from the old Celtic word for boar. The boar-people of Orkney +who came under the sway of the Picts may have been related to the +amber traders. + + [101] _Manners of the Germans_, Chapter XLV. The boar was the son + of a sow-goddess. Demeter had originally a sow form. + +The Scottish broch-people, associated in tradition with the Picts, +were notorious for their piratic habits. In those ancient days, +however, piracy was a common occupation. The later Vikings, who +seized the naval base of Orkney for the same reason we may conclude +as did the Picts, occupied the brochs. Viking means "pirate", as York +Powell has shown. In _Egil's Saga_ (Chapter XXXII) the hero Bjorn +"was sometimes in Viking but sometimes on trading voyages".[102] + + [102] _Scandinavian Britain_ (London, 1908), pp. 61-3. + +It may be that the term _pictus_ was confused with the racial +name Pecti, because the Picts had adopted the sailor-like habit +of tattoing their skins--a habit which probably had a religious +significance. Claudian, the fourth-century Roman poet, refers to "the +fading steel-wrought figures on the dying Pict". Like the sea-faring +Scots of northern Ireland who harried the Welsh coast between the +second and fifth centuries of our era, the Picts of Scotland had +skiffs (scaphæ) with sails and twenty oars a side. Vessels, masts, +ropes, and sails were painted a neutral tint, and the crews were +attired in the same colour. Thus "camouflaged", the Picts and Scots +were able to harry the coasts of Romanized Britain. They appear to +have turned Hadrian's wall from the sea. The Pictish sea-faring +tribes, the Keiths or Cats and the Mæatæ, have left their names in +Caithness, Inchkeith, Dalkeith, &c., and in the Isle of May, &c.[103] + + [103] Rhys, _Celtic Britain_ (4th ed.), pp. 152, 317. + +A glimpse of piratical operations in the first century before the +Christian era is obtained in an Irish manuscript account of certain +happenings in the reign of King Conaire the Great of Ireland. So +strict was this monarch's rule that several lawless and discontented +persons were forced into exile. + + "Among the most desperate of the outlaws were the monarch's + own foster brothers, the four sons of Dond Dess, an important + chieftain of Leinster. These refractory youths, with a large + party of followers, took to their boats and ships and scoured + the coasts of Britain and Scotland, as well as of their own + country. Having met on the sea with Ingcel, the son of the King + of Britain, who, for his misdeeds, had been likewise banished + by his own father, both parties entered into a league, the + first fruits of which were the plunder and devastation of a + great part of the British coast." + + [Illustration: + + By courtesy of the Director of The British School of Rome + + A SARDINIAN _NURAGHE_ (page 134) + + Compare with the Scottish "Broch", page 132.] + +They afterwards made a descent on the coast of Ireland, and when +King Conaire returned from a visit to Clare, "he found the whole +country before him one sheet of fire, the plunderers having landed in +his absence and carried fire and sword wherever they went".[104] + + [104] O'Curry, _Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish_, Vol. + III, p. 136. + +In his description of Britain, Tacitus says that the inhabitants +varied in their physical traits. Different conclusions were drawn +concerning their origin. He thought the Caledonians were, because of +their ruddy hair and muscular limbs, of German descent, and that the +dark Silures of Wales were descendants of Iberian colonists. He noted +that the inhabitants of southern England resembled those of Gaul.[105] + + [105] _Agricola_, Chap. XI. + +Later writers have expressed divergent views regarding the ethnics of +the British Isles. One theory is that the fair Teutonic peoples, who +invaded Britain during the post-Roman period, drove the "dark Celts" +westward, and that that is the reason why in England and Scotland the +inhabitants of western areas are darker than those in the eastern. +As we have seen, however, the early metal workers settled in the +western areas for the reason that the minerals they sought for were +located there. In south-western Scotland the inhabitants are darker +than those on the east, except in Aberdeenshire, where there are +distinctive megalithic remains and two famous pearling rivers, the +Ythan and Ugie, as well as deposits of flint and traces of gold. + +The people of Scotland are, on the whole, the tallest and heaviest +people in Europe. It has been suggested that their great average +stature is due to the settlement in their country of the hardy +Norsemen of the Viking period, but this is improbable, because the +average stature of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark is lower than that +of Scotland. A distinctive feature of the Scottish face is the +high cheek-bone. The Norse cheek-bone is distinctly flatter. It +may be that the tall Crô-Magnons, who had high cheek-bones, have +contributed to Scottish physical traits. That all the fair peoples +of Britain and Ireland are, as has been indicated, not necessarily +descendants of the fair Celts and Anglo-Saxons is evident from the +traces that have been found of the early settlement in these islands +of the proto-Scandinavians, who introduced the Maglemosian culture +long before the introduction of the Neolithic industry. Modern +ethnologists lean to the view that the masses of the present-day +population of Europe betray Palæolithic racial affinities. In no +country in Europe, other than our own, have there been fewer ethnic +changes. As we have seen, there were only two or three intrusions +from the Continent between the periods when the bronze and iron +industries were introduced--that is, during about a thousand years. +The latter invasions were those of types already settled in Britain. +As in other countries, the tendency to revert to the early types +represented by the masses of the people has not been absent in our +native land. The intrusions of energetic minorities may have caused +changes of languages and habits of life, but in time the alien +element has been absorbed.[106] Withal, the influences of climate +and of the diseases associated with localities have ever been at +work in eliminating the physically unfit--that is, those individuals +who cannot live in a climate too severe for their constitutions. In +large industrial cities the short, dark types are more numerous than +the tall, fair, and large-lunged types. The latter appear to be more +suited for an open-air life. + + [106] "The rule is", writes Beddoe in this connection + (_The Anthropological History of Europe_, p. 53), "that an + anthropological type is never wholly dispossessed or extirpated". + +"Pockets" of peoples of distinctive type are to be found in different +parts of the British Isles. In Barvas, Lewis, and elsewhere in the +Hebrides, pockets of dark peoples of foreign appearance are reputed +by theorists, as has been indicated, to be descendants of the +sailors of the Spanish Armada. They resemble, however, the Fir-bolgs +of Ireland and the Silures of Wales. Hertfordshire has a dark, short +people too. Galloway, the country of the ancient Selgovæ (hunters), +is noted for its tall people. It may be that there is a Crô-Magnon +strain in Galloway, and that among the short, dark peoples are +descendants of the ancient metal workers, including the Easterners +who settled in Spain. (See Chaps. IX and XII.) Beddoe thinks that the +Phoenician type "occasionally crops up" in Cornwall.[107] + + [107] _The Anthropological History of Europe_ (new edition, + Paisley, 1912), p. 50. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Druidism in Britain and Gaul + + Culture Mixing--Classical Evidence regarding Druids--Doctrine + of Transmigration of Souls--Celtic Paradises: Isles of + the Blest, Land-under-waves, Fairyland, and "Loveless + Land"--Paradise as Apple-land--Apples, Nuts, and Pork of + Longevity--Mistletoe connected with the Oak, Apple, and Other + Trees--Druids and Oracular Birds--Druids as Soothsayers--Thomas + the Rhymer as "True Thomas"--Christ as the Druid of St. + Columba--Stones of Worship--Druid Groves and Dolmens in + Anglesea--Early Christians denounce Worship of Stones, Trees, + Wells, and Heavenly Bodies--Vows over Holy Objects--Bull + Sacrifices, Stone Worship, &c., in Highlands--"Cup-marked" + Stones--Origin of Druidism--Milk-Goddesses and Milk-yielding + Trees--European and Oriental Milk Myths--Tree Cults and + Megalithic Monuments. + + +When the question is asked "What was the religion of the ancient +Britons?" the answer generally given is "Druidism". But such a term +means little more than "Priestism". It would perhaps be better not +to assume that the religious beliefs of our remote ancestors were +either indigenous or homogeneous, or that they were ever completely +systematized at any period or in any district. Although certain +fundamental beliefs may have been widespread, it is clear that there +existed not a few local or tribal cults. "I swear by the gods of my +people" one hero may declare in a story, while of another it may be +told that "Coll" (the hazel) or "Fire" was his god. Certain animals +were sacred in some districts and not in others, or were sacred to +some individuals only in a single tribe. + +In a country like Britain, subjected in early times to periodic +intrusions of peoples from different areas, the process of "culture +mixing" must have been active and constant. Imported beliefs +were fused with native beliefs, or beliefs that had assumed +local features, while local pantheons no doubt reflected local +politics--the gods of a military aristocracy being placed over the +gods of the subject people. At the same time, it does not follow that +when we find a chief deity bearing a certain name in one district, +and a different name in another, that the religious rites and +practices differed greatly. Nor does it follow that all peoples who +gave recognition to a political deity performed the same ceremonies +or attached the same importance to all festivals. Hunters, seafarers, +and agriculturists had their own peculiar rites, as surviving +superstitions (the beliefs of other days) clearly indicate, while the +workers in metals clung to ceremonial practices that differed from +those performed by representatives of a military aristocracy served +by the artisans. + +Much has been written about the Druids, but it must be confessed +that our knowledge regarding them is somewhat scanty. Classical +writers have made contradictory statements about their beliefs and +ceremonies. Pliny alone tells that they showed special reverence for +the mistletoe growing on the oak, and suggests that the name Druid +was connected with the Greek word _drus_ (an oak). Others tell that +there were Druids, Seers, and Bards in the Celtic priesthood. In his +book on divination, Cicero indicates that the Druids had embraced +the doctrines of Pythagoras, the Greek philosopher, who was born +about 586 B.C., including that of the transmigration of souls.[108] +Julius Cæsar tells that the special province of the Druids in Gaulish +society was religion in all its aspects; they read oracles, and +instructed large numbers of the nation's youth. Pomponius Mela[109] +says the instruction was given in caves and in secluded groves. Cæsar +records that once a year the Druids presided over a general assembly +of the Gauls at a sacred spot in the country of the Carnutes, which +was supposed to be the centre of Gaul. It is not known whether this +holy place was marked by a mound, a grove, a stone circle, or a +dolmen. The Archdruid was chief of the priesthood. Cæsar notes that +the Germans had no Druids and paid no attention to sacrifices. + + [108] Cæsar (_De Bello Gallico_, VI, XIV, 4) says the Druids + believed the soul passed from one individual to another. + + [109] A Spaniard of the first century A.D. + +Of special interest is the statement that the Druids believed in the +doctrine of Transmigration of Souls--that is, they believed that +after death the soul passed from one individual to another, or into +plants or animals before again passing into a human being at birth. +According to Diodorus Siculus, who lived in the latter part of the +first century A.D., the Gauls took little account of the end of life, +believing they would come to life after a certain term of years, +entering other bodies. He also refers to the custom of throwing +letters on the funeral pyre, so that the dead might read them.[110] +This suggests a belief in residence for a period in a Hades. + + [110] Book V. Chap. XXVIII. + +The doctrine of Transmigration of Souls did not, however, prevail +among all Celtic peoples even in Gaul. Valerius Maximus, writing +about A.D. 30, says that the Gauls were in the habit of lending sums +of money on the promise that they would be repaid in the next world. +Gaelic and Welsh literature contains little evidence of the doctrine +of Transmigration of Souls. A few myths suggest that re-birth was +a privilege of certain specially famous individuals. Mongan, King +of Dalriada in Ulster, and the Welsh Taliessin, for instance, were +supposed to have lived for periods in various forms, including +animal, plant, and human forms, while other heroes were incarnations +of deities. The most persistent British belief, however, was that +after death the soul passed to an Otherworld. + +Julius Cæsar says that Druidism was believed to have originated +in Britain.[111] This cannot apply, however, to the belief in +transmigration of souls, which was shared in common by Celts, Greeks, +and Indians. According to Herodotus, "the Egyptians are the first +who have affirmed that the soul is immortal, and that when the body +decays the soul invariably enters another body on the point of +death". The story of "The Two Brothers" (Anpu and Bata) indicates +that the doctrine was known in Egypt. There are references in the +"Book of the Dead" to a soul becoming a lily, a golden falcon, a +ram, a crocodile, &c., but this doctrine was connected, according +to Egyptologists, with the belief that souls could assume different +shapes in the Otherworld. In India souls are supposed to pass +through animal or reptile forms only. The Greek doctrine, like the +Celtic, includes plant forms. Certain African tribes believe in the +transmigration of souls. + + [111] Pliny (Book XXX) says Britain seems to have taught Druidism + to the Persians. Siret's view, given in the concluding part of + this chapter, that Druidism was of Eastern origin, is of special + interest in this connection. + +In ancient Britain and Ireland the belief obtained, as in Greece +and elsewhere, that there was an Underworld Paradise and certain +Islands of the Blest (in Gaelic called "The Land of Youth", "The +Plain of Bliss", &c.) The Underworld was entered through caves, +wells, rivers or lakes, or through the ocean cavern from which the +moon arose. There are references in Scottish folk-tales to "The +Land-Under-Waves", and to men and women entering the Underworld +through a "fairy" mound, and seeing the dead plucking fruit and +reaping grain as in the Paradise of the Egyptian god Osiris. It is +evident that Fairyland was originally a Paradise, and the fairy queen +an old mother goddess. There are references in Welsh to as gloomy +an Underworld as the Babylonian one. "In addition to _Annwfn_, a +term which", according to the late Professor Anwyl, "seems to mean +the 'Not-world', we have other names for the world below, such as +_anghar_, 'the loveless place'; _difant_, the unrimmed place (whence +the modern Welsh word _difancoll_, 'lost for ever'); _affwys_, the +abyss; _affan_, 'the land invisible'." In a Welsh poem a bard speaks +of the Otherworld as "the cruel prison of earth, the abode of death, +the loveless land".[112] + + [112] _Celtic Religion_, p. 62. + +The Border Ballads of Scotland contain references to the Fairyland +Paradise of the Underworld, to the islands or continent of Paradise, +and to the dark Otherworld of the grave in which the dead lie among +devouring worms. + +In one Celtic Elysium, known to the Welsh and Irish, the dead feast +on pork as do the heroes in the Paradise of the Scandinavian god +Odin. There is no trace in Scotland of a belief or desire to reach a +Paradise in which the pig was eaten. The popularity of the apple as +the fruit of longevity was, however, widespread. It is uncertain when +the beliefs connected with it were introduced into England, Wales, +Scotland, and Ireland. As they were similar to those connected with +the hazel-nut, the acorn, the rowan, &c., there may have simply been +a change of fruit rather than a religious change, except in so far +as new ceremonies may have been associated with the cultivated apple +tree. + +A Gaelic story tells of a youth who in Paradise held a fragrant +golden apple in his right hand. "A third part of it he would eat and +still, for all he consumed, never a whit would it be diminished." +As long as he ate the apple "nor age nor dimness could affect him". +Paradise was in Welsh and Gaelic called "Apple land".[113] Its "tree +of life" always bore ripe fruit and fresh blossoms. One of the Irish +St. Patrick legends pictures a fair youth coming from the south[114] +clad in crimson mantle and yellow shirt, carrying a "double armful of +round yellow-headed nuts and of most beautiful golden-yellow apples". +There are stories, too, about the hazel with its "good fruit", and +of holy fire being taken from this tree, and withal a number of +hazel place-names that probably indicate where sacred hazel groves +once existed. Hallowe'en customs connected with apples and nuts are +evidently relics of ancient religious beliefs and ceremonies. + + [113] Avalon, Emain Ablach, &c. + + [114] The south was on the right and signified heaven, while the + north was on the left and signified hell. + +The Druids are reported by Pliny (as has been stated) to have +venerated the mistletoe, especially when it was found growing on an +oak. But the popular parasitic plant is very rarely found associated +with this tree. In France and England it grows chiefly on firs +and pines or on apple trees, but never on the plane, beech, or +birch.[115] It is therefore doubtful if the name Druid was derived +from the root _dru_ which is found in the Greek word _drus_ (oak). +In Gaelic the Druids are "wise men" who read oracles, worked spells, +controlled the weather, and acted as intercessors between the +gods and men. Like the dragon-slayers of romance, they understood +"the language of birds", and especially that of the particular +bird associated with the holy tree of a cult. One sacred bird was +the wren. According to Dr. Whitley Stokes the old Celtic names of +wren and Druid were derived from the root _dreo_, which is cognate +with the German word _treu_ and the English _true_. The Druid +was therefore, as one who understood the language of the wren, a +soothsayer, a truth-sayer--a revealer of divine truth. A judgment +pronounced by Druid or king was supposed to be inspired by the deity. +It was essentially a divine decree. The judge wore round his neck +the symbol of the deity. "When what he said was true, it was roomy +for his neck; when false, it was narrow." This symbol according to +_Cormac's Glossary_ was called _sin_ (sheen). Some seers derived +their power to reveal the truth by tasting the blood or juice of a +holy animal or reptile, or, like Thomas the Rhymer, by eating of an +apple plucked from the tree of life in the Paradise of Fairyland. +In an old ballad it is told that when Thomas was carried off to the +Underworld by the fairy queen he was given an inspiring apple that +made him a "truth-sayer" (a prophet). + + [115] Bacon wrote: "Mistletoe groweth chiefly upon crab trees, + apple trees, sometimes upon hazels, and rarely upon oaks; the + mistletoe whereof is counted very medicinal. It is evergreen in + winter and summer, and beareth a white glistening berry; and it + is a plant utterly differing from the plant on which it groweth." + + Syne they came to a garden green + And she pu'd an apple frae a tree; + "Take this for thy wages, True Thomas; + It will give thee the tongue that can never lee (lie)." + +"True Thomas" was "Druid Thomas". + +An interesting reference to Druidism is found in a Gaelic poem +supposed to have been written by St. Columba, in which the missionary +says: + + The voices of birds I do not reverence, + Nor sneezing, nor any charm in this wide world. + Christ, the Son of God, is my Druid. + +There are Gaelic stories about Druids who read the omens of the air +and foretell the fates of individuals at birth, fix the days on which +young warriors should take arms, &c. + +In England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales not only trees and birds +were reverenced, but also standing stones, which are sometimes +referred to even in modern Gaelic as "stones of worship". Some +stories tell of standing stones being transformed into human beings +when struck by a magician's wand. The wand in one story is possessed +by a "wise woman". Other traditions relate that once a year the +stones become maidens who visit a neighbouring stream and bathe in +it. A version of this myth survives in Oxfordshire. According to +Tacitus there were on the island of Mona (Anglesea), which was a +centre of religious influence, not only Druids, but "women in black +attire like Furies"--apparently priestesses. As has been noted, a +large number of dolmens existed on Mona, in which there were also +"groves devoted to inhuman superstitions".[116] + + [116] _The Annals of Tacitus_, XIV, 30. The theory that mediæval + witches were the priestesses of a secret cult that perpetuated + pre-Roman British religion is not supported by Gaelic evidence. + The Gaelic "witches" had no meetings with the devil, and never + rode on broomsticks. The Gaelic name for witchcraft is derived + from English and is not old. + +The early Christian writers refer to the "worship of stones" in +Ireland. In the seventh century the Council at Rouen denounced all +those who offer vows to trees, or wells, or stones, as they would +at altars, or offer candles or gifts, as if any divinity resided +there capable of conferring good or evil. The Council at Arles (A.D. +452) and the Council at Toledo (A.D. 681) dealt with similar pagan +practices. That sacred stones were associated with sacred trees is +indicated in a decree of an early Christian Council held at Nantes +which exhorts "bishops and their servants to dig up and remove and +hide in places where they cannot be found those stones which in +remote and woody places are still worshipped and where vows are still +made". This worship of stones was in Britain, or at any rate in part +of England, connected with the worship of the heavenly bodies. A +statute of the time of King Canute forbids the barbarous adoration +of the sun and moon, fire, fountains, stones, and all kinds of trees +and wood. In the Confession attributed to St. Patrick, the Irish +are warned that all those who adore the sun shall perish eternally. +_Cormac's_ _Glossary_ explains that _Indelba_ signified _Images_ +and that this name was applied to the altars of certain idols. "They +(the pagans) were wont to carve on them the forms of the elements +they adored: for example, the figure of the sun." Irish Gaels swore +by "the sun, moon, water, and air, day and night, sea and land". +In a Scottish story some warriors lift up a portion of earth and +swear on it. The custom of swearing on weapons was widespread in +these islands. In ancient times people swore by what was holiest to +them.[117] + + [117] "Every weapon has its demon" is an old Gaelic saying. + +One of the latest references to pagan religious customs is found in +the records of Dingwall Presbytery dating from 1649 to 1678. In the +Parish of Gairloch, Ross-shire, bulls were sacrificed, oblations of +milk were poured on the hills, wells were adored, and chapels were +"circulated"--the worshippers walked round them sunwise. Those who +intended to set out on journeys thrust their heads into a hole in +a stone.[118] If a head entered the hole, it was believed the man +would return; if it did not, his luck was doubtful. The reference to +"oblations of milk" is of special interest, because milk was offered +to the fairies. A milk offering was likewise poured daily into +the "cup" of a stone known as Clach-na-Gruagach (the stone of the +long-haired one). A bowl of milk was, in the Highlands, placed beside +a corpse, and, after burial took place, either outside the house +door or at the grave. The conventionalized Azilian human form is +sometimes found to be depicted by small "cups" on boulders or rocks. +Some "cups" were formed by "knocking" with a small stone for purposes +of divination. The "cradle stone" at Burghead is a case in point. +It is dealt with by Sir Arthur Mitchell (_The Past in the Present_, +pp. 263-5), who refers to other "cup-stones" that were regarded as +being "efficacious in cases of barrenness". In some hollowed stones +Highland parents immersed children suspected of being changelings. + + [118] According to the Dingwall records knowledge of "future + events in reference especialle to lyfe and death" was obtained by + performing a ceremony in connection with the hollowed stone. + +A flood of light has been thrown on the origin of Druidism by +Siret,[119] the discoverer of the settlements of Easterners in Spain +which have been dealt with in an earlier chapter. He shows that +the colonists were an intensely religious people, who introduced +the Eastern Palm-tree cult and worshipped a goddess similar to the +Egyptian Hathor, a form of whom was Nut. After they were expelled +from Spain by a bronze-using people, the refugees settled in Gaul +and Italy, carrying with them the science and religious beliefs +and practices associated with Druidism. Commercial relations were +established between the Etruscans, the peoples of Gaul and the south +of Spain, and with the Phoenicians of Tyre and Carthage during the +archæological Early Iron Age. Some of the megalithic monuments of +North Africa were connected with this later drift. + + [119] _L'Anthropologie_, 1921. Tome XXX, pp. 235 _et seq._ + +The goddess Hathor of Egypt was associated with the sycamore fig +which exudes a milk-like fluid, with a sea-shell, with the sky +(as Nut she was depicted as a star-spangled woman), and with the +primeval cow. The tree cult was introduced into Rome. The legend +of the foundation of that city is closely associated with the +"milk"-yielding fig tree, under which the twins Romulus and Remus +were nourished by the wolf. The fig-milk was regarded as an elixir +and was given by the Greeks to newly born children. + +Siret shows that the ancient name of the Tiber was Rumon, which was +derived from the root signifying milk. It was supposed to nourish +the earth with terrestrial milk. From the same root came the name of +Rome. The ancient milk-providing goddess of Rome was Deva Rumina. +Offerings of milk instead of wine were made to her. The starry +heavens were called "Juno's milk" by the Romans, and "Hera's milk" by +the Greeks, and the name "Milky Way" is still retained. + +The milk tree of the British Isles is the hazel. It contains a milky +fluid in the green nut, which Highland children of a past generation +regarded as a fluid that gave them strength. Nut-milk was evidently +regarded in ancient times as an elixir like fig-milk.[120] There is +a great deal of Gaelic lore connected with the hazel. In Keating's +_History of Ireland_ (Vol. I, section 12) appears the significant +statement, "Coll (the hazel) indeed was god to MacCuil". "Coll" is +the old Gaelic word for hazel; the modern word is "Call". "Calltuinn" +(Englished "Calton") is a "hazel grove". There are Caltons in +Edinburgh and Glasgow and well-worn forms of the ancient name +elsewhere. In the legends associated with the Irish Saint Maedóg is +one regarding a dried-up stick of hazel which "sprouted into leaf +and blossom and good fruit". It is added that this hazel "endures +yet (A.D. 624), a fresh tree, undecayed, unwithered, nut-laden +yearly".[121] The sacred hazel was supposed to be impregnated with +the substance of life. Another reference is made to _Coll na nothar_ +("hazel of the wounded"). Hazel-nuts of longevity, as well as +apples of longevity, were supposed to grow in the Gaelic Paradise. +In a St. Patrick legend a youth comes from the south ("south" is +Paradise and "north" is hell) carrying "a double armful of round +yellow-headed nuts and of beautiful golden-yellow apples". Dr. Joyce +states that the ancient Irish "attributed certain druidical or fairy +virtues to the yew, the hazel, and the quicken or rowan tree", and +refers to "innumerable instances in tales, poems, and other old +records, in such expressions as 'Cruachan of the fair hazels', +'Derry-na-nath, on which fair-nutted hazels are constantly found'.... +Among the blessings a good king brought on the land was plenty of +hazel-nuts:--'O'Berga (the chief) for whom the hazels stoop', 'Each +hazel is rich from the hero'." Hazel-nuts were like the figs and +dates of the Easterners, largely used for food.[122] + + [120] "Comb of the honey and milk of the nut" (in Gaelic _cir + na meala 'is bainne nan cnò_) was given as a tonic to weakly + children, and is still remembered, the Rev. Kenneth MacLeod, + Colonsay, informs me. + + [121] Standish H. O'Grady, _Silva Gadelica_, p. 505. + + [122] _A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland_, pp. 100-2 + and 367-8. + +Important evidence regarding the milk elixir and the associated myths +and doctrines is preserved in the ancient religious literature of +India and especially in the _Mahá-bhárata_. The Indian Hathor is the +cow-mother Surabhi, who sprang from Amrita (Soma) in the mouth of +the Grandfather (Brahma). A single jet of her milk gave origin to +"Milky Ocean". The milk "mixing with the water" appeared as foam, +and was the only nourishment of the holy men called "Foam drinkers". +Divine milk was also obtained from "milk-yielding trees", which were +the "children" of one of her daughters. These trees included nut +trees. Another daughter was the mother of birds of the parrot species +(oracular birds). In the Vedic poems _soma_, a drink prepared from a +plant, is said to have been mixed with milk and honey, and mention +is made of "_Su-soma_" ("river of Soma"). _Madhu_ (mead) was a drink +identified with _soma_, or milk and honey.[123] + + [123] Macdonell and Keith, _Vedic Index_, under _Soma_ and + _Madhu_. + +There are rivers of mead in the Celtic Paradise. Certain trees are +in Irish lore associated with rivers that were regarded as sacred. +These were not necessarily milk-yielding trees. In Gaul the plane +tree took the place of the southern fig tree. The elm tree in Ireland +and Scotland was similarly connected with the ancient milk cult. +One of the old names for new milk, found in "Cormac's Glossary", is +_lemlacht_, the later form of which is _leamhnacht_. From the same +root (_lem_) comes _leamh_, the name of the elm. The River Laune +in Killarney is a rendering of the Gaelic name _leamhain_, which in +Scotland is found as Leven, the river that gave its name to the area +known as Lennox (ancient _Leamhna_). Milk place-names in Ireland +include "new milk lake" (Lough Alewnaghta) in Galway, "which", +Joyce suggests, "may have been so called from the softness of its +water". A mythological origin of the name is more probable. Wounds +received in battle were supposed to be healed in baths of the milk +of white hornless cows.[124] In Irish blood-covenant ceremonies new +milk, blood, and wine were mixed and drunk by warriors.[125] As late +as the twelfth century a rich man's child was in Ireland immersed +immediately after birth in new milk.[126] In Rome, in the ninth +century, at the Easter-eve baptism the chalice was filled "not with +wine but with milk and honey, that they may understand ... that they +have entered already upon the promised land".[127] + + [124] Joyce, _Irish Names of Places_, Vol. I, pp. 507-9, Vol. II, + pp. 206-7 and 345· Marsh mallows (_leamh_) appear to have been + included among the herbals of the milk-cult as the soma-plant was + in India. + + [125] _Revue Celtique_, Vol. XIII, p. 75. + + [126] Warren, _Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church_, p. 67. + + [127] Henderson's _Survivals_, p. 218. + +The beliefs associated with the apple, rowan, hazel, and oak trees +were essentially the same. These trees provided the fruits of +longevity and knowledge, or the wine which was originally regarded +as an elixir that imparted new life and inspired those who drank it +to prophecy[128]. The oak provided acorns which were eaten. Although +it does not bear red berries like the rowan, a variety of the oak +is greatly favoured by the insect _Kermes_, "which yields a scarlet +dye nearly equal to cochineal, and is the 'scarlet' mentioned in +Scripture". This fact is of importance as the early peoples attached +much value to colour and especially to red, the colour of life blood. +Withal, acorn-cups "are largely imported from the Levant for the +purposes of tanning, dyeing, and making ink".[129] A seafaring people +like the ancient Britons must have tanned the skins used for boats +so as to prevent them rotting on coming into contact with water. Dr. +Joyce writes of the ancient Irish in this connection, "Curraghs[130] +or wicker-boats were often covered with leather. A jacket of hard, +tough, tanned leather was sometimes worn in battle as a protecting +corslet. Bags made of leather, and often of undressed skins, were +pretty generally used to hold liquids. There was a sort of leather +wallet or bag called _crioll_, used like a modern travelling bag, to +hold clothes and other soft articles. The art of tanning was well +understood in ancient Ireland. The name for a tanner was _sudaire_, +which is still a living word. Oak bark was employed, and in +connection with this use was called _coirteach_ (Latin, _cortex_)." +The oak-god protected seafarers by making their vessels sea-worthy. + + [128] Rowan-berry wine was greatly favoured. There are Gaelic + references to "the wine of the apple (cider)". + + [129] George Nicholson, _Encyclopædia of Horticulture_, under + "Oak". + + [130] Curragh is connected with the Latin _corium_, a hide. + +Mistletoe berries may have been regarded as milk-berries because +of their colour, and the ceremonial cutting of the mistletoe with +the golden sickle may well have been a ceremony connected with the +fertilization of trees practised in the East. The mistletoe was +reputed to be an "all-heal", although really it is useless for +medicinal purposes. + +That complex ideas were associated with deities imported into this +country, the history of which must be sought for elsewhere, is made +manifest when we find that, in the treeless Outer Hebrides, the +goddess known as the "maiden queen" has her dwelling in a tree and +provides the "milk of knowledge" from a sea-shell. She could not +possibly have had independent origin in Scotland. Her history is +rooted in ancient Egypt, where Hathor, the provider of the milk +of knowledge and longevity, was, as has been indicated, connected +with the starry sky (the Milky Way), a sea-shell, the milk-yielding +sycamore fig, and the primeval cow. + +The cult animal of the goddess was in Egypt the star-spangled cow; +in Troy it was a star-spangled sow[131]. The cult animal of Rome was +the wolf which suckled Romulus and Remus. In Crete the local Zeus was +suckled, according to the belief of one cult, by a horned sheep[132], +and according to another cult by a sow. There were various cult +animals in ancient Scotland, including the tabooed pig, the red deer +milked by the fairies, the wolf, and the cat of the "Cat" tribes +in Shetland, Caithness, &c. The cow appears to have been sacred to +certain peoples in ancient Britain and Ireland. It would appear, too, +that there was a sacred dog in Ireland.[133] + + [131] Schliemann, _Troy and Its Remains_, p. 232. + + [132] _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, Vol. XXI, p. 129. + + [133] It was because Zeus had been suckled by a sow that the + Cretans, as Athenæus records, "will not taste its flesh" + (Farnell, _Cults of the Greek States_, Vol. I, p. 37). In Ireland + the dog was taboo to Cuchullin. There is a good deal of Gaelic + lore about the sacred cow. + +It is evident that among the Eastern beliefs anciently imported into +the British Isles were some which still bear traces of the influence +of cults and of culture mixing. That religious ideas of Egyptian +and Babylonian origin were blended in this country there can be +little doubt, for the Gaelic-speaking peoples, who revered the hazel +as the Egyptians revered the sycamore, regarded the liver as the +seat of life, as did the Babylonians, and not the heart, as did the +Egyptians. In translations of ancient Gaelic literature "liver" is +always rendered as "vitals". + + [Illustration: Cult Animals and "Wonder Beasts" (dragons or + makaras) on Scottish Sculptured Stones] + +It is of special interest to note that Siret has found evidence to +show that the Tree Cult of the Easterners was connected with the +early megalithic monuments. The testimony of tradition associates +the stone circles, &c., with the Druids. "We are now obliged", +he writes[134], "to go back to the theory of the archæologists of +a hundred years ago who attributed the megalithic monuments to the +Druids. The instinct of our predecessors has been more penetrating +than the scientific analysis which has taken its place." In Gaelic, +as will be shown, the words for a sacred grove and the shrine within +a grove are derived from the same root _nem_. (See also Chapter IX in +this connection.) + + [134] _L'Anthropologie_ (1921), pp. 268 _et seq._ + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +The Lore of Charms + + The Meaning of "Luck"--Symbolism of Charms--Colour + Symbolism--Death as a Change--Food and Charms for the Dead--The + Lucky Pearl--Pearl Goddess--Moon as "Pearl of Heaven"--Sky + Goddess connected with Pearls, Groves, and Wells--Night-shining + Jewels--Pearl and Coral as "Life Givers"--The Morrigan and + Morgan le Fay--Goddess Freyja and Jewels--Amber connected + with Goddess and Boar--"Soul Substance" in Amber, Jet, Coral, + &c.--Enamel as Substitute for Coral, &c.--Precious Metal and + Precious Stones--Goddess of Life and Law--Pearl as a Standard + of Value in Gaelic Trade. + + +Our ancestors were greatly concerned about their luck. They consulted +oracles to discover what luck was in store for them. To them luck +meant everything they most desired--good health, good fortune, +an abundant food supply, and protection against drowning, wounds +in battle, accidents, and so on. Luck was ensured by performing +ceremonies and wearing charms. Some ceremonies were performed round +sacred bon-fires (bone fires), when sacrifices were made, at holy +wells, in groves, or in stone circles. Charms included precious +stones, coloured stones, pearls, and articles of silver, gold, +or copper of symbolic shape, or bearing an image or inscription. +Mascots, "lucky pigs", &c., are relics of the ancient custom of +wearing charms. + +The colour as well as the shape of a charm revealed its particular +influence. Certain colours are still regarded as being lucky or +unlucky ("yellow is forsaken" some say). In ancient times colours +meant much to the Britons, as they did to other peoples. This +fact is brought out in many tales and customs. A Welsh story, for +instance, which refers to the appearance of supernatural beings +attired in red and blue, says, "The red on the one part signifies +burning, and the blue on the other signifies coldness".[135] + + [135] Lady Charlotte Guest, _The Mabinogion_ (Story of "Kilwch + and Olwen" and note on "Gwyn the son of Nudd"). + +On their persisting belief in luck were based the religious ideas and +practices of the ancient Britons. Their chief concern was to protect +and prolong life in this world and in the next. When death came it +was regarded as "a change". The individual was supposed either to +fall asleep, or to be transported in the body to Paradise, or to +assume a new form. In Scottish Gaelic one can still hear the phrase +_chaochail e_ ("he changed") used to signify that "he died".[136] +But after death charms were as necessary as during life. As in +Aurignacian times, luck-charms in the form of necklaces, armlets, +&c., were placed in the graves of the dead by those who used flint, +or bronze, or iron to shape implements and weapons. The dead had to +receive nourishment, and clay vessels are invariably found in ancient +graves, some of which contain dusty deposits. The writer has seen at +Fortrose a deposit in one of these grave urns, which a medical man +identified as part of the skeleton of a bird. + + [136] Also _shiubhail e_ which signifies "he went off" (as when + walking). + +Necklaces of shells, of wild animals' teeth, and ornaments of ivory +found in Palæolithic graves or burial caves were connected with +the belief that they contained the animating influence or "life +substance" of the mother goddess. In later times the pearl found in +the shell was regarded as being specially sacred. + +Venus (Aphrodite) is, in one of her phases, the personification of +a pearl, and is lifted from the sea seated on a shell. As a sky +deity she was connected with the planet that bears her name[137] +and also with the moon. The ancients connected the moon with the +pearl. In some languages the moon is the "pearl of heaven". Dante, +in his _Inferno_, refers to the moon as "the eternal pearl". One of +the Gaelic names for a pearl is _neamhnuid_. The root is _nem_ of +_neamh_, and _neamh_ is "heaven", so that the pearl is "a heavenly +thing" in Gaelic, as in other ancient languages. It was associated +not only with the sky goddess but with the sacred grove in which +the goddess was worshipped. The Gaulish name _nemeton_, of which +the root is likewise _nem_, means "shrine in a grove". In early +Christian times in Ireland the name was applied as _nemed_ to a +chapel, and in Scottish place-names[138] it survives in the form of +_neimhidh_, "church-land", the Englished forms of which are _Navity_, +near Cromarty, _Navaty_ in Fife, "Rosneath", formerly Rosneveth +(the promontory of the _nemed_), "Dalnavie" (dale of the _nemed_), +"Cnocnavie" (hillock of the _nemed_), Inchnavie (island of the +_nemed_), &c. The Gauls had a _nemetomarus_ ("great shrine"), and +when in Roman times a shrine was dedicated to Augustus it was called +_Augustonemeton_. The root _nem_ is in the Latin word _nemus_ (a +grove). It was apparently because the goddess of the grove was the +goddess of the sky and of the pearl, and the goddess of battle as +well as the goddess of love, that Julius Cæsar made a thanksgiving +offering to Venus in her temple at Rome of a corslet of British +pearls. + + [137] When depicted with star-spangled garments she was the + goddess of the starry sky ("Milky Way") like the Egyptian Hathor + or Nut. + + [138] Professor W. J. Watson, _Place-names of Ross and Cromarty_, + pp. 62-3. + +The Irish goddess Nemon was the spouse of the war god Neit. A Roman +inscription at Bath refers to the British goddess N[)e]m[)e]t[)o]na. +The Gauls had a goddess of similar name. In Galatia, Asia Minor, the +particular tree connected with the sky goddess was the oak, as is +shown by the name of their religious centre which was _Dru-nemeton_ +("Oak-grove"). It will be shown in a later chapter that the sacred +tree was connected with the sky and the deities of the sky, with the +sacred wells and rivers, with the sacred fish, and with the fire, +the sun, and lightning. Here it may be noted that the sacred well is +connected with the holy grove, the sky, the pearl, and the mother +goddess in the Irish place-name _Neamhnach_ (Navnagh),[139] applied +to the well from which flows the stream of the Nith. The well is +thus, like the pearl, "the heavenly one". The root _nem_ of _neamh_ +(heaven) is found in the name of St. Brendan's mother, who was called +_Neamhnat_ (Navnat), which means "little" or "dear heavenly one". +In _neamhan_ ("raven" and "crow") the bird form of the deity is +enshrined. + + [139] Dr. Joyce, _Irish Names of Places_, Vol. I, p. 375. + + [Illustration: + + Upper picture by courtesy of Director, British School of Rome + + MEGALITHS + + Upper: Dolmen near Birori, Sardinia. Lower: Tynewydd Dolmen.] + +Owing to its connection with the moon, the pearl was supposed to +shine by night. The same peculiarity was attributed to certain +sacred stones, to coral, jade, &c., and to ivory. Munster people +perpetuate the belief that "at the bottom of the lower lake of +Killarney there is a diamond of priceless value, which sometimes +shines so brightly that on certain nights the light bursts forth with +dazzling brilliancy through the dark waters".[140] Night-shining +jewels are known in Scotland. One is suppose to shine on Arthur's +Seat, Edinburgh, and another on the north "souter" of the Cromarty +Firth.[141] Another sacred stone connected with the goddess was the +onyx, which in ancient Gaelic is called _nem_. Night-shining jewels +are referred to in the myths of Greece, Arabia, Persia, India, +China, Japan, &c. Laufer has shown that the Chinese received their +lore about the night-shining diamond from "Fu-lin" (the Byzantine +Empire).[142] + + [140] _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 378. + + [141] The two headlands, the "souters" or "sutors", are supposed + to have been so called because they were sites of tanneries. + + [142] _The Diamond_ (Chicago, 1915). + +The ancient pearl-fishers spread their pearl-lore far and wide. It +is told in more than one land that pearls are formed by dew-drops +from the sky. Pliny says the dew-or rain-drops fall into the shells +of the pearl-oyster when it gapes.[143] In modern times the belief +is that pearls are the congealed tears of the angels. In Greece the +pearl was called _margaritoe_, a name which survives in Margaret, +anciently the name of a goddess. The old Persian name for pearl is +_margan_, which signifies "life giver". It is possible that this is +the original meaning of the name of Morgan le Fay (Morgan the Fairy), +who is remembered as the sister of King Arthur, and of the Irish +goddess Morrigan, usually Englished as "Sea-queen" (the sea as the +source of life), or "great queen". At any rate, Morgan le Fay and the +Morrigan closely resemble one another. In Italian we meet with Fata +Morgana. + + [143] _Natural History_, Book IX. Chap. LIV. + +The old Persian word for coral is likewise _margan_. Coral was +supposed to be a tree, and it was regarded as the sea-tree of the +sea and sky goddess. Amber was connected, too, with the goddess. In +northern mythology, amber, pearls, precious stones, and precious +metals were supposed to be congealed forms of the tears of the +goddess Freyja, the Venus of the Scandinavians. + +Amber, like pearls, was sacred to the mother goddess because her life +substance (the animating principle) was supposed to be concentrated +in it. The connection between the precious or sacred amber and the +goddess and her cult animal is brought out in a reference made by +Tacitus to the amber collectors and traders on the southern shore +of the Baltic. These are the Æstyans, who, according to Tacitus, +were costumed like the Swedes, but spoke a language resembling the +dialect of the Britons. "They worship", the historian records, +"the mother of the gods. The figure of a wild boar is the symbol +of their superstition; and he who has that emblem about him thinks +himself secure even in the thickest ranks of the enemy without any +need of arms or any other mode of defence."[144] The animal of the +amber goddess was thus the boar, which was the sacred animal of the +Celtic tribe, the Iceni of ancient Britain, which under Boadicea +revolted against Roman rule. The symbol of the boar (remembered as +the "lucky pig") is found on ancient British armour. On the famous +Witham shield there are coral and enamel. Three bronze boar symbols +found in a field at Hounslow are preserved in the British Museum. In +the same field was found a solar-wheel symbol. "The boar frequently +occurs in British and Gaulish coins of the period, and examples have +been found as far off as Gurina and Transylvania."[145] Other sacred +cult animals were connected with the goddess by those people who +fished for pearls and coral or searched for sacred precious stones or +precious metals. + + [144] Tacitus, _Manners of the Germans_, Chap. XLV. + + [145] _British Museum Guide to the Antiquities of the Early Iron + Age_, pp. 135-6. + +At the basis of the ancient religious system that connected coral, +shells, and pearls with the mother goddess of the sea, wells, rivers, +and lakes, was the belief that all life had its origin in water. +Pearls, amber, marsh plants, and animals connected with water were +supposed to be closely associated with the goddess who herself had +had her origin in water. Tacitus tells that the Baltic worshippers +of the mother goddess called amber _glesse_. According to Pliny[146] +it was called _glessum_ by the Germans, and he tells that one of +the Baltic islands famous for its amber was named _Glessaria_. The +root is the Celtic word _glas_, which originally meant "water" and +especially life-giving water. Boece (_Cosmographie_, Chapter XV) +tells that in Scotland the belief prevailed that amber was generated +of sea-froth. It thus had its origin like Aphrodite. _Glas_ is now a +colour term in Welsh and Gaelic, signifying green or grey, or even +a shade of blue. It was anciently used to denote vigour, as in the +term _Gaidheal glas_ ("the vigorous Gael" or "the ambered Gael", the +vigour being derived from the goddess of amber and the sea); and in +the Latinized form of the old British name Cuneglasos, which like the +Irish Conglas signified "vigorous hound".[147] Here the sacred hound +figures in place of the sacred boar. + + [146] _Natural History_, Book XXXVIII, Chapter III. + + [147] Rhys rejects the view of Gildas that "Cuneglasos" meant + "tawny butcher". + +From the root _glas_ comes also _glaisin_, the Gaelic name for woad, +the blue dyestuff with which ancient Britons and Gaels stained or +tattooed their bodies with figures of sacred animals or symbols,[148] +apparently to secure protection as did those who had the boar symbol +on their armour. For the same reason Cuchullin, the Irish Achilles, +wore pearls in his hair, and the Roman Emperor Caligula had a pearl +collar on his favourite horse. Ice being a form of water is in French +_glacé_, which also means "glass". When glass beads were first +manufactured they were regarded, like amber, as depositories of "life +substance" from the water goddess who, as sky goddess, was connected +with sun and fire. Her fire melted the constituents of glass into +liquid form, and it hardened like jewels and amber. These beads +were called "adder stones" (Welsh _glain neidre_ and "Druid's gem" +or "glass"--in Welsh _Gleini na Droedh_ and in Gaelic _Glaine nan +Druidhe_). + + [148] Herodian, Lib. III, says of the inhabitants of Caledonia, + "They mark their bodies with various pictures of all manner of + animals". + +A special peculiarity about amber is that when rubbed vigorously +it attracts or lifts light articles. That is why it is called in +Persian Kahruba (_Kah_, straw; _ruba_, to lift). This name appears in +modern French as _carabé_ (yellow amber). In Italian, Spanish, and +Portuguese it is _carabe_. No doubt the early peoples, who gathered +Adriatic and Baltic amber and distributed it and its lore far and +wide, discovered this peculiar quality in the sacred substance. In +Britain, jet was used in the same way as amber for luck charms and +ornaments. Like amber it becomes negatively electric by friction. +Bede appears to have believed that jet was possessed of special +virtue. "When heated", he says, "it drives away serpents."[149] The +Romans regarded jet as a depository of supernatural power[150] and +used it for ornaments. Until comparatively recently jet was used in +Scotland as a charm against witchcraft, the evil eye, &c. "A ring +of hard black schistus found in a cairn in the parish of Inchinan", +writes a local Scottish historian, "has performed, if we believe +report, many astonishing cures."[151] Albertite, which, like jet and +amber, attracts light articles when vigorously rubbed, was made into +ornaments. It takes on a finer lustre than jet but loses it sooner. + + [149] Book I. Chapter I. + + [150] Pliny, Lib. XXXVI. cap. 34. + + [151] Ure's _History of Rutherglen and Kilbride_, p. 219. + +The fact that jet, albertite, and other black substances were +supposed to be specially efficacious for protecting black horses and +cattle is of peculiar interest. Hathor, the cow goddess of Egypt, +had a black as well as a white form as goddess of the night sky +and death. She was the prototype of the black Aphrodite (Venus). +In Scotland a black goddess (the _nigra dea_ in Adamnan's _Life of +Columba_) was associated with Loch Lochy. + +The use of coral as a sacred substance did not begin in Britain until +the knowledge of iron working was introduced. Coral is not found +nearer than the Mediterranean. The people who first brought it to +Britain must have received it and the beliefs attached to it from the +Mediterranean area. Before reaching Britain they had begun to make +imitation coral. The substitute was enamel, which required for its +manufacture great skill and considerable knowledge, furnaces capable +of generating an intense heat being necessary. It is inconceivable +that so expensive a material could have been produced except for +religious purposes. The warriors apparently believed that coral and +its substitutes protected them as did amber and the boar symbol of +the mother goddess. + +At first red enamel was used as a substitute for red coral, but +ultimately blue, yellow, and white enamels were produced. Sometimes +we find, as at Traprain in Scotland, that silver took the place of +white enamel. It is possible that blue enamel was a substitute for +turquoise and lapis lazuli, the precious stones associated with the +mother goddesses of Hathor type, and that yellow and white enamels +were substitutes for yellow and white amber. The Greeks called white +amber "electrum". The symbolism of gold and silver links closely +with that of amber. Possibly the various sacred substances and their +substitutes were supposed to protect different parts of the body. +As much is suggested, for instance, by the lingering belief that +amber protects and strengthens the eyes. The solar cult connected +the ear and the ear-ring with the sun, which was one of the "eyes" +of the world-deity, the other "eye" being the moon. When human ears +were pierced, the blood drops were offered to the sun-god. Sailors +of a past generation clung to the ancient notion that gold ear-rings +exercised a beneficial influence on their eyes. Not only the colours +of luck objects, but their shapes were supposed to ensure luck. The +Swashtika symbol, the U-form, the S-form, and 8-form symbols, the +spiral, the leaf-shaped and equal-limbed crosses, &c., were supposed +to "attract" and "radiate" the influence of the deity. Thus Buddhists +accumulate religious "merit" not only by fasting and praying, but by +making collections of jewels and symbols. + +In Britain, as in other countries, the deity was closely associated +as an influence with law. A Roman inscription on a slab found at +Carvoran refers to the mother goddess "poising life and laws in a +balance". This was Ceres, whose worship had been introduced during +the Roman period, but similar beliefs were attached to the ancient +goddesses of Britain. Vows were taken over objects sacred to her, and +sacred objects were used as mediums of exchange. In old Gaelic, for +instance, a jewel or pearl was called a _set_; in modern Gaelic it is +_sed_ (pronounced _shade_). A _set_ (pearl) was equal in value to an +ounce of gold and to a cow. An ounce of gold was therefore a _set_ +and a cow was a _set_, too. Three _sets_ was the value of a bondmaid. +The value of three sets was one _cumal_. Another standard of value +was a sack of corn (_miach_).[152] + + [152] Joyce, _A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland_, p. + 478. + +The value attached to gold and pearls was originally magical. +Jewels and precious metals were searched for for to bring wearers +"luck"--that is, everything their hearts desired. The search for +these promoted trade, and the _sets_ were used as a standard of value +between traders. Thus not only religious systems, but even the early +systems of trade were closely connected with the persistent belief in +luck and the deity who was the source of luck.[153] + + [153] Professor W. J. Watson has drawn my attention to an + interesting reference to amber. In the _Proceedings of the + British Academy_, Vol. II, p. 18, under "Celtic Inscriptions of + France and Italy", Sir John Rhys deals with Vebrumaros, a man's + name. The second element in this name is _m[=a]ros_ (great); the + first, _uebru_, "is perhaps to be explained by reference to the + Welsh word _gwefr_ (amber)". Rhys thought the name meant that the + man was distinguished for his display of amber "in the adornment + of his person". The name had probably a deeper significance. + Amber was closely associated with the mother goddess. One of her + names may have been "Uebru". She personified amber. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +The World of Our Ancestors + + "All Heals"--Influences of Cardinal Points--The Four Red + Divisions of the World--The Black North, White South, Purple + East, and Dun or Pale East--Good and Bad Words connected + with South and North--North the left, South the right, East + in front, and West behind--Cardinal Points Doctrine in + Burial Customs--Stone Circle Burials--Christian and Pagan + Burial Rites--Sunwise Customs--Raising the Devil in Stone + Circle--Coloured Winds--Coloured Stones raise Winds--The "God + Body" and "Spirit Husk"--Deities and Cardinal Points--Axis + of Stonehenge Avenue--God and Goddesses of Circle--Well + Worship--Lore of Druids. + + +The ancient superstitions dealt with in the previous chapter afford +us glimpses of the world in which our ancestors lived, and some idea +of the incentives that caused them to undertake long and perilous +journeys in search of articles of religious value. They were as +greatly concerned as are their descendants about their health and +their fate. Everything connected with the deity, or possessing, as +was believed, the influence of the deity, was valuable as a charm or +as medicine. The mistletoe berry was a famous medicine because it was +the fruit of a parasite supposed to contain the "life substance" of a +powerful deity. It was an "All Heal" or "Cure All",[154] yet it was +a quack medicine and quite useless. Red earth was "blood earth"; it +contained the animating principle too. Certain herbs were supposed +to be curative. Some herbs were, and in the course of time their +precise qualities were identified. But many of them continued in +use, although quite useless, because of the colour of their berries, +the shape of their leaves, or the position in which they grew. If +one red-berried plant was "lucky" or curative, all red-berried +plants shared in its reputation. It was because of the lore attached +to colours that dusky pearls were preferred to white pearls, just +as in Ceylon yellow pearls are chiefly favoured because yellow is +the sacred colour of the Buddhists. Richard of Cirencester,[155] +referring to Bede, says that British pearls are "often of the best +kind and of every colour: that is, red, purple, violet, green, but +principally white". + + [154] Richard of Cirencester (fourteenth century) says the + mistletoe increased the number of animals, and was considered as + a specific against all poisons (Book I, Chap. IV). + + [155] Book I. Chap. V. + +In the lore of plants, in religious customs, including burial +customs, and in beliefs connected with the seasons, weather, and +sacred sites, there are traces of a doctrine based on the belief that +good or bad influences "flowed" from the cardinal points, just as +good or bad influences "flowed" from gems, metals, wood, and water. +When, for instance, certain herbs were pulled from the ground, it +was important that one should at the time of the operation be facing +the south. A love-enticing plant had to be plucked in this way, and +immediately before sunrise. + +There was much superstition in weather lore, as the beliefs connected +with St. Swithin's Day indicate. Certain days were lucky for removals +in certain directions. Saturday was the day for flitting northward, +and Monday for flitting southward. Monday was "the key of the week". +An old Gaelic saying, repeated in various forms in folk stories, runs: + + Shut the north window, + And quickly close the window to the south; + And shut the window facing west, + Evil never came from the east. + +South-running water was "powerful" for working protective charms; +north-running water brought evil. + + [Illustration: Diagram of the Gaelic Airts (Cardinal Points) and + their Associated Colours referred to in the text + + Spring was connected with the east, summer with the south, autumn + with the west, and winter with the north.] + +The idea behind these and other similar beliefs was that "the four +red divisions" or the "four brown divisions" of the world were +controlled by deities or groups of deities, whose influences for good +or evil were continually "flowing", and especially when winds were +blowing. A good deity sent a good wind, and a bad deity sent a bad +wind. Each wind was coloured. The north was the airt[156] (cardinal +point) of evil, misfortune, and bad luck, and was coloured black; +the south was the source of good luck, good fortune, summer, and +longevity, and was coloured white; the east was a specially sacred +airt, and was coloured purple-red, while the west was the airt of +death, and was coloured dun or pale. East and south and north and +west were connected. There were various colours for the subsidiary +points of the compass. + + [156] This excellent Gaelic word is current in Scotland. Burns + uses it in the line, "O' a' the airts the wind can blaw". + +This doctrine was a very ancient one, because we find that in the +Gaelic language the specially good words are based on the word for +the south, and the specially bad ones on the name for the north. In +Welsh and Gaelic the north is on the left hand and the south on the +right hand, the east in front, and the west behind. It is evident, +therefore, that the colour scheme of the cardinal points had a +connection with sun worship. A man who adored the rising sun faced +the east, and had the north on his left and the south on his right. +In early Christian Gaelic literature it is stated that on the Day +of Judgment the goats (sinners) will be sent to the north (the left +hand) and the sheep (the justified) to the south (the right hand). + +The same system can be traced in burial customs. Many of the ancient +graves lie east and west. Graves that lie north and south may have +been those of the members of a different religious cult, but in some +cases it is found that the dead were placed in position so that they +faced the east. In the most ancient graves in Egypt men were laid on +their right sides with their feet directed towards the "red north" +and their faces towards the golden east. Women were laid on the left +sides facing the east. Red was in ancient Egypt the male colour, and +white and yellow the female colours; the feet of the men were towards +the red north and those of women towards the white or yellow south. + +All ancient British burials were not made in accordance with +solar-cult customs. It can be shown, however, in some cases that, +although a burial custom may appear to be either of local or of +independent origin, the fundamental doctrine of which it was an +expression was the same as that behind other burial customs. +Reference may be made, by way of illustration, to the graves at the +stone circle of Hakpen Hill in the Avebury area. In the seventeenth +century a large number of skeletons were here unearthed. Dr. Toope of +Oxford, writing in 1685, has recorded in this connection:[157] + + "About 80 yards from where the bones were found is a + temple,[158] 40 yards diameter, with another 15 yards; round + about bones layd so close that scul (skull) toucheth scul. + Their feet all round turned towards the temple, one foot below + the surface of the ground. At the feet of the first order lay + the head of the next row, the feet always tending towards the + temple." + + [157] Quoted by Sir H. Colt Hoare in _Ancient Wiltshire_, II. p. + 63. + + [158] Stone circle. + +Here the stone circle is apparently the symbol of the sun and the +"Mecca" from which the good influence or "luck" of the sun emanated +and gave protection. One seems to come into touch with the influence +of an organized priesthood in this stone circle burial custom. + +The more ancient custom of burying the dead so that the influences +of the airts might be exercised upon them according to their deserts +seems, however, to have been deep-rooted and persistent. In England, +Wales, Scotland, and Ireland the custom obtained until recently of +reserving the north side of a churchyard for suicides and murderers; +the "black north" was the proper place for such wrong-doers, who +were refused Christian rites of burial, and were interred according +to traditional pagan customs. The east was reserved chiefly for +ecclesiastics, the south for the upper classes, and the west for the +poorer classes. Funeral processions still enter the older churchyards +from the east, and proceed in the direction of the sun towards the +open graves. Suicides and murderers were carried in the opposite +direction ("withershins about").[159] The custom of dealing out cards +"sunwise", of stirring food "sunwise", and other customs in which +turning to the right (the south) is observed, appear to be relics of +the ancient belief in the influences of the airts. Some fishermen +still consider it unlucky to turn their boats "against the sun". +It was anciently believed, as references in old ballads indicate, +that a tempest-stricken vessel turned round three times against the +sun before it sank. According to a belief that has survival in some +parts of the north of Scotland, the devil will appear in the centre +of a stone circle if one walks round it three times "against the +sun" at midnight. Among the ancient Irish warriors, Professor W. J. +Watson tells me, it was a mark of hostile intent to drive round a +fort keeping the left hand towards it. The early Christian custom of +circulating chapels and dwelling-houses "sunwise" was based on the +pagan belief that good influences were conjured in this way. + + [159] In Gaelic _deis-iùil_ means a turning sunwise (by the right + or south) from east to west, and _tual_, i.e. _tuath-iùil_, a + turning by the north or left from east to west. _Deis_ is the + genitive of _Deas_ (south, right hand), and _Tuath_ is north or + left hand. + +As the winds were coloured like the airts from which they blew, it +was believed that they could be influenced by coloured objects. In +his description of the Western Isles, Martin, a seventeenth century +writer, referring to the Fladda Chuan Island, relates: + + "There is a chapel in the isle dedicated to St. Columba. It has + an altar in the east end and therein a blue stone of a round + form on it, which is always moist. It is an ordinary custom, + when any of the fishermen are detained in the isle by contrary + winds, to wash the blue stone with water all round, expecting + thereby to procure a favourable wind.... And so great is the + regard they have for this stone, that they swear decisive oaths + upon it." + + [Illustration: + + Valentine + + ONE OF THE GREAT TRI-LITHONS, STONEHENGE + + (see page 174)] + +The moist stone had an indwelling spirit, and was therefore a +holy object which made vows and agreements of binding character. In +Japan a stone of this kind is called _shintai_ ("god body"). The +Gaelic name for a god body is "_cuach anama_" ("soul shrine", or +"spirit-case", or "spirit-husk"). _Coich na cno_ is the shell of +a nut. The Chinese believe that moist and coloured stones are the +"eggs" of weather-controlling dragons. + +The connection between blue and the mother goddess is of great +antiquity. Imitation cowries and other shells in blue enamelled +terra-cotta have been found in Egyptian graves. Blue was the colour +of the "luck stone" of Hathor, the sky and water goddess whose +symbols included the cowrie. The Brigantes of ancient Britain had, +according to Seneca, blue shields. Shields were connected with the +goddess of war. In Gaelic, blue is the luck colour for womens' +clothing.[160] English and Scottish fishermen still use blue as a +mourning colour. When a death takes place, a blue line is painted +round a fishing-boat. The desire for protection by invoking the blue +goddess probably gave origin to this custom. + + [160] The following stanza is from the "Book of Ballymote": + + Mottled to simpletons; blue to women; + Crimson to kings of every host; + Green and black to noble laymen; + White to clerics of proper devotion. + +As influences came from the coloured airts, so did the great deities +and the groups of minor deities associated with them. The god Lugh, +for instance, always comes in the old stories from the north-east, +while the goddess Morrigan comes from the north-west.[161] The fierce +wind-raising Scottish goddess of spring comes from the south-west. +All over Britain the fairies come from the west and on eddies of wind +like the Greek nereids. In Scotland the evil-working giants come +from the black north. It was believed that the dead went westward +or south-westward towards Paradise. The fact that the axis of +Stonehenge circle and avenue points to the north-east is of special +interest when we find that the god Lugh, a Celtic Apollo, came from +that airt. Either Lugh, or a god like him, may have been invoked to +come through the avenue or to send his influence through it, while +the priests walked in procession round the circle sunwise. Apparently +the south-west part of the circle, with its great trilithons, +resembling the portals of the goddess Artemis, was specially +consecrated to a goddess like the Scottish Cailleach ("Old Wife") +who had herds of wild animals, protected deer from huntsmen, raised +storms, and transformed herself into a standing stone. The Gaulish +goddess Ro-smerta ("very smeared") is regularly associated with the +god identified with Mercury. The god Smertullis is equated with Essus +(the war god) by d'Arbois de Jubainville. + + [161] In the Cuchullin Saga Lugh is "a lone man out of the + north-eastern quarter". When the cry of another supernatural + being is heard, Cuchullin asks from which direction it came. He + is told "from the north-west". The goddess Morrigan then appeared. + +The differently coloured winds were divine influences and revealed +their characters by their colours. It was apparently because water +was impregnated with the influences of the deities that wind and +water beliefs were closely associated. Holy and curative wells +and sacred rivers and lakes were numerous in ancient Britain and +Ireland. Offerings made at wells were offerings made to a deity. +These offerings might be gold and silver, as was the case in Gaul, +or simply pins of copper. A good many wells are still known as "pin +wells" and "penny wells". The metals and pearls and precious stones +supposed to contain vital substance were offered to the deities so +as to animate them. The images of gods were painted red for the same +reason, or sacrifices were offered and their altars drenched with +blood. In Ireland children were sacrificed to a god called Crom +Cruach and exchanged for milk and corn. As a Gaelic poem records: + + Great was the horror and the scare of him. + +The ancient doctrines of which faint or fragmentary traces survive +in Britain and Ireland may have been similar to those taught by the +Druids in Gaul. According to Pomponius Mela, these sages professed to +know the secrets of the motions of the heavenly bodies and the will +of the gods.[162] Strabo's statement that the Druids believed that +"human souls and the world were immortal, but that fire and water +would sometime prevail" is somewhat obscure. It may be, however, that +light is thrown on the underlying doctrine by the evidence given in +the next chapter regarding the beliefs that fire, water, and trees +were intimately connected with the chief deity. + + [162] In a Cuchullin saga the hero, addressing the charioteer, + says: "Go out, my friend, observe the stars of the air, and + ascertain when midnight comes". The Irish Gaelic _grien-tairisem_ + is given in an eighth-or ninth-century gloss. It means + "sun-standing", and refers to the summer solstice. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +Why Trees and Wells were Worshipped + + Ancient British Idols--Pagan Temples--Animism and Goddess + Worship--Trees and Wells connected with Sky--Life Principle in + Water--Sacred Berries, Nuts, and Acorns--Parasite as "King of + Trees"--Fire-making Beliefs--Tree and Thunder-god--The Sacred + Fish--Salmon as form of the Dragon--The Dragon Jewel--Celtic + Dragon Myth--The Salmon and the Solar Ring--Polycrates + Story--The St. Mungo Legends--Glasgow Coat of Arms--Holy Fire + from the Hazel--Hunting the Wren, Robin, and Mouse--Mouse + Lore and Mouse Deity--Mouse-Apollo in Britain--Goddess Bride + or Brigit--The Brigantian Chief Deity--Goddess of Fire, + Healing, Smith-work, and Poetry--Bride's Bird, Tree, and + Well--Mythical Serpents--Soul Forms--Souls in Reptiles, + Animals, and Trees--Were-animals--The Butterfly Deity--Souls as + Butterflies--Souls as Bees--a Hebridean Sea-god. + + +Gildas, a sixth-century churchman, tells us that the idols in ancient +Britain "almost surpassed in number those of Egypt". That he did not +refer merely to standing stones, which, as we have seen, were "idols" +to the Gaels, is evident from his precise statements that some idols +could be seen in his day "mouldering away within or without the +deserted temples", and that they had "stiff and deformed features". +"Mouldering" suggests wood. Gildas states further that besides +worshipping idols the British pagans were wont to pay "divine honour" +to hills and wells and rivers. Reference is made in the _Life of +Columba_ to a well which was worshipped as a god. + +The British temples are referred to also by Pope Gregory the Great, +who in a.d. 601 addressed a letter to Abbot Mellitus, then on a +mission to England, giving him instructions for the guidance of +Augustine of Canterbury. The Pope did not wish to have the heathen +buildings destroyed, "for", he wrote, "if those are well constructed, +it is requisite that they can be converted from the worship of demons +to the service of the true God.... Let the idols that are in them be +destroyed."[163] + + [163] Bede, _Historia Ecclesiastica_, Lib. I, cap. 30. + +The temples in question may have been those erected during the +Romano-British period. One which stood at Canterbury was taken +possession of by St. Augustine after the conversion of King +Ethelbert, who had worshipped idols in it. The Celtic peoples may, +however, have had temples before the Roman invasion. At any rate +there were temples as well as sacred groves in Gaul. Poseidonius of +Apamea refers to a temple at Toulouse which was greatly revered and +richly endowed by the gifts of numerous donors. These gifts included +"large quantities of gold consecrated to the gods". The Druids +crucified human victims who were sacrificed within their temples. + +Diodorus Siculus refers as follows to a famous temple in Britain: + + "There is in that island a magnificent temple of Apollo and a + circular shrine, adorned with votive offerings and tablets with + Greek inscriptions suspended by travellers upon the walls. The + kings of that city and rulers of the temples are the Boreads + who take up the government from each other according to the + order of their tribes. The citizens are given up to music, + harping and chaunting in honour of the sun." + +Some writers have identified this temple with Stonehenge circle. +Layamon informs us in his _Brute_, however, that the temple of Apollo +was situated in London. Of course there may have been several temples +to this god or the British deity identified with him. + +It may be that the stone circles were regarded as temples. It may be, +too, that temples constructed of wattles and clay were associated +with the circles. In Pope Gregory's letter reference is made to the +custom of constructing on festival days "tabernacles of branches of +trees around those churches which have been changed from heathen +temples", and to the pagan custom of slaying "oxen in sacrifices to +demons". Pytheas refers to a temple on an island opposite the mouth +of the Loire. This island was inhabited by women only, and once a +year they unroofed and reroofed their temple. In the Hebrides the +annual custom of unroofing and reroofing thatched houses is not yet +obsolete; it may originally have had a religious significance. + +Gildas's reference to the worship of hills, wells, and rivers is +by some writers regarded as evidence of the existence in ancient +Britain of the "primitive belief" in spirits. This stage of religious +culture is called Animism (Spiritism). The discovery, however, that +a goddess was worshipped in Aurignacian times by the Crô-Magnon +peoples in Western Europe suggests that Animistic beliefs were +not necessarily as ancient as has been assumed. It may be that +what we know as Animism was a product of a later period when there +arose somewhat complex ideas about the soul or the various souls +in man, and the belief became widespread that souls could not only +transform themselves into animal shapes, but could enter statues +and gravestones. This conception may have been confused with +earlier ideas about stones, shells, &c., being impregnated with +"life substance" (the animating principle) derived from the mother +goddess. Backward peoples, who adopted complex religious beliefs +that had grown up in centres of civilization, may not always have +had a complete understanding of their significance. It is difficult +to believe that even savages, who adopted the boats invented in +Egypt from those peoples that came into touch with them, were always +entirely immune to other cultural influences, and retained for +thousands of years the beliefs supposed to be appropriate for those +who were in the "Stone Age". + +Our concern here is with the ancient Britons. It is unnecessary for +us to glean evidence from Australia, South America, or Central Africa +to ascertain the character of their early religious conceptions +and practices. There is sufficient local evidence to show that a +definite body of beliefs lay behind their worship of trees, rivers, +lakes, wells, standing stones, and of the sun, moon, and stars. Our +ancestors do not appear to have worshipped natural objects either +because they were beautiful or impressive, but chiefly because they +were supposed to contain influences which affected mankind either +directly or indirectly. These influences were supposed to be under +divine control, and to emanate, in the first place, from one deity or +another, or from groups of deities. A god or goddess was worshipped +whether his or her influence was good or bad. The deity who sent +disease, for instance, was believed to be the controller of disease, +and to him or her offerings were made so that a plague might cease. +Thus in the _Iliad_ offerings are made to the god Mouse-Apollo, who +had caused an epidemic of disease. + +Trees and wells were connected with the sky and the heavenly bodies. +The deity who caused thunder and lightning had his habitation at +times in the oak, the fir, the rowan, the hazel, or some other tree. +He was the controller of the elements. There are references in Gaelic +charms to "the King of the Elements". + +The belief in an intimate connection between a well, a tree, and the +sky appears to have been a product of a quaint but not unintelligent +process of reasoning.[164] The early folk were thinkers, but their +reasoning was confined within the limits of their knowledge, and +biassed by preconceived ideas. To them water was the source of all +life. It fell from the sky as rain, or bubbled up from the underworld +to form a well from which a stream flowed. The well was the mother +of the stream, and the stream was the mother of the lake. It was +believed that the well-water was specially impregnated with the +influences that sustained life. The tree that grew beside the well +was nourished by it. If this tree was a rowan, its red berries were +supposed to contain in concentrated form the animating influence of +the deity; the berries cured diseases, and thus renewed youth, or +protected those who used them as charms against evil influences. They +were luck-berries. If the tree was a hazel, its nuts were similarly +efficacious; if an oak, its acorns were regarded likewise as +luck-bringers. The parasitic plant that grew on the tree was supposed +to be stronger and more influential than the tree itself. This +belief, which is so contrary to our way of thinking, is accounted for +in an old Gaelic story in which a supernatural being says: + + "O man that for Fergus of the feasts dost kindle fire ... never + burn the King of the Woods. Monarch of Innisfail's forest the + woodbine is, whom none may hold captive; no feeble sovereign's + effort it is to hug all tough trees in his embrace." + + [164] Of course it does not follow that the reasoning originally + took place in these islands. Complex beliefs were imported at an + early period. These were localized. + +The weakly parasite was thus regarded as being very powerful. That +may be the reason why the mistletoe was reverenced, and why its +milk-white berries were supposed to have curative and life-prolonging +qualities. + +Although the sacred parasite was not used for firewood, it served +as a fire-producer. Two fire-sticks, one from the soft parasite and +one from the hard wood of the tree to which it clung, were rubbed +together until sparks issued forth and fell on dry leaves or dry +grass. The sparks were blown until a flame sprang up. At this flame +of holy fire the people kindled their brands, which they carried +to their houses. The house fires were extinguished once a year and +relit from the sacred flames. Fire was itself a deity, and the deity +was "fed" with fuel. "Need fires" (new fires)[165] were kindled +at festivals so that cattle and human beings might be charmed +against injury. These festivals were held four times a year, and +the "new-fire" custom lingers in those districts where New Year's +Day, Midsummer, May Day, and Hallowe'en bon-fires are still being +regularly kindled. + + [165] In Gaelic these are called "friction fires". + +The fact that fire came from a tree induced the early people to +believe that it was connected with lightning, and therefore with the +sky god who thundered in the heavens. This god was supposed to wield +a thunder-axe or thunder-hammer with which he smote the sky (believed +to be solid) or the hills. With his axe or hammer he shaped the +"world house". + +In Scotland, a goddess, who is remembered as "the old wife",[166] +was supposed to wield the hammer, or to ride across the sky on a +cloud and throw down "fire-balls" that set the woods in flame. Here +we find, probably as a result of culture mixing, a fusion of beliefs +connected with the thunder god and the mother goddess. + + [166] According to some, Isis is a rendering of a Libyan name + meaning "old wife". + +Rain fell when the sky deity sent thunder and lightning. To early +man, who took fire from a tree which was nourished by a well, fire +and water seemed to be intimately connected.[167] The red berries +on the sacred tree were supposed to contain fire, or the essence of +fire. When he made rowan-berry wine, he regarded it as "fire water" +or "the water of life". He drank it, and thus introduced into his +blood fire which stimulated him. In his blood was "the vital spark". +When he died the blood grew cold, because the "vital spark" had +departed from it. + + [167] This connection can be traced in ancient Egypt. The sun + and fire were connected, and the sun originally rose from the + primordial waters. The sun's rays were the "tears" of Ra (the sun + god). Herbs and trees sprang up where Ra's tears fell. + +In the water fire lived in another form. Fish were found to be +phosphorescent. The fish in the pool was at any rate regarded as a +form of the deity who nourished life and was the origin of life. A +specially sacred fish was the salmon. It was observed that this fish +had red spots, and these were accounted for by the myth that the red +berries or nuts from the holy tree dropped into the well and were +swallowed by the salmon. The "chief" or "king" of the salmon was +called "the salmon of wisdom". If one caught the "salmon of wisdom" +and, when roasting it, tasted the first portion of juice that came +from its body, one obtained a special instalment of concentrated +wisdom, and became a seer, or magician, or Druid. + +The salmon was reverenced also because it was a migratory fish. Its +comings and goings were regular as the seasons, and seemed to be +controlled by the ruler of the elements with whom it was intimately +connected. One of its old Gaelic names was _orc_ (pig). It was +evidently connected with that animal; the sea-pig was possibly a form +of the deity. The porpoise was also an _orc_.[168] + + [168] So was a whale. The Latin orca is a Celtic loan-word. + Milton uses the Celtic whale-name in the line + + The haunt of seals, and orca, and sea-mews' clang. + + --_Paradise Lost_, Book XI, line 835. + +Hidden in the well lay a great monster which in Gaelic and Welsh +stories is referred to as "the beast", "the serpent", or "the great +worm". Ultimately it was identified with the dragon with fiery +breath. An Irish story connects the salmon and dragon. It tells that +a harper named Cliach, who had the powers of a Druid, kept playing +his harp until a lake sprang up. This lake was visited by a goddess +and her attendants, who had assumed the forms of beautiful birds. It +was called Loch Bél Seád ("lake of the jewel mouth") because pearls +were found in it, and Loch Crotto Cliach ("lake of Cliach's harps"). +Another name was Loch Bél Dragain ("dragon-mouth lake"), because +Ternog's nurse caught "a fiery dragon in the shape of a salmon" +and she was induced to throw this salmon into the loch. The early +Christian addition to the legend runs: "And it is that dragon that +will come in the festival of St. John, near the end of the world, +in the reign of Flann Cinaidh. And it is of it and out of it shall +grow the fiery bolt which will kill three-fourth of the people of the +world."[169] Here fire is connected with the salmon. + + [169] O'Curry, _Manuscript Materials_, pp. 426-7. + +The salmon which could transform itself into a great monster guarded +the tree and its life-giving berries and the treasure offered to +the deity of the well. Apparently its own strength was supposed +to be derived from or concentrated in the berries. The queen of +the district obtained the supernatural power she was supposed to +possess from the berries too, and stories are told of a hero who was +persuaded to enter the pool and pluck the berries for the queen. +He was invariably attacked by the "beast", and, after handing the +berries to the queen, he fell down and died. There are several +versions of this story. In one version a specially valued gold ring, +a symbol of authority, is thrown into the pool and swallowed by the +salmon. The hero catches and throws the salmon on to the bank. When +he plucks the berries, he is attacked by the monster and kills it. +Having recovered the ring, he gives it to the princess, who becomes +his wife. Apparently she will be chosen as the next queen, because +she has eaten the salmon and obtained the gold symbol. + +It may be that this story had its origin in the practice of +offering a human sacrifice to the deity of the pool, so that the +youth-renewing red berries might be obtained for the queen, the human +representative of the deity. Her fate was connected with the ring +of gold in which, as in the berries, the influence of the deity was +concentrated. + +Polycrates of Samos, a Hellenic sea-king, was similarly supposed +to have his "luck" connected with a beautiful seal-stone, the most +precious of his jewels. On the advice of Pharaoh Amasis of Egypt he +flung it into the sea. According to Herodotus, it was to avert his +doom that he disposed of the ring. But he could not escape his fate. +The jewel came back; it was found a few days later in the stomach of +a big fish. + +In India, China, and Japan dragons or sea monsters are supposed +to have luck pearls which confer great power on those who obtain +possession of them. The famous "jewel that grants all desires" and +the jewels that control the ebb and flow of tides are obtained from, +and are ultimately returned to, sea-monsters of the dragon order. + +The British and Irish myths about sacred gold or jewels obtained from +the dragon or one of its forms were taken over with much else by the +early Christian missionaries, and given a Christian significance. +Among the legends attached to the memory of the Irish Saint Moling is +one that tells how he obtained treasure for Christian purposes. His +fishermen caught a salmon and found in its stomach an ingot of gold. +Moling divided the gold into three parts--"one third for the poor, +another for the ornamenting of shrines, a third to provide for labour +and work". + +The most complete form of the ancient myth is, however, found in the +life of Glasgow's patron saint, St. Kentigern (St. Mungo). A queen's +gold ring had been thrown into the River Clyde, and, as she was +unable, when asked by the king, to produce it, she was condemned to +death and cast into a dungeon. The queen appealed to St. Kentigern, +who instructed her messenger to catch a fish in the river and bring +it to him. A large fish "commonly called a salmon" was caught. In +its stomach was found the missing ring. The grateful queen, on her +release, confessed her sins to the saint and became a Christian. +St. Mungo's seal, now the coat of arms of Glasgow, shows the salmon +with a ring in its mouth, below an oak tree, in the branches of +which sits, as the oracle bird, a robin red-breast. A Christian bell +dangles from a branch of the tree. + + [Illustration: Seal of City of Glasgow, 1647-1793, showing Tree, + Bird, Salmon, and Bell] + +That the Glasgow saint took the place of a Druid,[170] so that the +people might say "Kentigern is my Druid" as St. Columba said "Christ +is my Druid", is suggested by his intimate connection, as shown in +his seal, with the sacred tree of the "King of the Elements", the +oracular bird (the thunder bird), the salmon form of the deity, and +the power-conferring ring. As the Druids produced sacred fire from +wood, so did St. Kentigern. It is told that when a youth his rivals +extinguished the sacred fire under his care. Kentigern went outside +the monastery and obtained "a bough of growing hazel and prayed to +the 'Father of Lights'". Then he made the sign of the cross, blessed +the bough, and breathed on it. + + [170] Professor W. J. Watson says in this connection: "The + Celtic clerics stepped in to the shoes of the Druids. The people + regarded them as superior Druids." + + "A wonderful and remarkable thing followed. Straightway fire + coming forth from heaven, seizing the bough, as if the boy had + exhaled flames for breath, sent forth fire, vomiting rays, + and banished all the surrounding darkness.... God therefore + sent forth His light, and led him and brought him into the + monastery.... That hazel from which the little branch was taken + received a blessing from St. Kentigern, and afterwards began to + grow into a wood. If from that grove of hazel, as the country + folks say, even the greenest branch is taken, even at the + present day, it catches fire like the driest material at the + touch of fire...." + +A red-breast, which was kept as a pet at the monastery, was hunted +by boys, who tore off its head. Kentigern restored the bird to life. +The robin was hunted down in some districts as was the wren in other +districts. An old rhyme runs: + + A robin and a wren + Are God's cock and hen. + +In Pagan times the oracular bird connected with the holy tree was +sacrificed annually. The robin represented the god and the wren +(Kitty or Jenny Wren) the goddess in some areas. In Gaelic, Spanish, +Italian, and Greek the wren is "the little King" or "the King of +Birds". A Gaelic folk-tale tells that the wren flew highest in a +competition held by the birds for the kingship, by concealing itself +on an eagle's back. When the eagle reached its highest possible +altitude, the wren rose above it and claimed the honour of kingship. +In the Isle of Man the wren used to be hunted on St. Stephen's Day. +Elsewhere it was hunted on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. The dead +bird was carried on a pole at the head of a procession and buried +with ceremony in a churchyard. + +In Scotland the shrew mouse was hunted in like manner, and buried +under an apple tree. A standing stone in Perthshire is called in +Gaelic "stone of my little mouse". As there were mouse feasts in +ancient Scotland, it would appear that a mouse god like Smintheus +(Mouse-Apollo) was worshipped in ancient times. Mouse cures were at +one time prevalent. The liver of the mouse[171] was given to children +who were believed to be on the point of death. They rallied quickly +after swallowing it. Roasted mouse was in England and Scotland a +cure for whooping-cough and smallpox. The Boers in South Africa are +perpetuating this ancient folk-cure.[172] In Gaelic folk-lore the +mouse deity is remembered as _lucha sith_ ("the supernatural mouse"). + + [171] In old Gaelic the liver is the seat of life. + + [172] Mrs. E. Tawse Jollie, Hervetia, S. Melsetter, S. Rhodesia, + writes me under October 12, 1918, in answer to my query, that the + Boers regard _striep muis_ (striped mice) as a cure for "weakness + of the bowel" in children, &c. + +There still survive traces of the worship of a goddess who is +remembered as Bride in England and Scotland, and as Brigit in +Ireland. A good deal of the lore connected with her has been attached +to the memory of St. Brigit of Ireland. + +February 1st (old style) was known as Bride's Day. Her birds were +the wood linnet, which in Gaelic is called "Bird of Bride", and +the oyster catcher called "Page of Bride", while her plant was the +dandelion (_am bearnan brìde_), the "milk" of which was the salvation +of the early lamb. On Bride's Day the serpent awoke from its winter +sleep and crept from its hole. This serpent is called in Gaelic +"daughter of Ivor", _an ribhinn_ ("the damsel"), &c. + +The white serpent was, like the salmon, a source of wisdom and +magical power. It was evidently a form of the goddess. Brigit was +the goddess of the Brigantes, a tribe whose territory extended from +the Firth of Forth to the midlands of England.[173] The Brigantes +took possession of a part of Ireland where Brigit had three forms as +the goddess of healing, the goddess of smith-work, and the goddess +of poetry, and therefore of metrical magical charms. Some think her +name signifies "fiery arrow". She was the source of fire, and was +connected with different trees in different areas. The Bride-wells +were taken over by Saint Bride. + + [173] In a Roman representation of her at Birrens, in Perthshire, + she is shown as a winged figure holding a spear in her right hand + and a globe in her left. An altar in Chester is dedicated to + "De Nymphæ Brig". Her name is enshrined in Bregentz (anciently + Brigantium), a town in Switzerland. + +The white serpent, referred to in the legends associated with +Farquhar, the physician, and Michael Scott, sometimes travelled very +swiftly by forming itself into a ring with its tail in its mouth. +This looks like the old Celtic solar serpent. If the serpent were +cut in two, the parts wriggled towards a stream and united as soon +as they touched water. If the head were not smashed, it would become +a _beithis_, the biggest and most poisonous variety of serpent.[174] +The "Deathless snake" of Egypt, referred to in an ancient folk-tale, +was similarly able to unite its severed body. Bride's serpent links +with the serpent dragons of the Far East, which sleep all winter +and emerge in spring, when they cause thunder and send rain, spit +pearls, &c. Dr. Alexander Carmichael translates the following Gaelic +serpent-charm: + + To-day is the day of Bride, + The serpent shall come from his hole; + I will not molest the serpent + And the serpent will not molest me. + + [174] The _beithis_ lay hidden in arms of the sea and came ashore + to devour animals. + +De Visser[175] quotes the following from a Chinese text referring to +the dragons: + + If we offer a deprecatory service to them, + They will leave their abodes; + If we do not seek the dragons + They will also not seek us. + + [175] _The Dragon in China and Japan_ (1913). + +The serpent, known in Scotland as _nathair challtuinn_ ("snake +of the hazel grove"), had evidently a mythological significance. +Leviathan is represented by the Gaelic _cirein cròin_ (sea-serpent), +also called _mial mhòr a chuain_ ("the great beast of the sea") +and _cuairtag mhòr a chuain_ ("the great whirlpool of the sea"); +a sea-snake was supposed to be located in Corryvreckan whirlpool. +Kelpies and water horses and water bulls are forms assumed by the +Scottish dragon. There are Far Eastern horse-and bull-dragons. + +In ancient British lore there are references to souls in serpent +form. A serpent might be a "double" like the Egyptian "Ka". It +was believed in Wales that snake-souls were concealed in every +farm-house. When one crept out from its hiding-place and died, the +farmer or his wife died soon afterwards. Lizards were supposed to +be forms assumed by women after death.[176] The otter, called in +Scottish Gaelic _Dobhar-chù_ ("water dog") and _Righ nàn Dobhran_ +("king of the water" or "river"), appears to have been a soul +form. When one was killed a man or a woman died. The king otter +was supposed to have a jewel in its head like the Indian _n[=a]ga_ +(serpent deity), the Chinese dragon, the toad, &c. The king otter was +invulnerable except on one white spot below its chin. Those who wore +a piece of its skin as a charm were supposed to be protected against +injury in battle. Evidently, therefore, the otter was originally a +god like the boar, the image of which, as Tacitus records, was worn +for protection by the Baltic amber searchers of Celtic speech. The +_biasd na srogaig_ ("the beast of the lowering horn") was a Hebridean +loch dragon with a single horn on its head; this unicorn was tall and +clumsy. + + [176] Trevelyan. _Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales_, p. 165. + +The "double" or external soul might also exist in a tree. Both in +England and Scotland there are stories of trees withering when some +one dies, or of some one dying when trees are felled. Aubrey tells +that when the Earl of Winchelsea began to cut down an oak grove near +his seat at Eastwell in Kent, the Countess died suddenly, and then +his eldest son, Lord Maidstone, was killed at sea. Allan Ramsay, the +Scottish poet, tells that the Edgewell tree near Dalhousie Castle +was fatal to the family from which he was descended, and Sir Walter +Scott refers to it in his "Journal", under the date 13th May, 1829. +When a branch fell from it in July, 1874, an old forester exclaimed +"The laird's deed noo!" and word was received not long afterwards +of the death of the eleventh Earl of Dalhousie. Souls of giants +were supposed to be hidden in thorns, eggs, fish, swans, &c. At +Fasnacloich, in Argyllshire, the visit of swans to a small loch is +supposed to herald the death of a Stewart. + +"External souls", or souls after death, assumed the forms of +cormorants, cuckoos, cranes, eagles, gulls, herons, linnets, magpies, +ravens, swans, wrens, &c., or of deer, mice, cats, dogs, &c. Fairies +(supernatural beings) appeared as deer or birds. Among the Scottish +were-animals are cats, black sheep, mice, hares, gulls, crows, +ravens, magpies, foxes, dogs, &c. Children were sometimes transformed +by magicians into white dogs, and were restored to human form by +striking them with a magic wand or by supplying shirts of bog-cotton. +The floating lore regarding were-animals was absorbed in witch-lore +after the Continental beliefs regarding witches were imported into +this country. In like manner a good deal of floating lore was +attached to the devil. In Scotland he is supposed to appear as a goat +or pig, as a gentleman with a pig's or horse's foot, or as a black or +green man riding a black or green horse followed by black or green +dogs. Eels were "devil-fish", and were supposed to originate from the +hairs of horses' manes or tails. Men who ate eels became insane, and +fought horses. + +In Scotland butterflies and bees were not only soul-forms but +deities, and there are traces of similar beliefs in England, +Wales, and Ireland. Scottish Gaelic names of the butterfly include +_dealbhan-dé_ ("image" or "form of God"), _dealbh_ signifying +"image", "form", "picture", "idol", or "statue"; _dearbadan-dé_ +("manifestation of God"); _eunan-dé_ ("small bird of God"); +_teine-dé_ ("fire of God"); and _dealan-dé_ ("brightness of God"). +The word _dealan_ refers to (1) lightning, (2) the brightness of the +starry sky, (3) burning coal, (4) the wooden bar of a door, and (5) +to a wooden peg fastening a cow-halter round the neck. The bar and +peg, which gave security, were evidently connected with the deity. + +In addition to meaning butterfly, _dealan-dé_ ("the _dealan_ of God") +refers to a burning stick which is shaken to and fro or whirled round +about. When "need fires" (new fires) were lit at Beltain festival +(1st May)--"Beltain" is supposed to mean "bright fires" or "white +fires", that is, luck-bringing or sacred fires--burning brands were +carried from them to houses, all domestic fires having previously +been extinguished. The "new fire" brought luck, prosperity, +health, increase, protection, &c. Until recently Highland boys +who perpetuated the custom of lighting bon-fires to celebrate old +Celtic festivals were wont to snatch burning sticks from them and +run homewards, whirling the _dealan-dé_ round about so as to keep it +burning. + +Souls took the form of a _dealan-dé_ (butterfly). Lady Wilde relates +in _Ancient Legends_ (Vol. I, pp. 66-7) the Irish story of a child +who saw the butterfly form of the soul--"a beautiful living creature +with four snow-white wings"; it rose from the body of a man who had +just died and went "fluttering round his head". The child and others +watched the winged soul "until it passed from sight into the clouds". +The story continues: "This was the first butterfly that was ever seen +in Ireland; and now all men know that the butterflies are the souls +of the dead waiting for the moment when they may enter Purgatory, and +so pass through torture to purification and peace". + +In England and Scotland moths were likewise souls of the dead +that entered houses by night or fluttered outside windows, as if +attempting to return to former haunts. + +The butterfly god or soul-form was known to the Scandinavians. +Freyja, the northern goddess, appears to have had a butterfly +_avatar_. At any rate, the butterfly was consecrated to her. In +Greece the nymph Psyche, beloved by Cupid, was a beautiful maiden +with the wings of a butterfly; her name signifies "the soul". Greek +artistes frequently depicted the human soul as a butterfly, and +especially the particular species called [Greek: psychê] ("the +soul"). On an ancient tomb in Italy a butterfly is shown issuing +from the open mouth of a death-mask. The Serbians believed that the +butterfly souls of witches arose from their mouths when they slept. +They died if their butterfly souls did not return.[177] Evidence +of belief in the butterfly soul has been forthcoming in Burmah, +where ceremonies are performed to prevent the baby's butterfly soul +following that of a dead mother.[178] The pre-Columbian Americans, +and especially the Mexicans, believed in butterfly souls and +butterfly deities. In China the butterfly soul was carved in jade +and associated with the plum tree;[179] the sacred butterfly was in +Scotland associated apparently with the honeysuckle (_deoghalag_), +a plant containing "life-substance" in the form of honey (_lus a +mheahl_: "honey herb") and milk (another name of the plant being +_bainne-ghamhnach_: "milk of the heifer"). As we have seen, the +honeysuckle was supposed to be more powerful than the tree to which +it clung; like the ivy and mistletoe, it was the plant of a powerful +deity. Its milk and honey names connect it with the Great Mother +goddess who was the source of life and nourishment, and provided the +milk-and-honey elixir of life. + + [177] W. R. S. Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_, pp. 117 + _et seq._ + + [178] _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, XXVI (1897). p. + 23. + + [179] Laufer, _Jade_, p. 310. + +Bee-souls figure in Scottish folk-stories. Hugh Miller relates a +story of a sleeping man from whose mouth the soul issued in the +form of the bee.[180] Another of like character is related by a +clergyman.[181] Both are located in the north of Scotland, where, +as in the south of England, the custom was prevalent of "telling +the bees" when a death took place, and of placing crape on hives. +The bee-mandible symbol appears on Scottish sculptured stones. Both +the bee and the butterfly were connected with the goddess Artemis. +Milk-yielding fig trees were fertilized by bees or wasps, and the +goddess, especially in her form as Diana of the Ephesians, was +connected with the fig tree, the figs being "teats". + + [180] _My Schools and Schoolmasters_, Chapter VI. + + [181] Rev. W. Forsyth, Dornoch, in _Folk-lore Journal_, VI, 171. + +Little is known regarding the Hebridean sea-god _Seonaidh_ +(pronounced "shony"), who may have been a form of the sea-god known +to the Irish as Lir and to the Welsh as Llyr. His name connects him +with the word _seonadh_, signifying "augury", "sorcery", "druidism". +According to Martin, the inhabitants of Lewis contributed the malt +from which ale was brewed for an offering to the gods. At night a man +waded into the sea up to his middle and cried out, "Seonaidh! I give +thee this cup of ale, hoping that thou wilt be so good as to send us +plenty of sea-ware for enriching our ground during the coming year." +He then poured the ale into the sea. The people afterwards gathered +in the church of St. Mulway, and stood still for a time before the +altar on which a candle was burning. When a certain signal was given +the candle was extinguished. The people then made merry in the +fields, drinking ale. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Ancient Pagan Deities + + Deities as Birds--Triads of Gaelic Goddesses--Shape-shifting + Goddesses--Black Annis of Leicestershire--The Scottish + Black Annis--Black Kali and Black Demeter--Cat Goddess and + Witches--A Scottish Artemis--Celtic Adonis Myth--The Cup + of Healing--Myths of Gaelic Calendar--Irish and Scottish + Mythologies Different--Scottish Pork Taboo--Eel tabooed in + Scotland but not in England--Ancient English Food Taboos--Irish + Danann Deities--Ancient Deities of England and Wales--The Apple + Cult--English Wassailling Custom--The Magic Cauldron--The + Holy Grail--Cauldron a Goddess Symbol--Pearls and Cows of + the Cauldron--Goddess--Romano-British Deities--Grouped + Goddesses--The Star Goddess--Sky and Sea Spirits. + + +Many of the old British and Irish deities had bird forms, and might +appear as doves, swallows, swans, cranes, cormorants, scald crows, +ravens, &c. The cormorant, for instance, is still in some districts +called the _Cailleach dubh_ ("the black old wife"). Some deities, +like Brigit and Morrigan, had triple forms, and appeared as three +old hags or as three beautiful girls, or assumed the forms of women +known to those they visited. In the Cuchullin stories the Morrigan +appears with a supernatural cow, the milk of which heals wounds and +prolongs life. When in conflict with Cuchullin, she takes alternately +the forms of an eel, a grey wolf, and a white cow with red ears. On +one occasion she changes from human form to that of a dark bird. +An old west of England goddess was remembered until recently in +Leicestershire as "Black Annis", "Black Anny", or "Cat Anna". She +frequented a cave on the Dane Hills,[182] above which grew an oak +tree. In the branches of the tree she concealed herself, so that +she might pounce unawares on human beings. Shepherds attributed +to her the loss of lambs, and mothers their loss of children. The +supernatural monster had one eye in her blue face, and talons instead +of hands. Round her waist she wore a girdle of human skins. + + [182] It has been suggested that "Dane" stands for "Danann". + +A Scottish deity called "Yellow Muilearteach" was similarly one-eyed +and blue-faced, and had tusks protruding from her mouth. An apple +dangled from her waist girdle. The Indian goddess Black Kali is +depicted as a ferocious being of like character, with a forehead eye, +in addition to ordinary eyes, and a waist girdle of human heads. +Greece had its Black Demeter with animal-head (a horse's or pig's), +and snakes in her hair. She haunted a cave in Phigalia. The Egyptian +goddess Hathor in her cat form (Bast) was kindly, and in her Sekhet +form was a fierce slayer of mankind.[183] + + [183] A text states: "Kindly is she as Bast: terrible is she as + Sekhet." + +Witches assume cat forms in Scottish witch lore,[184] and appear on +the riggings and masts of ships doomed to destruction. There are +references, too, to cat roasting, so as to compel the "Big Cat" to +appear. The "Big Cat" is evidently the deity. In northern India +dogs are tortured to compel the "Big Dog" (the god Indra) to send +rain. "Lapus Cati" (the cat stone) is referred to in early Christian +records. As a mouse was buried under an apple tree to make it +fruitful, a cat was buried under a pear tree. + + [184] The Gaelic word for "witch" comes from English. Gaelic + "witch lore" is distinctive, having retained more ancient beliefs + than those connected with the orthodox witches. + +The Scottish "Yellow Muilearteach" revels in the slaughter of human +beings, and folk poems, describing a battle waged against her, have +been collected. In the end she is slain, and her consort comes from +the sea to lament her death. A similar hag is remembered as the +Cailleach ("the old wife"). She had a "blue-black face" and one eye +"on the flat of her forehead", and she carried a magic hammer. During +the period of "the little sun" (the winter season) she held sway over +the world. Her blanket was washed in the whirlpool of Corryvreckan, +which kept boiling vigorously for several days. Ben Nevis was her +chief dwelling-place, and in a cave in that mountain she kept as a +prisoner all winter a beautiful maiden who was given the task of +washing a brown fleece until it became white. When wandering among +the mountains or along the sea-shore she is followed, like Artemis, +by herds of deer, goats, swine, &c. The venomous black boar is in +some of the stories under her special protection. Apparently this +animal was her symbol as it was that of the Baltic amber traders. The +hero who hunts and slays the boar is himself killed by it, as was +the Syrian god Adonis by the boar form of Ares (Mars). In Gaul the +boar-god Moccus was identified by the Romans with Mars. + +In Gaelic stories the hero who hunts and slays the boar is remembered +as Diarmid, the eponymous ancestor of the Campbell clan. Apparently +the goddess was the ugly hag to whom he once gave shelter. She +transformed herself into a beautiful maiden who touched his forehead +and left on it a "love spot".[185] + + [185] The "fairy" Queen (the queen of enchantment), who carried + off Thomas the Rhymer, appeared as a beautiful woman, but was + afterwards transformed into an ugly hag. Thomas laments: + + How art thou faded thus in the face, + That shone before as the sun so bricht (bright). + +When she vanished he followed her to the "Land-Under-Waves". There +he finds her as a beautiful girl who is suffering from a wasting +disease. To cure her he goes on a long journey to obtain a draught +of water from a healing well. This water he carries in the "Cup of +Healing". + +The winter hag has a son who falls in love with the beautiful maiden +of Ben Nevis. When he elopes with her, his mother raises storms in +the early spring season to keep the couple apart and prevent the +grass growing. These storms are named in the Gaelic Calendar as "the +Pecker", "the Whistle", "the Sweeper", "the Complaint", &c. In the +end her son pursues her on horseback, until she transforms herself +into a moist grey stone "looking over the sea". The story tells that +the son's horse leapt over arms of the sea. On Loch Etiveside a +place-name "Horseshoes" is attached to marks on a rock supposed to +have been caused by his great steed. In the Isle of Man the place +of the giant son is taken by St. Patrick. He rides from Ireland on +horseback like the ancient sea god. He cursed a monster, which was +turned into solid rock. St. Patrick's steed left the marks of its +hoofs on the cliffs.[186] + + [186] Wm. Cashen, _Manx Folk-lore_ (Douglas, 1912), p. 48. + +In Arthurian romance King Arthur pursues Morgan le Fay, who likewise +transforms herself into a stone. A Welsh folk story tells that +Arthur's steed leapt across the Bristol Channel, and left the marks +of its hoofs on a rock. + +It appears that Morgan le Fay is the same deity as the Irish +Morrigan. Both appear to link with Anu, or Danu, the Irish mother +goddess, and with Black Anna or Annis of Leicestershire. The Irish +Danann deities wage war against the Fomorians, who are referred to in +one instance as the gods of the Fir Domnann (Dumnonii), the mineral +workers or "diggers" of Cornwall and Devon, of the south-western and +central lowlands of Scotland, and central and south-western Ireland. +In Scotland the Fomorians are numerous; they are hill and cave giants +like the giants of Cornwall. But there are no Scottish Dananns and +no "war of the gods". The Fomorians of Scotland wage war against +the fairies (as in Wester Ross) or engage in duels, throwing great +boulders at one another. + +The intruding people who in Ireland formulated the Danann mythology +do not appear to have reached Scotland before the Christian period. + +An outstanding difference between Scottish and Irish beliefs and +practices is brought out by the treatment of the pig in both +countries. Like the Continental Celts, the Irish Celts, who formed a +military aristocracy over the Firbolgs, the Fir Domnann, and the Fir +Gailian (Gauls), kept pigs and ate pork. In Scotland the pig was a +demon as in ancient Egypt, and pork was tabooed over wide areas. The +prejudice against pork in Scotland is not yet extinct. It is referred +to by Sir Walter Scott in a footnote in _The Fortunes of Nigel_, +which states: + + "The Scots (Lowlanders), till within the last generation, + disliked swine's flesh as an article of food as much as the + Highlanders do at present. Ben Jonson, in drawing James's + character,[187] says he loved no part of a swine."[188] + + [187] King James VI of Scotland and I of England. + + [188] Ben Jonson's reference is in _A Masque of the Metamorphosed + Gipsies_. + +Dr. Johnson wrote in his _A Journey to the Western Highlands in 1773_: + + "Of their eels I can give no account, having never tasted them, + for I believe they are not considered as wholesome food.... The + vulgar inhabitants of Skye, I know not whether of the other + islands, have not only eels, but pork and bacon in abhorrence; + and, accordingly, I never saw a hog in the Hebrides, except one + at Dunvegan." + +"In the year 1691 a question was put, 'Why do Scotchmen hate swine's +flesh?' and", says J. G. Dalyell,[189] "unsatisfactorily answered, +'They might borrow it of the Jews'." As the early Christians of +England and Ireland did not abhor pork, the prejudice could not +have been of Christian origin. It was based on superstition, and as +the superstitions of to-day were the religious beliefs of yesterday, +the prejudice appears to be a survival from pagan times. An ancient +religious cult, which may have originally been small, became +influential in Scotland, and the taboo spread even after its original +significance was forgotten. The Scottish prejudice against pork +existed chiefly among "the common people", as Dr. Johnson found when +in Skye. Proprietors of alien origin and monks ate pork, but the old +taboo persisted. Pig-dealers, &c., in the Highlands in the nineteenth +century refused to eat pork. They exported their pigs.[190] + + [189] _The Darker Superstitions of Scotland_ (London, 1834), p. + 425, and _Athenian Mercury_, V, 1, No. 20, p. 13. + + [190] The south-western Scottish pork trade dates only from the + latter part of the eighteenth century. There was trouble at + Carlisle custom house when the Lowland Scots began to export + cured pork, because of the difference between the English and + Scottish salt duty. "For some time", complained a Scottish writer + on agriculture, in June, 1811, "a duty of 2s. per hunderweight + has been charged." Dublin was exporting pork to London in the + reign of Henry VIII. A small trade in pork was conducted in + eastern Scotland but was sporadic. + +Traces of ancient food taboos, which were connected evidently with +religious beliefs, have been obtained by archæologists in England. +In some districts pork appears to have been more favoured than the +beef or mutton or goat flesh preferred in other districts. Evidence +has been forthcoming that horse flesh was eaten in ancient England. +A reference in the _Life of St. Columba_ to a relapsing Christian +returning to horse flesh suggests that it was a favoured food of a +Pagan cult. + +As the devil is called in Scottish Gaelic the "Big Black Pig" and in +Wales is associated with the "Black Sow of All Hallows", it may be +that the Welsh had once their pig taboo too. The association of the +pig with Hallowe'en is of special interest. + +In Scotland the eel is still tabooed, although it is eaten freely +in England. The reason may be that an ancient goddess, remembered +longest in Scotland, had an eel form. Julius Cæsar tells that the +ancient Britons with whom he came into contact did not regard it +lawful to eat the hare, the domestic fowl, or the goose. In Scotland +and England the goose was, until recently, eaten only once a year +at a festival. The tabooed pig was eaten once a year in Egypt. It +was sacrificed to Osiris and the moon. An annual sacrificial pig +feast may have been observed in ancient Scotland. It is of special +interest to find in this connection that in the _Statistical Account +of Scotland_ (1793) the writer on the parishes of Sandwick and +Stromness, Orkney, says: "Every family that has a herd of swine, +kills a sow on the 17th day of December, and thence it is called +'Sow-day'." Orkney retains the name of the Orcs (Boars), a Pictish +tribe. + +There are still people in the Highlands who detest "feathered flesh" +or "white flesh" (birds), and refuse to eat hare and rabbit. Fish +taboos have likewise persisted in the north of Scotland, where +mackerel, ling,[191] and skate are disliked in some areas, while in +some even the wholesome haddock is not eaten in the winter or spring, +and is supposed not to be fit for food until it gets three drinks of +May water--that is, after the first three May tides have ebbed and +flowed. + + [191] King James I of England and VI of Scotland detested ling as + he detested pork. The food prejudices of the common people thus + influenced royalty, although earlier kings and Norman nobles ate + pork, eels, &c. + +The Danann deities of Ireland were the children of descendants of the +goddess Danu, whose name is also given as Ana or Anu. She was the +source of abundance and the nourisher of gods and men. As "Buanann" +she was "nurse of heroes". As Aynia, a "fairy"[192] queen, she is +still remembered in Ulster, while as Aine, a Munster "fairy", she +was formerly honoured on St. John's Eve, when villagers, circulating +a mound, carried straw torches which were afterwards waved over +cattle and crops to give protection and increase. + + [192] The Gaelic word _sidh_ (Irish) or _sith_ (Scottish) means + "supernatural" and the "peace" and "silence" of supernatural + beings. "Fairy", as Skeat has emphasized, means "enchantment". + It has taken the place of "fay", which is derived from fate. The + "fay" was a supernatural being. + +A prominent Danann god was Dagda, whose name is translated as "the +good god", "the good hand", by some, and as "the fire god" or "fire +of god" by others. He appears to have been associated with the oak. +By playing his harp, he caused the seasons to follow one another in +their proper order. One of his special possessions was a cauldron +called "The Undry", from which an inexhaustible food supply could be +obtained. He fed heavily on porridge, and was a cook (supplier of +food) as well as a king. In some respects he resembles Thor, and, +like him, he was a giant slayer. His wife was the goddess Boann, +whose name clings to the River Boyne, which was supposed to have had +its origin from an overflowing well. Above this well were nine hazel +trees; the red nuts of these fell into the well to be devoured by +salmon and especially by the "salmon of knowledge". Here again we +meet with the tree and well myth. Brigit was a member of the Dagda's +family. Another was Angus, the god of love. + +Diancecht was the Danann god of healing. His grandson Lugh +(pronounced _loo_) has been called the "Gaelic Apollo". Goibniu was a +Gaelic Vulcan. + +Neit, whose wife was Nemon,[193] was a Fomorian god of battle. The +sea god was Manannán mac Lir. He was known to the Welsh as Manawydan +ab Llyr, who was not only a sea god but "lord of headlands" and a +patron of traders. Llyr has come down as the legendary King Lear, and +his name survives in Leicester, originally Llyr-cestre of Cær-Llyr +(walled city of Llyr). His famous and gigantic son Bran became, in +the process of time, the "Blessed Bran" who introduced Christianity +into Britain. + + [193] From the root _nem_ in _neamh_, heaven, _nemus_, a grove, + &c. + +Another group of Welsh gods, known as "the children of Don", +resemble somewhat the Danann deities of Ireland. The closest link +is Govannon, the smith, who appears to be identical with the Irish +Goibniu. As Irish pirates invaded and settled in Wales between the +second and fifth centuries of our era, it may be that the process of +"culture mixing" which resulted can be traced in the mythological +elements embedded in folk and manuscript stories. The Welsh deities, +however, were connected with certain constellations and may have +been "intruders" from the Continent. Cassiopea's chair was Llys Don +(the court of the goddess Don). Arianrod (silver circle), a goddess +and wife of Govannon, had for her castle the Northern Crown (Corona +Borealis). She is, in Arthurian romance, the sister of Arthur. Her +brother Gwydion had for his castle the "Milky Way", which in Irish +Gaelic is "the chain of Lugh". The Irish Danann god Nuada has been +identified with the British Nudd whose children formed the group of +"the children of Nudd". + +There were three groups of Welsh deities, the others being "the +children of Lyr" and "the children of Don". Professor Rhys has +identified Nudd with Lud, the god whose name survives in London +(originally Cær Lud) and in Ludgate, which may, as has been +suggested, have originally been "the way of Lud", leading to his holy +place now occupied by St. Paul's Cathedral. Lud had a sanctuary at +Lidney in Gloucestershire, where he was worshipped in Roman times as +is indicated by inscriptions. A bronze plaque shows a youthful god, +with solar rays round his head, standing in a four-horsed chariot. +Two winged genii and two Tritons accompany him. Apparently he was +identified with Apollo. The Arthurian Lot or Loth was Lud or Ludd. +His name lingers in "Lothian". + +Gwydion, the son of Don, was a prominent British deity and has been +compared to Odin. He was the father of the god Lleu, whose mother was +Arianrod. The rainbow was "Lleu's rod-sling". Dwynwen, the so-called +British Venus, was Christianized as "the blessed Dwyn" and the patron +saint of the church of Llanddwyn in Anglesey. The magic cauldron was +possessed by the Welsh goddess Kerridwen. + + [Illustration: BRONZE URN AND CAULDRON (_circa_ 500 B.C.) + + (British Museum) + + Vessels such as these are unknown outside the British Isles.] + +A prominent god whose worship appears to have been widespread was +connected with the apple tree, which in the Underworld and Islands +of the Blest was the "Tree of Life". Ancient beliefs and ceremonies +connected with the apple cult survive in those districts in southern +England where the curious custom is observed of "wassailing" the +apple trees on Christmas Eve or Twelfth Night.[194] The "wassailers" +visit the tree and sing a song in which each apple is asked to bear + + Hat-fulls, lap-fulls, + Sack-fulls, pocket-fulls. + +Cider is poured about the roots of apple trees. This ceremony appears +to have been originally an elaborate one. The tom-tit or some other +small bird was connected with the apple tree, as was the robin or +wren of other cults with the oak tree. At the wassailing ceremony a +boy climbed up into a tree and impersonated the bird. It may be that +in Pagan times a boy was sacrificed to the god of the tree. That +the bird (in some cases it was the robin red-breast) was hunted and +sacrificed is indicated by old English folk-songs beginning like the +following: + + Old Robin is dead and gone to his grave, + Hum! Ha! gone to his grave; + They planted an apple tree over his head, + Hum! Ha! over his head. + + [194] Rendel Harris, _Apple Cults_, and _The Ascent of Olympus_. + +In England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland a deity, or a group of +deities in the Underworld, was associated with a magic cauldron, or +as it is called in Gaelic a "pot of plenty". Heroes or gods obtain +possession of this cauldron, which provides an inexhaustible food +supply and much treasure, or is used for purposes of divination. It +appears to have been Christianized into the "Holy Grail", to obtain +possession of which Arthurian knights set out on perilous journeys. + +Originally the pot was a symbol of the mother goddess, who renewed +youth, provided food for all, and was the source of treasure, luck, +victory, and wisdom. This goddess was associated with the mother +cow and the life-prolonging pearls that were searched for by early +Eastern prospectors. There are references to cows and pearls in Welsh +and Gaelic poems and legends regarding the pot. An old Welsh poem in +the _Book of Taliesin_ says of the cauldron: + + By the breath of nine maidens it would be kindled. + The head of Hades' cauldron--what is it like? + A rim it has, with pearls round its border: + It boils not coward's food: it would not be perjured. + +This extract is from the poem known as "Preidden Annwfn" ("Harryings +of Hades"), translated by the late Professor Sir John Rhys. Arthur +and his heroes visit Hades to obtain the cauldron, and reference is +made to the "Speckled Ox". Arthur, in another story, obtains the +cauldron from Ireland. It is full of money. The Welsh god Bran gives +to a king of Ireland a magic cauldron which restores to life those +dead men who are placed in it. A Gaelic narrative relates the story +of Cuchullin's harrying of Hades, which is called "Dun Scaith". +Cuchullin's assailants issue from a pit in the centre of Dun Scaith +in forms of serpents, toads, and sharp-beaked monsters. He wins the +victory and carries away three magic cows and a cauldron that gives +inexhaustible supplies of food, gold, and silver. + +The pot figures in various mythologies. It was a symbol of the mother +goddess Hathor of ancient Egypt and of the mother goddess of Troy, +and it figures in Indian religious literature. In Gaelic lore the +knife which cuts inexhaustible supplies of flesh from a dry bone is +evidently another symbol of the deity. + +The talismans possessed by the Dananns were the cauldron, the sword +and spear of Lugh, and the Lia Fail (or Stone of Destiny)[195], +which reminds one of the three Japanese symbols, the solar mirror, +the dragon sword, and the tama (a pearl or round stone) kept in a +Shinto shrine at Ise. The goddess's "life substance" was likewise +in fruits like the Celestial apples, nuts, rowan berries, &c., of +the Celts, and the grapes, pomegranates, &c., of other peoples, and +in herbs like the mugwort and mandrake. Her animals were associated +with rivers. The name of the River Boyne signifies "white cow". Tarf +(bull) appears in several river names, as also does the goddess name +Deva (Devona) in the Devon, Dee, &c. Philologists have shown that +Ness, the Inverness-shire river, is identical with Nestos in Thrace +and Neda in Greece. The goddess Belisama (the goddess of war) was +identified with the Mersey. + + [195] Called also _clach na cineamhuinn_ (the fatal stone). + +Goddess groups, usually triads, were as common in Gaul as they were +in ancient Crete. These deities were sometimes called the "Mothers", +as in Marne, the famous French river, and in the Welsh _Y Mamau_, one +of the names of the "fairies". + +Other names of goddess groups include Proximæ (kinswoman), Niskai +(water spirits), and Dervonnæ (oak spirits). The Romans took over +these and other groups of ancient deities and the beliefs about +their origin in the mythical sea they were supposed to cross or +rise from. Gaelic references to "the coracle of the fairy woman" or +"supernatural woman" are of special interest in this connection, +especially when it is found that the "coracle" is a sea-shell which, +by the way, figures as a canopy symbol in some of the sculptured +groups of Romano-British grouped goddesses who sometimes bear baskets +of apples, sheafs of grain, &c. When the shell provides inexhaustible +supplies of curative or knowledge-conferring milk, it links with the +symbolic pot. + +Most of the ancient deities had local names, and consequently a +number of Gaulish gods were identified by the Romans with Apollo, +including Borvo, whose name lingers in Bourbon, Grannos of Aquæ +Granni (Aix la Chapelle), Mogounus, whose name has been shortened +to Mainz, &c. The gods Taranucus (thunderer), Uxell[)i]mus (the +highest), &c., were identified with Jupiter; Dunatis (fort god), +Albiorix (world king), Caturix (battle king), Belatucadros (brilliant +in war), Cocidius, &c., were identified with Mars. The name of +the god Cam[)u]los clings to Colchester (Camulodunun). There are +Romano-British inscriptions that refer to the ancient gods under +various Celtic names. A popular deity was the god of Silvanus, who +conferred health and was, no doubt, identified with a tree or herb. + +It is uncertain at what period beliefs connected with stars were +introduced into the British Isles.[196] As we have seen, the Welsh +deities were connected with certain star groups. "Three Celtic +goddesses", writes Anwyl, referring to Gaul, "whose worship attained +to highest development were Damona (the goddess of cattle), Sirona +(the aged one or the star goddess), and Ep[)o]na (the goddess of +horses). These names are Indo-European." An Irish poem by a bard +who is supposed to have lived in the ninth century refers to the +Christian saint Ciaran of Saigir as a man of stellar origin: + + Liadaine (his mother) was asleep + On her bed. + When she turned her face to heaven + A star fell into her mouth. + Thence was born the marvellous child + Ciaran of Saigir who is proclaimed to thee. + + [196] There is evidence in the Gaelic manuscripts that time was + measured by the apparent movements of the stars. Cuchullin, while + sitting at a feast, says to his charioteer: "Laeg, my friend, go + out, observe the stars of the air, and ascertain when midnight + comes". + +In the north and north-west Highlands the aurora borealis is called +_Na Fir Chlis_ ("the nimble men") and "the merry dancers". They are +regarded as fairies (supernatural beings) like the sea "fairies" _Na +Fir Ghorm_ ("blue men"), who were probably sea gods. + +The religious beliefs of the Romans were on no higher a level than +those of the ancient Britons and Gaels. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +Historical Summary + + +The evidence dealt with in the foregoing chapters throws considerable +light on the history of early man in Britain. We really know more +about pre-Roman times than about that obscure period of Anglo-Saxon +invasion and settlement which followed on the withdrawal of the +Roman army of occupation, yet historians, as a rule, regard it as +"pre-historic" and outside their sphere of interest. As there are no +inscriptions and no documents to render articulate the archæological +Ages of Stone and Bronze, they find it impossible to draw any +definite conclusions. + +It can be urged, however, in criticism of this attitude, that the +relics of the so-called "pre-historic age" may be found to be even +more reliable than some contemporary documents of the "historic" +period. Not a few of these are obviously biassed and prejudiced, +while some are so vague and fragmentary that the conclusions drawn +from them cannot be otherwise than hypothetical in character. A +plainer, clearer, and more reliable story is revealed by the bones +and the artifacts and the surviving relics of the intellectual +life of our remote ancestors than by the writings of some early +chroniclers and some early historians. It is possible, for instance, +in consequence of the scanty evidence available, to hold widely +diverging views regarding the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic problems. +Pro-Teutonic and pro-Celtic protagonists involve us invariably in +bitter controversy. That contemporary documentary evidence, even +when somewhat voluminous, may fail to yield a clear record of facts +is evident from the literature that deals, for instance, with the +part played by Mary Queen of Scots in the Darnley conspiracy and in +the events that led to her execution. + +The term "pre-historic" is one that should be discarded. It is +possible, as has been shown, to write, although in outline, the +history of certain ancient race movements, of the growth and decay +of the civilization revealed by the cavern art of Aurignacian and +Magdalenian times, of early trade and of early shipping. The history +of art goes back for thousands of years before the Classic Age dawned +in Greece; the history of trade can be traced to that remote period +when Red Sea shells were imported into Italy by Crô-Magnon man; and +the history of British shipping can be shown to be as old as those +dug-outs that foundered in ancient Scottish river beds before the +last land movement had ceased. + +The history of man really begins when and where we find the first +clear traces of his activities, and as it is possible to write not +only regarding the movements of the Crô-Magnon races, but of their +beliefs as revealed by burial customs, their use of body paint, the +importance attached to shell and other talismans, and their wonderful +and high attainments in the arts and crafts, the European historical +period can be said to begin in the post-Glacial epoch when tundra +conditions prevailed in Central and Western Europe and Italy was +connected with the North African coast. + +In the case of ancient Egypt, historical data have been gleaned from +archæological remains as well as from religious texts and brief +records of historical events. The history of Egyptian agriculture +has been traced back beyond the dawn of the Dynastic Age and to that +inarticulate period before the hieroglyphic system of writing had +been invented, by the discovery in the stomachs of the bodies of +proto-Egyptians, naturally preserved in hot dry sands, of husks of +barley and of millet native to the land of Egypt.[197] + + [197] Elliot Smith, _The Ancient Egyptians_, p. 42. + +The historical data so industriously accumulated in Egypt and +Babylonia have enabled excavators to date certain finds in Crete, +and to frame a chronological system for the ancient civilization +of that island. Other relics afford proof of cultural contact +between Crete and the mainland, as far westward as Spain, where +traces of Cretan activities have been discovered. With the aid of +comparative evidence, much light is thrown, too, on the history +of the ancient Hittites, who have left inscriptions that have +not yet been deciphered. The discoveries made by Siret in Spain +and Portugal of unmistakable evidence of Egyptian and Babylonian +cultural influence, trade, and colonization are, therefore, to be +welcomed. The comparative evidence in this connection provides a more +reliable basis than has hitherto been available for Western European +archæology. It is possible for the historian to date approximately +the beginning of the export trade in jet from England--apparently +from Whitby in Yorkshire--and of the export trade in amber from the +Baltic, and the opening of the sea routes between Spain and Northern +Europe. The further discovery of Egyptian beads in south-western +England, in association with relics of the English "Bronze Age", is +of far-reaching importance. A "prehistoric" period surely ceases to +be "prehistoric" when its relics can be dated even approximately. The +English jet found in Spain takes us back till about 2500 B.C., and +the Egyptian beads found in England till about 1300 B.C. + +The dating of these and other relics raises the question whether +historians should accept, without qualification, or at all, the +system of "Ages" adopted by archæologists. Terms like "Palæolithic" +(Old Stone) and "Neolithic" (New Stone) are, in most areas, without +precise chronological significance. As applied in the historical +sense, they tend to obscure the fact that the former applies to a +most prolonged period during which more than one civilization arose, +flourished, and decayed. In the so-called "Old Stone Age" flint was +worked with a degree of skill never surpassed in the "New Stone Age", +as Aurignacian and Solutrean artifacts testify; it was also sometimes +badly worked from poorly selected material, as in Magdalenian times, +when bone and horn were utilized to such an extent that archæologists +would be justified in referring to a "Bone and Horn Age". + +Before the Neolithic industry was introduced into Western Europe +and the so-called "Neolithic Age" dawned, as it ended, at various +periods in various areas, great climatic changes took place, and +the distribution of sea and land changed more than once. Withal, +considerable race movements took place in Central and Western Europe. +In time new habits of life were introduced into our native land that +influenced more profoundly the subsequent history of Britain than +could have been possibly accomplished by a new method of working +flint. The most important cultural change was effected by the +introduction of the agricultural mode of life. + +It is important to bear in mind in this connection that the ancient +civilizations of Egypt and Babylonia were based on the agricultural +mode of life, and that when this mode of life passed into Europe a +complex culture was transported with it from the area of origin. It +was the early agriculturists who developed shipbuilding and the art +of navigation, who first worked metals, and set a religious value +on gold and silver, on pearls, and on certain precious stones, and +sent out prospectors to search for precious metals and precious gems +in distant lands. The importance of agriculture in the history +of civilization cannot be overestimated. In so far as our native +land is concerned, a new epoch was inaugurated when the first +agriculturist tilled the soil, sowed imported barley seeds, using +imported implements, and practising strange ceremonies at sowing, +and ultimately at harvest time, that had origin in a far-distant +"cradle" of civilization, and still linger in our midst as folk-lore +evidence, testifies to the full. In ancient times the ceremonies were +regarded as being of as much importance as the implements, and the +associated myths were connected with the agriculturists' Calendar, as +the Scottish Gaelic Calendar bears testimony. + +Instead, therefore, of dividing the early history of man in Britain +into periods, named after the materials from which he made implements +and weapons, these should be divided so as to throw light on habits +of life and habits of thought. The early stages of civilization can +be referred to as the "Pre-Agricultural", and those that follow as +the "Early Agricultural". + +Under "Pre-Agricultural" come the culture stages, or rather the +industries known as (1) Aurignacian, (2) Solutrean, and (3) +Magdalenian. These do not have the same chronological significance +everywhere in Europe, for the Solutrean industry never disturbed +or supplemented the Aurignacian in Italy or in Spain south of the +Cantabrian Mountains, nor did Aurignacian penetrate into Hungary, +where the first stage of Modern Man's activities was the Solutrean. +The three stages, however, existed during the post-Glacial period, +when man hunted the reindeer and other animals favouring similar +climatic conditions. The French archæologists have named this the +"Reindeer Age". Three later industries were introduced into Europe +during the Pre-Agricultural Age. These are known as (1) Azilian, (2) +Tardenoisian, and (3) Maglemosian. The ice-cap was retreating, the +reindeer and other tundra animals moved northward, and the red deer +arrived in Central and Western Europe. We can, therefore, refer to +the latter part of the Pre-Agricultural times as the "Early Red Deer +Age". + +There is Continental evidence to show that the Neolithic industry was +practised prior to the introduction of the agricultural mode of life. +The "Early Agricultural Age", therefore, cuts into the archæological +"Neolithic Age" in France. Whether or not it does so in Britain is +uncertain. + +At the dawn of the British "Early Agricultural Age" cultural +influences were beginning to "flow" from centres of ancient +civilization, if not directly, at any rate indirectly. As has +been indicated in the foregoing pages, the Neolithic industry +was practised in Britain by a people who had a distinct social +organization and engaged in trade. Some Neolithic flints were of +Eastern type or origin. The introduction of bronze from the Continent +appears to have been effected by seafaring traders, and there is no +evidence that it changed the prevailing habits of thought and life. +Our ancestors did not change their skins and their ideas when they +began to use and manufacture bronze. A section of them adopted a new +industry, but before doing so they had engaged in the search for +gold. This is shown by the fact that they settled on the granite in +Devon and Cornwall, while yet they were using flints of Neolithic +form which had been made elsewhere. Iron working was ultimately +introduced. The Bronze and Iron "Ages" of the archæologists can +be included in the historian's "Early Agricultural Age", because +agriculture continued to be the most important factor in the economic +life of Britain. It was the basis of its civilization; it rendered +possible the development of mining and of various industries, and the +promotion of trade by land and sea. In time the Celtic peoples--that +is, peoples who spoke Celtic dialects--arrived in Britain. The +Celtic movement was in progress at 500 B.C., and had not ended after +Julius Cæsar invaded southern England. It was finally arrested by the +Roman occupation, but continued in Ireland. When it really commenced +is uncertain; the earliest Celts may have used bronze only. + +The various Ages, according to the system suggested, are as follows:-- + + 1. =The Pre-Agricultural Age.= + + Sub-divisions: (A) the _Reindeer Age_ with the Aurignacian, + Solutrean, and Magdalenian industries; (B) the _Early Red Deer + Age_ with the Azilian, Tardenoisian, and Maglemosian industries. + + 2. =The Early Agricultural Age.= + + Sub-divisions: (A) the _Pre-Celtic Age_ with the Neolithic, + copper and bronze industries; (B) the _Celtic Age_ with the + bronze, iron, and enamel industries. + + 3. =The Romano-British Age.= + + Including in Scotland (A) the _Caledonian Age_ and (B) the + _Early Scoto-Pictish Age_; and in Ireland the _Cuchullin Age_, + during which bronze and iron were used. + +The view favoured by some historians that our ancestors were, prior +to the Roman invasion, mere "savages" can no longer obtain. It is +clearly without justification. Nor are we justified in perpetuating +the equally hazardous theory that early British culture was of +indigenous origin, and passed through a series of evolutionary stages +in isolation until the country offered sufficient attractions to +induce first the Celts and afterwards the Romans to conquer it. The +correct and historical view appears to be that from the earliest +times Britain was subjected to racial and cultural "drifts" from the +Continent, and that the latter outnumbered the former. + +In the Pre-Agricultural Age Crô-Magnon colonists reached England and +Wales while yet in the Aurignacian stage of civilization. As much +is indicated by the evidence of the Paviland cave in South Wales. +At a later period, proto-Solutrean influence, which had entered +Western Europe from North Africa, filtered into England, and can be +traced in those caverns that have yielded evidence of occupation. +The pure Solutrean culture subsequently swept from Eastern Europe +as far westward as Northern Spain, but Britain, like Southern Spain +and Italy, remained immune to it. Magdalenian culture then arose and +became widespread. It had relations with the earlier Aurignacian and +owed nothing to Solutrean. England yields undoubted traces of its +influence, which operated vigorously at a time when Scotland was +yet largely covered with ice. Certain elements in Aurignacian and +Magdalenian cultures appear to have persisted in our midst until +comparatively recent times, especially in connection with burial +customs and myths regarding the "sleeping heroes" in burial caverns. + +The so-called "Transition Period" between the Upper Palæolithic and +Neolithic Ages is well represented, especially in Scotland, where the +land rose after early man's arrival, and even after the introduction +of shipping. As England was sinking when Scotland was rising, English +traces of the period are difficult to find. This "Transition Period" +was of greater duration than the archæological "Neolithic Age". + +Of special interest is the light thrown by relics of the "Transition +Period" on the race problem. Apparently the Crô-Magnons and other +peoples of the Magdalenian Age were settled in Britain when the +intruders, who had broken up Magdalenian civilization on the +Continent, began to arrive. These were (1) the Azilians of Iberian +(Mediterranean) type; (2) the Tardenoisians, who came through +Italy from North Africa, and were likewise, it would appear, of +Mediterranean racial type; and (3) the Maglemosians, who were mainly +a fair, tall people of Northern type. The close proximity of Azilian +and Maglemosian stations in western Scotland--at the MacArthur cave +(Azilian) and the Drumvaragie shelter (Maglemosian) at Oban, for +instance--suggests that in the course of time racial intermixture +took place. That all the fair peoples of England, Scotland, and +Ireland are descended from Celts or Norwegians is a theory which has +not taken into account the presence in these islands at an early +period, and before the introduction of the Neolithic industry, of the +carriers from the Baltic area of Maglemosian culture. + +We next pass to the so-called Neolithic stage of culture,[198] and +find it affords fuller and more definite evidence regarding the early +history of our native land. As has been shown, there are data which +indicate that there was no haphazard distribution of the population +of England when the Neolithic industry and the agricultural mode of +life were introduced. The theory must be discarded that "Neolithic +man" was a wanderer, whose movements depended entirely on those +of the wild animals he hunted, as well as the further theory that +stone implements and weapons were not used after the introduction of +metals. There were, as can be gathered from the evidence afforded by +archæological remains, settled village communities, and centres of +industry in the Age referred to by archæologists as "Neolithic". The +Early Agricultural Age had dawned. Sections of the population engaged +in agriculture, sections were miners and workers of flint, sections +were hunters and fishermen, sections searched for gold, pigments +for body paint, material for ornaments of religious value, &c., +and sections engaged in trade, not only with English and Scottish +peoples, but with those of the Continent. The English Channel, and +probably the North Sea, were crossed by hardy mariners who engaged in +trade. + + [198] It must be borne in mind that among the producers and users + of Neolithic artifacts were the Easterners who collected and + exported ores. + +At an early period in the Early Agricultural Age and before bronze +working was introduced, England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland, +were influenced more directly than had hitherto been the case by the +high civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia, and especially by their +colonies in South-western Europe. The recent Spanish finds indicate +that a great "wave" of high Oriental culture was in motion in Spain +as far back as 2500 B.C., and perhaps at an even earlier period. +Included among Babylonian and Egyptian relics in Spain are, as has +been stated, jet from Whitby, Yorkshire, and amber from the Baltic. +Apparently the colonists had trading relations with Britain. Whether +the "Tin Land", which was occupied by a people owing allegiance to +Sargon of Akkad, was ancient Britain is quite uncertain. It was +more probably some part of Western Europe. That Western European +influence was reaching Britain before the last land movement had +ceased is made evident by the fact that the ancient boat with a cork +plug, which was found in Clyde silt at Glasgow, lay 25 feet above +the present sea-level. The cork plug undoubtedly came from Spain or +Italy, and the boat is of Mediterranean type.[199] It is evident that +long before the introduction of bronze working the coasts of Britain +were being explored by enterprizing prospectors, and that the virgin +riches of our native land were being exploited. In this connection it +is of importance to find that the earliest metal artifacts introduced +into our native islands were brought by traders, and that those +that reached England were mainly of Gaulish type, while those that +reached Ireland were Spanish. The Neolithic industry does not appear +to have been widespread in Ireland, where copper artifacts were in +use at a very early period. + + [199] The boat dates the silting process rather than the silting + process the boat. + +A large battle-axe of pure copper, described by Sir David Brewster in +1822 (_Edinburgh Philosophical Journal_, Vol. VI, p. 357), was found +at a depth of 20 feet in Ratho Bog, near Edinburgh. Above it were 9 +feet of moss, 7 feet of sand, and 4 feet of hard black till-clay. +"It must have been deposited along with the blue clay", wrote +Brewster, "prior to the formation of the superincumbent stratum of +sand, and must have existed before the diluvial operations by which +that stratum was formed. This opinion of its antiquity is strongly +confirmed by the peculiarity of its shape, and the nature of its +composition." The Spanish discoveries have revived interest in this +important find. + +As has been indicated, jet, pearls, gold, and tin appear to have +been searched for and found before bronze working became a British +industry. That the early prospectors had experience in locating and +working metals before they reached this country there can be little +doubt. There was a psychological motive for their adventurous voyages +to unknown lands. The distribution of the megalithic monuments and +graves indicates that metals were found and worked in south-western +England, in Wales, in Derbyshire, and Cumberland, that jet was worked +at Whitby, and that metals were located in Ireland and Scotland. +Gold must have been widely distributed during the period of the +great thaw. It is unlikely that traces of alluvial gold, which +had been located and well worked in ancient times, should remain +until the present time. In Scotland no traces of gold can now be +found in a number of districts where, according to the records, it +was worked as late as the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Some +of the surviving Scottish megalithic monuments may mark the sites +of ancient goldfields that were abandoned in early times when the +supplies of precious metal became exhausted. The great circles of +Callernish in Lewis and Stennis in Orkney are records of activity in +semi-barren areas. Large communities could not have been attracted to +these outlying islands to live on the produce of land or sea. Traces +of metals, &c., indicate that, in both areas in ancient times, the +builders of megalithic monuments settled in remote areas in Britain +for the same reason as they settled on parts of the Continent. A gold +rod has been discovered in association with the "Druid Temple" at +Leys, near Inverness. The Inverness group of circles may well have +been those of gold-seekers. In Aberdeenshire a group of megalithic +monuments appears to have been erected by searchers for pearls. Gold +was found in this county in the time of the Stuart kings. + +The close association of megalithic monuments with ancient mine +workings makes it impossible to resist the conclusion that the +worship of trees and wells was closely connected with the religion +of which the megalithic monuments are records. Siret shows that the +symbolic markings on typical stone monuments are identical with those +of the tree cult. Folk-lore and philological data tend to support +this view. From the root _nem_ are derived the Celtic names of the +pearl, heaven, the grove, and the shrine within the grove (see Chap. +XIII). The Celts appear to have embraced the Druidic system of the +earlier Iberians in Western Europe, whose culture had been derived +from that of the Oriental colonists. + +The Oriental mother goddess was connected with the sacred tree, with +gold and gems, with pearls, with rivers, lakes, and the sea, with +the sky and with the heavenly bodies, long centuries before the +Palm-tree cult was introduced into Spain by Oriental colonists. The +symbolism of pearls links with that of jet, the symbolism of jet +with that of Baltic amber, and the symbolism of Baltic amber with +that of Adriatic amber and of Mediterranean coral. All these sacred +things were supposed to contain, like jasper and turquoise in Egypt, +the "life substance" of the mother goddess who had her origin in +water and her dwelling in a tree, and was connected with the sky and +"the waters above the firmament". Coral was supposed to be her sea +tree, and jet, amber, silver, and gold were supposed to grow from +her fertilizing tears. Beliefs about "grown gold" were quite rife in +mediæval Britain.[200] + + [200] The ancient belief is enshrined in Milton's lines referring + to "ribs of gold" that "grow in Hell" and are dug out of its hill + (_Paradise Lost_, Book I, lines 688-90). + +It should not surprise us, therefore, to find traces of Oriental +religious conceptions in ancient Britain and Ireland. These have +apparently passed from country to country, from people to people, +from language to language, and down the Ages without suffering great +change. Even when mixed with ideas imported from other areas, they +have preserved their original fundamental significance. The Hebridean +"maiden-queen" goddess, who dwells in a tree and provides milk from +a sea-shell, has a history rooted in a distant area of origin, where +the goddess who personified the life-giving shell was connected with +the cow and the sky (the Milky Way), as was the goddess Hathor, the +Egyptian Aphrodite. The tendency to locate imported religious beliefs +no doubt provides the reason why the original palm tree of the +goddess was replaced in Britain by the hazel, the elm, the rowan, the +apple tree, the oak, &c. + +On the Continent there were displacements of peoples after the +introduction of bronze, and especially of bronze weapons. There was +wealth and there was trade to attract and reward the conqueror. +The Eastern traders of Spain were displaced. Some appear to have +migrated into Gaul and North Italy; others may have found refuge in +Ireland and Britain. The sea-routes were not, however, closed. Ægean +culture filtered into Western Europe from Crete, and through the +Hallstatt culture centre from the Danubian area. The culture of the +tribes who spoke Celtic dialects was veined with Ægean and Asiatic +influences. In time Continental Druidism imbibed ideas regarding the +Transmigration of Souls and the custom of cremation from an area in +the East which had influenced the Aryan invaders of India. + +The origin of the Celts is obscure. Greek writers refer to them as a +tall, fair people. They were evidently a branch of the fair Northern +race, but whether they came from Northern Europe or Northern Asia is +uncertain. In Western Europe they intruded themselves as conquerors +and formed military aristocracies. Like other vigorous, intruding +minorities elsewhere and at different periods, they were in certain +localities absorbed by the conquered. In Western Europe they were +fused with Iberian communities, and confederacies of Celtiberians +came into existence. + +Before the great Celtic movements into Western Europe began--that +is, before 500 B.C.--Britain was invaded by a broad-headed people, +but it is uncertain whether they came as conquerors or as peaceful +traders. In time these intruders were absorbed. The evidence afforded +by burial customs and surviving traces of ancient religious beliefs +and practices tends to show that the culture of the earlier peoples +survived over large tracts of our native land. An intellectual +conquest of conquerors or intruders was effected by the indigenous +population which was rooted to the soil by agriculture and to centres +of industry and trade by undisturbed habits of life. + +Although the pre-Celtic languages were ultimately displaced by +the Celtic--it is uncertain when this process was completed--the +influence of ancient Oriental culture remained. In Scotland the +pig-taboo, with its history rooted in ancient Egypt, has had tardy +survival until our own times. It has no connection with Celtic +culture, for the Continental Celts were a pig-rearing and pork-eating +people, like the Ægæan invaders of Greece. The pig-taboo is still as +prevalent in Northern Arcadia as in the Scottish Highlands, where +the descendants not only of the ancient Iberians but of intruders +from pork-loving Ireland and Scandinavia have acquired the ancient +prejudice and are now perpetuating it. + +Some centuries before the Roman occupation, a system of gold coinage +was established in England. Trade with the Continent appears to have +greatly increased in volume and complexity. England, Wales, Scotland, +and Ireland were divided into small kingdoms. The evidence afforded +by the Irish Gaelic manuscripts, which refer to events before and +after the Roman conquest of Britain, shows that society was well +organized and that the organization was of non-Roman character. +Tacitus is responsible for the statement that the Irish manners and +customs were similar to those prevailing in Britain, and he makes +reference to Irish sea-trade and the fact that Irish sea-ports were +well known to merchants. England suffered more from invasions before +and after the arrival of Julius Cæsar than did Scotland or Ireland. +It was consequently incapable of united action against the Romans, as +Tacitus states clearly. The indigenous tribes refused to be allies of +the intruders.[201] + + [201] _Agricola_, Chap. XII. + +In Ireland, which Pliny referred to as one of the British Isles, +the pre-Celtic Firbolgs were subdued by Celtic invaders. The later +"waves" of Celts appeared to have subdued the earlier conquerors, +with the result that "Firbolg" ceased to have a racial significance +and was applied to all subject peoples. There were in Ireland, as in +England, upper and lower classes, and military tribes that dominated +other tribes. Withal, there were confederacies, and petty kings, +who owed allegiance to "high kings". The "Red Branch" of Ulster, of +which Cuchullin was an outstanding representative, had their warriors +trained in Scotland. It may be that they were invaders who had passed +through Scotland into Northern Ireland; at any rate, it is unlikely +that they would have sent their warriors to a "colony" to acquire +skill in the use of weapons. There were Cruithne (Britons) in all the +Irish provinces. Most Irish saints were of this stock. + +The pre-Roman Britons had ships of superior quality, as is made +evident by the fact that a British squadron was included in the +great Veneti fleet which Cæsar attacked and defeated with the aid of +Pictones and other hereditary rivals of the Veneti and their allies. +In early Roman times Britain thus took an active part in European +politics in consequence of its important commercial interests. + + [Illustration: BRONZE BUCKLERS OR SHIELDS (British Museum) + + Upper: from the Thames. Lower: from Wales.] + +When the Romans reached Scotland the Caledonians, a people with a +Celtic tribal name, were politically predominant. Like the English +and Irish pre-Roman peoples, they used chariots and ornamented these +with finely worked bronze. Enamel was manufactured or imported. Some +of the Roman stories about the savage condition of Scotland may be +dismissed as fictions. Who can nowadays credit the statement of +Herodian[202] that the warriors of Scotland in Roman times passed +their days in the water, or Dion Cassius's[203] story that they were +wont to hide in mud for several days with nothing but their heads +showing, and that despite their fine physique they fed chiefly on +herbs, fruit, nuts, and the bark of trees, and, withal, that they +had discovered a mysterious earth-nut and had only to eat a piece no +larger than a bean to defy hunger and thirst. The further statement +that the Scottish "savages" were without state or family organization +hardly accords with historical facts. Even Agricola had cause to +feel alarm when confronted by the well-organized and well-equipped +Caledonian army at the battle of Mons Grampius, and he found it +necessary to retreat afterwards, although he claimed to have won +a complete victory. His retreat appears to have been as necessary +as that of Napoleon from Moscow. The later invasion of the Emperor +Severus was a disastrous one for him, entailing the loss of 50,000 +men. + + [202] _Herodian_, III, 14. + + [203] Dion Cassius (_Xiphilinus_) LXXVI, 12. + +A people who used chariots and horses, and artifacts displaying +the artistic skill of those found in ancient Britain, had reached +a comparatively high state of civilization. Warriors did not +manufacture their own chariots, the harness of their horses, their +own weapons, armour, and ornaments; these were provided for them by +artisans. Such things as they required and could not obtain in their +own country had to be imported by traders. The artisans had to be +paid in kind, if not in coin, and the traders had to give something +in return for what they received. Craftsmen and traders had to be +protected by laws, and the laws had to be enforced. + +The evidence accumulated by archæologists is sufficient to prove +that Britain had inherited from seats of ancient civilization a high +degree of culture and technical skill in metal-working, &c., many +centuries before Rome was built. The finest enamel work on bronze in +the world was produced in England and Ireland, and probably, although +definite proof has not yet been forthcoming, in Scotland, the enamels +of which may have been imported and may not. Artisans could not +have manufactured enamel without furnaces capable of generating a +high degree of heat. The process was a laborious and costly one. It +required technical knowledge and skill on the part of the workers. +Red, white, yellow, and blue enamels were manufactured. Even the +Romans were astonished at the skill displayed in enamel work by the +Britons. The people who produced these enamels and the local peoples +who purchased them, including the Caledonians, were far removed from +a state of savagery. + +Many writers, who have accepted without question the statements of +certain Roman writers regarding the early Britons and ignored the +evidence that archæological relics provide regarding the arts and +crafts and social conditions of pre-Roman times, have in the past +written in depreciatory vein regarding the ancestors of the vast +majority of the present population of these islands, who suffered +so severely at the altar of Roman ambition. Everything Roman has +been glorified; Roman victories over British "barbarians" have been +included among the "blessings" of civilization. Yet "there is", as +Elton says, "something at once mean and tragical about the story +of the Roman conquest.... On the one side stand the petty tribes, +prosperous nations in minature, already enriched by commerce and +rising to a homely culture; on the other the terrible Romans strong +in their tyranny and an avarice which could never be appeased."[204] + + [204] _Origins of English History_, pp. 302-3. + +It was in no altruistic spirit that the Romans invaded Gaul and broke +up the Celtic organization, or that they invaded Briton and reduced +a free people to a state of bondage. The life blood of young Britain +was drained by Rome, and, for the loss sustained, Roman institutions, +Roman villas and baths, and the Latin language and literature were +far from being compensations. Rome was a predatory state. When its +military organization collapsed, its subject states fell with it. +Gaul and Britain had been weakened by Roman rule; the ancient spirit +of independence had been undermined; native initiative had been +ruthlessly stamped out under a system more thorough and severe than +modern Prussianism. At the same time, there is, of course, much to +admire in Roman civilization. + +During the obscure post-Roman period England was occupied by Angles +and Saxons and Jutes, who have been credited with the wholesale +destruction of masses of the Britons. The dark-haired survivors +were supposed to have fled westward, leaving the fair intruders +in undisputed occupation of the greater part of England. But the +indigenous peoples of the English mining areas were originally a +dark-haired and sallow people, and the invading Celts were mainly a +fair people. Boadicea was fair-haired like Queen Maeve of Ireland. +The evidence collected of late years by ethnologists shows that the +masses of the English population are descended from the early peoples +of the Pre-Agricultural and Early Agricultural Ages. The theory of +the wholesale extermination by the Anglo-Saxons of the early Britons +has been founded manifestly on very scant and doubtful evidence. + +What the Teutonic invasions accomplished in reality was the +destruction not of a people but of a civilization. The native arts +and crafts declined, and learning was stamped out, when the social +organization of post-Roman Britain was shattered. On the Continent +a similar state of matters prevailed. Roman civilization suffered +decline when the Roman soldier vanished. + +Happily, the elements of "Celtic" civilization had been preserved +in those areas that had escaped the blight of Roman ambition. +The peoples of Celtic speech had preserved, as ancient Gaelic +manuscripts testify, a love of the arts as ardent as that of Rome, +and a fine code of chivalry to which the Romans were strangers. +The introduction of Christianity had advanced this ancient Celtic +civilization on new and higher lines. When the Columban missionaries +began their labours outside Scotland and Ireland, they carried +Christianity and "a new humanism" over England and the Continent, +"and became the teachers of whole nations, the counsellors of kings +and emperors". Ireland and Scotland had originally received their +Christianity from Romanized England and Gaul. The Celtic Church +developed on national lines. Vernacular literature was promoted by +the Celtic clerics. + +In England, as a result of Teutonic intrusions and conquests, +Christianity and Romano-British culture had been suppressed. The +Anglo-Saxons were pagans. In time the Celtic missionaries from +Scotland and Ireland spread Christianity and Christian culture +throughout England. + +It is necessary for us to rid our minds of extreme pro-Teutonic +prejudices. Nor is it less necessary to avoid the equally dangerous +pitfall of the Celtic hypothesis. Christianity and the associated +humanistic culture entered these islands during the Roman period. In +Ireland and Scotland the new religion was perpetuated by communities +that had preserved pre-Roman habits of life and thought which were +not necessarily of Celtic origin or embraced by a people who can +be accurately referred to as the "Celtic race". The Celts did not +exterminate the earlier settlers. Probably the Celts were military +aristocrats over wide areas. + +Before the fair Celts had intruded themselves in Britain and Ireland, +the seeds of pre-Celtic culture, derived by trade and colonization +from centres of ancient civilization through their colonies, had +been sown and had borne fruit. The history of British civilization +begins with neither Celt nor Roman, but with those early prospectors +and traders who entered and settled in the British Isles when mighty +Pharaohs were still reigning in Egypt, and these and the enterprising +monarchs in Mesopotamia were promoting trade and extending their +spheres of influence. The North Syrian or Anatolian carriers of +Eastern civilization who founded colonies in Spain before 2500 B.C. +were followed by Cretans and Phoenicians. The sea-trade promoted by +these pioneers made possible the opening up of overland trade routes. +It was after Pytheas had (about 300 B.C.) visited Britain by coasting +round Spain and Northern France from Marseilles that the volume of +British trade across France increased greatly and the sea-routes +became of less importance. When Carthage fell, the Romans had the +trade of Western Europe at their mercy, and their conquests of Gaul +and Britain were undoubtedly effected for the purpose of enriching +themselves at the expense of subject peoples. We owe much to Roman +culture, but we owe much also to the culture of the British pre-Roman +period. + + + + +INDEX + + + Achæans, Celts and, 111, 112. + + Acheulian culture, 13, 14. + + Adonis, killed by boar, 197. + + Ægean culture, Celts absorbed, 112. + + -- -- in Central Europe, 96. + + Æstyans, the, amber traders, 161. + + -- worship of mother goddess and boar god, 161, 162. + + Africa, Crô-Magnon peoples entered Europe from, 35. + + -- ostrich eggs, ivory, &c., from, found in Spain, 96. + + -- transmigration of souls in, 143. + + Age, the Agricultural and pre-Agricultural, 213. + + -- the Early Red Deer, 214, 215. + + -- the Prehistoric, 217. + + -- the Historic, 217. + + -- the Reindeer, 213. + + Ages, Archæological, new system of, 215. + + -- -- problem of Scottish copper axe, 219. + + -- the Mythical, colours and metals of, 121. + See also _Geological_ and _Archæological Ages_. + + Agriculture, beginning of, in Britain, 217. + + -- importance of introduction of, 212. + + -- history of, 210. + + -- Neolithic sickles, 4. + + -- barley, wheat, and rye cultivated, 5. + + Aine, the Munster fairy, 202. + + Airts (Cardinal Points), the, doctrine of, 145. + See also _Cardinal Points_. + + Akkad, Sargon of, his knowledge of Western Europe, 96, 218. + + Alabaster, Eastern perfume flasks of, in Neolithic Spain, 96. + + Albertite, jet and, 164. + + Albiorix, the Gaulish god, 207. + + All Hallows, Black Sow of, 200. + + Amber, associated with jet and Egyptian blue beads in + England, 104, 105 (_ill._), 106. + + -- Celtic and German names of, 162. + + -- as magical product of water, 162, 163. + + -- eyes strengthened by, 165. + + -- imported into Britain at 1400 B.C., 106; and in first + century A.D., 114. + + -- jet and pearls and, 22. + + -- as "life substance", 80. + + -- Megalithic people searched for, 93. + + -- origin of, in Scottish lore, 162. + + -- Persian, &c., names of, 163, 164. + + -- Tacitus on the Baltic Æstyans, 161. + + -- connection of, with boar god and mother goddess, 161. + + -- as "tears" of goddess, 161. + + -- trade in, 219. + + -- the "vigorous Gael" and, 163. + + -- connection of, with Woad, 163. + + -- white enamel as substitute for, 165. + + America, green stone symbolism in, 34. + + Angles, 126. + + -- Celts and, 227. + + Anglo-Saxon intruders, our scanty knowledge of, 209. + + Angus, the Irish god of love, 202. + + Animism, not the earliest stage in religion, 178. + + Annis, Black (also "Black Anny" and "Cat Anna"), 195. + + -- -- Irish Anu (Danu), and, 198. + + Anthropology, stratification theory, 11, 12. + + Anu (Ana), the goddess, 198, 201. + + Aphrodite, 221. + + -- amber and, 163. + + -- the black form of, 164. + + -- connection of, with pearl and moon, 158. + + -- Julius Cæsar's pearl offering to, 159. + + -- myth of origin of, 38. + + -- Egyptian Hathor and, 38. + + -- the Scandinavian, 161. + + Apollo, British temples of, 177. + + -- the Gaelic, 202. + + -- the Gaulish, 207. + + -- god of London, 203. + + -- mouse connection of, 179. + + -- mouse feasts, 187. + + Apple, 221. + + -- connection of mouse with, 196. + + -- as fruit of longevity, 144. + + -- Scottish hag-goddess and, 196. + + -- Thomas the Rhymer and apple of knowledge and longevity, 146. + + -- "wassailing", 204. + + Apple land (Avalon), the Celtic Paradise, 144. + + Apples, life substance in, 206. + + Apple tree, God of, 204. + + Archæological Ages, 1400 B.C., a date in British history, 106. + + -- -- "Broad-heads" in Britain and "Long-heads" in Ireland + use bronze, 87. + + -- -- climate in Upper Palæolithic, 14. + + -- -- Egyptian and Babylonian relics in Neolithic Spain, 96. + + -- -- Egyptian Empire beads associated with bronze industry in + south-western England, 104, 105 (_ill._), 106. + + -- -- few intrusions between Bronze and Iron Ages, 109. + + -- -- in humorous art, 1. + + -- -- "Stone Age" man not necessarily a savage, 2. + + Archæological Ages, influences of Neanderthal and Crô-Magnon + races, 12. + + -- -- Irish sagas and, 119. + + -- -- bronze and iron swords, 119. + + -- -- Lord Avebury's system, 8. + + -- -- Neolithic industry introduced by metal workers + in Spain, 95, 99. + + -- -- relations of Neanderthal and Crô-Magnon races, 14, 15, 16. + + -- -- "Transition Period" longer than "Neolithic Age", 61. + + -- -- Western European metals reached Mesopotamia between 3000 B.C. + and 2000 B.C., 99, 100. + See also _Palæolithic_ and _Neolithic_. + + Archæology, stratification theory, 11, 12. + + Argentocoxus, the Caledonian, 112. + + Armenoid (Alpine) races, early movements of, 56. + + Armenoids in Britain, 222. + + -- intrusions of, in Europe, 126. + + -- partial disappearance of, from Britain, 127. + + Armlets, in graves, 158. + + Arrow, the fiery, and goddess Brigit, 188. + + Arrows, Azilians introduced, into Europe, 55. + + -- as symbols of deity, 51. + + Art, ancient man caricatured in modern, 1. + + Artemis, bee and butterfly connected with, 193. + + -- myth of the Scottish, 174, 197. + + Arthur, King, Celtic myth attached to, 198. + + Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh, night-shining gem of, 160. + + -- -- giant of, 131, and also note 1. + + Aryans, The, 123. + + Astronomy in Ancient Britain and Ireland, 175, and also note 1. + + -- Welsh and Gaelic names of constellations, 203. + + Atlantis, The Lost, 70. + + Atrebates, The, in Britain, 128. + + Augustine of Canterbury, Pope Gregory's letter, 176. + + -- -- Canterbury temple occupied by, 177. + + Augustonemeton (shrine of Augustus), 159. + + Aurignac, Crô-Magnon cave-tomb of, 20, 22. + + Aurignacian, African source of culture called, 27, 35. + + -- custom of smearing bodies with red earth, 27. + + -- animism and goddess worship, 178. + + -- influence in Britain, 19, 216. + + -- burial customs, 45. + + -- cave hand-prints, 47. + + -- "Combe-Capelle" man, 25. + + -- Brüx and Brünn race, 26. + + -- Crô-Magnons and, 14. + + -- culture of Crô-Magnon grotto, 23, 24. + + -- heart as seat of life, 32. + + -- green stone symbolism, 33. + + -- Indian Ocean shell at Grimaldi, 36. + + -- Magdalenians and, 52. + + -- the Mother-goddess, 42, 178. + + -- Egyptian milk and shells link, 43. + + -- "Tama" belief, 44. + + -- origin of term, 22. + + -- pre-Agricultural, 213. + + -- Proto-Solutrean influence on, 49. + + -- no trace of, in Hungary, 50. + + Aurignacian Age, 13. + + Aurignacian implements 21, (_ill._). + + Australian natives, Neanderthal man and, 9. + + Avalon (Apple land), the Celtic Paradise, 144. + + Avebury, megaliths of, 82. + + -- -- burial customs, 171. + + Axe, Chellean 14, (_ill._). + + -- double, as "god-body", 50. + + -- Glasgow and Spanish green-stone axes, 97. + + -- as religious object, 77. + + Axes, Neolithic, distribution of population and, 82, 84. + + -- Neolithic, mathematical skill in manufacture of, 4. + + Aynia, Irish fairy queen, 201. + + Azilian culture, 62. + + -- -- artifacts, 13. + + -- -- English Channel land-bridge crossed by + carriers of, 58, 67, 69. + + Azilian culture, Iberian carriers of, 216. + + -- -- pre-Agricultural, 213. + + -- -- rock paintings, 55. + + -- -- customs of, revealed in art, 55. + + -- -- script used, 56. + + -- -- in Scotland and England, 58, 60. + + -- boats, 75. + + Azilians in Britain, 70, 125. + + + Babylonia, goddess of, in Neolithic Spain, 96. + + -- influence of, in Asia Minor and Syria, 95. + + -- influence of culture of, 212. + + -- influence of, in Britain, 218. + + -- knowledge of European metal-fields in, 99. + + -- religious ideas of, in Britain, 154. + + Baptism, milk and honey used in, 152. + + Barley, cultivation of, 5. + + -- the Egyptian, reaches Britain, 84, 85. + + Basket-making, relation of, to pottery and knitting, 6. + + Beads, as "adder stones" and "Druid's gems", 163. + + -- Egyptian blue beads in England, 104, 105 (_ill._), 106. + + -- Egyptian, in Britain, 211. + + Bede, on jet symbolism, 164. + + Bee, connection of, with Artemis and fig tree, 193. + + -- as soul form in legends, 193. + + Bees, connection of, with maggot soul form, 102. + + -- "Telling the bees" custom, 103, 193. + + Belatucadros, a Gaulish Mars, 207. + + Belgæ, The, in Britain, 128. + + Belisama, goddess of Mersey, 206. + + Beltain festival, fires at, 191. + + Berries, fire in, 181. + + -- life substance in, 206. + + -- "the luck", 180. + + -- salmon and red, 183. + + Berry charms, 47. + + Birds, butterfly as "bird of god", 191. + + -- Celtic deities as, 195. + + Birds, language of, Druids and wren, 145. + + -- language of, in India, 151. + + -- language of, St. Columba and, 146. + + -- oyster catcher and wood linnet as birds of goddess Bride, 187. + + -- swan form of soul, 190. + + -- taboo in Ancient Britain, 201. + + -- taboo in Highlands, 201. + + -- tom-tit, robin, wren, and apple cults, 204. + + -- wren as king of, 186. + + Black Annis, Irish Anu (Danu) and, 198. + + --Leicestershire hag-deity, 195, 196. + + Black Demeter, 196. + + Black goddesses, Greek and Scottish, 164. + + Black Kali, Indian goddess, 196. + + Black Pig, Devil as, 200. + + Black Sow, Devil as, 200. + + Blood Covenant, 152. + + Boadicea, 162, 227. + + -- (Boudicca), Queen, 114. + + -- Iceni tribe of, 128. + + Boann, the goddess, 202. + + Boar, Adonis and Diarmid slain by, 197. + + -- in Orkney, 129. + + -- salmon and porpoise as, 182. + + Boar god on British and Gaulish coins, 162. + + -- -- connection of, with amber, 161. + + -- -- the Gaulish, 197. + + -- -- Mars as, 197. + + -- -- The Inverness, 129, 155 (_ill._). + + Boats, ancient migrations by sea, 92. + + -- axe of Clyde boat, 77. + + -- Himilco's references to skin-boats, 77. + + -- sea-worthiness of skin-boats, 77. + + -- how sea-sense was cultivated, 78. + + -- Veneti vessels, 78. + + -- Azilian-Tardenoisians and Maglemosians required, 69. + + -- Britain reached by, before last land movement ceased, 72. + + -- Perth dug-out, under carse clays, 72. + + Boats, Forth and Clyde dug-outs, 72. + + -- dug-outs not the earliest, 72, 73. + + -- Ancient Egyptian papyri and skin-boats, 73. + + -- "seams" and "skins" of, 74. + + -- Egyptian models in Europe and Asia, 74. + + -- religious ceremonies at construction of dug-outs, 74. + + -- Polynesian, dedicated to gods, 74. + + -- earliest Egyptian, 74. + + -- Britons and Veneti, 224. + + -- Celtic pirates, 136. + + -- earliest, in Britain, 218. + + -- early builders of, 6. + + -- Easterners exported ores by, from Western Europe, 99. + + -- Egyptian barley carried by early seafarers to Britain, 84. + + -- exports from early Britain, 104. + + -- Glasgow discoveries of ancient, 75, 76. + + -- cork plug in Glasgow boat, 75, 76. + + -- invention of, 72. + + -- oak god and skin boats, 153. + + -- outrigger at Glasgow, 76. + + -- ancient Clyde clinker-built boat, 76. + + -- Aberdeenshire dug-out, 76. + + -- Sussex, Kentish, and Dumfries finds of, 77. + + -- Brigg boat, 77. + + -- Pictish, 136. + + -- pre-Roman British, 224. + + -- similar types in Africa and Scandinavia 75, (_ill._). + + -- why early seafarers visited Britain, 80, 81. + + Bodies painted for religious reasons, 28. + + Boers, the mouse cure of, 187, and also note 2. + + Bone implements, 82. + + -- -- Magdalenians favoured, 52. + + Bonfires, at Pagan festivals, 181. + + Borvo, the Gaulish Apollo, 207. + + Bows and arrows, Azilians introduced, into Europe, 55. + + Boyne, River goddess of, 202. + + Boyne, The "white cow", 206. + + Bran, the god and saint, 202. + + Bride, The goddess, Bird of, and Page of, 187. + -- -- dandelion as milk-yielding plant of, 187. + + -- serpent of, as "daughter of Ivor" and the "damsel", 187, 188. + See _Brigit_. + + -- Saint, Goddess Bride and, 188. + + Bride's Day, 187. + + Bride wells, 188. + + Brigantes, blue shields of, 173. + + -- Brigit (Bride) goddess of, 187. + + -- territory occupied by, 188. + + -- in England, Scotland, and Ireland, 128, 188. + + Brigit, Dagda and, 202. + + -- as "fiery arrow", 188. + + -- the goddess (also Bride), Brigantes and, 187. + + -- three forms of, 188, 195. + + -- as hag or girl, 195. + + Britain, Stone Age man in, 1. + + -- early races in, 16. + + -- date of last land movement in, 18. + + Briton, "cloth clad", 119. + + Britons, the, Cruithne of Ireland were, 131, 132. + + -- chief people in ancient England, Ireland, and Scotland, 132. + + Brittany, Easterners in, 100. + + Bronze, Celts and, 106. + + -- Gaelic gods connected with, 102. + + -- knowledge of, introduced into Britain by traders, 101. + + -- British, same as Continental, 101. + + -- Spanish Easterners displaced by carriers of, 221. + + Bronze Age, The Archæological, British "broad-heads" and Irish + "long-heads" as bronze users, 87. + + -- -- French forms in Britain and Spanish in Ireland, 88. + + -- -- conquest theory, 88. + + -- -- prospectors discovered metals in Britain, 89. + + -- -- how metals were located, 89. + + -- -- bronze carriers reached Spain from Central Europe, 96. + + -- -- carriers of bronze earliest + settlers in Buchan, Aberdeenshire, 111. + + Bronze Age, Celtic horse-tamers as bronze carriers, 111. + + -- -- carriers expel Easterners from Spain, 100, 101. + + -- -- Druidism and, 149. + + -- -- Egyptian relics of, 104. + + -- -- relics of 113, (_ill._). + + Bronze industry, fibulæ and clothing, 119. + + Brünn and Brüx races, 50. + + -- -- skull caps, 25, 26. + + _Brut, The_, reference in, to Apollo's temple, 177. + + Bull, rivers and, 206. + + Bulls, The Sacred, 155 (_ill._). + + -- sacrifice of, in Ross-shire in seventeenth century, 148. + + Burial Customs, Avebury evidence regarding, 171. + + -- -- body painting, 27. + + -- -- Seven Sleepers myth, 29. + + -- -- British Pagan survivals, 17. + + -- -- Crô-Magnon Aurignacian, in Wales, 19. + + -- -- doctrine of Cardinal Points and, 168, 170. + + -- -- Egyptian pre-dynastic customs, 170. + + -- -- food for the dead, 158. + + -- -- urns in graves, 158. + + -- -- green stones in mouths of Crô-Magnon dead, 33. + + -- -- Egyptian and American use of green stones, 33, 34. + + -- -- long-barrow folk in England, 82. + + -- -- milk offerings to dead, 148. + + -- -- in Neolithic Britain, 86. + + -- -- Palæolithic, 158. + + -- -- "Round Barrow" folk, 87. + + -- -- Shakespeare's reference to Pagan, 45. + + -- -- Crô-Magnon rites, 45. + + -- -- shell and other ornaments, 36. + + -- -- short-barrow and cremation intruders, 104. + + -- -- solar aspect of ancient British, 170. + + -- -- Welsh ideas about destiny of soul, 144. + + -- -- why dead were cremated, 109, 110, 111. + + Butterfly, connection of, with jade and soul in China, 193. + + -- connection with plum tree in China and honeysuckle + in Scotland, 193. + + -- as fire god in Gaelic, 191. + + -- Gaelic names of, 191. + + -- goddess Freyja and, 192. + + -- Psyche as, 192. + + -- as Italian soul form, 192. + + -- Serbian witches and, 192. + + -- Burmese soul as, 193. + + -- Mexican soul and fire god as, 194. + + Byzantine Empire, The, Chinese lore from, 160. + + + Cailleach, The, 174, 197. + See _Artemis_. + + Caithness, the "cat" country, 130. + + Caledonians, The, 129. + + -- Celtic tribal name of, 112. + + -- personal names of, 112. + + -- clothing of, 119. + + -- the Picts and, 130. + + -- Romans and, 224. + + -- Tacitus's theory regarding, 137. + + Calendar, the Gaelic, 198. + + Calgacus, 112. + + Callernish stone circle, 94. + + Calton (hazel grove), 150. + + Camulos, god of Colchester, 207. + + Canoes. See _Boats_. + + Canterbury Pagan temple, St. Augustine used, 177. + + Cantion, the, Kent tribe, 128. + + Cardinal Points, doctrine of, 145, 168. + + -- -- south as road to heaven, 145, and also note 1. + + -- -- Gaelic colours of, 168. + + -- -- goddesses and gods come from their own, 173. + + -- -- giants of north and fairies of west, 173. + + -- -- in modern burial customs, 171. + + -- -- "sunwise" and "withershins", 172, and also note 1. + + Carnonacæ Carini, the, 129. + + Carthage, Britain and, 229. + + -- British and Spanish connection with, 107. + + -- megalithic monuments and, 149. + + Carthage, trade of, with Britain, 114. + + Cassiterides, The, 98. + + -- Carthagenians' trade with, 114. + + -- Pytheas and, 115. + + -- Crassus visits, 116. + + -- exports and imports of, 104. + + -- OEstrymnides of Himilco and, 116. + + -- the Hebrides and, 117. + + Cat, the Big, 196. + + -- as goddess, 154. + + -- pear tree and, 196. + + Cat-Anna, Leicestershire hag-goddess, 195. + + Cat goddess of Egypt, 196. + + Cat stone, 196. + + Cats, the, peoples of Shetland, Caithness, and + Sutherland as, 129, 130. + + -- witches as, 196. + + Caturix, the Gaulish god, 207. + + Catuvellauni, The, in England, 128. + + Cauldron. See _Pot_. + + Cauldron, the Celtic, 90, 91. + + -- -- Welsh goddess of, 204. + + -- of Dagda, 202. + + -- Holy Grail and, 205. + + -- myth of, 205. + + Celts, Achæans and, 111. + + -- as carriers of La Tène culture, 112. + + -- confederacies formed by, 112. + + -- as conquerors of earlier settlers in Britain and Ireland, 107. + + -- as military aristocrats in Britain, 107. + + -- conquests of, 111. + + -- Etruscans overcome by, 112. + + -- Sack of Rome, 112. + + -- Danube valley and Rhone valley trade routes controlled by, 114. + + -- as pig rearers and pork curers, 114, 223. + + -- destiny of soul, 144. + See _Soul_. + + -- displacement theory regarding, 137. + + -- earlier fair folks in Britain, 125. + + -- ethnics of, 112. + + -- the fair in Britain and Ireland, 227. + + -- fair queens of, 112. + + -- gold and silver offered to deities by, 80. + + Celts, Maglemosians and, 138. + + -- origin of, obscure, 222. + + -- as Fair Northerners, 222. + + -- Pictish problem, 130. See _Picts_. + + -- as pirates, 136. + + -- references to clothing of, 119. + + -- British breeches, 119. + + -- settlement of, in Asia Minor, 112. + + -- Tacitus on the Caledonians, &c., 137. + + -- Teutons and, 125. + + -- Iberians and, 125. + + -- Teutons did not exterminate, in England, 227. + + -- early Christian influence of, 228. + + -- theory of extermination of, in Britain, 122. + + -- as traders in Britain, 107. + + -- and transmigration of souls, 143. + + -- tribes of, in ancient Britain, 128. + + -- tribal rivalries of, in Britain, 119. + + -- westward movement of, 214. + + Celtic art, Ægean affinities, 118, 119. + + -- cauldron, 205, 206. + + -- gods, connection of, with metals, 102. + + Cenn Cruach, Irish god, 102, 103. + + Cereals, 5. + + Cerones, Creones, the, 129. + + Chancelade Man, 53. + + Chariots, in pre-Roman Britain, 119. + + Charms, hand-prints, horse-shoes, and berries as, 47. + + -- herbs and berries as, 167. + + -- lore of, 157 _et seq._ See _Shells_, _Necklaces_, _Pearls_. + + -- otter skin charm, 189. + + Chellean culture, 13. + + -- -- artifacts of, 13, 14. + + -- _Coup de Poing_ 14, (_ill._). + + Children sacrificed, 174. + + China, butterfly soul of, 193. + + Chinese dragon, Scottish Bride serpent and, 188, 189. + + Churchyards, Pagan survivals, 171. + + Cocidius, a Gaulish Mars, 207. + + Cockle-shell elixir, in Japan and Scotland, 40, 41. + + -- -- in Crete, 41. + + Coinage, ancient British, 223. + + Colour symbolism, black and white goddesses, 164. + + -- -- blue artificial shells, 173. + + -- -- blue shields of Brigantes, 173. + + -- -- blue as female colour, 173. + + -- -- blue as fishermen's mourning colour, 173. + + -- -- blue stone raises wind, 172. + + -- -- body paint used by Neolithic industry peoples, 82. + + -- -- Celtic root _glas_ as colour term, and in + amber, &c., 162, 163. + + -- -- coloured pearls favoured, 168. + + -- -- coloured races and coloured ages, 121, 124. + + -- -- coloured stones as amulets, 80. + + -- -- Dragon's Eggs, 173. + + -- -- enamel colours, 165. + + -- -- four colours of Aurignacian hand impressions in caves, 47. + + -- -- Gaelic colours of seasons, 169. + + -- -- Gaelic colours of winds and of Cardinal Points, 168. + + -- -- green stones used by Crô-Magnon, Ancient Egyptian, and + pre-Columbian American peoples, 33, 34. + + -- -- how prospectors located metals by rock colours, 89. + + -- -- Irish rank colours, 173, and also note 1. + + -- -- jade tongue amulets in China, 34. + + -- -- luck objects, 165. + + -- -- lucky and unlucky colours, 157. + + -- -- painted vases in Neolithic Spain, 96. + + -- -- painting of god, 174. + + -- -- red berries as "fire berries", 181. + + -- -- red berries, 31. + + -- -- Greek gods painted red, 31. + + -- -- Indian megaliths painted, 32. + + -- -- Chinese evidence, 32. + + -- -- red earth devoured, 32. + + -- -- _Ruadh_ (red) means "strong" in Gaelic, 32. + + Colour symbolism, red and blue supernaturals in Wales, 158. + + -- -- red body paint in Welsh Aurignacian cave burial, 20. + + -- -- red earth and blood, 167. + + -- -- herbs and berries, 167. + + -- -- red jasper as blood of goddess, 45. + + -- -- red stone in Aurignacian cave tomb, 46. + + -- -- shells coloured, in Mentone cave, 46. + + -- -- Red symbolism, 31. + + -- -- red blood and red fire, 31, 32. + + -- -- blood as food of the dead, 32. + + -- -- red souls in "Red Land", 32. + + -- -- red woman as goddess, 45. + + -- -- scarlet-yielding insect, 152. + + -- -- sex colours, 170. + + -- -- significance of wind colours, 174. + + -- -- Solutrean flint-offerings coloured red, 50. + + -- -- white serpent, 188. + + -- -- why Crô-Magnon bodies were smeared with red earth, 27. + + -- -- Woad dye, 163. + + Columba, Saint, Christ as his Druid, 146. + + "Combe-Capelle" man, 25, 26, 36. + + -- -- shells worn by, 46. + + Con-chobar, dog god and, 66. + + Copper, axe of, in Scotland, 219. + + -- in Britain, 91. + + -- difficult to find and work in Britain, 95. + + -- Easterners worked, in Spain, 97, 98. + + -- as variety of gold, 80. + + -- offered to water deity, 174. + + Coral, enamel and, 162. + + -- as "life-giver" (_margan_), 161. + + -- as "life substance", 80. + + -- Megalithic people searched for, 93. + + -- symbolism of, 221. + + -- use of, in Britain, 164, 165. + + -- enamel as substitute for, 165. + + Cormorants, Celtic deities as, 195. + + Cornavii, The, in England and Scotland, 129. + + Cornwall, Damnonians in, 89. + + Cow, The Sacred, in Britain and Ireland, 152, 154, 195, 206. + + -- connected with River Boyne, 206. + + -- Dam[)o]na, Celtic goddess of cattle, 208. + + -- Indian, and milk-yielding trees, 151. + + -- Morrigan as, 195. + + -- The Primeval, in Egypt, 149. + + -- white, sacred in Ireland, 152. + + Cranes, Celtic deities as, 195. + + Cremation, in Britain, 127. + + -- significance of, 109. + + Cresswell caves, Magdalenian art in, 53. + + Cromarty, night-shining gem of, 160. + + Crom Cruach, Irish god, 102; children sacrificed to, 174. + + -- -- as maggot god, 102. + + Crô-Magnon, animism, 178. + + Crô-Magnon Grotto, discovery of, 23. + + -- -- skeletons in, 23. + + Crô-Magnon Races, advent of, in Europe, 12. + + -- -- ancestors of "modern man", 10, 11. + + -- -- archæological horizon of, 9. + + -- -- Aurignacian culture of the, 14. + + -- -- Brüx and Brünn types different from, 26. + + -- -- burial customs of, 45. + + -- -- cultural influence of, on Neanderthals, 14. + + -- -- discovery of Crô-Magnon grotto skeletons, 23. + + -- -- first discovery of traces of, in France, 20. + + -- -- history of modern man begins with, 26. + + -- -- as immigrants from Africa, 35. + + -- -- Indian Ocean shell at Mentone, 36, 37. + + -- -- inventive and inquiring minds of, 27. + + -- -- Magdalenian culture stage of, 53. + + -- -- domestication of horse, 53. + + -- -- modern representatives of, 122. + + Crô-Magnon Races, Mother-goddess of, 42. + + -- -- "Tama" belief, 44. + + -- -- not in Hungary, 50. + + -- -- "Red Man" of Wales, 19. + + -- -- Red Sea shells imported by, 210. + + -- -- history of, 210. + + -- -- relations of, with Neanderthal man, 14. + + -- -- in Wales, 19. + + -- -- sea-shell necklace 39, (_ill._). + + -- -- trade of, in shells, 40. + + -- -- tall types, 24. + + -- -- high cheek-bones of, 25. + + -- -- tallest types in Riviera, 35, 36. + + Crô-Magnon skulls 24, (_ill._). + + Crô-Magnons, Azilian intruders and, 62. + + -- heart as seat of life, among, 32. + + -- in Britain, 67, 125, 216. + + -- English Channel land-bridge crossed by, 67. + + -- hand-prints and mutilation of fingers, 47. + + -- modern Scots and, 137. + + -- Selgovæ and, 139. + + Crow, and goddess of grove and sky, 160. + + Crows, Celtic deities as, 195. + + Cruithne, in Ireland, 224. + + -- the Irish, not Picts, 132. + + -- the Q-Celtic name of Britons, 132. + + Cuchullin, and Scotland, 224. + + -- dog god and, 64. + + -- goddess Morrigan and, 195. + + -- his knowledge of astronomy, 175, and also note 1. + + -- pearls in hair of, 163. + + + Dagda, the god, 202. + + -- connection with oak and fire, 202. + + -- cauldron of, 202. + + -- Thor and, 202. + + -- a giant-slayer, 202. + + Damnonians. See _Dumnonii_. + + -- an early Celtic "wave", 107. + + -- Fomorians as gods of, 198. + + -- settlements of, in metal-yielding areas, 89. + + Damona, Celtic goddess of cattle, 208. + + Danann deities, 201. + + -- -- not in Scotland, 199. + + -- -- talismans of, 205. + + -- -- Japanese talismans, 205. + + -- -- war against Fomorians, 198. + + -- -- Welsh "Children of Don" and, 203. + + Dandelion, as milk-yielding plant of goddess Bride, 187. + + Danes, in Britain, 126. + + Dante, moon called "eternal pearl" by, 159. + + Danu, the goddess, 198. + + Danube valley trade route, 114. + + Danubian culture in Central Europe, 96. + + -- -- Celts as carriers of, 111, 112. + + Decantæ, The, 129. + + Deer, as goddess, 154. + + Demetæ, The, in Wales, 129. + + Demeter, The black, 196. + + Demons, dogs as enemies of, 65. + + Derbyshire, Magdalenian art in, 53. + + Deva, Devona, Dee, Rivers, 206. + + Devil as "Big Black Pig" in Scotland, 200. + + -- as Black Sow in Wales, 200. + + -- as pig, goat, and horse, 191. + + Devon, Damnonians in, 89. + + -- Magdalenian art in, 54. + + Diamond, The night-shining, 160. + + Diana of the Ephesians, fig tree and, 193. + + Diancecht, Irish god of healing, 202. + + Diarmid, Gaelic Adonis, 197. + + Diodorus Siculus, on gold mining, 90. + + -- -- reference to British temple to Apollo, 177. + + Disease, deity who sends also withdraws, 179. + + -- ancient man suffered from, 2. + + -- "Yellow Plague", 2. + + Dog, The Big, god Indra as, 196. + + -- The Sacred, 154, 155 (_ill._). + + -- taboo to Cuchullin, 154, and also note 3. See _Dogs_. + + Dogger Bank, ancient plateau, 68. + + -- -- animal bones, &c., from, 57, 61. + + -- -- Island, 69. + + Dog gods, 64. + + Dogs, children transformed into, 190. + + -- domesticated by Maglemosians, 57, 63. + + -- religious beliefs regarding, 63. + + -- early man's dependence on, 65. + + -- in ancient Britain and Ireland, 66. + + -- in warfare, 66. + + -- exported from Britain in first century A.D., 114. + + Dog Star, The, 64. + + Dolmen, The. See _Megalithic monuments_. + + Domnu, tribal goddess of Damnonians, 90. + + Don, the Children of, 203. + + Doves, Celtic deities as, 195. + + Dragon, Bride's Scottish serpent charm and Chinese charm, 188. + + -- Hebridean, 190. + + -- Irish, and the salmon, 182. + + -- otter and, 189. + + -- on sculptured stone, 155 (_ill._). + + -- luck pearls of, 184. + + -- stones as eggs of, 173. + + Dragon-mouth Lake, The Irish, 183. + + Dragon Slayers, the, Druids and, 145. + + Druid Circle, the Inverness, 220. + + Druidism, 140. + + -- belief in British origin of, 142. + + -- doctrines absorbed by, 222. + + -- eastern origin of, 149. + + -- in ancient Spain, 149. + + -- Pliny on Persian religion and, 143, and also note 1. + + -- oak cult, 145. + + -- tree cults and, 141. + + Druids, in Anglesea, 103. + + -- human sacrifices of, 103. + + -- "Christ is my Druid", 146. + + -- the collar of truth, 146. + + -- connection of, with megalithic monuments, 103, 154. + + -- and oak, 141. + + -- classical references to, 141. + + -- "Druid's gem", 163. + + -- evidence of, regarding races in Gaul, 100. + + -- Tacitus on Anglesea Druids, 147. + + -- temples of, 177. + + -- "True Thomas" (the Rhymer) as "Druid Thomas", 146. + + -- sacred salmon and, 182. + + Druids, salmon and dragon myth, 182. + + -- star lore of, 175. + + -- Kentigern of Glasgow as Christian Druid, 185. + + -- wren connection, 145. + + -- soothsayers, 145, 146. + + Dug-out canoes, origin of, 72. See _Boats_. + + Dumnogeni, The, in Yarrow inscription, 89. + + Dumnonii, 128. See _Damnonians_. + + -- Fomorians as gods of, 198. + + -- Silures and, 129. + + Dunatis, Gaulish Mars, 207. + + Durotriges, in Britain and Ireland, 128. + + Dwyn, St., formerly a goddess, 204. + + Dwynwen, British Venus, 204. + + + Eagle, the Sacred, 155 (_ill._). + + -- wren and, in myth, 186. + + Ear-rings, as solar symbols, 165. + + East, The, "Evil never came from", 168. See _Cardinal Points_. + + Easterners, colonies of, in Spain and + Portugal, 95, 100, 211, 218, 229. + + -- descendants of, in Britain, 118. + + -- displacement of, in Spain, 100, 221. + + -- Druidism introduced into Europe by, 149. + + -- as exploiters of Western Europe, 98. + + -- settlements of, in France and Etruria, 100. + + -- in Hebrides, 139. + + -- influence of, in Britain and Ireland, 221. + + -- iron industry and, 107. + + -- not all of one race, 107. + + -- Neolithic industry of, 214. + + -- in touch with Britain at 1400 B.C., 106. + + -- in Western Europe, 218, 229. + + Eel, Morrigan as, 195. + + Eels, as "devil fish" in Scotland, 190. + + -- tabooed in Scotland, 199. + + Eggs, Dragons', stones as, 173. + + Egypt, alabaster flasks, &c., from, in Neolithic Spain, 96. + + -- artificial shells in, 41, 173. + + -- barley of, carried to Europe, 84. + + -- black and white goddesses of, 164. + + -- blue beads from, in England, 104, 105 (_ill._), 106, 211. + + -- Cat goddess of, 196. + + -- culture of, transferred with barley seeds, 212. + + -- "Deathless snake" of, and Scottish serpent, 188. + + -- dog-headed god of, 64. + + -- earliest sailing ship in, 74. + + -- earliest use of gold in, 80. + + -- malachite charms in, 80. + + -- flint sickles of, 4. + + -- furnaces and crucibles of, in Western Europe, 101. + + -- Hathor and Aphrodite, 38. + + -- shell amulets in early graves in, 39. + + -- Isis as "Old Wife", 181, and also note 2. + + -- gods in weapons, 51. + + -- gold in, 90, 93. + + -- gold diadem from, in Spanish Neolithic tomb, 98. + + -- gold models of shells in, 41. + + -- green stone symbolism, 33. + + -- Hathor as milk goddess, 149. + + -- history of agriculture in, 210. + + -- ideas regarding soul in, 103. + + -- influence of, in Asia Minor and Europe, 95. + + -- influence of, in Britain, 218. + + -- invention of boats in, 72. + + -- ivory from, found in Spain, 96· + + -- Ka and serpent, 189. + + -- milk elixir in Pyramid Texts, 43. + + -- milk goddess of, in Scotland, 221. + + -- Mother Pot of, and Celtic cauldron, 206. + + -- Osirian Underworld Paradise, 143. + + -- pork taboo in, 201. + + -- annual sacrifice of pigs in Scotland and, 201. + + -- Post-Glacial forests of, 15. + + -- pre-dynastic burial customs, 170. + + -- sex colours in, 170. + + Egypt, proto-Egyptians and British Iberians, 126. + + -- red jasper as "Blood of Isis", 45. + + -- "Red Souls" in "Red Land", 32. + + -- why gods of, were painted, 32. + + -- religious ideas of, in Britain, 154, 201, 206, 218, 221. + + -- stones, pearls, metals, &c., and deities of, 80. + + -- symbols of, in Celtic art, 118. + + -- transmigration of souls, 143. + + Elk, on Dogger Bank, 57, 68. + + Elm, 221. + + Enamel, 224. + + -- British, the finest, 225. + + -- coral and, 162. + + -- as substitute for coral, 165. + + -- turquoise, lapis lazuli, white amber and, 165. + + Enamels, colours of the British, 226. + + Eoliths, 13, 26. + + Epidii, The, 129. + + Ep[)o]na, Celtic goddess of horses, 208. + + Eskimo, the Chancelade skull, 53. + + -- Magdalenian art of, 53. + + Etruscans, 149. + + -- Celts as conquerors of, 112. + + -- civilization of, origin of, 100. + + European metal-yielding areas, 99. + + Evil Eye, The, shells as protection against, 39. + + + Fairies, associated with the west, 173. + + -- dogs as enemies of, 65. + + -- on eddies of western wind, 173. + + -- Greek nereids and, 173. + + -- Fomorians (giants) at war with, 198. + + -- goddess as "fairy woman", 207. + + -- shell boat of, 207. + + -- Irish "queens" of, 201. + + -- as milkers of deer, 154. + + -- as "the mothers" in Wales, 206. + + -- Picts and, 131, and also note 1. + + -- Scottish "Nimble Men" and "Blue Men", 208. + + Fairies, as supernatural beings, 201, and also note 2. + + Fairy dogs, 64. + + Fairyland, as Paradise, 144. + + -- Thomas the Rhymer in Paradise of, 146. + + Fata Morgana, 161. + + Fauna, Post-Glacial, in Southern and Western Europe, 14. + + Festus Avienus, 116. + + Figs, hazel-nuts and, 151. + + Fig milk, 149. + + -- trees, bees and wasps fertilize, 193. + + -- tree, Diana of the Ephesians and, 193. + + Finger charms, 47. + + Finger-mutilation, Aurignacian custom, 47. + + -- Australian, Red Indian, and Scottish customs, 47. + + Fir, The Sacred, 179. + + Fir-bolgs, The, 188. + + -- as miners, 90, and also note 1. + + -- as slaves, 90. + + -- Celts as subduers of, 107. + + -- subject peoples called, 223. + + Fir-domnan, 90, and also note 1. + + Fir-domnann, 118. + + -- Fomorians as gods of, 198. See _Damnonians_ and _Dumnonii_. + + Fire, Beltain need fires, 191. + + -- Brigit and, 188. + + -- butterfly as god of, in Gaelic, 191. + + -- God Dagda and, 202. + + -- goddess and, 163. + + -- Mexican god of, as butterfly, 193. + + -- pool fish and, 182. + + -- salmon and, 183. + + -- Scottish goddess of, 181. + + -- in red berries, 181. + + -- in St. Mungo myth, 186. + + -- from trees, 180. + + -- lightning and, 181. + + -- worshipped in ancient Britain, 147. + + Fire-sticks, The, 180. + + "Fire water" as "water of life", 181. + + Fish taboo, 201. + + Flax, Stone Age people cultivated, 5. + + Flint, as god, 51. + + Flints, in Aurignacian cave-tomb, 45. + + -- as offerings to deity, 50. + + Flint deposits, English, 81. + + -- -- early peoples settled beside, 81. + + -- -- river-drift man in England near, 81. + + Flint industry, Tardenoisian microliths used by Maglemosians, 57. + + -- working, ancient English flint factories, 82. + + -- -- Aurignacian, 13, 14. See _Palæolithic_. + + -- -- Aurignacian, Solutrean, and Magdalenian + implements 21, (_ill._). + + -- -- Chellean _coup de poing_ 14, (_ill._). + + -- -- "Combe-Capelle" man's, 25. + + -- -- early English trade in worked flints, 81. + + -- -- eastern influence in Neolithic industry, 214. + + -- -- Egyptian origin of Spanish Neolithic industry, 97. + + -- -- the evolution theory, 99. + + -- -- Hugh Miller's and Andrew Lang's theories regarding, 11. + + -- -- Neanderthal and pre-Neanderthal, 12. + + -- -- Neolithic saws or sickles, 4. + + -- -- Palæolithic and Neolithic, 212. + + -- -- Tardenoisian microliths or "pygmy flints", 54, 55 (_ill._). + + -- -- proto-Solutrean and "true" Solutrean, 49. + + Flint-god, the Solutrean, 51. + + -- Zeus and Thor as, 51. + + Foam, as milk, 151. + + Fomorians, duels of, in Scotland, 199. + + -- as gods of Dumnonii, 198. + + -- Neit as war god, 202. + + -- Nemon as goddess of, 202. + + -- war of, with fairies, 198, 199. + + Fowl taboo in ancient Britain, 201. + + Freyja, Scandinavian Venus, 161. + + -- pearls, amber, &c., as tears of, 161. + + Furfooz man, 56. + + + Gaelic Calendar, 198. + + Galatia, Celts in, 112. + + Galley Hill man, 26. + + Gaul, Celts of, in Roman army, 127. + + -- early inhabitants of, 100. + + -- refugees from sea-invaded areas in, 70. + + Gaulish gods, 207. + + Gems, "Druid's gem", 163. + + -- night-shining, 160. + + -- as soul-bodies, 44. + + Geological Ages, breaking of North Sea and English Channel + land-bridges, 69. + + -- -- confusion regarding, in modern art, 1. + + -- -- date of last land movement, 100. + + -- -- megalithic monuments submerged, 100. + + -- -- early boats and, 72. + + -- -- England in Magdalenian times, 54. + + -- -- sixth glaciation and race movements, 54. + + -- -- England sinking when Scotland was rising, 71. + + -- -- last land movement, 70, 100. + + -- -- horizon of Crô-Magnon races, 26. + + -- -- Pleistocene fauna in Europe, 14. + + -- -- Archæological Ages and, 14. + + -- -- Post-Glacial and the early Archæological, 13, 14, 15. + + -- -- theories of durations of, 16, 17, 18. + + Giants, associated with the north, 173. + + -- (Fomorians) as gods, 198. + + -- war of, with fairies, 198. + + -- Scottish, named after heroes, 131, and also note 1. + + _Glas_, as "water", "amber", &c., 162, 163. + + Glasgow, seal of city of, 185. + + Glass, connection of, with goddess, 163. + + -- imported into Britain in first century A.D., 114. + + Goat, Devil as, 191. + + God, in stone, 173. + + God-cult, Solutreans and, 51. + + God-cult, stone as god, 51, 173. + + Goddess, Anu (Danu), 198, 201. + + -- -- as "fairy queen" in Ireland, 201, 202. + + -- bird forms of, 195. + + -- Black Annis, 195. + + -- Black Aphrodite, 164. + + -- Black goddess of Scotland, 164. + + -- The Blue, 173. + + -- Bride (Brigit) and her serpent, 187. + + -- Brigit as goddess of healing, smith-work, and poetry, 188. + + -- cat forms of, 196. + + -- connection of, with amber and swine deities, 161. + + -- connection of, with glass, 163. + + -- connection of, with grove, sky, pearl, &c., in Celtic + religion, 158-60, 162, 179, 206. + + -- animals and plants of, 162. + + -- cult animals of, 154, 161, 162, 195, 196, 200. + + -- eel and, 200. + + -- eel, wolf, &c., forms of, 195. + + -- Egyptian milk goddess, 149. + + -- Indian milk goddess, 151. + + -- Gaulish goddess Ro-smerta, 174. + + -- influences of, 179. + + -- groups of "mothers", 206. + + -- Hebridean "maiden queen", 221. + + -- honeysuckle as milk-yielding plant, 193. + + -- bee and, 193. + + -- luck and, 167. + + -- Morrigan comes from north-west, 173. + + -- wind goddess from south-west, 173. + + -- Scottish Artemis, 174, 196. + + -- The Mother, Aurignacians favoured, 51. + + -- -- connection of, with law and trade, 166. + + -- -- Crô-Magnon form of, 42, 51. + + -- -- jasper as blood of, 45. + + -- -- her life-giving shells, 40. + + -- -- shell-milk Highland myth, 42. + + -- The mother-pot, 205. + + -- rivers and, 206. + + -- Oriental, in Spain, 220. + + Goddess, pearl, &c., offerings to, 174. + + -- precious stones of, 221. + + -- Scottish hag goddess, 174, 196. + + -- Indian Kali, 196. + + -- shell and milk Hebridean goddess, 153. + + Gods, animal forms of, 196. + + -- Danann deities, 198. + + -- deity who sends diseases withdraws them, 179. + + -- influences of, 179. + + -- Gaelic references to, 140, 179. + + -- Hazel god, 140, 150. + + -- Gaelic fire god, 140. + + -- "King of the Elements", 179. + + -- Romano-Gaulish, 207. + + Goibniu, Irish god and the Welsh Govannan, 203. + + Gold, amber and, 165. + + -- coins of, in pre-Roman Britain, 223. + + -- deposits of, in Britain and + Ireland, 79, 84, 89, 91, 95, 114, 219, 220. + + -- mixed with silver in Sutherland, 91. + + -- earliest use of, in Egypt, 80. + + -- copper used like, 80. + + -- Egyptian diadem of, found in Neolithic Spain, 98. + + -- in England (map), 83. + + -- exported from Britain in first century A.D., 114. + + -- finds of, in Scotland, 220. + + -- first metal worked, 84. + + -- as a "form of the gods", 80. + + -- as "fire, light, and immortality", 80. + + -- as "life giver", 80. + + -- Gaelic god and, 102. + + -- Gauls offered, to water deity, 174· + + -- how miners worked, 90. + + -- "World Mill" myth, 90. + + -- ingot of, from salmon, 184. + + -- luck of, 166. + + -- no trace of where worked out, 93. + + -- not valued by hunting peoples in Europe, 99. + + -- offered to deities by Celts, 80. + + -- psychological motive for searches for, 94. + + Gold, knowledge and skill of searchers for, in Britain, 95. + + -- ring in St. Mungo legend, 185. + + -- rod of, at Inverness stone circle, 220. + + -- in salmon myths, 183. + + -- Scottish deposits of, 89. + + -- search for, in Britain, 214, 217. + + -- shells imitated in, 41, 80. + + -- trade in, 219. + + -- as tree, 221. + + Goodwin Sands, 69. + + Goose, taboo in ancient Britain, 201. + + Govannan. See _Goibniu_. + + Grail, The Holy, 205. + + Grannos, Gaulish Apollo, 207. + + Gregory the Great, letter from, to Mellitus, 176. + + Grimaldi, Indian Ocean shell in Aurignacian cave at, 36. + + Grove, The sacred, Celtic names of, 159· + + -- -- Latin "nemus", 159. + + Gwydion, the god, Odin and, 204. + + + Hades, dog and, 64. + + Hallowe'en, pig associated with, 200. + + Hallstatt culture, Celts influenced by, 112. + + Hand-prints, in Aurignacian caves, 47· + + -- four colours used, 47. + + -- dwellings protected by, in India and Spain, 47. + + -- Arabian, Turkish, &c., customs, 47· + + Hare, taboo in ancient Britain, 201 + + Harpoon, 62. + + -- Victoria cave, late Magdalenian or proto-Azilian, 58. + + -- finds of, in England and Scotland, 58. + + -- Azilians imitated Magdalenian reindeer horn in red deer horn, 56. + + -- Magdalenians introduced, 52. + + Hazel, nut of, as fruit of longevity, 144. + + -- as god, 150, 179. + + -- in early Christian legends, 150. + + -- as milk-yielding tree, 150. + + Hazel, as sacred tree, 150. + + -- nuts of, as food, 151. + + -- palm tree and, 221. + + -- The Sacred, 150, 179. + + -- connection of, with sky, wells, &c., 179. + + -- snakes and, 189. + + -- in St. Mungo (St. Kentigern) myth, 186. + + -- sacred fire from, 186. + + -- Groves, Sacred, "Caltons" were, 150. + + Heart, as seat of life, 154. + + -- as seat of life to Crô-Magnons and Ancient Egyptians, 32. + + Heaven as South, 170. + + Hebrides, dark folks in, 138. + + -- descendants of Easterners in, 118. + + -- "Maiden Queen" of, 221. + + -- reroofing custom in, 178. + + -- Sea god of, 193. + + -- traces of metals in, 117. + + -- as the OEstrymnides, 118. + + Heifer, milk of, in honeysuckle, 193. + + Hell, as North. See _Cardinal Points_. + + Herbs, ceremonial gathering of, 168. + + -- life substance in, 206. + + -- lore of, 167. + + -- from tears of sun god, 181, and also note 3. + + -- Silvanus, god of, 207. + + Hills, Gildas on worship of, 176, 178. + + Himilco, voyage of, 116. + + Homer, reference of, to cremation, 110. + + Honey, in baptisms, 152. + + -- as life-substance, 193. + + -- nut milk and, 150, and also note 1. + + -- in "soma" and "mead", 151. + + Honeysuckle, butterfly and, 193. + + -- honey and milk of, 193. + + Horn implements, 82. + + -- -- Magdalenians favoured, 52. + + Horse, Demeter and, 196. + + -- domesticated by Azilians, 55. + + -- domesticated by Crô-Magnons, 53. + + -- eaten in Scotland, 200. + + -- Ep[)o]na, Celtic horse goddess, 208. + + Horse, The Sacred, 155 (_ill._). + + -- god, 129, and also note 2. + + Horse-shoe charms, 47. + + Hound's Pool, 64. + + Houses, Neolithic, 5. + + Human sacrifices, children as, 174. + + + Iberians, Armenoids and, 127. + + -- as carriers of Neolithic culture, 126. + + -- Celts and, 125. + + -- Silurians as, 137. + + Ice, connection of, with amber, &c., 163. + + Ice Age. See _Geological Ages_. + + Iceni, The, of Essex, 128. + + -- boar god of, 162. + + Idols, in ancient Britain, 147, 176. + + -- Pope Gregory's reference to ancient English, 176. + + Indo-European theory, 124. + + Indo-Germanic theory, 124. + + Indra, dog and, 64. + + Ireland, as a British island, 132. + + Iron, exported from Britain in first century, A.D., 114. + + Iron Age, Celts in, 112. + + Iron industry, Easterners and, in Western Europe, 107. + + Island of Women, 178. + + Isles of the Blest, Gaelic, 143. + + Ivory, associated with bronze, jet, and Egyptian beads + in England, 104. + + -- in Crô-Magnon grotto, 23. + + -- Egyptian, in Neolithic Spain, 96. + + -- imported into Britain in first century A.D., 114. + + -- in Welsh cave-tomb, 20. + + + Jade, butterfly soul in, 193. + + Japan, the _shintai_ (god body) and Gaelic "soul case", 173. + + -- talismans of, and the Irish, 206. + + Jasper, symbolism of, 221. + + Jet, amber and, 164. + + -- British and Roman beliefs regarding, 164. + + -- as article of trade at 1400 B.C., 106. + + -- associated in Stonehenge area with Egyptian + blue beads, 104, 105 (_ill._), 106. + + Jet, early trade in, 219. + + -- early working of, 82. + + -- megalithic people searched for, 93· + + -- pearls and amber and, 221. + + Jupiter, The Gaulish, 207. + + -- Lapis, 51. + + Jutes, 126. + + -- Celts and, 227. + + + Kali, the Black, 196. + + Kentigern, St., as Druid, 185. + + -- -- in salmon and ring legend, 184. + + Kent's Cavern, Magdalenian art in, 54· + + Kerridiwen, the goddess, cauldron of, 204. + + Knife of deity, 206. + + Knitting, Stone Age people and, 5. + + -- relation to basket-making and pottery, 5. + + + Lake, the Sacred, goddess and, 180. + + Lanarkshire, Damnonians in, 89. + + Land-bridges, breaking of North Sea and English Channel bridges, 69. + + -- Dogger Bank, 57, 61, 67, 68. + + -- English Channel, 17, 67. + + -- Italian, 14, 35. + + Land movement, the last, 216. + + Language and race, 123, 124, 222. + + Language of birds. See _Birds_. + + La Tène culture, Celts as carriers of, to Britain, 112. + + Leicestershire, Black Annis, a hag deity of, 195. + + Lewis, Callernish stone circle, 94. + + Lightning, butterfly form of god of, 191. + + -- as heavenly fire, 181. + + -- and trees, 181. + + Lir, sea god, 202. + See _Llyr_. + + -- sea god, "Shony" and, 194. + + Liver as seat of life in Gaelic, 154, 187. + + -- cure from mouse's, 187. + + Lizard as soul-form, 189. + + Lleu, the god, 204. + + Llyr, sea god, 202. + See _Lir_. + + -- the sea god, "Shony" and, 194. + + London, god's name in, 203. + + Love-enticing plants, 168. + + Luck, belief in, 157. + + -- berries and, 180. + + -- fire as bringer of, 191. + + -- lucky and unlucky days, 168. + + -- pearls and, 166, 167. + + Lud, god of London, 203. + + -- form of, 203. + + Lugh, Celtic god, associated with north-east, 173. + + -- Gaelic Apollo, 202. + + Lugi, The, 129. + + + Mæatæ, The, Picts and Caledonians and, 130. + + Magdalenian culture, 13. + + -- -- Azilian and, 62. + + -- -- Eskimo art and, 53. + + -- -- in Britain, 53. + + -- -- origin of, 52. + + -- -- new implements, 52. + + -- -- traces of influence of, in Scotland, 60. + + -- -- Victoria cave reindeer harpoon, 58. + + -- cave art revival and progress, 53. + + -- implements, 21 (_ill._). + + -- pre-Agricultural, 213. + + Maggot god, early Christian myth of, 103. + + -- -- bees and, 103. + + -- -- Gaelic, 102. + + Magic wands, 146, 191. + + -- -- Etruscan, French, and Scottish, 100. + + Maglemosian culture, 54, 56. + + -- -- art and, 57. + + -- -- Magdalenian influence on, 57. + + -- -- Siberian origin of, 57. + + -- -- artifacts and, 13. + + -- -- in Britain, 125. + + -- -- Northerners as carriers of, 217. + + -- -- pre-Agricultural, 213. + + Maglemosians, boats of, 76. + + -- animals hunted, 57. + + -- land-bridges crossed by, 57. + + -- in France and Britain, 58. + + -- in Britain, 70. + + -- Celts and, 138. + + -- Dogger Bank land-bridge crossed by, 57, 67. + + -- dogs domesticated by, 63. + + -- Tardenoisian microliths used by, 58. + + Malachite charms, 80. + + Mammoth, bones of, from Dogger Bank, 68. + + -- evidence that heart was regarded as seat of life, 33, (_ill._). + + -- in Western Europe, 14. + See _Fauna_. + + Man, the Red, of Wales, ornaments of, 80. + + Mars, the Gaulish, 207. + + -- Greek and Gaulish boar forms of, 197. + + Marsh plants, goddess and, 162. + + Mead, milk and honey in, 151. + + Meave, Queen, 112, 114, 227. + + Mediterranean race in North Africa and Britain, 126. + + -- Sea, divided by Italian land-bridge, 14. + + Megalithic culture, Egyptian influence in Britain, &c., 101. + + -- monuments, burial customs and, 170. + + -- -- connection of, with ancient mine workings, &c., 92, 93. + + -- -- connection of, with metal deposits, 82. + + -- -- connection of, with sacred groves, 103. + + -- -- cult animals on Scottish, 155 (_ill._). + + -- -- "cup-marked" stones, 148. + + -- -- knocking stones, 148. + + -- -- Gruagach stone, 148. + + -- -- "cradle stone", 148. + + -- -- child-getting stones, 148. + + -- -- distributed along vast seaboard. 91. + + -- -- searchers for metals, gems, &c., erected, 92. + + -- -- distribution of, 82, 83 (_ill._). + + -- -- distribution of Scottish, 219. + + -- -- Druids and, 103, 154. + + -- -- Easterners and followers of, as builders of, 104, 149. + + -- -- Egyptian Empire beads and Stonehenge + circle, 104, 105 (_ill._), 106. + + -- -- Gaelic gods and, 102. + + -- -- Gaelic metal symbolism and, 102. + + -- -- Gaelic name of sacred shrine, 159. + + -- -- Phoenicians and, 149. + + Megalithic monuments, their relation to exhausted deposits + of metals, 94. + + -- -- problem of Lewis and Orkney circles, 94. + + -- -- Standing Stones as maidens 147. + + -- -- Tacitus on Anglesea altars and Druids, 147. + + -- -- Stonehenge as temple, 177. + + -- -- Heathen temples and, 178. + + -- -- stone circle as sun symbol, 170. + + -- -- stones submerged in Brittany, 100. + + -- -- Tree Cult and, 220. + + -- -- worship of stones, 147, 179. + + -- -- connection of, with trees and wells, 147. + + Mentone, Aurignacian Mother-goddess, 43. + + -- Indian Ocean shell in Aurignacian cave at, 36. + + Mersey, the, goddess of, 206. + + Mesopotamia, influence of, in Western Europe, 218. + + -- knowledge of European metal fields in, 99. + + Metals, eastern colonists worked, in Spain, 95. + + -- Egyptian furnaces and crucibles in Britain, 101. + + -- megalithic monuments and deposits of, 82. + + -- searchers for, in Britain, 89. + + -- searchers for; how prospectors located deposits of gold, &c., 89. + + -- traces of, in Scotland, 93. + + Metal symbolism, Gaelic gods and metals, 102. + See _Gold_, _Silver_, _Copper_, and _Bronze_. + + Metal working, after introduction of bronze working, 106. + + Mictis, tin from, 116. + + Milk, baptisms of, 152. + + -- in the blood covenant, 152. + + -- children sacrificed for corn and milk, 174. + + -- cult animals of milk goddess, 154. + + -- dandelion as milk-yielding plant of goddess Bride, 187. + + -- in elixirs, 151. + + Milk, "soma" and "mead" and, 151. + + -- elm as milk tree, 151. + + -- foam as milk, 151. + + -- goddess-cow gives healing milk, 195. + + -- Hebridean milk goddess, 153, 221. + + -- honeysuckle as milk-yielding plant, 193. + + -- Indian evidence regarding "river milk" and milk-yielding + trees, 151. + + -- Irish milk lake, 152. + + -- healing baths of, 152. + + -- marsh mallows and, 152, and also note 1. + + -- mistletoe berries as milk berries, 153. + + -- Oblations of, in Ross-shire, 148. + + -- offerings of, to dead, 148. + + -- elixir, Highland shell-goddess myth, 42. + + -- -- Egyptian evidence regarding, 43. + + -- -- prepared from shells in Japan and Scotland, 40. + + -- goddess, Hathor as, 149. + + Milky Way, The, 154, 221. + + -- -- in ancient religion, 150. + + -- -- in Welsh and Gaelic, 203. + + Mind, heart as, 33. + + Mining, Egyptian methods in Western Europe, 102. + + Mistletoe, as "All Heal", 153, 167. + + -- milk berries, 153. + + -- trees on which it grows in Britain, 145, and also note 2. + + Modern man, 9. + See _Crô-Magnon Races_. + + Mogounus, a Gaulish Apollo, 207. + + Moon, Aphrodite as goddess of, 159. + + -- Dante refers to, as pearl, 159. + + -- Gaels swore by, 148. + + -- as "Pearl of Heaven", 159. + + -- worship of, in ancient Britain, 147. + + Morgan le Fay, Arthur's pursuit of, 198. + + -- -- goddess Anu and, 198. + + -- -- as "life giver", 161. + + Morrigan, The (Irish goddess), Anu and, 198. + + Morrigan, associated with north-west, 173. + + -- as the "life giver", 161. + + -- forms of, 195. + + Mother goddess. See _Goddess_. + + Moths as soul forms, 192. + + Mouse, buried under apple tree, 196. + + -- hunting of, in Scotland, 187. + + -- mouse cures, 187. + + -- Scottish supernatural, 187. + + -- Apollo and, 179. + + -- -- mouse feasts, 187. + + -- cures, Boers have, 187, and also note 2. + + -- feasts in Scotland and the Troad, 187. + + Mousterian Age, 13. + + -- -- artifacts of, 14. + + -- -- Neanderthal races of, 14. + + Mungo, St., as Druid, 185, 186. + + -- -- salmon legend of, 184. + + + Navigation. See _Boats_. + + Neanderthal man, Crô-Magnon influence on, 14. + + -- -- disappearance of, 15, 16, 122. + + -- -- European climates experienced by, 14. + + -- -- relations of, with Crô-Magnon races, 14. + + -- -- first discovery of bones of, 8, 9. + + -- -- skeleton of, found, 9. + + -- -- Australian natives and, 9. + + -- -- description of, 9, 10. + + -- -- flint working of, 12. + + -- -- Mousterian artifacts of, 14. + + -- -- Piltdown man and, 26. + + Necklaces in Crô-Magnon grotto, 23. + + -- Crô-Magnon sea shells, 39 (_ill._). + + -- Egyptian blue beads in British "Bronze Age" + necklace, 104, 105 (_ill._), 106. + + -- as gods, 44. + + -- in graves, 158. + + -- shell, in Welsh Aurignacian cave-tomb, 20. + + -- why worn, 37. + + Need fires, 181. + + -- -- butterfly and, 191. + + Neit, god of battle, 202. + + _Nem_, the root in _neamh_ (heaven), _neamhnuid_ (pearl), _nemeton_ + (shrine in a grove), _nemed_ (chapel), _neimhidh_ (church-land), + _nemus_ (a grove), _Nemon_ (goddess), and _N[)e]m[)e]t[)o]na_ + (goddess), 159, 160. + + N[)e]m[)e]t[)o]na, British goddess, 159. + + Nemon, the goddess, a Fomorian, 202. + + -- Irish goddess, and pearl, heaven, &c., 159. + + Neolithic, chronological problem, 212. + + -- Egyptian diadem of gold found in Spanish Neolithic tomb, 98. + + -- Egyptian origin of Spanish Neolithic industry, 97, 214. + + -- metal workers as flint users, 98. + + -- Scottish copper axe problem, 219. + + -- why ornaments were worn, 37, 38. + + -- Age, transition period longer than, 61. + + -- Culture, Iberians as carriers of, 126. + + -- Industry, carriers of, attracted to Britain, 78. + + -- -- distribution of population and, 81-4. + + -- -- "Edge" theory, 61. + + -- -- Campigny find, 62. + + -- -- in Ireland, 85. + + -- -- in Scotland, 85. + + -- -- Scottish pitch-stone artifacts, 85. + + -- -- carriers of, not wanderers, 86. + + -- -- a lost art, 86. + + Nereids, the, fairies and, 173. + + Ness, the River, 206. + + Night-shining gems, 160. + + Norsemen, 126. + + -- modern Scots and, 137. + + Northern fair race, 125. + + Northerners, Armenoids and, 127. + + Novantæ, The, 129. + + Nudd, the god, 203. + + Nut, as "soul case", 173. + + Nut-milk, 150. + + -- -- honey and, as elixir, 150, and also note 1. + + Nuts, life substance in, 206. + + -- of longevity, 150. + + + Oak, 221. + + -- acorn as fruit of longevity, 144. + + -- Druids and, 141, 145. + + -- Black Annis and, 196. + + -- Galatian oak grove and shrine, 159. + + -- on Glasgow seal, 185. + + -- god of, and seafarers, 153. + + -- god Dagda and, 202. + + -- the Sacred, 179. + + -- use of acorns, 153. + + -- in tanning, 153. + + -- Spirits, 207. + + Oaths, Sacred, Gaels swore by sun, moon, &c., 148. + + Oban, MacArthur Cave, 58, 217. + + Obsidian artifacts, 86. + + Odin, the dog and, 64. + + -- pork feasts of, 144. + + -- Welsh Gwydion and, 204. + + OEstrymnides, The, Himilco's tin islands, 116, 118. + + Onyx, same name as pearl in Gaelic, 160. + + Oracles, Druids and, 145. + + Orc (young boar), salmon as, 182. + + Orcs, The Picts as, 201. + + Orkney, boar name of, 129. + + -- megalithic remains in, 94. + + -- "Sow day" in, 201. + + Ornaments, "adder stones", "Druid gems", &c., 163. + + -- jet charms, 164. + + -- in Crô-Magnon grotto, 23. + + -- as gods or god-cases, 44. + + -- in grotto at Aurignac, 22. + + -- in Mentone cave-tombs, 45. + + -- religious value of, 80, 165. + + -- in Welsh Aurignacian cave-tomb, 20. + + -- why worn by early peoples, 37, 38. + + Ostrich eggs, found in Spain, 96. + + Otter, skin charm of, 189. + + -- as god, 190. + + -- as soul-form, 189. + + -- the king, 189. + + -- jewel of, 189. + + + Palæolithic, chronological problem, 212. + + -- implements of Upper Palæolithic, 21 (_ill._). + + Palæolithic Age, why ornaments were worn, 37, 38. + + -- -- break in culture of, 12. + + -- -- origin of term, 8. + + -- -- races of, 8. + + -- -- sub-divisions of, 12, 13. + See, _Chellean_, _Acheulian_, _Mousterian_, _Aurignacian_, + _Solutrean_, and _Magdalenian_. + + Palm tree, British substitutes for, 221. + + -- -- cult of, in ancient Spain, 149. + + Paradise, as "Apple land" (Avalon) 144. + + -- Celtic ideas regarding, 143. + + -- fairyland as, 143. + + -- pork feasts in, 144. + + -- Welsh ideas regarding, 144. + + -- in Border Ballads, 144. + + Parisii, The, in Britain, 128. + + Patrick, St., Pagan myth attached to, 198. + + Paviland cave, Crô-Magnon burial in Welsh, 19. + + Pearl, Aphrodite (Venus) as pearl, 158. + + -- as life substance, 80, 158. + + -- moon as "Eternal Pearl" in Dante's _Inferno_, 159. + + -- Gaelic name of, 159. + + -- nocturnal luminosity of, 160. + + Pearls, British, attracted Romans, 79· + + -- and sacred grove, &c., 159. + + -- Cæsar's pearl offering to Venus, 159. + + -- in Cuchullin's hair, 163. + + -- on Roman emperor's horse, 163. + + -- dragons possess, 184. + + -- in England (map), 83, 84. + + -- fabulous origin of, 161. + + -- Irish standard of value a _set_ (pearl), 166. + + -- luck of, 166. + + -- jet and amber and, 221. + + -- as "life substance", 80, 158. + + -- as _margan_ (life-giver), 161. + + -- as medicine in India, 41. + + -- searched for by megalithic people, 92. + + -- soul in, 206. + + -- as _tama_ in Japan, 44. + + -- as "tears" of goddess Freyja, 161. + + Pearls, why offered to goddess, 174. + + -- Ythan River, Aberdeenshire, yields, 76. + + Pear tree, cat and, 196. + + Peat, from Dogger Bank, 57, 68. + + Penny Wells, 174. + + Phoenicians, the Cassiterides monopoly of, 104. + + -- eastern colonists in Spain and, 98. + + -- methods of, as exploiters, 98. + + -- in Iron Age, 107. + + -- megalithic monuments and, 149. + + -- in modern Cornwall, 139. + + Pictones, The, as allies of Romans, 224. + + -- Scottish Picts and, 131. + + Picts, The, agriculturists and seafarers, 130. + + -- Caledonians and, 130. + + -- allies of the Scots, 130. + + -- Cruithne were Britons, 132. + + -- fairy theory, 131, and also note 1. + + -- as Pechts and Pecti, 131. + + -- Gildas, Bede, and Nennius on, 132. + + -- Irish myth regarding, 132. + + -- Irish Cruithne not Picts, 132. + + -- Saxon allies of, 131. + + -- Roman, Scottish, and Welsh names of, 131. + + -- as branch of the Pictones, 131. + + -- tattooing habit of, 136. + + -- vessels of, 136. + + -- tribes of, 136. + + -- as pirates, 136. + + Pig, Demeter and, 196. + + -- Devil as, 191, 200. + + -- in Roman religious ceremony, 51. + + -- Scottish and Irish treatment of, 199. + + -- taboo in Scotland, 199. + + -- the Sow goddess, 154. + + Pigs, Achæans and Celts as rearers of, 111, 199. + + -- Adonis and Diarmid and, 197. + + -- Celts rearers of, 114. + + -- and amber, 161. + + -- as food of the dead, 144. + + -- "lucky pigs", 157. + + -- Orkney a boar name, 129. + + Pigs, salmon as, 182. + See _Pork taboo_. + + Piltdown man, 26. + + Pin Wells, 174. + + Pirates, ancient, Picts as, 136. + + -- -- Gaelic reference to, 136. + + Pliocene mammals, 16. + + Poetry, goddess of, 188. + + Polycrates of Samos, luck of, in seal, 184. + + Pope Gregory the Great, letter on Pagans in England, 176. + + Pork. See _Pigs_ and _Swine_. + + -- taboo in Arcadia, 223. + + -- -- why Cretans detested, 154, and also note 3. + + -- -- Scottish, 199 _et seq._, 223. + + -- -- Celts ate pork, 199. + + Porpoise as sea-boar, 182. + + Portugal, colonists from, in Britain, 106. + + -- early eastern influence in, 211. + + -- settlements of Easterners in, 95. + + -- settlers from, in Britain, 127. + + Pot, the, shell as, 207. + + -- as symbol of Mother-goddess, 205. + + -- the Mother, Celtic cauldron as, 90. + + "Pot of Plenty", Celtic cauldron as, 205. + + Potter's wheel, 112. + + Pottery, Neolithic, 5. + + -- relation to basket-making and knitting, 5, 6. + + Priestesses, ancient British, Tacitus refers to, 147. + + -- witches and, 147, and also note 1. + + Ptolemy, evidence of, regarding British tribes, 128. + + Purple-yielding shells, in Crô-Magnon grotto, 23. + + -- -- searched for by megalithic people, 92. + + Pytheas, 229. + + -- exploration of Britain by, 115. + + -- the Mictis problem, 116. + + -- voyage of, 107. + + + Races, alien elements may vanish, 123. + + -- "Caucasian Man", 123. + + -- Aryan theory, 123. + + Races, animal names of Scoto-Celtic tribes, 129. + + -- Azilian and Tardenoisian, 55. + + -- Maglemosian, 56. + + -- Britain in Roman period, 127. + + -- Britain mainly "long-headed", 128. + + -- Ptolemy's evidence regarding British tribes, 128. + + -- British extermination theory, 227. + + -- British Iberians and proto-Egyptians, 126. + + -- Armenoid intrusions, 87, 126, 222. + + -- Spanish settlers in Britain, 127. + + -- bronze carriers displace eastern metal searchers in + Western Europe, 100. + + -- bronze users as earliest settlers in Aberdeenshire, 111. + + -- Brünn and Brüx, 50. + + -- Celts and Armenoids, 112. + + -- Celts and Northerners, 112, 222. + + -- Celts as conquerors of early settlers in Britain, 107. + + -- colours of the mythical, 121, 125· + + -- extermination theory, 122. + + -- Celts as Fair Northerners, 222. + + -- "broad heads" in Britain, 56, 87, 126, 222. + + -- Celts and Teutons, 125. + + -- Chancelade skull and Eskimos, 53. + + -- Crô-Magnons in Wales, 19. + + -- first discovery of Crô-Magnons in France, 20. + + -- Cuchullin and Scotland, 224. + + -- Britons in Ireland, 224. + + -- Damnonians as metal workers, 89. + + -- Damnonians in England, Scotland, and Ireland, 89, 90. + + -- dark and fair peoples in England, 227. + + -- descendants of Easterners in Britain, 118. + + -- drifts of, into Britain, 79. + + -- early settlers in Britain, 125, 216. + + -- eastern colonists in Spain, 95. + + -- Easterners reached ancient Britain from Spain, 97. + + -- fair and dark among earliest + settlers in Post-Glacial Britain, 60. + + Races, fair Celts and Teutons, 60. + + -- Fir-bolgs in Ireland, 223. + + -- Furfooz type, 56. + + -- broad-headed fair types, 56. + + -- Gaelic Fir-domnann and Firbolg, 90, and also note 1. + + -- Gibraltar man, 8. + + -- Cannstadt man, 8. + + -- Neanderthal man, 9. + See _Neanderthal Man_. + + -- great migrations by sea, 92. + + -- high and heavy Scots, 137. + + -- intrusion of "Round Barrow", broad-headed people, 87, 126. + + -- "Long heads" use bronze in Ireland, 87. + + -- megalithic intruders, 94. + + -- mixed peoples among Easterners in Western Europe, 107. + + -- modern Crô-Magnons in Africa, British Isles, and France, 25. + + -- "Combe-Capelle" man, 25. + + -- Brüx and Brünn skulls, 25. + + -- "Galley Hill" man, 26, 27. + + -- modern man, 9. + + -- Crô-Magnon, 9, 19. + See _Crô-Magnon Races_. + + -- Piltdown man, 9, 26. + + -- Heidelberg man, 9. + + -- Phoenician type in Cornwall, 139. + + -- physical characters of, 124. + + -- "pockets" in British Isles, 138. + + -- Post-Glacial movements of, 54. + + -- pre-Celtic extermination theory, 107. + + -- few intrusions in ancient Britain, 109. + + -- settlements of traders and workers, 109. + + -- "short barrow" intruders, 104. + + -- cremating intruders, 104. + + -- Solutrean intrusion, 49. + + -- Tacitus's references to British races, 137. + + -- transition period and Neolithic, 61. + + Rainbow as god's rod-sling, 204. + + Raven and goddess of grove and sky, 160. + + Ravens, Celtic deities as, 195. + + Red deer on Dogger Bank, 68. + + "Red Man", The Welsh, 19, 27. + + Regni, The, Sussex tribe, 128. + + Reindeer on Dogger Bank, 68. + + -- French and German, in early, Aurignacian times, 14. + See _Fauna_. + + -- in Scotland till twelfth century, 67. + + -- in Germany in Roman times, 68. + + -- Age, the, 213. + + Rhodesia, mouse cure in, 187, and also note 2. + + Rhone valley trade route, 114. + + Rivers, goddesses and, 206. + + River-worship, 176, 178, 179. + + Robin, apple cult and, 204. + + Robin Red-breast, on Glasgow seal, 185. + + -- -- in St. Mungo legend, 186. + + Romans, how Britain was conquered by, 119, 120. + + -- Celtic boats superior to boats of, 224. + + -- as exploiters of conquered countries, 79. + + -- how loan-rate of interest was reduced, 79. + + -- goddess, groups of, 207. + + -- Gauls in army of, 127. + + -- mean and tragical conquest of Britain by, 226, 227. + + -- myths of, regarding savages in ancient Britain, 224. + + -- references of, to Picts and Caledonians, 130. + + -- religious beliefs of, no higher than those of Gaels, 208. + + -- Tacitus on rewards of, in Britain, 79. + + -- wars for trade, 229. + + Rome, connection of, with milk goddess cult, 149, 150. + + -- sacked by Celts, 112. + + Ro-smerta, the Gaulish goddess, 174. + + Rowan, 221. + + -- berry of, as fruit of longevity, 144. + + -- the sacred, 179, 180. + See _Tree Cults_. + + Rye, cultivation of, 5. + + + Sacred stones and sacred trees, + 103. See _Megalithic Monuments_ and _Tree Cults_. + + Sacrifices, annual pig sacrifices,201. + + -- oxen sacrificed to demons in England, 178. + + -- at "wassailing", 204, 205. + + Sahara, 27. + + -- grass-lands of the, 14. + + St. Swithin's Day, 168. + + Salmon on city of Glasgow seal, 185. + + -- as form of dragon, 182. + + -- fire and, 183. + + -- Gaelic names of, 182. + + -- Irish saint finds gold in stomach of, 184. + + -- in St. Mungo legend, 184. + + -- the ring myth, 183. + + -- the sacred "salmon of wisdom", 182. + + Sargon of Akkad, his knowledge of Western European metal-yielding + areas, 99 _et seq._, 218. + + Saxons, 126. + + -- Celts and, 227. + + -- the, Picts as allies of, 131. + + Scape-dog, the, 65. + + Scots, The, Crô-Magnons and, 137. + + -- Picts and, 130. + + -- first settlement of, in Scotland, 130. + + Scott, Michael, in serpent myth, 188. + + Seafaring. See _Boats_. + + Sea god, the Hebridean _Seonaidh_ (Shony), 193. + + Seasons, Gaelic colours of, 169. + + Selgovæ, The, 139. + + -- in Galloway, 129. + + Serpent, Bride's serpent and dragon, 188. + + -- as "daughter of Ivor", the "damsel", &c., 187. + + -- dragon as, 182. + + -- goddess Bride and, 187. + + -- jet drives away, 164. + + -- sacred white, 188. + + -- on sculptured stones, 155 (_ill._). + + -- "snake of hazel grove", 189. + + -- sea-serpent, 189. + + -- as soul, 189. + + -- the white, in Michael Scott legend, 188. + + Setantii, The, in England and Ireland, 128. + + -- Cuchullin and, 128. + + Severus, disastrous invasion of Scotland by, 130, 225. + + Sheep, goddess as, 154. + + -- in Scoto-Celtic tribal names, 129. + + Shells, as amulets, 34, 80. + + -- Aphrodite as pearl in, 158. + + -- in British graves, 46. + + -- finds of, in Ireland and Scotland, 46. + + -- coloured, in Aurignacian cave-tomb, 46. + + -- wearing of, not a juvenile custom, 46. + + -- Combe-Capelle man wore, 25. + + -- in Crô-Magnon grotto, 23. + + -- Crô-Magnon trade in, 40. + + -- Japanese and Scottish "shell-milk" elixirs, 40, 221. + + -- "Cup of Mary" Highland myth, 42. + + -- limpet lore, 42, and also note 1. + + -- Egyptian artificial, 173. + + -- Egyptian gold models of, 41. + + -- stone, ivory, and metal models of, 41. + + -- as "life-givers", 41. + + -- "Evil Eye" charms, 39. + + -- Crô-Magnon necklace, 39 (_ill._). + + -- as food for dead, 41. + + -- Cretan artificial, 41. + + -- fairy woman's coracle a shell, 207. + + -- in grotto at Aurignac, 22. + + -- ground shells as elixir, 38. + + -- as "houses" of gods, 38. + + -- love girdle of, 38. + + -- Hebridean tree goddess and, 153. + + -- Indian Ocean shell in Aurignacian cave, 36. + + -- as "life substance", 80, 158, 178. + + -- mantle of, in Aurignacian cave-tomb, 45. + + -- milk from, 40, 221. + + -- "personal ornaments" theory, 37. + + -- Red Sea shell in Hampshire, 47, and also note 1. + + -- Red Sea shell in Neolithic Spain, 96. + + Shells, Red Sea shell at Mentone, 210. + + -- searched for by megalithic people, 92 _et seq._ + + -- in Welsh cave-tomb, 20. + + Ships. See _Boats_. + + Silures, The, Hebrideans and, 139. + + -- Tacitus on, 137. + + -- in Wales and Scilly Islands, 129. + + Silurians, as miners, 118. + + Silvanus, British deity, 207. + + Silver, amber and, 165. + + -- in Britain, 91. + + -- difficult to find and work in Britain, 95. + + -- exported from Britain in first century A.D., 114. + + -- Easterners worked, in Spain, 97. + + -- Gaelic god connected with, 102. + + -- offered to water deity by Gauls, 174. + + -- offered to deities by Celts, 80. + + -- lead, as ballast for boats of Easterners, 99. + + Sin (pronounced _sheen_), the Druid's judgment collar, 146. + + Skins, exported from Britain in first century, A.D., 114. + + Sky, connection of sacred trees and wells with, 179. + + Slaves, exported from Britain in first century A.D., 114. + See _Fir-bolgs_. + + Sleepers myth, in Highland story, 47. + + -- the Seven, antiquity of myth of, 29. + + Smertæ, The, 129. + + Smertullis, the god, Ro-smerta and, 174. + + Smintheus Apollo. See _Mouse Apollo_. + + Solutrean Age, 13. + + -- pre-Agricultural, 213. + + -- proto-Solutrean influence, 216. + + -- culture, cave art declines, 51. + + -- -- characteristic artifacts, 50. + + -- -- climate, 51. + + -- -- open-air camps, 51. + + -- -- bone needles numerous, 52. + + -- -- decline of, in Europe, 52. + + -- -- earliest influence of, in Europe, 49. + + Solutrean culture, "true" wave of, 49. + + -- -- carriers of, 50. + + -- Implements, 21 (_ill._). + + Soul, animal shapes of, 65, 178, 190. + + -- bee and butterfly forms of, 191. + + -- bee forms of, in folk tales, 193. + + -- beliefs regarding, Sleepers myth, 29. + + -- soul-case in Scotland and Japan, 44. + + -- butterfly as, in Greece, Italy, Serbia, Burmah, Mexico, China, + Scotland, Ireland, &c., 192, 193. + + -- the "change" in Gaelic, 158. + + -- nourishment of, 158. + + -- cremation customs and destiny of, 109. + + -- dead go west, 173. + + -- dog form of, 65. + + -- Druids and transmigration, 142. + + -- heart and liver as seats of life, 154. + + -- maggot as, 102. + + -- Egyptian Bata myth, 103. + + -- moth form of, 192. + + -- serpent form of, 189. + + -- lizard and other forms of, 189. + + -- star as, 208. + + -- in stone or husk, 173. + + -- in trees, 190. + + -- in egg, fish, swans, &c., 190. + + -- in weapons, 50. + + -- Welsh ideas regarding destiny of, 144. + + Sow-day in Orkney, 201. + + Sow goddess, the, 154. + See _Pigs_. + + Spain, British trade with, 114, 116. + + -- colonists from, in Britain, 106. + + -- displacement of Easterners in, 221. + + -- Druidism in, 149. + + -- early trade of, with Britain, 218. + + -- Easterners in, 95, 211, 218, 229. + + -- Easterners kept natives of, ignorant of uses of metals, 99. + + -- Egyptian gold diadem in Neolithic tomb, 98. + + -- Egyptian origin of Neolithic industry in, 97. + + -- expulsion of Easterners from, 100. + + -- in pre-Agricultural Age, 213. + + -- settlers from, in Britain, 127. + + Spear of god Lugh, 206. + + Spinning, 5. + + Spirit worship. See _Animism_. + + Standing Stones. See _Megalithic Monuments_. + + Star, St. Ciaran's stellar origin, 208. + + -- the Dog, 64. + + Stars, Druid lore of, 175. + + -- Gaels measured time by, 175, and also note 1. + + -- Sir[)o]na, star goddess, 208. + + -- Milky Way and milk goddess cult, 149. + + -- Welsh and Gaelic names of, 203. + + Stennis, Standing Stones of, 94. + + Stone of Danann deities, 206. + + -- as god, 51. + + Stonehenge, doctrine of Cardinal Points and, 174. + + -- and Egyptian Empire beads, 104, 105 (_ill._), 106. + + -- Temple theory, 177. + + Stones, in graves, 33, 34. + + -- wind raised by, in Hebrides, 172. + + -- as "god body", 173. + + -- as dragon's eggs, 173. + + Sumeria. See _Babylonia_. + + Sun, ancient British solar symbol, 162. + + -- circulating chapels, &c., 148. + + -- ear-rings and, 165. + + -- fire and, 181. + + -- rays of, as tears, 181, and also note 3. + + -- Gaelic worship of, 170. + + -- Gaels swore by, 148. + + -- goddess and, 163. + + -- modern and ancient sunwise customs, 171. + + Sun-worship in Britain, King Canute and, 147. + + Surgery, ancient man's skill in, 2. + + -- folk-lore evidence regarding, 3, 4. + + Surrogate of life blood, 28. + + Sussex dug-out, 76, 77. + + Swallows, Celtic deities as, 195. + + Swans, as souls, 190. + + -- as oracles, 190. + + -- Celtic deities as, 195. + + Swine. See _Pork Taboo_. + + -- Celts rearers of, 114. + + -- Devil and, 200. + + Swine, Maglemosian hunters of, 57. + + -- Orkney a boar name, 129. + + -- in Roman religious ceremony, 51. + + -- Scottish taboo of, 199. + + Sword of god Lugh, 206. + + Symbols, swashtika, &c., 165, 166. + See _Colour Symbolism_. + + + Tæxali, The, 129. + + Talismans, Irish and Japanese, 206. + + Taran[)u]cus (Thunderer), Gaulish god, 207. + + Tardenoisian, 54, 62. + + -- artifacts, 13. + + -- Iberian carriers of, 216. + + -- pre-Agricultural, 213. + + -- pygmy flints, 54, 55 (_ill._). + + Tardenoisians, The, in Britain, 125. + + -- English Channel land-bridge crossed by, 69. + + -- Industry, traces of, in Africa, Asia, and Europe, 71. + + -- Maglemosians and, 57. + + Temples, pagan, used as Christian churches, 177. + + -- the Gaulish, 177. + + -- Apollo's temple in England, 177. + + -- Stonehenge, 177. + + -- Pytheas refers to, 178. + + -- reroofing custom, 178. + + Ten Tribes, The Lost, 118. + + Teutons, British Celts' relations with, 137. + + -- Celts and, 125. + + Thomas the Rhymer, "True Thomas" as "Druid Thomas", 146. + + Thor, Dagda and, 202. + + Tilbury man, 70, 71. + + Tin, 101. + + -- beginning of mining in Cornwall, 116. + + -- Scottish and Irish, 94, 117. + + -- in Britain and Ireland, 91. + + -- surface tin collected in Britain, 9. + + -- English mines of, opened after surface tin was exhausted, 91. + + -- the Mictis problem, 116. + + -- descendants of ancient miners in Britain, 118. + + -- exported from Cornwall in first century A.D., 114. + + Tin, Phoenicians and the Cassiterides, 104. + + -- search for, in Britain, 95. + + -- traces of, in Scotland, 94. + + -- trade in, 219. + + -- voyage of Pytheas, 107. + + -- Cornish mines opened, 107. + See _Cassiterides_ and _OEtrymnides_. + + Tin Land, Sargon of Akkad's knowledge of the + Western European, 99, 218. + + Tin-stone as ballast for boats of Easterners, 99. + + Toad, The, Jewel of, 189. + + Tom-tit, apple cult of, 204. + + Toothache, ancient man suffered from, 2. + + Torquay, Magdalenian art near, 54. + + Trade, early British exports, 104. + + -- Red Sea shell in Hampshire, 47, and also note 1. + + -- routes, British and Irish, 223. + + -- -- British trade with Spain and Carthage, 114. + + -- -- Danube valley and Rhone valley, 114. + + -- -- early trade between Spain and Britain, 218. + + -- -- exports from Britain in first century A.D., 114. + + -- -- when overland routes were opened, 106. + + -- -- Celts and, 106, 107. + + -- -- Phoenicians kept sea-routes secret, 107. + + -- -- voyage of Pytheas, 107. + + Transition Period. See _Azilian_, _Tardenoisian_, and _Maglemosian_. + + -- -- longer than Neolithic Age, 61. + + -- -- race movements in, 54. + + -- in Scotland, 216. + + Transmigration, Druidism and, 142, 222. + + Traprain, silver as substitute for white enamel at, 165. + + Tree cults, apple of knowledge eaten by Thomas the Rhymer, 146. + + -- -- apple tree as "Tree of Life", 204. + + -- -- birds and apple trees, 204. + + -- -- Artemis and the fig, 193. + + Tree cults, bee and maggot soul forms in trees, 103. + + -- -- and standing stones, 103, 104. + + -- -- coral as sea tree, 221. + + -- -- grown gold, 221. + + -- -- and standing stones and wells, 147. + + -- -- trees and wells and heavenly bodies, 180. + + -- -- Druidism and, 141. + + -- -- fig as milk-yielding tree, 149. + + -- -- Gaelic and Latin names of sacred groves, 159. + + -- -- Galatian sacred oak, 159. + + -- -- Gaulish, 151. + + -- -- elm as milk tree, 151. + + -- -- plane as milk tree, 151. + + -- -- grove goddess as raven or crow, 160. + + -- -- the hazel god, 140, 144. + + -- -- apple of longevity, 144. + + -- -- Hebridean shell and milk goddess and, 153. + + -- -- Indian milk-yielding trees, 151. + + -- -- mouse and apple tree, 196. + + -- -- mistletoe and Druidism, 145. + + -- -- megalithic monuments and, 220. + + -- -- and pearls, &c., 220. + + -- -- palm tree cult in Spain, 220. + + -- -- oak on Glasgow seal, 185. + + -- -- sacred groves and stone shrines, 156. + + -- -- sacred rowan, 180. + + -- -- Silvanus, British tree god, 207. + + -- -- souls in trees, 190. + + -- -- St. Mungo takes fire from the hazel, 186. + + -- -- stone circles and, 178. + + -- -- Trees of Longevity and Knowledge, 152. + + -- -- woodbine as "King of the Woods" in Gaelic, 180. + + -- -- fire-producing trees, 180. + + Trepanning in ancient times, 2. + + Trinovantes, The, in England, 128. + + Turquoise, symbolism of, 221. + + Twelfth Night, 204. + + + Underworld, Gaelic ideas regarding, 143. + + Underworld, Egyptian paradise of, 143. + + -- fairyland as Paradise, 144. + + -- Welsh ideas of, 144. + + -- "Well of healing" in, 197. + + Urns, burial, food and drink in, 158. + + Uxellimus, Gaulish god, 207. + + + Vacomagi, The, 129. + + Veneti, The, Pictones assist Romans against, 224. + + -- Picts and, 131. + + Venus. See _Aphrodite_. + + -- the British, 204. + + -- Cæsar offered British pearls to, 79. + + -- origin of, 38. + + -- the Scandinavian, 161. + + Vernicones, The, in Scotland, 129. + + Viking ship, origin of, 76. + + Votadini, in Scotland, 129. + + Vulcan, the Celtic, 202, 203. + + + Warfare, Neolithic weapons rare, 6. + + Water, fire in, 182. + + -- as source of all life, 180. + + -- spirits, 207. + + "Water of Life", "fire water" as, 181, 182. + + Weapons, Celts swore by, 148. + + -- demons in, 50. + + -- as sacred symbols in Ireland and Japan, 206. + + Well, "Beast" (dragon) in, 182. + + Wells, Bride (Brigit) and, 188. + + -- connection of, with trees, stones, and sky, 180. + + -- goddess and, 180. + + -- "well of healing" in Underworld, 197. + + Well-worship and sacred grove, heaven, &c., 160. + + Well-worship, Dingwall Presbytery deals with, 148. + + -- Gildas refers to, 176. + + -- well as a god, 176-9. + + -- trees, standing stones, and, 147. + + -- winds and, 174. + + -- offerings of gold, &c., 174. + + Welsh gods, 203. + + Were-animals, Scottish, 190. + + -- witches and, 191. + + Wheat, cultivation of, 5. + + Whistle, the, antiquity of, 31. + + Widow-burning, 110. + + Wind, fairies come on eddies of, 173. + + Wind and water beliefs, 174. + + Wind goddess, Scottish, associated with south-west, 173. + + Winds, colours of, 169 _et seq._ + + -- Gaelic names of, in spring, 198. + + -- Hebridean wind-stone, 172. + + Witches, cat forms of, 196. + + -- priestesses and, 147. + + -- were-animals and, 191. + + Withershins, 172. + + Woad, Celtic connection of, with water, amber, &c., 163. + + Wolf, goddess as, 154. + + -- goddess Morrigan as, 195. + + Woodbine as "King of the Woods", 180. + + "World Mill", The, metal workers and, 90. + + Wren, apple cult of, 204. + + -- Druids and, 145. + + -- hunting of, 187. + + -- the sacred, 186. + + -- as king of birds, 186. + + + Yellow Muilearteach, the, Scottish deity, 196, 197. + + + Zuyder Zee, formerly a plain, 69. + + -- -- disasters of, 69, 70. + + +PRINTED AND BOUND IN GREAT BRITAIN + +_By Blackie & Son, Limited, Glasgow_ + + + + + * * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Minor spelling inconsistencies, mainly hyphenated words, have been +made consistent. + +Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. + +A "List of Illustrations" has been added to the text for the +convenience of the reader. It includes Illustrations that were not +included in the "List of Plates." + +In the Index the phrase (_ill._) has occasionally been moved so as +consistently to come after the page to which it refers. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43750 *** |