NEOLITHIC Civilization is the right word to use for this stage of man's his tory, for the mode of life and general outlook of the folk of the new stone age was profoundly different from that of their palae olithic and mesolithic forerunners. For this change four new dis coveries or practices were mainly responsible ; viz., (I) agricul ture, (2) domestication of animals, (3) manufacture of pottery, (4) tool-making by a grinding and polishing technique. The first two of these enabled man to lead a far less precarious existence than formerly, for he could by means of them store food against times of dearth. Further, a given area of country can support a far larger population under these conditions than it can when hunting and food collecting are the sole means of subsistence of the people. Again—and this particularly applies to the crop-grow ers—more settled communities developed, involving communal existence and therefore to a large extent specialization in work.
The manufacture of pottery played a not unimportant part in the refinement of the home. The surface of an unbaked pot simply calls for decoration and it is not too much to say that art for art's sake is in large measure coincident with the discovery of pottery making. A grinding and polishing technique enabled man to obtain a sharp and tough edge on fine-grained igneous rocks, a result unobtainable by chipping methods alone. In the case of flint a chipped edge is very sharp, but extremely brittle. A sharp, tough edge is essential for the carpenter, and any kind of wood work had been impossible except on a very small scale before neolithic times.
The first must often have been made of wood, and ploughs of this nature can still be seen in out of the way districts in Spain and elsewhere, but it was soon found that an unprotected share is rapidly destroyed. It has been suggested that in all likelihood many of the roughly chipped and pointed bars of quartzite and other tough materials that are found may have been attached to the share in such a way as to protect it from rough usage. Doubt less too the land was often prepared for agricultural purposes by means of hoes, and polished tools suitable for hafting as such have been found, especially in the eastern, Danubian, area. The celt—the characteristic tool in neolithic industries (see FLINTS) may itself have been sometimes hafted and used for this purpose.
Sickles consisted, as a rule, of a curved wooden haft, into a groove in the inner side of which long flint blades were fixed, their working edges being frequently denticulated. The constant friction of these edges against the straw while reaping has produced on them a polish which is very characteristic, although it is not unlike the sand polish found on flints in desert regions. The hand mills were of the nature of pestles and mortars, or more fre quently a sort of polished stone rolling pin and slightly concave slab of fine-grained sandstone.
Even in mesolithic times a crude attempt at decoration is found, generally made with a piece of stick or impresses of the finger. In later neolithic times pottery decoration included both engraved and painted vessels, and in the case of the former the engraved lines were sometimes filled in with a white or coloured material, often giving a striking and beautiful effect.
The Grinding and Polishing of Tools.—Hitherto in Europe practically all stone tools had been made from flint or flinty ma terial ; but now in neolithic times, with the invention of the pro cesses of grinding and polishing, any fine-grained compact rock could be used and could be given an edge both sharp and tough. For this purpose however slabs of fine-grained sandstone were needed to form the grindstones. In such areas as East Anglia, where sandstone suitable for this purpose does not occur, the chipping technique continued to be employed for everything far longer than elsewhere, as did also the use of flint. In fact, fre quently a polished tool—no doubt a rare treasure—had to be re sharpened by chipping. Flint itself can be ground and polished also, and the edge so produced is distinctly tougher than that formed when it is merely chipped.
Fine-grained igneous rocks occur in many places, especially in the west of England, but flint, which was still preferred for many purposes, has a more capricious distribution. It occurs in bands in limestone deposits, and primitive man frequently obtained his raw material by mining it. Many of these mines are known both in England and on the Continent. One of the most famous is Grimes Graves near Brandon in Suffolk. There a number of shafts were sunk which struck the flint-bearing strata at a depth of about 4o feet. From the bottom of the shaft passages radiated in all directions, along them the raw material was brought to the bottom of the shaft and thence hoisted to the surface. It would seem probable that mining in a simple way was started at Grimes Graves as early as late mesolithic times, but its importance grew throughout the neolithic period and it was, in all probability, still flourishing during the earlier part of the bronze age.
Throughout mesolithic and neolithic times the climate of Europe played an important part in the history of the cultures we are considering. Climatic changes show themselves in variations of both temperature and humidity. With the former of these we are but little concerned after the end of the great ice age. There were no startling temperature changes in mesolithic and neolithic times comparable to those of the old stone age, but there were alter nately warm-dry and warm-damp periods, and these have pro foundly affected humanity because during warm-damp periods forests increased and flourished, while in times of greater dryness they retreated and dwindled. Not until the days of the road making Romans was man able to withstand the growth of forests and in consequence he had to retreat and migrate elsewhere. It is a fact that the many movements of peoples which took place in pre-Roman times were largely the result of forest growths and therefore of climatic changes. During most of the mesolithic period the climate was warm and dry, except near the Atlantic seaboard where damp conditions prevailed. But at the end of this time, warm, damp conditions set in with the result that for ests flourished and in fact covered the whole of central Europe. For this reason the neolithic civilization in these districts was unable to spread over the continent and as a result there developed three more or less distinct cultural areas; an eastern including the basin of the Danube, a northern comprising the lands round the Baltic sea and north Germany, and a western which includes Britain, France, Belgium, parts of Holland, Switzerland, etc. Interchange or commerce between them was of course always possible up river valleys and over loess lands, where dense forests did not readily extend even under favourable climatic conditions, but between the northern and western areas communication was made specially difficult, as much of what is now north Holland was then under the sea.
At the end of neolithic times the climate again became warm and dry with the result that the primaeval forests dwindled and the people of all the three areas pushed in to occupy the now f orest-f ree lands of central Germany. Naturally the contact with each other engendered a large number of hybrid cultures and the examination of these has developed into an exceedingly difficult and complex study.
Whence did the neolithic civilization penetrate into Europe? Probably to a great extent from those regions of central Asia which lie to the east of the Caspian sea. Though to-day these are desert lands, at the end of Quaternary times quite other conditions prevailed; large areas of country were covered by an immense inland ocean, of which the Caspian sea, Lake Aral and Lake Balkash, etc., are the dwindled remains, and the regions round about it were highly fertile. Neolithic influences too probably reached the western area from Spain and the Mediterranean regions.
Tombs.—In the northern and western areas one common fea ture is the development of a series of very interesting tombs con structed with immense roughly dressed stones, which in some cases weigh many tons. How these blocks of rock were moved into position remains a mystery. The simplest form of tomb, called a "dolmen," consists essentially of a large more or less flat slab of rock supported on three or more uprights. The whole was sometimes left open, sometimes covered with a mound of earth, forming a tumulus. Dolmens appear first and continue well into the bronze age. Somewhat later than their first appearance the passage-grave, corridor-grave or allee couverte was made. This consists of a small chamber of upright stones with a lid upon the top, access to which is obtained by means of a corridor, itself composed of upright stones upon which roofing flags are laid. The whole construction is usually covered by a mound of earth and there is often a sort of threshold where the end of the passage emerges from the tumulus. Several varieties of this grave type are known. Sometimes in France, more rarely in England, there is a division made between the passage and the chamber consisting of a large flag pierced by a round hole just large enough to admit a person. These are called "port-hole entrance" corridor-graves. Passage-graves are frequently of immense size. At the Cueva Menga, for example, near Antequera in the south of Spain, there is a chamber, over 25 metres long by rather more than 6 metres wide and nearly 3 metres high, completely covered by only five lid stones.
Finally there appears the "stone-kist." This consists of a small chamber, sometimes so small in size as to be a mere coffin, buried under a tumulus, there being no passage to the exterior. Stone-kists continued to be used in the bronze age. Excavations in these megalithic monuments have often yielded a rich funeral furniture consisting of pottery, implements and objects of decora tion. The occurrence of animal bones may suggest the practice of sacrificial meals. Sometimes the human body or bodies were buried at once in the tomb ; sometimes, however, the tombs seem to have been merely ossuaries where the bones were preserved of ter decomposition of the body had taken place elsewhere. In humation, not cremation, seems almost entirely to have been the rule in neolithic times. In some cases the stones composing the tomb have been roughly sculptured, it being possible to recognize poorly drawn animals, conventionalized figures of men, signs and the like.
Besides these tombs single standing stones marking a burial below are often found. These are sometimes of enormous height and may or may not be dressed; they are known as menhirs. Circles of small menhirs are known as cromlechs. Occasionally a single menhir is found in the centre of such a stone circle. Some times they are arranged in parallel lines forming a series of ave nues. These are known as alignments. The most important yet discovered are those at Carnac (q.v.) in Brittany where there are ten such avenues stretching for more than a quarter of a mile and leading down from a large cromlech. The reasons for building these cromlechs and alignments and the uses to which they were put are not known.
The place of origin and the distribution of the practice of burial under megalithic constructions, as they are in general termed, is of great interest. One view is that the practice originated in Egypt and spread thence over parts of Europe. It is difficult, however, to find enough connecting links to support this theory. In southern Spain, megalithic tomb construction was practised throughout the new stone age, which was of very short duration there and early developed into a copper-using culture, owing to the occurrence locally of suitable ores. The various methods of building there employed and the great size to which the construc tions attained suggest that southern Spain (see SPAIN ; Archaeol ogy) may have been an actual cradle of the megalithic tomb culture, and this seems more than likely when we consider the geographical situation of Spain and how easily influences from the east would be felt there, tending to contribute to the early growth of a rich native culture.
The motives lying behind the construction of these megalithic tombs remain obscure. Undoubtedly they involve the conception of some sort of cult of the dead. If a dead body is just thrown on one side it becomes a prey of wild beasts. Again, if a heap of stones or earth, sufficient to protect the dead body from such wild animals, is heaped over the corpse, the weight crushes the body out of recognition. It may be that, in the first instance, the difficulty was got over by the creation of a small chamber in which the body could lie secure, and that later these chambers grew in size and the cult, whatever it was, developed. Exactly what the builders of the megalithic tombs believed about their dead or whether the details of the buildings were the result of any par ticular belief we cannot tell.
Dwellings.—Neolithic man lived in huts which were often grouped together in clusters or villages. Not infrequently these were fortified and on the tops of hills. The simplest form of hut is the pit dwelling, such as that described in connection with the Campignian culture, circular, oval or occasionally in the form of a trench with a fireplace in the bottom and a roof above it. In dry areas this kind of home has obvious advantages ; it is warm, fairly draught-proof and the roof is easy to construct as it can spring directly from the level of the ground. In late neolithic times, wooden houses, often well made, with two or even more compart ments and occasionally two storeys, occur. In certain areas, espe cially in Switzerland and the countries bordering the Alps both on the northern and southern sides, villages were built on piles driven into the floors of lakes. The piles were sometimes 3oft. in length and gin. thick, and as many as 50,000 have been counted in a single village. Beams laid horizontally on the tops of the piles formed platforms on which the houses were constructed. Ac cess to the shore was assured either by rafts or sometimes by a nar row causeway. This type of village had the obvious advantages of security and rubbish could be easily disposed of. (See LAKE DWELLINGS.) The Western Area.—In all probability the neolithic people of the western area were in a large measure of the same stock as their mesolithic predecessors. The old folk adopted, and adapted themselves to, the new neolithic civilization, which enabled a larger population to exist in the same areas. This mesolithic back ground explains a certain monotony which is apparent in the neo lithic industries of the western area. Indeed it was not till the end of neolithic times that western Europe began seriously to forge ahead. The new civilization seems to have been introduced partly from intercourse with the Danubians of the eastern area, which could take place by way of the Danube and the Rhine, following the forest-free lands of southern Germany, and partly from south Spain. In Belgium there appears what is known as the Omalian culture which on stratigraphical grounds seems to occur very early in a neolithic sequence. Omalian pottery shows undoubted connections with that of the eastern area. In a similar manner connections with south Spain can be demonstrated and the mega lithic constructions penetrated northwards from that region.
The most typical tool in neolithic industries is the ground and polished celt. (See FLINTS.) The development of this tool in the western area is different from that in the northern area ; the stumpy massive basal type becomes finer, longer and flatter and develops into an almost chisel-like tool. Another type of tool common in these industries is the so-called neolithic pick which consists essentially of a roughly chipped bar of flint or other material, blunted at one end and having a sharp cutting edge at the other. It varies considerably in length. A smaller variety, much more neatly made and sometimes ending in a rounded rather than a sharp working edge, is known as a fabricator. Awls also occur, as well as beautifully chipped flint arrow heads, but these latter only develop at the very end of neolithic times and during the earliest metal age. The pottery of the western area is largely made from coarse material and is but roughly decorated. Various types of pots, including cups, spoon-like objects and so on, have been found.
A number of special industries have been found in the lake dwellings of Switzerland and northern Italy. In the first place these areas seem to have been occupied by folk from the eastern area. Later, however, there was a change of climate; the lakes rose and the early villages were submerged. Then the level of the lakes again sank and the area was repopulated, but it is now rather to the West than to the East that we must look for the revival of the lake dwelling culture. Small, very beautifully made polished celts are found, often fashioned from a carefully selected green stone, and these were often hafted into antler sleeves. Bone awls, needles and harpoons were made. They are often well made but somewhat larger and quite different in appearance from their palaeolithic precursors. The pottery, too, is good and shows various characteristic forms and decorations. At the end of ne olithic times quite a commerce in a special fine, honey-coloured flint found in France at Grand Pressigny grew up. Tools made from this material are found in Switzerland, as well as in Belgium and elsewhere.
The Northern Area.—In the northern area the development is not quite the same as in the western area and there seems to have been an admixture of peoples, a theory which is confirmed by the occurrence of several different types of skeletons. The basal stock was probably also mesolithic and it may be assumed that it was connected with that of the Kitchen Midden folk. The second influence was of a totally new people who introduced a characteristic type of stone tool, bored for hafting and known as the Battle Axe. Their dead were buried singly in flat graves, not several together in megalithic tombs. These single graves first appear in Jutland in early neolithic times. Some authorities con sider that this culture developed around the shores of the Baltic, others that it arrived as an invasion, having been evolved originally in southern Russia. However this may be, the Battle Axe folk proved themselves to be the dominant strain and later, when the climate became dryer and the forests dwindled, we find large areas of the northern part of central Europe, hitherto scarcely inhabited, occupied by these people of the northern area.
The industries of the northern area comprise the celt, chisel, gouge, battle axe, etc., and the pottery both in form and decora tion is more varied and better made than it was in the western area. The characteristic feature of the decoration consists of a series of close deep zigzags running round the body of the vessel, quite different from the shallower poorly engraved lines of the western area decorations. Scandinavian authorities have shown that the dolmen preceded the passage-grave which, in turn, ap peared before the stone-kist. If we consider the evolution of the stone celt in the northern area (see FLINTS), the evolutionary series of this family will be found to agree with this determination, the final development being only found in the stone-kist, an earlier form in the passage-grave, and the first development from the original type in the simple dolmen. It is thus possible to divide the neolithic period of the northern area into three periods.
The neolithic civilization continued far longer in these north ern regions than it did elsewhere, especially where natural copper was easily obtainable. In such areas the pure neolithic civilization was of short duration and it is probable, for example, that in south Spain copper was in use throughout most of the period contem porary with neolithic times farther north.
Owing to its geographical situation the problems connected with the neolithic civilization in England are not always easy to unravel. The country was undoubtedly influenced both from the northern and western areas. This can be shown from a study of the pottery, which falls readily into two groups. The distribution of one of these groups covers all the north of England and stretches down as far as Dorset, while the distribution of the other is centred farther south and only extends as far north as Yorkshire. All three kinds of megalithic tomb occur; the passage-grave is usually covered by an oval or pear-shaped tumulus (long barrow), that covering the later stone-kist (which in England already belonged to the bronze age) being circular (round barrow). The industries are rich but vary considerably in different parts of the country and it is not always easy to assign them with certainty to a purely neolithic culture; thus the surface finds in East Anglia, which in clude arrow heads, awls, chisels etc., belong in part, at any rate, to the culture of the "Beaker" folk who reached East Anglia at the end of neolithic times, probably bringing with them the knowl edge and practice of copper working together with characteris tically shaped and decorated pottery vessels called "bell beakers." On the surface of the downs in southern England, however, rough flint implements seem to have been in use until comparatively recent times, and Kipling's story of the stone worker going down into the woods to get the metal knife is by no means too fanciful. That flint was in use for certain purposes in the bronze age and even in the iron age is attested by the fact that flint implements are found in villages and settlements belonging to these periods.
With the change of climate at the end of neolithic times and the setting in of warm dry conditions it became possible to cross the Alps by way of the Brenner pass. The first people who seem to have penetrated by this route into northern Europe were the "Beaker" folk. From the cradle of their culture in south Spain they passed into Italy and thence into northern Europe, whence, turning westwards, they eventually arrived in England via the Rhine valley. Another branch of the same people reached Brit tany, but there seems to have been no connection between that country and England as the types of pottery developed in the two areas are dissimilar. The "Beaker" folk introduced the use of cop per to the northern peoples, but very soon afterwards the manu facture of bronze was evolved and a close contact with the more developed peoples of the Mediterranean was assured by the growth in the north of an export trade in metal ores, especially in tin from Bohemia.
See J. M. Tyler, The New Stone Age in Northern Europe (1921) ; H. Reiuerth, Chronologie der Tungeren Steinzeit in Siiddeutschland (Augsburg, 5923) ; V. G. Childe, The Dawn of European Civilization (1925) ; M. C. Burkitt, Our Early Ancestors (1926) ; and the Cam bridge Ancient History, vol. i. (M. C. B.)