The preceding chapters have been devoted to the Age of Bronze. We must now pass on to still earlier times and ruder races of men; to a period which, for obvious reasons, is called by archæologists the Stone Age.^[1]

The Stone Age, however, falls naturally, as has been already stated, into two great divisions:

First, that of the Drift, which I have proposed to call the Palæolithic Period.

Secondly, the later Stone Age, for which I have suggested the term Neolithic, and in which the stone implements are more skilfully made, more varied in form, and often polished. We will now consider this later period, reserving the earlier for a subsequent chapter.

The immense number of stone implements which occur, in all parts of the world, is sufficient evidence of the important part they played in ancient times. M. Herbst has favoured me with the following list of the numbers contained in the Copenhagen Museum:—