Page:Cornwall; Cambridge county geographies.djvu/123

 ANTIQUITIES 107 metal was introduced by the conquering Celts, of whom there existed two branches, one called Brythonic, of which were the Britons, now represented by the Welsh, the Cornish, the Cumbrians, and the Bretons of Brittany ; the other called Goidelic, and now represented by the Irish, the natives of the Isle of Man, and the Scots. The Celts with their iron weapons speedily overcame and enslaved the earlier race, usually called Ivernian. The latter was dusky and dark haired, but the Celt probably had yellow or red hair, blue or grey eyes, and a fair complexion. No satisfactory evidence has been produced that Palaeo- lithic man occupied Cornwall, but the traces of Neolithic man at the stage when he became acquainted with the use of bronze are abundant. By him were erected the rude stone monuments that are scattered over the county, and he had his favourite sites for trimming flints into scrapers and arrow-heads. One of the most notable of these was the shore of Dozmare Pool. Of the rude stone monuments the dolmen or crom- lech is sepulchral, the dolmen when large having been a tribal or family mausoleum, and the kistvaen, which is far smaller, contained the bones of one individual alone. The dolmen is composed of three or more upright stones sustaining one or more coverers, and was often buried under a cairn. The finest in Cornwall are Zennor and Lanyon Quoits, the Trethevy Stone, and Chun Quoit. Stone circles are numerous. Their purpose has not been determined, but on Dartmoor, where they have been examined, they exhibit a floor strewn with charcoal. They have, moreover, usually numerous cairns or barrows