Page:Early Man in Britain and His Place in the Tertiary Period.djvu/334

306 represented on a slab in the neighbouring tomb of Manné-er-h'Rock. The peculiar upward curvature of the handle in these figures is precisely of the same kind as that presented by the wooden handle of the axe obtained by Mr. R. D. Darbishire from Ehenside Tarn, Cumberland. These engravings prove that the implement, which is to us a symbol of the Neolithic civilisation, was highly prized by its owners. It alone has been drawn sufficiently well to be recognised by modern anthropologists.

The origin of the domestic animals, as well as of the cereals, proves that the Neolithic peoples migrated into Europe from the south-east, from the mysterious birthplace of successive races, the Eden of mankind. Central Asia. They probably came by the same routes as those pursued by subsequent migrations, one branch going by way of Asia Minor and Greece, and passing through Italy into Spain; and another traversing the region of the Don and the Volga and the great plains of the Danube, and thence, undeterred by any natural obstacle, penetrating to the borders of the ocean. They must have occupied the Continent for a long period before their arrival in this country, and Britain must have been colonised long before Ireland, since the barrier of sea, which kept the Romans out of the latter island,