Page:Early Man in Britain and His Place in the Tertiary Period.djvu/369

] name Iberia (= Georgia), in the same manner as the Gauls have left their name in Galatia, or modern Anatolia, south of the Aladag mountains. After a lapse of time sufficient to allow the non-Aryan Neolithic civilisation to penetrate into every part of the Continent, the Celtic Aryans poured in, and made themselves masters of a large part of Gaul and Spain in the Neolithic age. It may be inferred from the geographical position of Germany, as well as from the distribution of the human skulls, and the evidence of history, that it also was held by these two races of men. The Iberic peoples were probably driven from the regions east of the Rhine by the Celts, and they in their turn by the Belgæ, just as within the Historic period the Belgæ were pushed farther to the west by the Germans, who in their turn were compelled to leave their ancient homes to be occupied by Sclaves. Thus we have evidence of two distinct races in Neolithic Europe, the older, or non-Aryan, and the newer, or the Aryan. There is no reason to believe that the Iberic tribes derived their culture from, or were related in blood to, their predecessors the Cave-men. The progress of civilisation in Europe has been continuous from the Neolithic age down to the present time, and in that remote age the history of the nations of the west finds its proper starting-point.