Page:Prehistoric Britain.djvu/15



As the word "prehistoric" has no limitation in the past history of the country, it logically follows that a treatise on "Prehistoric Britain" would have an equally wide range; but by a judicious discretion we limit the scope of this book to the period during which man was an inhabitant of Western Europe, prior to the invention of written records. But the Britain of that early period differed widely from the Britain of to-day both in climate and geographical area, and to some extent in its flora and fauna. Consequently our first duty is to describe with as much precision as modern researches will admit of, but very briefly, the physical conditions which obtained in prehistoric Britain when it comes within the above-defined scope of the present work. From this standpoint we have practically to discuss the entire field of the development of human civilization, as disclosed by the remains of Palæolithic and Neolithic races, both of which,