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246 people, who first invaded Britain. They were in the early stage of Neolithic culture, manufactured pottery which was occasionally deposited in graves, possessed some knowledge of agriculture and the art of rearing domestic animals, and disposed of their dead by inhumation in megalithic chambers. These invaders hailed from some part of the European continent, possibly the Iberian Peninsula, and entered Britain by way of Kent, and spread westwards to Somerset, Wilts, Gloucester, etc., ultimately reaching North Britain and Ireland. They found the island already inhabited by the descendants of its former Palæolithic inhabitants, but in sadly reduced circumstances. As already mentioned, they were the people, whose stray skulls have been occasionally met with and recorded by Huxley and Keith under the name of "river-bed" type. It would appear that both they and the invaders consorted together and lived on friendly terms till the invasion of Britain by the brachycephali, who thus added another racial element to the already mixed population of the island.

Of the pottery manufactured by the Neolithic people of Britain, prior to the advent of the Bronze Age civilization, we know very little owing to the scantiness of its remains. From the few specimens that have been found in graves, the vessels seem to have round bottoms, slightly bulging bodies, and wide mouths, with little ornamentation