Prehistoric Man.
Dr. Johnson was not in advance of his time in anthropological matters. While he was gibing at Lord Monboddo for his belief in man’s simian affinities, he was also making a pronouncement on the subject of prehistoric archæology that later discoveries were soon to disprove. Up to his time history was content to start from the earliest written documents, supplemented, now and then, by the evidence of coins and inscriptions; and Dr. Johnson summed up contemporary opinion in his statement, “All that is really known of the ancient state of Britain is contained in a few pages. We can know no more than what old writers have told us.”
But it was not long before it was recognised that there was other evidence besides that of the “old writers,” evidence the nature of which has been well described by Sir W. R. Wilde:—
We possess what cannot be falsified by the scribe, and, although styled prehistoric, they are far more truthfully historical than the writing that no doubt was largely interfered with, and which, if old, now requires a gloss to interpret it. The grassy mound or circle, the stones erected into a cromleach, the great sepulchral mound, the cinerary urn, the stone weapon or tool, the grain-rubber for triturating cereal food, the harpoon for spearing fish, the copper and bronze tools and weapons, and the gold ornaments of the most early tribes—all are now, in their way, far more truthful than anything that could have been committed to writing, even if there were letters in that day. They are litanies in stone, dogmata in metal, and sermons preaching from the grassy mound.[[85]]
[85]. Brit. Ass., Belfast, 1874.
Much of this evidence already existed, but even when rightly interpreted it was for a long time ignored and scoffed at. It has been noted in the life-history of a scientific truth, “People first say, ‘It is not true,’ then that ‘It is contrary to religion,’ and lastly that ‘Everybody knew it before.’” The first attitude of incredulity was to a great extent justified by the doubtful character of the earlier finds, many of which later investigation has had to reject or to hold in suspense as “not proven.” The second stage was more serious, and for a long time the new science was hampered by the accusation of irreligion. But “Anthropology,” as Huxley pointed out, “has nothing to do with the truth or falsehood of religion.” “Je suis naturaliste,” said Abbé Bourgeois, “je ne fais pas de théologie.”
Gradually the accumulated evidence became too insistent to be ignored. The work of various archæologists in Denmark, the explorations of caves and lake dwellings in Britain and on the Continent, and the patient labours of Boucher de Perthes in the Somme Valley, all gave proof of the existence of prehistoric man, and the science of prehistoric archæology was established.
Flint Implements.
Long before this time, as far back as the sixteenth century, flint implements had been discovered in various parts, and proved as great a puzzle as the fossils which perplexed and tried the faith of the earlier geologists.
The uncultured folk of Europe recognised that the chipped arrow-heads which occasionally occur on the surface of the ground were the implements of an alien people, as the names “elf darts” and “fairy darts” imply. The country folk in the more backward districts believe that fairies still exist; but better informed intelligent people believe they are purely mythological, while students are aware that these arrow-heads were the implements of earlier populations, who are classed in folk-memory under the generic term of “fairies.”