Ancient Man in Britain

by Donald A. Mackenzie

Among the archæological finds, which prove that the Easterners settled in Iberia before bronze working was introduced among the natives, are idol-like objects made of hippopotamus ivory from Egypt, a shell (Dentalium elephantum) from the Red Sea, objects made from ostrich eggs which must have been carried to Spain from Africa, alabaster perfume flasks, cups of marble and alabaster of Egyptian character which had been shaped with copper implements, Oriental painted vases with decorations in red, black, blue, and green,[71] mural paintings on layers of plaster, feminine statuettes in alabaster which Siret considers to be of Babylonian type, for they differ from Ægean and Egyptian statuettes, a cult object (found in graves) resembling the Egyptian ded amulet, &c. The Iberian burial places of these Eastern colonists have arched cupolas and entrance corridors of Egyptian-Mycenæan character.

Of special interest are the beautifully worked flints associated with these Eastern remains in Spain and Portugal. Siret draws attention to the fact that no trace has been found of "flint factories". This particular flint industry was an entirely new one. It was not a development of earlier flint-working in Iberia. Apparently the new industry, which suddenly appears in full perfection, was introduced by the Eastern colonists. It afterwards spread over the whole maritime west, including Scandinavia where the metal implements of more advanced countries were imitated in flint. This important fact emphasizes the need for caution in making use of such a term as "Neolithic Age". Siret's view in this connection is that the Easterners, who established trading colonies in Spain and elsewhere, prevented the local use of metals which they had come to search for and export. It was part of their policy to keep the natives in ignorance of the uses to which metals could be put.

Evidence has been forthcoming that the operations of the Eastern colonies in Spain and Portugal were extended towards the maritime north. Associated with the Oriential relics already referred to, Siret has discovered amber from the Baltic, jet from Britain (apparently from Whitby in Yorkshire) and the green-stone called "callais" usually found in beds of tin. The Eastern seafarers must have visited Northern Europe to exploit its virgin riches. A green-stone axe was found, as has been stated, near the boat with the cork plug, which lay embedded in Clyde silt at Glasgow. Artifacts of callais have been discovered in Brittany, in the south of France, in Portugal, and in south-eastern Spain. In the latter area, as Siret has proved, the Easterners worked silver-bearing lead and copper.

The colonists appear to have likewise searched for and found gold. A diadem of gold was discovered in a necropolis in the south of Spain, where some eminent ancient had been interred. This find is, however, an exception. Precious metals do not as a rule appear in the graves of the period under consideration.

As has been suggested, the Easterners who exploited the wealth of ancient Iberia kept the natives in ignorance. "This ignorance", Siret says, "was the guarantee of the prosperity of the commerce carried on by the strangers.... The first action of the East on the West was the exploitation for its exclusive and personal profit of the virgin riches of the latter." These early Westerners had no idea of the use and value of the metals lying on the surface of their native land, while the Orientals valued them, were in need of them, and were anxious to obtain them. As Siret puts it:

"The West was a cow to be milked, a sheep to be fleeced, a field to be cultivated, a mine to be exploited."

In the traditions preserved by classical writers, there are references to the skill and cunning of the Phœnicians in commerce, and in the exploitation of colonies founded among the ignorant Iberians. They did not inform rival traders where they found metals. "Formerly", as Strabo says, "the Phœnicians monopolized the trade from Gades (Cadiz) with the islanders (of the Cassiterides); and they kept the route a close secret." A vague ancient tradition is preserved by Pliny, who tells that "tin was first fetched from Cassiteris (the tin island) by Midacritus".[72] We owe it to the secretive Phœnicians that the problem of the Cassiterides still remains a difficult one to solve.

To keep the native people ignorant the Easterners, Siret believes, forbade the use of metals in their own colonies. A direct result of this policy was the great development which took place in the manufacture of the beautiful flint implements already referred to. These the natives imitated, never dreaming that they were imitating some forms that had been developed by a people who used copper in their own country. When, therefore, we pick up beautiful Neolithic flints, we cannot be too sure that the skill displayed belongs entirely to the "Stone Age", or that the flints "evolved" from earlier native forms in those areas in which they are found.

The Easterners do not appear to have extracted the metals from their ores either in Iberia or in Northern Europe. Tin-stone and silver-bearing lead were used for ballast for their ships, and they made anchors of lead. Gold washed from river beds could be easily packed in small bulk. A people who lived by hunting and fishing were not likely to be greatly interested in the laborious process of gold-washing. Nor were they likely to attach to gold a magical and religious value as did the ancient Egyptians and Sumerians.

So far as can be gathered from the Iberian evidence, the period of exploitation by the colonists from the East was a somewhat prolonged one. How many centuries it covered we can only guess. It is of interest to find, in this connection, however, that something was known in Mesopotamia before 2000 b.c. regarding the natural riches of Western Europe. Tablets have recently been found on the site of Asshur, the ancient capital of Assyria, which was originally a Sumerian settlement. These make reference to the Empire of Sargon of Akkad (c. 2600 b.c.), which, according to tradition, extended from the Persian Gulf to the Syrian coast. Sargon was a great conqueror. "He poured out his glory over the world", declares a tablet found a good many years ago. It was believed, too, that Sargon embarked on the Mediterranean and occupied Cyprus. The fresh evidence from the site of Asshur is to the effect that he conquered Kaptara (?Crete) and "the Tin Land beyond the Upper Sea" (the Mediterranean). The explanation may be that he obtained control of the markets to which the Easterners carried from Spain and the coasts of Northern Europe the ores, pearls, &c., they had searched for and found. It may be, therefore, that Britain was visited by Easterners even before Sargon's time, and that the Glasgow boat with the plug of cork was manned by dark Orientals who were prospecting the Scottish coast before the last land movement had ceased—that is, some time after 3000 b.c.