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Title: Ancient Man in Britain
Author: Mackenzie, Donald A. (Donald Alexander), 1873-1936
Language: English
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ANCIENT MAN IN BRITAIN
[Illustration:
Copyright, 1915, by Charles Scribner's Sons
HEAD OF A CRÔ-MAGNON MAN
permission from _Men of the Old Stone Age_ by Henry Fairfield
Osborn.]
ANCIENT MAN IN BRITAIN
by
DONALD A. MACKENZIE
Author of "Egyptian Myth and Legend"
"Myths of Crete and Pre-Hellenic Europe" "Colour Symbolism" &c.
With Foreword by G. Elliot Smith, F.R.S.
Blackie And Son Limited
50 Old Bailey, London; Glasgow, Bombay
Printed in Great Britain
1922
FOREWORD
In his Presidential Address to the Royal Anthropological Institute
this year the late Dr. Rivers put his finger upon the most urgent
need for reform in the study of Man, when he appealed for "the Unity
of Anthropology". No true conception of the nature and the early
history of the human family can be acquired by investigations,
however carefully they may be done, of one class of evidence only.
The physical characters of a series of skulls can give no reliable
information unless their exact provenance and relative age are known.
But the interpretation of the meaning of these characters cannot be
made unless we know something of the movements of the people and the
distinctive peculiarities of the inhabitants of the foreign lands
from which they may have come. No less important than the study of
their physical structure is the cultural history of peoples. The
real spirit of a population is revealed by its social and industrial
achievements, and by its customs and beliefs, rather than by the
shape of the heads and members of its units. The revival of the
belief in the widespread diffusion of culture in early times has,
as one of its many important effects, directed attention to the
physical peculiarities of the mixed populations of important foci
of civilization throughout the world. Such inquiries have not only
enabled the student of human structure to detect racial affinities
where he might otherwise have neglected to look for them, but on the
other hand they have been able to give the investigator of cultural
diffusion evidence of the most definite and irrefutable kind in
corroboration of the reality of his inferences.
At the present time students are just awakening to the fact that no
adequate idea of the anthropology of any area can be acquired unless
every kind of evidence, somatic and cultural, be taken into account,
and the problems of the particular locality are integrated with those
worldwide movements of men and of civilization of which the people
and culture of that locality form a part.
The great merit of Mr. Donald Mackenzie's book is due in the main
to the fact that he has taken this wider vision of his subject and
interpreted the history of early man in Britain, not simply by
describing the varieties of head-form or of implements, customs and
beliefs, but rather by indicating how these different categories of
information can be put into their appropriate setting in the history
of mankind as a whole. There is nothing of technical pedantry about
Mr. Mackenzie's writing. He has made himself thoroughly familiar with
the customs and beliefs of the whole world, as his remarkable series
of books on mythology has revealed, and in the process of acquiring
this mass of information he has not sacrificed his common sense and
powers of judgment. He has been able to see clearly through this
amazing jumble of confusing statements the way in which every phase
of civilization in all parts of the world is closely correlated with
the rest; and he has given luminous expression to this clear vision
of the history of man and civilization as it affects Britain.
G. ELLIOT SMITH.
The University of London.
PREFACE
This volume deals with the history of man in Britain from the
Ice Age till the Roman period. The evidence is gleaned from the
various sciences which are usually studied apart, including
geology, archæology, philology, ethnology or anthropology, &c.,
and the writer has set himself to tell the story of Ancient Man
in a manner which will interest a wider circle of readers than
is usually reached by purely technical books. It has not been
assumed that the representatives of Modern Man who first settled
in Europe were simple-minded savages. The evidence afforded by the
craftsmanship, the burial customs, and the art of the Crô-Magnon
races, those contemporaries of the reindeer and the hairy mammoth
in South-western France, suggests that they had been influenced by
a centre of civilization in which considerable progress had already
been achieved. There is absolutely no evidence that the pioneers were
lacking in intelligence or foresight. If we are to judge merely by
their skeletons and the shapes and sizes of their skulls, it would
appear that they were, if anything, both physically and mentally
superior to the average present-day inhabitants of Europe. Nor were
they entirely isolated from the ancient culture area by which they
had been originally influenced. As is shown, the evidence afforded by
an Indian Ocean sea-shell, found in a Crô-Magnon burial cavern near
Mentone, indicates that much has yet to be discovered regarding the
activities of the early people.
In writing the history of Ancient Man in Britain, it has been found
necessary to investigate the Continental evidence. When our early
ancestors came from somewhere, they brought something with them,
including habits of life and habits of thought. The story unfolded
by British finds is but a part of a larger story; and if this larger
story is to be reconstructed, our investigations must extend even
beyond the continent of Europe. The data afforded by the "Red Man of
Paviland", who was buried with Crô-Magnon rites in a Welsh cave, not
only emphasize that Continental and North African cultural influences
reached Britain when the ice-cap was retreating in Northern Europe,
but that from its very beginnings the history of our civilization
cannot be considered apart from that of the early civilization of
the world as a whole. The writer, however, has not assumed in this
connection that in all parts of the world man had of necessity to
pass through the same series of evolutionary stages of progress,
and that the beliefs, customs, crafts, arts, &c., of like character
found in different parts of the world were everywhere of spontaneous
generation. There were inventors and discoverers and explorers in
ancient times as there are at present, and many new contrivances
were passed on from people to people. The man who, for instance,
first discovered how to "make fire" by friction of fire-sticks was
undoubtedly a great scientist and a benefactor of his kind. It is
shown that shipbuilding had a definite area of origin.
The "Red Man of Paviland" also reveals to us minds pre-occupied with
the problems of life and death. It is evident that the corpse of the
early explorer was smeared with red earth and decorated with charms
for very definite reasons. That the people who thus interred their
dead with ceremony were less intelligent than the Ancient Egyptians
who adopted the custom of mummification, or the Homeric heroes who
practised cremation, we have no justification for assuming.
At the very dawn of British history, which begins when the earliest
representatives of Modern Man reached our native land, the influences
of cultures which had origin in distant areas of human activity came
drifting northward to leave an impress which does not appear to be
yet wholly obliterated. We are the heirs of the Ages in a profounder
sense than has hitherto been supposed.
Considered from this point of view, the orthodox scheme of
Archæological Ages, which is of comparatively recent origin, leaves
much to be desired. If anthropological data have insisted upon one
thing more than another, it is that modes of thought, which govern
action, were less affected by a change of material from which
artifacts (articles made by man) were manufactured than they were by
religious ideas and by new means for obtaining the necessary food
supply. A profounder change was effected in the habits of early man
in Britain by the introduction of the agricultural mode of life,
and the beliefs, social customs, &c., connected with it, than could
possibly have been effected by the introduction of edged implements
of stone, bone, or metal.
As a substitute for the Archæological Ages, the writer suggests
in this volume a new system, based on habits of life, which may
be found useful for historical purposes. In this system the terms
"Palæolithic", "Neolithic", &c., are confined to industries.
"Neolithic man", "Bronze Age man", "Iron Age man", and other terms of
like character may be favoured by some archæologists, but they mean
little or nothing to most anatomists, who detect different racial
types in a single "Age". A history of ancient man cannot ignore one
set of scientists to pleasure another.
Several chapters are devoted to the religious beliefs and customs of
our ancestors, and it is shown that there is available for study in
this connection a mass of evidence which the archæological agnostics
are too prone to ignore. The problem of the megalithic monuments must
evidently be reconsidered in the light of the fuller anthropological
data now available. Indeed, it would appear that a firmer basis than
that afforded by "crude evolutionary ideas" must be found for British
archæology as a whole. The evidence of surviving beliefs and customs,
of Celtic philology and literature, of early Christian writings, and
of recent discoveries in Spain, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, cannot, to
say the least of it, be wholly ignored.
In dealing with the race problem, the writer has sifted the available
data which throw light on its connection with the history of British
culture, and has written as he has written in the hope that the
growth of fuller knowledge on the subject will be accompanied by the
growth of a deeper sympathy and a deeper sense of kinship than has
hitherto prevailed in these islands of ours, which were colonized
from time to time by groups of enterprising pioneers, who have left
an enduring impress on the national character. The time is past for
beginning a history of Britain with the Roman invasion, and for the
too-oft-repeated assertion that before the Romans reached Britain our
ancestors were isolated and half civilized.
DONALD A. MACKENZIE.
CONTENTS
CHAP. Page
I. BRITONS OF THE STONE AGE 1
II. EARLIEST TRACES OF MODERN MAN 8
III. THE AGE OF THE "RED MAN" OF WALES 19
IV. SHELL DEITIES AND EARLY TRADE 35
V. NEW RACES IN EUROPE 49
VI. THE FAITHFUL DOG 61
VII. ANCIENT MARINERS REACH BRITAIN 67
VIII. NEOLITHIC TRADE AND INDUSTRIES 79
IX. METAL WORKERS AND MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS 87
X. CELTS AND IBERIANS AS INTRUDERS AND TRADERS 109
XI. RACES OF BRITAIN AND IRELAND 121
XII. DRUIDISM IN BRITAIN AND GAUL 140
XIII. THE LORE OF CHARMS 157
XIV. THE WORLD OF OUR ANCESTORS 167
XV. WHY TREES AND WELLS WERE WORSHIPPED 176
XVI. ANCIENT PAGAN DEITIES 195
XVII. HISTORICAL SUMMARY 209
INDEX 231
LIST OF PLATES
Page
HEAD OF A CRÔ-MAGNON MAN _Frontispiece_
EXAMPLES OF LOWER PALÆOLITHIC INDUSTRIES FOUND IN
ENGLAND 12
WESTERN EUROPE DURING THE THIRD INTER-GLACIAL EPOCH 16
EXAMPLES OF PALÆOLITHIC ART 56
FLINT LANCE HEADS FROM IRELAND 80
CHIPPED AND POLISHED ARTIFACTS FROM SOUTHERN ENGLAND 80
THE RING OF STENNIS, ORKNEY 96
MEGALITHS--KIT'S COTY HOUSE, KENT; TRETHEVY STONE,
CORNWALL 100
ENAMELLED BRONZE SHIELD 116
EUROPEAN TYPES 124
RUINS OF PICTISH TOWER AT CARLOWAY, LEWIS 128
A SCOTTISH "BROCH" (MOUSA, SHETLAND ISLES) 132
A SARDINIAN NURAGHE 136
MEGALITHS--DOLMEN, NEAR BIRORI, SARDINIA; TYNEWYDD
DOLMEN 160
ONE OF THE GREAT TRILITHONS, STONEHENGE 172
BRONZE URN AND CAULDRON 204
BRONZE BUCKLERS OR SHIELDS 224
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Page
CHELLEAN _COUP DE POING_ OR "HAND AXE" 14
UPPER PALÆOLITHIC IMPLEMENTS 21
SKULL OF A CRÔ-MAGNON MAN: FRONT AND SIDE VIEWS 24
OUTLINE OF A MAMMOTH 33
NECKLACE OF SEA SHELLS 39
GEOMETRIC OR "PYGMY" FLINTS 54
A NOTABLE EXAMPLE OF LATE MAGDALENIAN CULTURE 58
HORN AND BONE IMPLEMENTS 59
SKETCH OF A BOAT, AND CRUDE DRAWING OF A SIMILAR BOAT 75
MAP OF ENGLAND & WALES 82
LONG-HEAD (DOLICHOCEPHALIC) SKULL 88
BROAD-HEAD (BRACHYCEPHALIC) SKULL 88
BEADS FROM BRONZE AGE BARROWS 105
WEAPONS AND RELIGIOUS OBJECTS 114
CULT ANIMALS AND "WONDER BEASTS" 154
DIAGRAM OF THE GAELIC AIRTS 169
SEAL OF CITY OF GLASGOW 185
ANCIENT MAN IN BRITAIN
CHAPTER I
Britons of the Stone Age
Caricatures of Early Britons--Enterprising Pioneers--Diseases
and Folk-cures--Ancient Surgical Operations--Expert
Artisans--Organized Communities--Introduction of
Agriculture--Houses and Cooking Utensils--Spinning and
Weaving--Different Habits of Life--The Seafarers.
The Early Britons of the Stone Age have suffered much at the hands
of modern artists, and especially the humorous artists. They
are invariably depicted as rude and irresponsible savages, with
semi-negroid features, who had perforce to endure our rigorous and
uncertain climate clad in loosely fitting skin garments, and to go
about, even in the depth of winter, barefooted and bareheaded, their
long tangled locks floating in the wind.
As a rule, the artists are found to have confused ideas regarding the
geological periods. Some place the white savages in the age when the
wonderful megalithic monuments were erected and civilization was well
advanced, while others consign them to the far-distant Cretaceous Age
in association with the monstrous reptiles that browsed on tropical
vegetation, being unaware, apparently, that the reptiles in question
ceased to exist before the appearance of the earliest mammals.
Not unfrequently the geological ages and the early stages of human
culture are hopelessly mixed up, and monsters that had been extinct
for several million years are shown crawling across circles that were
erected by men possessed of considerable engineering skill.
It is extremely doubtful if our remote ancestors of the Stone Age
were as savage or as backward as is generally supposed. They were, to
begin with, the colonists who made Britain a land fit for a strenuous
people to live in. We cannot deny them either courage or enterprise,
nor are we justified in assuming that they were devoid of the
knowledge and experience required to enable them to face the problems
of existence in their new environment. They came from somewhere, and
brought something with them; their modes of life did not have origin
in our native land.
Although the early people lived an open-air life, it is doubtful if
they were more physically fit than are the Britons of the twentieth
century. They were certainly not immune from the ravages of disease.
In their graves are found skeletons of babies, youths, and maidens,
as well as those of elderly men and women; some spines reveal
unmistakable evidence of the effects of rheumatism, and worn-down
teeth are not uncommon. It is possible that the diseases associated
with marshy localities and damp and cold weather were fairly
prevalent, and that there were occasional pestilences with heavy
death-rates. Epidemics of influenza and measles may have cleared
some areas for periods of their inhabitants, the survivors taking
flight, as did many Britons of the fifth century of our own era,
when the country was swept by what is referred to in a Welsh book[1]
as "the yellow plague", because "it made yellow and bloodless all
whom it attacked". At the same time recognition must be given to
the fact that the early people were not wholly ignorant of medical
science. There is evidence that some quite effective "folk cures"
are of great antiquity--that the "medicine-men" and sorcerers of
Ancient Britain had discovered how to treat certain diseases by
prescribing decoctions in which herbs and berries utilized in modern
medical science were important ingredients. More direct evidence is
available regarding surgical knowledge and skill. On the Continent
and in England have been found skulls on which the operation known
as trepanning--the removing of a circular piece of skull so as to
relieve the brain from pressure or irritation--was successfully
performed, as is shown by the fact that severed bones had healed
during life. The accomplished primitive surgeons had used flint
instruments, which were less liable than those of metal to carry
infection into a wound. One cannot help expressing astonishment that
such an operation should have been possible--that an ancient man who
had sustained a skull injury in a battle, or by accident, should
have been again restored to sanity and health. Sprains and ordinary
fractures were doubtless treated with like skill and success. In
some of the incantations and charms collected by folk-lorists are
lines which suggest that the early medicine-men were more than
mere magicians. One, for instance, dealing with the treatment of a
fracture, states:
"He put marrow to marrow; he put pith to pith; he put bone to
bone; he put membrane to membrane; he put tendon to tendon; he
put blood to blood; he put tallow to tallow; he put flesh to
flesh; he put fat to fat; he put skin to skin; he put hair to
hair; he put warm to warm; he put cool to cool."
[1] _Book of Llan Daf._
"This," comments a medical man, "is quite a wonderful statement
of the aim of modern surgical 'co-aptation', and we can hardly
believe such an exact form of words imaginable without a very clear
comprehension of the natural necessity of correct and precise
setting."[2]
[2] Dr. Hugh Cameron Gillies in _Home Life of the Highlanders_,
Glasgow, 1911, pp. 85 _et seq._
The discovery that Stone Age man was capable of becoming a skilled
surgeon is sufficient in itself to make us revise our superficial
notions regarding him. A new interest is certainly imparted to
our examination of his flint instruments. Apparently these served
him in good stead, and it must be acknowledged that, after all, a
stone tool may, for some purposes, be quite as adequate as one of
metal. It certainly does not follow that the man who uses a sharper
instrument than did the early Briton is necessarily endowed with a
sharper intellect, or that his ability as an individual artisan is
greater. The Stone Age man displayed wonderful skill in chipping
flint--a most difficult operation--and he shaped and polished stone
axes with so marked a degree of mathematical precision that, when
laid on one side, they can be spun round on a centre of gravity. His
saws were small, but are still found to be quite serviceable for the
purposes they were constructed for, such as the cutting of arrow
shafts and bows, and the teeth are so minute and regular that it is
necessary for us to use a magnifying glass in order to appreciate the
workmanship. Some flint artifacts are comparable with the products of
modern opticians. The flint workers must have had wonderfully keen
and accurate eyesight to have produced, for instance, little "saws"
with twenty-seven teeth to the inch, found even in the north of
Scotland. In Ancient Egypt these "saws" were used as sickles.
Considerable groups of the Stone Age men of Britain had achieved a
remarkable degree of progress. They lived in organized communities,
and had evidently codes of laws and regularized habits of life. They
were not entirely dependent for their food supply on the fish they
caught and the animals they slew and snared. Patches of ground were
tilled, and root and cereal crops cultivated with success. Corn was
ground in handmills;[3] the women baked cakes of barley and wheat
and rye. A rough but serviceable pottery was manufactured and used
for cooking food, for storing grain, nuts, and berries, and for
carrying water. Houses were constructed of wattles interwoven between
wooden beams and plastered over with clay, and of turf and stones;
these were no doubt thatched with heather, straw, or reeds. Only a
small proportion of the inhabitants of Ancient Britain could have
dwelt in caves, for the simple reason that caves were not numerous.
Underground dwellings, not unlike the "dug-outs" made during the
recent war, were constructed as stores for food and as winter
retreats.
[3] A pestle or stone was used to pound grain in hollowed slabs
or rocks before the mechanical mill was invented.
As flax was cultivated, there can be little doubt that comfortable
under-garments were worn, if not by all, at any rate by some of
the Stone Age people. Wool was also utilized, and fragments of
cloth have been found on certain prehistoric sites, as well as
spindle-whorls of stone, bone, and clay, wooden spindles shaped so
as to serve their purpose without the aid of whorls, bone needles,
and crochet or knitting-pins. Those who have assumed that the
Early Britons were attired in skin garments alone, overlook the
possibility that a people who could sew, spin, and weave, might also
have been skilled in knitting, and that the jersey and jumper may
have a respectable antiquity. The art of knitting is closely related
to that of basket-making, and some would have it that many of the
earliest potters plastered their clay inside baskets of reeds, and
that the decorations of the early pots were suggested by the markings
impressed by these. It is of interest to note in this connection
that some Roman wares were called _bascaudæ_, or "baskets", and
that the Welsh _basged_--_basg_, from which our word "basket" is
derived, signify "network" and "plaiting". The decoration of some
pots certainly suggests the imitation of wickerwork and knitting,
but there are symbols also, and these had, no doubt, a religious
significance.
It does not follow, of course, that all the Early Britons of the
so-called Stone Age were in the same stage of civilization, or
that they all pursued the same modes of life. There were then, as
there are now, backward as well as progressive communities and
individuals, and there were likewise representatives of different
races--tall and short, spare and stout, dark and fair men and women,
who had migrated at different periods from different areas of origin
and characterization. Some peoples clung to the sea-shore, and
lived mainly on deep-sea fish and shell-fish; others were forest
and moorland hunters, who never ventured to sea or cultivated
the soil. There is no evidence to indicate that conflicts took
place between different communities. It may be that in the winter
season the hunters occasionally raided the houses and barns of the
agriculturists. The fact, however, that weapons were not common
during the Stone Age cannot be overlooked in this connection. The
military profession had not come into existence.
Certain questions, however, arise in connection with even the most
backward of the Stone Age peoples. How did they reach Britain, and
what attracted them from the Continent? Man did not take to the sea
except under dire necessity, and it is certain that large numbers
could not possibly have crossed the English Channel on logs of wood.
The boatbuilder's craft and the science of navigation must have
advanced considerably before large migrations across the sea could
have taken place. When the agricultural mode of life was introduced,
the early people obtained the seeds of wheat and barley, and, as
these cultivated grasses do not grow wild in Britain, they must have
been introduced either by traders or settlers.
It is quite evident that the term "Stone Age" is inadequate in
so far as it applies to the habits of life pursued by the early
inhabitants of our native land. Nor is it even sufficient in dealing
with artifacts, for some people made more use of horn and bone than
of stone, and these were represented among the early settlers in
Britain.
CHAPTER II
Earliest Traces of Modern Man
The Culture Ages--Ancient Races--The Neanderthals--Crô-Magnon
Man--The Evolution Theory--Palæolithic Ages--The Transition
Period--Neanderthal Artifacts--Birth of Crô-Magnon
Art--Occupations of Flint-yielding Stations--Ravages of
Disease--Duration of Glacial and Inter-glacial Periods.
In 1865, Sir John Lubbock (afterwards Lord Avebury), writing in the
_Prehistoric Times_, suggested that the Stone Age artifacts found in
Western Europe should be classified into two main periods, to which
he applied the terms Palæolithic (Old Stone) and Neolithic (New
Stone). The foundations of the classification had previously been
laid by the French antiquaries M. Boucher de Perthes and Edouard
Lartet. It was intended that Palæolithic should refer to rough
stone implements, and Neolithic to those of the period when certain
artifacts were polished.
At the time very little was known regarding the early peoples who had
pursued the flint-chipping and polishing industries, and the science
of geology was in its infancy. A great controversy, which continued
for many years, was being waged in scientific circles regarding
the remains of a savage primitive people that had been brought to
light. Of these the most notable were a woman's skull found in 1848
in a quarry at Gibraltar, the Cannstadt skull, found in 1700, which
had long been lying in Stuttgart Museum undescribed and unstudied,
and portions of a male skeleton taken from a limestone cave in
Neanderthal, near Dusseldorf, in 1857. Some refused to believe that
these, and other similar remains subsequently discovered, were human
at all; others declared that the skulls were those of idiots or that
they had been distorted by disease. Professor Huxley contended that
evidence had been forthcoming to prove the existence in remote times
of a primitive race from which modern man had evolved.
It is unnecessary here to review the prolonged controversy. One of
its excellent results was the stimulation of research work. A number
of important finds have been made during the present century, which
have thrown a flood of light on the problem. In 1908 a skeleton was
discovered in a grotto near La Chapelle-aux-Saints in France, which
definitely established the fact that during the earlier or lower
period of the Palæolithic Age a Neanderthal race existed on the
Continent, and, as other remains testify, in England as well. This
race became extinct. Some hold that there are no living descendants
of Neanderthal man on our globe; others contend that some peoples, or
individuals, reveal Neanderthaloid traits. The natives of Australia
display certain characteristics of the extinct species, but they
are more closely related to Modern Man (_Homo sapiens_). There were
pre-Neanderthal peoples, including Piltdown man and Heidelberg man.
During the Palæolithic Age the ancestors of modern man appeared in
Western Europe. These are now known as the Crô-Magnon races.
In dealing with the Palæolithic Age, therefore, it has to be borne in
mind that the artifacts classified by the archæologists represent the
activities, not only of different races, but of representatives of
different species of humanity. Neanderthal man, who differed greatly
from Modern man, is described as follows by Professor Elliot Smith:
"His short, thick-set, and coarsely built body was carried in a
half-stooping slouch upon short, powerful, and half-flexed legs
of peculiarly ungraceful form. His thick neck sloped forward
from the broad shoulders to support the massive flattened head,
which protruded forward, so as to form an unbroken curve of
neck and back, in place of the alteration of curves, which
is one of the graces of the truly erect _Homo sapiens_. The
heavy overhanging eyebrow ridges, and retreating forehead,
the great coarse face, with its large eye-sockets, broad
nose, and receding chin, combined to complete the picture of
unattractiveness, which it is more probable than not was still
further emphasized by a shaggy covering of hair over most of
the body. The arms were relatively short, and the exceptionally
large hands lacked the delicacy and the nicely balanced
co-operation of thumb and fingers, which is regarded as one of
the most distinctive of human characteristics."[4]
[4] _Primitive Man._
As Professor Osborn says: "the structure of the hand is a matter
of the highest interest in connection with the implement-making
powers of the Neanderthals". He notes that in the large and robust
Neanderthal hand, "the joint of the metacarpal bone which supports
the thumb is of peculiar form, convex, and presenting a veritable
convex condyle, whereas in the existing human races the articular
surface of the upper part of the thumb joint is saddle-shaped, that
is concave from within backward, and convex from without inward". The
Neanderthal fingers were "relatively short and robust".[5]
[5] _Men of the Old Stone Age_ (1916), pp. 240-1.
The Crô-Magnons present a sharp contrast to the Neanderthals. In all
essential features they were of modern type. They would, dressed in
modern attire, pass through the streets of a modern city without
particular notice being taken of them. One branch of the Crô-Magnons
was particularly tall and handsome, with an average height for the
males of 6 feet 1-1/2 inches, with chests very broad in the upper
part, and remarkably long shin-bones that indicate swiftness of foot.
The Neanderthals had short shins and bent knees, and their gait must
have been slow and awkward. The Crô-Magnon hand was quite like that
of the most civilized men of to-day.
It is of importance to bring out these facts in connection with
the study of the development of early civilization in our native
land, because of the prevalence of the theory that in collections
of stone implements, dating from remote Palæolithic times till the
Neolithic Age, a complete and orderly series of evolutionary stages
can be traced. "As like needs", says one writer in this connection,
"produce like means of satisfaction, the contrivances with which men
in similar stages of progress overcome natural obstacles are in all
times very much the same."[6] Hugh Miller, the Cromarty stonemason
and geologist, was one of the first to urge this view. In 1835, he
wrote in his _Scenes and Legends_, (1st edition, pp. 31, 32):
"Man in a savage stage is the same animal everywhere, and his
constructive powers, whether employed in the formation of a
legendary story or of a battleaxe, seem to expatiate almost
everywhere in the same rugged track of invention. For even the
traditions of this first stage may be identified, like its
weapons of war, all the world over."[7]
[6] _British Museum--A Guide to the Antiquities of the Stone
Age_, p. 76 (1900).
[7] Miller had adopted the "stratification theory" of Professor
William Robertson of Edinburgh University, who, in his _The
History of America_ (1777), wrote: "Men in their savage state
pass their days like the animals round them, without knowledge or
veneration of any superior power".
He had written in this vein after seeing the collection of stone
weapons and implements in the Northern Institution at Inverness. "The
most practised eye", he commented, "can hardly distinguish between
the weapons of the Old Scot and the New Zealander." Eyes have become
more practised in dealing with flints since Miller's time. Andrew
Lang remembered his Miller when he wrote:
"Now just as the flint arrowheads are scattered everywhere, in
all the continents and isles--and everywhere are much alike,
and bear no very definite marks of the special influence of
race--so it is with the habits and legends investigated by the
student of folk-lore".[8]
[8] _Custom and Myth_ (1910 edition), p. 13. Lang's views
regarding flints are worthless.
The recent discovery that the early flints found in Western
Europe and in England were shaped by the Neanderthals and the
pre-Neanderthals compels a revision of this complacent view of an
extraordinarily difficult and complex problem. It is obvious that
the needs and constructive powers of the Neanderthals, whose big
clumsy hands lacked "the delicate play between the thumb and fingers
characteristic of modern races", could not have been the same as
those of the Crô-Magnons, and that the finely shaped implements of
the Crô-Magnons could not have been evolved from the rough implements
of the Neanderthals. The craftsmen of one race may, however, have
imitated, or attempted to imitate, the technique of those of another.
There was a distinct break in the continuity of culture during the
Palæolithic Age, caused by the arrival in Western Europe of the
ancestors of Modern Man. The advent of the Crô-Magnons in Europe
"represents on the cultural side", as Professor Elliot Smith says in
_Primitive Man_, "the most momentous event in its history".
[Illustration: Mousterian type
(from Suffolk)]
[Illustration: Acheulian type
(from Suffolk)]
[Illustration: Photos. Oxford University Press
Chellean type
(from the Thames gravel)]
[Illustration:
Photo. Mansell
EXAMPLES OF LOWER PALÆOLITHIC INDUSTRIES FOUND IN ENGLAND
(British Museum)]
Some urge that the term "Palæolithic" should now be discarded
altogether, but its use has become so firmly established that
archæologists are loth to dispense with it. The first period of
human culture has, however, had to be divided into "Lower" and
"Upper Palæolithic"--Lower closing with the disappearance of
the Neanderthals, and Upper beginning with the arrival of the
Crô-Magnons. These periods embrace the sub-divisions detected during
the latter half of last century by the French archæologists, and are
now classified as follows:
Lower Palæolithic--
1. Pre-Chellean.
2. Chellean (named after the town of Chelles, east of Paris).
3. Acheulian (named after St. Acheul in Somme valley).
4. Mousterian (named after the caves of Le Moustier in the
valley of the River Vézère).
Upper Palæolithic--
1. Aurignacian (named after Aurignac, Haute Garonne).
2. Solutrean (named after Solutré, Saône-et-Loire).
3. Magdalenian (named after La Madeleine in the valley of the
River Vézère).
Then follows, in France, the Azilian stage (named after Mas d'Azil,
a town at the foot of the Pyrenees) which is regarded as the link
between Upper Palæolithic and Neolithic. But in Western Europe,
including Britain, there were really three distinct cultures during
the so-called "Transition Period". These are the Azilian, the
Tardenoisian, and the Maglemosian. These cultures were associated
with the movements of new peoples in Europe.
The pre-Chellean flints (also called Eoliths) were wrought by the
pre-Neanderthals. Chellean probably represents the earliest work
in Europe of a pre-Neanderthal type like Piltdown man. The most
characteristic implement of this phase is the _coup de poing_
or pear-shaped "hand axe", which was at first roughly shaped and
unsymmetrical. It was greatly improved during the Acheulian stage,
and after being finely wrought in Mousterian times, when it was not
much used, was supplanted by smaller and better chipped implements.
The Neanderthals practised the Mousterian industry.
[Illustration: Chellean _Coup de Poing_ or "Hand Axe" Right-hand
view shows sinuous cutting edge.]
A profound change occurred when the Aurignacian stage of culture was
inaugurated by the intruding Crô-Magnons. Skilled workers chipped
flint in a new way, and, like the contemporary inhabitants of North
Africa, shaped artifacts from bone; they also used reindeer horn, and
the ivory tusks of mammoths. The birth of pictorial art took place in
Europe after the Crô-Magnons arrived.
It would appear that the remnants of the Neanderthals in the late
Mousterian stage of culture were stimulated by the arrival of the
Crô-Magnons to imitate new flint forms and adopt the new methods
of workmanship. There is no other evidence to indicate that the
Crô-Magnons came into contact with communities of the Neanderthals.
In these far-off days Europe was thinly peopled by hunters who
dwelt in caves. The climate was cold, and the hairy mammoth and
the reindeer browsed in the lowlands of France and Germany. Italy
was linked with Africa; the grass-lands of North Africa stretched
southward across the area now known as the Sahara desert, and dense
forests fringed the banks of the River Nile and extended eastward to
the Red Sea.
Neanderthal man had originally entered Europe when the climate was
much milder than it is in our own time. He crossed over from Africa
by the Italian land-bridge, and he found African fauna, including
species of the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, lion, and the
hyæna, jackal, and sabre-tooth tiger in Spain, France, Germany.
Thousands of years elapsed and the summers became shorter, and the
winters longer and more severe, until the northern fauna began to
migrate southward, and the African fauna deserted the plains and
decaying forests of Europe. Then followed the Fourth Glacial phase,
and when it was passing away the Neanderthals, who had long been in
the Mousterian phase of culture, saw bands of Crô-Magnons prospecting
and hunting in southern Europe. The new-comers had migrated from some
centre of culture in North Africa, and appear to have crossed over
the Italian land-bridge. It is unlikely that many, if any, entered
Europe from the east. At the time the Black Sea was more than twice
its present size, and glaciers still blocked the passes of Asia Minor.
A great contrast was presented by the two types of mankind. The
short, powerfully built, but slouching and slow-footed Neanderthals
were, in a conflict, no match for the tall, active, and swift-footed
Crô-Magnons, before whom they retreated, yielding up their
flint-working stations, and their caves and grottoes. It may be,
as some suggest, that fierce battles were fought, but there is no
evidence of warfare; it may be that the Neanderthals succumbed to
imported diseases, as did so many thousands of the inhabitants of
the Amazon Valley, when measles and other diseases were introduced
by the Spaniards. The fact remains that the Neanderthals died out
as completely as did the Tasmanians before the advance of British
settlers. We do not know whether or not they resisted, for a time,
the intrusion of strangers on their hunting-grounds. It may be that
the ravages of disease completed the tragic history of such relations
as they may have had with the ancestors of Modern Man.
At this point, before we deal with the arrival in Britain of
the representatives of the early races, it should be noted that
differences of opinion exist among scientists regarding the
geological horizons of the Palæolithic culture stages. In the
Pleistocene Age there appear to have been four great glacial epochs
and two minor ones. Geological opinion is, however, divided in this
connection.
[Illustration: WESTERN EUROPE DURING THE THIRD INTER-GLACIAL EPOCH
(According to the Abbé Breuil the Strait of Gibraltar was open
and the Balearic group a great island.)]
During the First Glacial epoch the musk-ox, now found in the Arctic
regions, migrated as far south as Sussex. The Pliocene[9] mammals
were not, however, completely exterminated; many of them survived
until the First Interglacial epoch, which lasted for about 75,000
years--that is three times longer than the First Glacial epoch. The
Second Glacial epoch is believed to have extended over 25,000 years.
It brought to the southern shores of the Baltic Sea the reindeer
and the hairy mammoth. Then came the prolonged Second Interglacial
stage which prevailed for about 200,000 years. The climate of Europe
underwent a change until it grew warmer than it is at the present
day, and trees, not now found farther north than the Canary Islands,
flourished in the forests of southern France. The Third Glacial stage
gradually came on, grew in intensity, and then declined during a
period estimated at about 25,000 years. It was followed by the Third
Interglacial epoch which may have extended over at least 100,000
years. African animals returned to Europe and mingled with those
that wandered from Asia and the survivors in Europe of the Second
Interglacial fauna. The Fourth Glacial epoch, which is believed
to have lasted for about 25,000 years, was very severe. All the
African or Asiatic mammals either migrated or became extinct with the
exception of lions and hyænas, and the reindeer found the western
plains of Europe as congenial as it does the northern plains at the
present time.
[9] The last division of the Tertiary period.
During the Fourth Post-glacial epoch there were for a period of about
25,000 years[10] partial glaciations and milder intervals, until
during the Neolithic Age of the archæologists the climate of Europe
reached the phase that at present prevails.
[10] It must be borne in mind that the lengths of these periods
are subject to revision. Opinion is growing that they were not
nearly so long as here stated.
When, then, did man first appear in Europe? According to some
geologists, and especially Penck and James Geikie, the Chellean
phase of culture originated in the Second Interglacial epoch and
the Mousterian endured until the Third Interglacial stage, when
the Neanderthals witnessed the arrival of the Crô-Magnon peoples.
Boule, Breuil, and others, however, place the pre-Chellean,
Chellean, Acheulian, and early Mousterian stages of Lower (or Early)
Palæolithic culture in the Third Interglacial epoch, and fix the
extermination of Neanderthal man, in his late Mousterian culture
stage, at the close of the Fourth Glacial epoch. This view is now
being generally accepted. It finds favour with the archæologists,
and seems to accord with the evidence they have accumulated. The
Upper Palæolithic culture of Crô-Magnon man, according to some, began
in its Aurignacian phase about 25,000 years ago; others consider,
however, that it began about five or six thousand years ago, and was
contemporaneous with the long pre-Dynastic civilization of Egypt. At
the time England was connected with the Continent by a land-bridge,
and as the climate grew milder the ancestors of modern man could walk
across from France to the white cliffs of Dover which were then part
of a low range of mountains. As will be shown, there is evidence that
the last land movement in Britain did not begin until about 3000 B.C.
CHAPTER III
The Age of the "Red Man" of Wales
An Ancient Welshman--Aurignacian Culture in Britain--Coloured
Bones and Luck Charms--The Cave of Aurignac--Discovery at
Crô-Magnon Village--An Ancient Tragedy--Significant Burial
Customs--Crô-Magnon Characters--New Race Types in Central
Europe--Galley Hill Man--The Piltdown Skull--Ancient Religious
Beliefs--Life Principle in Blood--Why Body-painting was
practised--"Sleepers" in Caves--Red Symbolism in different
Countries--The Heart as the Seat of Life--The Green Stone
Talisman--"Soul Substance".
The earliest discovery of a representative of the Crô-Magnons was
made in 1823, when Dr. Buckland explored the ancient cave-dwelling of
Paviland in the vicinity of Rhossilly, Gower Peninsula, South Wales.
This cave, known as "Goat's Hole", is situated between 30 and 40
feet above the present sea-level, on the face of a steep sandstone
cliff about 100 feet in height; it is 60 feet in length and 200 feet
broad, while the roof attains an altitude of over 25 feet. When this
commodious natural shelter was occupied by our remote ancestors
the land was on a much lower level than it is now, and it could be
easily reached from the sea-shore. Professor Sollas has shown that
the Paviland cave-dwellers were in the Aurignacian stage of culture,
and that they had affinities with the tall Crô-Magnon peoples on the
Continent.[11]
[11] _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_, Vol.
XLIII, 1913.
A human skeleton of a tall man was found in the cave deposit in
association with the skull and tusks of a hairy mammoth, and with
implements of Aurignacian type. Apparently the Aurignacian colonists
had walked over the land-bridge connecting England with France many
centuries before the land sank and the Channel tides began to carve
out the white cliffs of Dover.
In his description of the bones of the ancient caveman, who has been
wrongly referred to as the "Red Lady of Paviland", Dr. Buckland wrote:
"They were all of them stained superficially with a dark
brick-red colour, and enveloped by a coating of a kind of
ruddle, composed of red micaceous oxide of iron, which stained
the earth, and in some parts extended itself to the distance of
about half an inch around the surface of the bones. The body
must have been entirely surrounded or covered over at the time
of its interment with this red substance."
Near the thighs were about two handfuls of small shells (_Nerita
litoralis_) which had evidently formed a waist girdle. Over forty
little rods of ivory, which may have once formed a long necklace, lay
near the ribs. A few ivory rings and a tongue-shaped implement or
ornament lay beside the body, as well as an instrument or charm made
of the metacarpal bone of a wolf.
The next great discovery of this kind was made twenty-nine years
later. In 1852 a French workman was trying to catch a wild rabbit on
a lower slope of the Pyrenees, near the town of Aurignac in Haute
Garonne, when he made a surprising find. From the rabbit's burrow
he drew out a large human bone. A slab of stone was subsequently
removed, and a grotto or cave shelter revealed. In the debris were
found portions of seventeen skeletons of human beings of different
ages and both sexes. Only two skulls were intact.
[Illustration: Upper Palæolithic Implements
1, Aurignacian (Chatelperron point). 2, 3, Aurignacian (keeled
scrapers). 4, Aurignacian point. 5, Magdalenian ("parrot-beak"
graving tool). 6, Solutrean (laurel-leaf point). 7, 8, 9,
Solutrean (drill, awl, and "shouldered" point). 10, 11, 12,
Magdalenian.]
This discovery created a stir in the town of Aurignac, and there
was much speculation regarding the tragedy that was supposed to
have taken place at some distant date. A few folks were prepared to
supply circumstantial details by connecting the discovery with vague
local traditions. No one dreamt that the burial-place dated back a
few thousand years, or, indeed, that the grotto had really been a
burial-place, and the mayor of the town gave instructions that the
bones should be interred in the parish cemetery.
Eight years elapsed before the grotto was visited by M. Louis Lartet,
the great French archæologist. Outside the stone slab he found the
remains of an ancient hearth, and a stone implement which had been
used for chipping flints. In the outer debris were discovered,
too, the bones of animals of the chase, and about a hundred flint
artifacts, including knives, projectiles, and sling-stones, besides
bone arrows, tools shaped from reindeer horns, and an implement like
a bodkin of roe-deer horn. It transpired that the broken bones of
animals included those of the cave-lion, the cave-bear, the hyæna,
the elk, the mammoth, and the woolly-haired rhinoceros--all of which
had been extinct in that part of the world for thousands of years.
As in the Paviland cave, there were indications that the dead had
been interred with ornaments or charms on their bodies. Inside
the grotto were found "eighteen small round and flat plates of a
white shelly substance, made of some species of cockle (_Cardium_)
pierced through the middle, as if for being strung into a bracelet".
Perforated teeth of wild animals had evidently been used for a like
purpose.
The distinct industry revealed by the grotto finds has been named
Aurignacian, after Aurignac. Had the human bones not been removed,
the scientists would have definitely ascertained what particular
race of ancient men they represented.
It was not until the spring of 1868 that a flood of light was thrown
on the Aurignacian racial problem. A gang of workmen were engaged
in the construction of a railway embankment in the vicinity of the
village of Crô-Magnon, near Les Eyzies, in the valley of the River
Vézère, when they laid bare another grotto. Intimation was at once
made to the authorities, and the Minister of Public Instruction
caused an investigation to be made under the direction of M. Louis
Lartet. The remains of five human skeletons were found. At the back
of the grotto was the skull of an old man--now known as "the old
man of Crô-Magnon"--and its antiquity was at once emphasized by the
fact that some parts of it were coated by stalagmite caused by a
calcareous drip from the roof of rock. Near "the old man" was found
the skeleton of a woman. Her forehead bore signs of a deep wound that
had been made by a cutting instrument. As the inner edge of the bone
had partly healed, it was apparent she had survived her injury for
a few weeks. Beside her lay the skeleton of a baby which had been
prematurely born. The skeletons of two young men were found not far
from those of the others. Apparently a tragic happening had occurred
in ancient days in the vicinity of the Crô-Magnon grotto. The victims
had been interred with ceremony, and in accordance with the religious
rites prevailing at the time. Above three hundred pierced marine
shells, chiefly of the periwinkle species (_Littorina littorea_),
which are common on the Atlantic coasts, and a few shells of _Purpura
lapillus_ (a purple-yielding shell), _Turitella communis_, &c.,
were discovered besides the skeletons. These, it would appear,
had been strung to form necklaces and other ornamental charms. M.
Lartet found, too, a flat ivory pendant pierced with two holes, and
was given two other pendants picked up by young people. Near the
skeletons were several perforated teeth, a split block of gneiss with
a smooth surface, the worked antlers of a reindeer that may have been
used as a pick for excavating flint, and a few chipped flints. Other
artifacts of Aurignacian type were unearthed in the debris associated
with the grotto, which appears to have been used as a dwelling-place
before the interments had taken place.
[Illustration: Skull of a Crô-Magnon Man: front and side views
From the Grotte des Enfants, Mentone. (After Verneau.)]
The human remains of the Crô-Magnon grotto were those of a tall
and handsome race of which the "Red Man" of Paviland was a
representative. Other finds have shown that this race was widely
distributed in Europe. The stature of the men varied from 5 feet
10-1/2 inches to 6 feet 4-1/2 inches on the Riviera, that of the
women being slightly less. That the Crô-Magnons were people of high
intelligence is suggested by the fact that the skulls of the men
and women were large, and remarkably well developed in the frontal
region. According to a prominent anatomist the Crô-Magnon women had
bigger brains than has the average male European of to-day. All these
ancient skulls are of the dolichocephalic (long-headed) type. The
faces, however, were comparatively broad, and shorter than those of
the modern fair North-Europeans, while the cheek-bones were high--a
characteristic, by the way, of so many modern Scottish faces.
This type of head--known as the "disharmonic", because a broad face
is usually a characteristic of a broad skull, and a long face of
a long skull--has been found to be fairly common among the modern
inhabitants of the Dordogne valley. These French descendants of the
Crô-Magnons are, however, short and "stocky", and most of them have
dark hair and eyes. Crô-Magnon types have likewise been identified
among the Berbers of North Africa, and the extinct fair-haired
Guanches of the Canary Islands, in Brittany, on the islands of
northern Holland, and in the British Isles.[12]
[12] For principal references see _The Races of Europe_, W. Z.
Ripley, pp. 172 _et seq._, and _The Anthropological History of
Europe_, John Beddoe (Rhind lectures for 1891; revised edition,
1912), p. 47.
A comparatively short race, sometimes referred to as the
"Combe-Capelle", after the rock-shelter at Combe-Capelle, near
Montferrand, Perigord, was also active during the stage of
Aurignacian culture. An adult skeleton found in this shelter was
that of a man only 5 feet 3 inches in height. The skull is long and
narrow, with a lofty forehead, and the chin small and well developed.
It has some similarity to modern European skulls. The skeleton had
been subjected for thousands of years to the dripping of water
saturated with lime, and had consequently been well preserved. Near
the head and neck lay a large number of perforated marine shells
(_Littorina_ and _Nassa_). A collection of finely-worked flints of
early Aurignacian type also lay beside the body.
Reference may also be made here to the finds in Moravia. Fragmentary
skull caps from Brüx and Brünn are regarded as evidence of a race
which differed from the tall Crô-Magnons, and had closer affinities
with Combe-Capelle man. Some incline to connect the Brünn type with
England, the link being provided by a skeleton called the "Galley
Hill" after the place of its discovery below Gravesend and near
Northfleet in Kent. Scientists regard him as a contemporary of the
Aurignacian flint-workers of Combe-Capelle and Brünn. "Both the Brüx
and Brünn skulls", writes Professor Osborn, "are harmonic; they do
not present the very broad, high cheek-bones characteristic of the
Crô-Magnon race,[13] the face being of a narrow modern type, but not
very long. There is a possibility that the Brünn race was ancestral
to several later dolichocephalic groups which are found in the region
of the Danube and of middle and southern Germany."[14]
[13] That is, the tall representatives of the Crô-Magnon races.
[14] _Men of the Old Stone Age_, pp. 335-6.
The Galley Hill man had been buried in the gravels of the "high
terrace", 90 feet above the Thames. His bones when found were much
decayed and denuded, and the skull contorted. The somewhat worn
"wisdom tooth" indicates that he was a "fully-grown adult, though
probably not an aged individual". Those who think he was not as old
as the flints and the bones of extinct animals found in the gravels,
regard him as a pioneer of the Brünn branch of the Aurignacians.
The Piltdown skull appears to date back to a period vastly more
ancient than Neanderthal times.
Our special interest in the story of early man in Britain is with
the "Red Man" of Paviland and Galley Hill man, because these were
representatives of the species to which we ourselves belong. The
Neanderthals and pre-Neanderthals, who have left their Eoliths
and Palæoliths in our gravels, vanished like the glaciers and the
icebergs, and have left, as has been indicated, no descendants in our
midst. Our history begins with the arrival of the Crô-Magnon races,
who were followed in time by other peoples to whom Europe offered
attractions during the period of the great thaw, when the ice-cap was
shrinking towards the north, and the flooded rivers were forming the
beds on which they now flow.
We have little to learn from Galley Hill man. His geological horizon
is uncertain, but the balance of the available evidence tends to show
he was a pioneer of the medium-sized hunters who entered Europe from
the east, during the Aurignacian stage of culture. It is otherwise
with the "Red Man" of Wales. We know definitely what particular
family he belonged to; he was a representative of the tall variety
of Crô-Magnons. We know too that those who loved him, and laid his
lifeless body in the Paviland Cave, had introduced into Europe the
germs of a culture that had been radiated from some centre, probably
in the ancient forest land to the east of the Nile, along the North
African coast at a time when it jutted far out into the Mediterranean
and the Sahara was a grassy plain.
The Crô-Magnons were no mere savages who lived the life of animals
and concerned themselves merely with their material needs. They
appear to have been a people of active, inventive, and inquiring
minds, with a social organization and a body of definite beliefs,
which found expression in their art and in their burial customs.
The "Red Man" was so called by the archæologists because his bones
and the earth beside them were stained, as has been noted, by "red
micaceous oxide of iron". Here we meet with an ancient custom of
high significance. It was not the case, as some have suggested, that
the skeleton was coloured after the flesh had decayed. There was no
indication when the human remains were discovered that the grave had
been disturbed after the corpse was laid in it. The fact that the
earth as well as the bones retained the coloration affords clear
proof that the corpse had been smeared over with red earth which,
after the flesh had decayed, fell on the skeleton and the earth
and gravel beside it. But why, it will be asked, was the corpse
so treated? Did the Crô-Magnons paint their bodies during life,
as do the Australians, the Red Indians, and others, to provide "a
substitute for clothing"? That cannot be the reason. They could not
have concerned themselves about a "substitute" for something they
did not possess. In France, the Crô-Magnons have left pictorial
records of their activities and interests in their caves and other
shelters. Bas reliefs on boulders within a shelter at Laussel show
that they did not wear clothing during the Aurignacian epoch which
continued for many long centuries. We know too that the Australians
and Indians painted their bodies for religious and magical
purposes--to protect themselves in battle or enable them to perform
their mysteries--rain-getting, food-getting, and other ceremonies.
The ancient Egyptians painted their gods to "make them healthy".
Prolonged good health was immortality.
The evidence afforded by the Paviland and other Crô-Magnon burials
indicates that the red colour was freshly applied before the dead was
laid in the sepulchre. No doubt it was intended to serve a definite
purpose, that it was an expression of a system of beliefs regarding
life and the hereafter.
Apparently among the Crô-Magnons the belief was already prevalent
that the "blood is the life". The loss of life appeared to them to
be due to the loss of the red vitalizing fluid which flowed in the
veins. Strong men who received wounds in conflict with their fellows,
or with wild animals, were seen to faint and die in consequence
of profuse bleeding; and those who were stricken with sickness
grew ashen pale because, as it seemed, the supply of blood was
insufficient, a condition they may have accounted for, as did the
Babylonians of a later period, by conceiving that demons entered
the body and devoured the flesh and blood. It is not too much to
suppose that they feared death, and that like other Pagan religions
of antiquity theirs was deeply concerned with the problem of how
to restore and prolong life. Their medicine-men appear to have
arrived at the conclusion that the active principle in blood was
the substance that coloured it, and they identified this substance
with red earth. If cheeks grew pale in sickness, the flush of health
seemed to be restored by the application of a red face paint. The
patient did not invariably regain strength, but when he did, the
recovery was in all likelihood attributed to the influence of the
blood substitute. Rest and slumber were required, as experience
showed, to work the cure. When death took place, it seemed to be a
deeper and more prolonged slumber, and the whole body was smeared
over with the vitalizing blood substitute so that, when the spell of
weakness had passed away, the sleeper might awaken, and come forth
again with renewed strength from the cave-house in which he had been
laid.
The many persistent legends about famous "sleepers" that survive till
our own day appear to have originally been connected with a belief in
the return of the dead, the antiquity of which we are not justified
in limiting, especially when it is found that the beliefs connected
with body paint and shell ornaments and amulets were introduced
into Europe in early post-glacial times. Ancient folk heroes might
be forgotten, but from Age to Age there arose new heroes to take
their places; the habit of placing them among the sleepers remained.
Charlemagne, Frederick of Barbarossa, William Tell, King Arthur, the
Fians, and the Irish Brian Boroimhe, are famous sleepers. French
peasants long believed that the sleeping Napoleon would one day
return to protect their native land from invaders, and during the
Russo-Japanese war it was whispered in Russia that General Skobeleff
would suddenly awake and hasten to Manchuria to lead their troops to
victory. For many generations the Scots were convinced that James IV,
who fell at Flodden, was a "sleeper". His place was taken in time
by Thomas the Rhymer, who slept in a cave and occasionally awoke to
visit markets so that he might purchase horses for the great war
which was to redden Tweed and Clyde with blood. Even in our own day
there were those who refused to believe that General Gordon, Sir
Hector MacDonald, and Lord Kitchener, were really dead. The haunting
belief in sleeping heroes dies hard.
Among the famous groups of sleeping heroes are the Seven Sleepers
of Ephesus--the Christians who had been condemned to death by the
Emperor Decius and concealed themselves in a cave where they slept
for three and a half centuries. An eighteenth century legend tells
of seven men in Roman attire, who lay in a cave in Western Germany.
In Norse Mythology, the seven sons of Mimer sleep in the Underworld
awaiting the blast of the horn, which will be blown at Ragnarok when
the gods and demons will wage the last battle. The sleepers of Arabia
once awoke to foretell the coming of Mahomet, and their sleeping dog,
according to Moslem beliefs, is one of the ten animals that will
enter Paradise.
A representative Scottish legend regarding the sleepers is located at
the Cave of Craigiehowe in the Black Isle, Ross-shire, a few miles
distant from the Rosemarkie cave. It is told that a shepherd once
entered the cave and saw the sleepers and their dog. A horn, or as
some say, a whistle, hung suspended from the roof. The shepherd blew
it once and the sleepers shook themselves; he blew a second time,
and they opened their eyes and raised themselves on their elbows.
Terrified by the forbidding aspect of the mighty men, the shepherd
refrained from blowing a third time, but turned and fled. As he left
the cave he heard one of the heroes call after him: "Alas! you have
left us worse than you found us." As whistles are sometimes found in
Magdalenian shelters in Western and Central Europe, it may be that
these were at an early period connected with the beliefs about the
calling back of the Crô-Magnon dead. The ancient whistles were made
of hare--and reindeer-foot bone. The clay whistle dates from the
introduction of the Neolithic industry in Hungary.
The remarkable tendency on the part of mankind to cling to and
perpetuate ancient beliefs and customs, and especially those
connected with sickness and death, is forcibly illustrated by the
custom of smearing the bodies of the living and dead with red ochre.
In every part of the world red is regarded as a particularly "lucky
colour", which protects houses and human beings, and imparts vitality
to those who use it. The belief in the protective value of red
berries is perpetuated in our own Christmas customs when houses are
decorated with holly, and by those dwellers in remote parts who still
tie rowan berries to their cows' tails so as to prevent witches and
fairies from interfering with the milk supply. Egyptian women who
wore a red jasper in their waist-girdles called the stone "a drop of
the blood of Isis (the mother goddess)".
Red symbolism is everywhere connected with lifeblood and the "vital
spark"--the hot "blood of life". Brinton[15] has shown that in the
North American languages the word for blood is derived from the word
for red or the word for fire. The ancient Greek custom of painting
red the wooden images of gods was evidently connected with the belief
that a supply of lifeblood was thus assured, and that the colour
animated the Deity, as Homer's ghosts were animated by a blood
offering when Odysseus visited Hades. "The anointing of idols with
blood for the purpose of animating them is", says Farnell, "a part
of old Mediterranean magic."[16] The ancient Egyptians, as has been
indicated, painted their gods, some of whom wore red garments; a
part of their underworld Dewat was "Red Land", and there were "red
souls" in it.[17] In India standing stones connected with deities
are either painted red or smeared with the blood of a sacrificed
animal. The Chinese regard red as the colour of fire and light, and
in their philosophy they identify it with _Yang_, the chief principle
of life;[18] it is believed "to expel pernicious influences, and
thus particularly to symbolize good luck, happiness, delight, and
pleasure". Red coffins are favoured. The "red gate" on the south
side of a cemetery "is never opened except for the passage of an
Emperor".[19] The Chinese put a powdered red stone called _hun-hong_
in a drink or in food to destroy an evil spirit which may have taken
possession of one. Red earth is eaten for a similar reason by the
Polynesians and others. Many instances of this kind could be given to
illustrate the widespread persistence of the belief in the vitalizing
and protective qualities associated with red substances. In Irish
Gaelic, Professor W. J. Watson tells me, "ruadh" means both "red" and
"strong".
[15] _Myths of the New World_, p. 163.
[16] _Cults of the Greek States_, Vol. V. p. 243.
[17] Budge, _Gods of the Egyptians_. Vol. I, p. 203.
[18] De Groot, _The Religious System of China_, Book I, pp. 216-7.
[19] _Ibid._, Book I, pp. 28 and 332.
The Crô-Magnons regarded the heart as the seat of life, having
apparently discovered that it controls the distribution of blood.
In the cavern of Pindal, in south-western France, is the outline
of a hairy mammoth painted in red ochre, and the seat of life is
indicated by a large red heart. The painting dates back to the early
Aurignacian period. In other cases, as in the drawing of a large
bison in the cavern of Niaux, the seat of life and the vulnerable
parts are indicated by spear--or arrowheads incised on the body. The
ancient Egyptians identified the heart with the mind. To them the
heart was the seat of intelligence and will-power as well as the
seat of life. The germ of this belief can apparently be found in the
pictorial art and burial customs of the Aurignacian Crô-Magnons.
[Illustration: Outline of a Mammoth painted in red ochre in the
Cavern of Pindal, France
The seat of life is indicated by a large red heart. (After
Breuil.)]
Another interesting burial custom has been traced in the Grimaldi
caves. Some of the skeletons were found to have small green stones
between their teeth or inside their mouths.[20] No doubt these
were amulets. Their colour suggests that green symbolism has not
necessarily a connection with agricultural religion, as some have
supposed. The Crô-Magnons do not appear to have paid much attention
to vegetation. In ancient Egypt the green stone (Khepera) amulet
"typified the germ of life". A text says, "A scarab of green stone
... shall be placed in the heart of a man, and it shall perform for
him the 'opening of the mouth'"--that is, it will enable him to
speak and eat again. The scarab is addressed in a funerary text, "My
heart, my mother. My heart whereby I came into being." It is believed
by Budge that the Egyptian custom of "burying green basalt scarabs
inside or on the breasts of the dead" is as old as the first Dynasty
(_c._ 3400 B.C.).[21] How much older it is one can only speculate.
"The Mexicans", according to Brinton, "were accustomed to say that
at one time all men have been stones, and that at last they would
all return to stones, and acting literally on this conviction they
interred with the bones of the dead a small green stone, which was
called 'the principle of life'."[22] In China the custom of placing
jade tongue amulets for the purpose of preserving the dead from
decay and stimulating the soul to take flight to Paradise is of
considerable antiquity.[23] Crystals and pebbles have been found
in ancient British graves. It may well be that these pebbles were
regarded as having had an intimate connection with deities, and
perhaps to have been coagulated forms of what has been called "life
substance". Of undoubted importance and significance was the ancient
custom of adorning the dead with shells. As we have seen, this was a
notable feature of the Paviland cave burial. The "Red Man" was not
only smeared with red earth, but "charmed" or protected by shell
amulets. In the next chapter it will be shown that this custom not
only affords us a glimpse of Aurignacian religious beliefs, but
indicates the area from which the Crô-Magnons came.
[20] I am indebted to the Abbé Breuil for this information which
he gave me during the course of a conversation.
[21] Budge, _Gods of the Egyptians_, Vol. I, p. 358. These
scarabs have not been found in the early Dynastic graves. Green
malachite charms, however, were used in even the pre-Dynastic
period.
[22] _The Myths of the New World_, p. 294. According to Bancroft
the green stones were often placed in the mouths of the dead.
[23] Laufer, _Jade_, pp. 294 _et seq._ (Chicago, 1912).
Professor G. Elliot Smith was the first to emphasize the importance
attached in ancient times to the beliefs associated with the divine
"giver of life".
CHAPTER IV
Shell Deities and Early Trade
Early Culture and Early Races--Did Civilization originate in
Europe?--An Important Clue--Trade in Shells between Red Sea
and Italy--Traces of Early Trade in Central Europe--Religious
Value of Personal Ornaments--Importance of Shell Lore--Links
between Far East and Europe--Shell Deities--A Hebridean Shell
Goddess--"Milk of Wisdom"--Ancient Goddesses as Providers of
Food--Gaelic "Spirit Shell" and Japanese "God Body"--Influence
of Deities in Jewels, &c.--A Shakespearean Reference--Shells
in Crô-Magnon Graves--Early Sacrifices--Hand Colours in
Palæolithic Caves--Finger Lore and "Hand Spells".
When the question is asked, "Whence came the Crô-Magnon people of
the Aurignacian phase of culture?" the answer usually given is,
"Somewhere in the East". The distribution of the Aurignacian sites
indicates that the new-comers entered south-western France by way of
Italy--that is, across the Italian land-bridge from North Africa. Of
special significance in this connection is the fact that Aurignacian
culture persisted for the longest period of time in Italy. The
tallest Crô-Magnons appear to have inhabited south-eastern France
and the western shores of Italy. "It is probable", says Osborn,
referring to the men six feet four and a half inches in height, "that
in the genial climate of the Riviera these men obtained their finest
development; the country was admirably protected from the cold winds
of the north, refuges were abundant, and game by no means scarce, to
judge from the quantity of animal bones found in the caves. Under
such conditions of life the race enjoyed a fine physical development
and dispersed widely."[24]
[24] _Men of the Old Stone Age_, pp. 297-8.
It does not follow, however, that the tall people originated
Aurignacian culture. As has been indicated, the stumpy people
represented by Combe-Capelle skeletons were likewise exponents of
it. "It must not be assumed", as Elliot Smith reminds us, "that the
Aurignacian culture was necessarily invented by the same people who
introduced it into Europe, and whose remains were associated with
it ... for any culture can be transmitted to an alien people, even
when it has not been adopted by many branches of the race which was
responsible for its invention, just as gas illumination, oil lamps,
and even candles are still in current use by the people who invented
the electric light, which has been widely adopted by many foreign
peoples. This elementary consideration is so often ignored that it
is necessary thus to emphasize it, because it is essential for any
proper understanding of the history of early civilization."[25]
[25] Primitive Man (_Proceedings of the British Academy_, Vol.
VII).
No trace of Aurignacian culture has, so far, been found outside
Europe. "May it not, therefore," it may be asked, "have originated
in Italy or France?" In absence of direct evidence, this possibility
might be admitted. But an important discovery has been made at
Grimaldi in La Grotte des Enfants (the "grotto of infants"--so called
because of the discovery there of the skeletons of young Crô-Magnon
children). Among the shells used as amulets by those who used the
grotto as a sepulchre was one (_Cassis rufa_) that had been carried
either by a migrating folk, or by traders, along the North African
coast and through Italy from some south-western Asian beach. The find
has been recorded by Professor Marcellin Boule.[26]
[26] _Les Grottes de Grimaldi (Baousse-Rousse)_, Tome I, fasc.
II--_Géologie et Paléontologie_ (Monaco, 1906), p. 123.
In a footnote, G. Dollfus writes:
"_Cassis rufa, L._, an Indian ocean shell, is represented in
the collection at Monaco by two fragments; one was found in the
lower habitation level D, the other is probably of the same
origin. The presence of this shell is extraordinary, as it has
no analogue in the Mediterranean, neither recent nor fossil;
there exists no species in the North Atlantic or off Senegal
with which it could be confounded. The fragments have traces of
the reddish colour preserved, and are not fossil; one of them
presents a notch which has determined a hole that seems to have
been made intentionally. The species has not yet been found in
the Gulf of Suez nor in the raised beaches of the Isthmus. M.
Jousseaume has found it in the Gulf of Tadjoura at Aden, but it
has not yet been encountered in the Red Sea nor in the raised
beaches of that region. The common habitat of _Cassis rufa_ is
Socotra, besides the Seychelles, Madagascar, Mauritius, New
Caledonia, and perhaps Tahiti. The fragments discovered at
Mentone have therefore been brought from a great distance at a
very ancient epoch by prehistoric man."
After the Crô-Magnon peoples had spread into Western and Central
Europe they imported shells from the Mediterranean. At Laugerie
Basse in the Dordogne, for instance, a necklace of pierced shells
from the Mediterranean was found in association with a skeleton.
Atlantic shells could have been obtained from a nearer sea-shore.
It may be that the Rhone valley, which later became a well-known
trade route, was utilized at an exceedingly remote period, and that
cultural influences occasionally "flowed" along it. "Prehistoric man"
had acquired some experience as a trader even during the "hunting
period", and he had formulated definite religious beliefs.
It has been the habit of some archæologists to refer to shell and
other necklaces, &c., as "personal ornaments". The late Dr. Robert
Munro wrote in this connection:
"We have no knowledge of any phase of humanity in which the
love of personal ornament does not play an important part in
the life of the individual. The savage of the present day,
who paints or tattoos his body, and adorns it with shells,
feathers, teeth, and trinkets made of the more gaudy materials
at his disposal, may be accepted as on a parallel with the
Neolithic people of Europe.... Teeth are often perforated
and used as pendants, especially the canines of carnivorous
animals, but such ornaments are not peculiar to Neolithic
times, as they were equally prevalent among the later
Palæolithic races of Europe."[27]
[27] _Prehistoric Britain_, pp. 142-3.
Modern savages have very definite reasons for wearing the so-called
"ornaments", and for painting and tattooing their bodies. They
believe that the shells, teeth, &c., afford them protection, and
bring them luck. Earpiercing, distending the lobe of the ear,
disfiguring the body, the pointing, blackening, or knocking out
of teeth, are all practices that have a religious significance.
Even such a highly civilized people as the Chinese perpetuate, in
their funerary ceremonies, customs that can be traced back to an
exceedingly remote period in the history of mankind. It is not due to
"love of personal ornament" that they place cowries, jade, gold, &c.,
in the mouth of the dead, but because they believe that by so doing
the body is protected, and given a new lease of life. The Far Eastern
belief that an elixir of ground oyster shells will prolong life in
the next world is evidently a relic of early shell lore. Certain
deities are associated with certain shells. Some deities have, like
snails, shells for "houses"; others issue at birth from shells. The
goddess Venus (Aphrodite) springs from the froth of the sea, and is
lifted up by Tritons on a shell; she wears a love-girdle. Hathor, the
Egyptian Venus, had originally a love-girdle of shells. She appears
to have originated as the personification of a shell, and afterwards
to have personified the pearl within the shell. In early Egyptian
graves the shell-amulets have been found in thousands. The importance
of shell lore in ancient religious systems has been emphasized by
Mr. J. Wilfrid Jackson in his _Shells as Evidence of the Migrations
of Early Culture_.[28] He shows why the cowry and snail shells were
worn as amulets and charms, and why men were impelled "to search
for them far and wide and often at great peril". "The murmur of the
shell was the voice of the god, and the trumpet made of a shell
became an important instrument in initiation ceremonies and in temple
worship." Shells protected wearers against evil, including the evil
eye. In like manner protection was afforded by the teeth and claws
of carnivorous animals. In Asia and Africa the belief that tigers,
lions, &c., will not injure those who are thus protected is still
quite widespread.
[28] London, 1917.
[Illustration: Necklace of Sea Shells, from the cave of
Crô-Magnon. (After E. Lartet.)]
It cannot have been merely for love of personal ornaments that the
Crô-Magnons of southern France imported Indian Ocean shells, and
those of Central and Western Europe created a trade in Mediterranean
shells. Like the ancient inhabitants of the Nile Valley who in
remote pre-dynastic times imported shells, not only from the
Mediterranean but from the Red Sea, along a long and dangerous
desert trade-route, they evidently had imparted to shells a definite
religious significance. The "luck-girdle" of snail-shells worn by
the "Red Man of Paviland" has, therefore, an interesting history.
When the Crô-Magnons reached Britain they brought with them not
only implements invented and developed elsewhere, but a heritage
of religious beliefs connected with shell ornaments and with the
red earth with which the corpse was smeared when laid in its last
resting-place.
The ancient religious beliefs connected with shells appear to have
spread far and wide. Traces of them still survive in districts
far separated from one another and from the area of origin--the
borderlands of Asia and Africa. In Japanese mythology a young god,
Ohonamochie--a sort of male Cinderella--is slain by his jealous
brothers. His mother makes appeal to a sky deity who sends to her aid
the two goddesses Princess Cockleshell and Princess Clam. Princess
Cockleshell burns and grinds her shell, and with water provided by
Princess Clam prepares an elixir called "nurse's milk" or "mother's
milk". As soon as this "milk" is smeared over the young god, he is
restored to life. In the Hebrides it is still the custom of mothers
to burn and grind the cockle-shell to prepare a lime-water for
children who suffer from what in Gaelic is called "wasting". In
North America shells of _Unio_ were placed in the graves of Red
Indians "as food for the dead during the journey to the land of
spirits". The pearls were used in India as medicines. "The burnt
powder of the gems, if taken with water, cures hæmorrhages, prevents
evil spirits working mischief in men's minds, cures lunacy and all
mental diseases, jaundice, &c.... Rubbed over the body with other
medicines it cures leprosy and all skin diseases."[29] The ancient
Cretans, whose culture was carried into Asia and through Europe by
their enterprising sea-and-land traders and prospectors, attached
great importance to the cockle-shell which they connected with their
mother goddess, the source of all life and the giver of medicines
and food. Sir Arthur Evans found a large number of cockle-shells,
some in Faeince, in the shrine of the serpent goddess in the ruins
of the Palace of Knossos. The fact that the Cretans made artificial
cockle-shells is of special interest, especially when we find that in
Egypt the earliest use to which gold was put was in the manufacture
of models of snail-shells in a necklace.[30] In different countries
cowrie shells were similarly imitated in stone, ivory, and metal.[31]
[29] _Shells as Evidence of the Migrations of Early Culture_, pp.
84-91.
[30] G. A. Reisner. _Early Dynastic Cemeteries of Naga-ed-Der_,
Vol. I, 1908, Plates 6 and 7.
[31] Jackson's _Shells_, pp. 128, 174, 176, 178.
Shells were thought to impart vitality and give protection, not only
to human beings, but even to the plots of the earliest florists
and agriculturists. "Mary, Mary, quite contrairie", who in the
nursery rhyme has in her garden "cockle-shells all in row", was
perpetuating an ancient custom. The cockle-shell is still favoured
by conservative villagers, and may be seen in their garden plots and
in graveyards. Shells placed at cottage doors, on window-sills, and
round fire-places are supposed to bring luck and give security, like
the horse-shoe on the door.
The mother goddess, remembered as the fairy queen, is still
connected with shells in Hebridean folk-lore. A Gaelic poet refers
to the goddess as "the maiden queen of wisdom who dwelt in the
beauteous bower of the single tree where she could see the whole
world and where no fool could see her beauty". She lamented the
lack of wisdom among women, and invited them to her knoll. When
they were assembled there the goddess appeared, holding in her hand
the _copan Moire_ ("Cup of Mary"), as the blue-eyed limpet shell is
called. The shell contained "the ais (milk) of wisdom", which she
gave to all who sought it. "Many", we are told, "came to the knoll
too late, and there was no wisdom left for them."[32] A Gaelic poet
says the "maiden queen" was attired in emerald green, silver, and
mother-of-pearl.
[32] Dr. Alexander Carmichael, _Carmina Gadeiica_, Vol. II,
pp.247 _et seq._ Mr. Wilfrid Jackson, author of _Shells as
Evidence of the Migrations of Early Culture_, tells me that the
"blue-eyed limpet" is our common limpet--_Patella vulgata_--the
Lepas, Patelle, Jambe, OEil de boue, Bernicle, or Flie of the
French. In Cornwall it is the "Crogan", the "Bornigan", and
the "Brennick". It is "flither" of the English, "flia" of the
Faroese, and "lapa" of the Portuguese. A Cornish giant was once,
according to a folk-tale, set to perform the hopeless task of
emptying a pool with a single limpet which had a hole in it.
Limpets are found in early British graves and in the "kitchen
middens". They are met with in abundance in cromlechs, on the
Channel Isles and in Brittany, covering the bones and the skulls
of the dead. Mr. Jackson thinks they were used like cowries for
vitalizing and protecting the dead.
Here a particular shell is used by an old goddess for a specific
purpose. She imparts knowledge by providing a magic drink referred to
as "milk". The question arises, however, if a deity of this kind was
known in early times. Did the Crô-Magnons of the Aurignacian stage of
culture conceive of a god or goddess in human form who nourished her
human children and instructed them as do human mothers? The figure
of a woman, holding in her hand a horn which appears to have been
used for drinking from, is of special interest in this connection. As
will be shown, the Hebridean "maiden" links with other milk-providing
deities.
The earliest religious writings in the world are the Pyramid Texts
of ancient Egypt which, as Professor Breasted so finely says,
"vaguely disclose to us a vanished world of thought and speech". They
abound "in allusions to lost myths, to customs and usages long since
ended". Withal, they reflect the physical conditions of a particular
area--the Nile Valley, in which the sun and the river are two
outstanding natural features. There was, however, a special religious
reason for connecting the sun and the river.
In these old Pyramid Texts are survivals from a period apparently
as ancient as that of early Aurignacian civilization in Europe,
and perhaps, as the clue afforded by the Indian shell found in the
Grimaldi cave, not unconnected with it. The mother goddess, for
instance, is prayed to so that she may suckle the soul of the dead
Pharaoh as a mother suckles her child and never wean him.[33] Milk
was thus the elixir of life, and as the mother goddess of Egypt is
found to have been identified with the cowrie--indeed to have been
the spirit or personification of the shell--the connection between
shells and milk may have obtained even in Aurignacian times in
south-western Europe. That the mother goddess of Crô-Magnons had a
human form is suggested by the representations of mothers which have
been brought to light. An Aurignacian statuette of limestone found
in the cave of Willendorf, Lower Austria, has been called the "Venus
of Willendorf". She is very corpulent--apparently because she was
regarded as a giver of life. Other statues of like character have
been unearthed near Mentone, and they have a striking resemblance
to the figurines of fat women found in the pre-dynastic graves
of Egypt and in Crete and Malta. The bas-relief of the fat woman
sculptured on a boulder inside the Aurignacian shelter of Laussel may
similarly have been a goddess. In her right hand she holds a bison's
horn--perhaps a drinking horn containing an elixir. Traces of red
colouring remain on the body. A notable fact about these mysterious
female forms is that the heads are formal, the features being
scarcely, if at all, indicated.
[33] Breasted, _Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt_, p. 130.
Even if no such "idols" had been found, it does not follow that
the early people had no ideas about supernatural beings. There are
references in Gaelic to the _coich anama_ (the "spirit case", or
"soul shell", or "soul husk"). In Japan, which has a particularly
rich and voluminous mythology, there are no idols in Shinto temples.
A deity is symbolized by the _shintai_ (God body), which may be a
mirror, a weapon, or a round stone, a jewel or a pearl. A pearl is
a _tama_; so is a precious stone, a crystal, a bit of worked jade,
or a necklace of jewels, ivory, artificial beads, &c. The soul of
a supernatural being is called _mi-tama--mi_ being now a honorific
prefix, but originally signifying a water serpent (dragon god). The
shells, of which ancient deities were personifications, may well have
been to the Crô-Magnons pretty much what a _tama_ is to the Japanese,
and what magic crystals were to mediæval Europeans who used them for
magical purposes. It may have been believed that in the shells, green
stones, and crystals remained the influence of deities as the power
of beasts of prey remained in their teeth and claws. The ear-rings
and other Pagan ornaments which Jacob buried with Laban's idols
under the oak at Shechem were similarly supposed to be god bodies or
coagulated forms of "life substance". All idols were temporary or
permanent bodies of deities, and idols were not necessarily large.
It would seem to be a reasonable conclusion that all the so-called
ornaments found in ancient graves were supposed to have had an
intimate connection with the supernatural beings who gave origin to
and sustained life. These ornaments, or charms, or amulets, imparted
vitality to human beings, because they were regarded as the substance
of life itself. The red jasper worn in the waist girdles of the
ancient Egyptians was reputed, as has been stated, to be a coagulated
drop of the blood of the mother goddess Isis. Blood was the essence
of life.
The red woman or goddess of the Laussel shelter was probably coloured
so as to emphasize her vitalizing attributes; the red colour animated
the image.
An interesting reference in Shakespeare's _Hamlet_ to ancient
burial customs may here be quoted, because it throws light on the
problem under discussion. When Ophelia's body is carried into
the graveyard[34] one of the priests says that as "her death was
doubtful" she should have been buried in "ground unsanctified"--that
is, among the suicides and murderers. Having taken her own life, she
was unworthy of Christian burial, and should be buried in accordance
with Pagan customs. In all our old churchyards the takers of life
were interred on the north side, and apparently in Shakespeare's
day traditional Pagan rites were observed in the burials of those
regarded as Pagans. The priest in _Hamlet_, therefore, says of
Ophelia:
She should in ground unsanctified have lodged
Till the last trumpet; _for charitable prayers,
Shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her_.
[34] _Hamlet_, V. i.
There are no shards (fragments of pottery) in the Crô-Magnon graves,
but flints and pebbles mingle with shells, teeth, and other charms
and amulets. Vast numbers of perforated shells have been found in the
burial caves near Mentone. In one case the shells are so numerous
that they seem to have formed a sort of burial mantle. "Similarly,"
says Professor Osborn, describing another of these finds, "the female
skeleton was enveloped in a bed of shells not perforated; the legs
were extended, while the arms were stretched beside the body; there
were a few pierced shells and a few bits of silex. One of the large
male skeletons of the same grotto had the lower limbs extended,
the upper limbs folded, and was decorated with a gorget and crown
of perforated shells; the head rested on a block of red stone." In
another case "heavy stones protected the body from disturbance; the
head was decorated with a circle of perforated shells _coloured in
red_, and implements of various types were carefully placed on the
forehead and chest". The body of the Combe-Capelle man "was decorated
with a necklace of perforated shells and surrounded with a great
number of fine Aurignacian flints. It appears", adds Osborn, "that
in all the numerous burials of these grottos of Aurignacian age and
industry of the Crô-Magnon race we have the burial standards which
prevailed in western Europe at this time."[35]
[35] _Men of the Old Stone Age_, pp.304-5.
It has been suggested by one of the British archæologists that the
necklaces of perforated cowrie shells and the red pigment found
among the remains of early man in Britain were used by children.
This theory does not accord with the evidence afforded by the
Grimaldi caves, in which the infant skeletons are neither coloured
nor decorated. Occasionally, however, the children were interred in
burial mantles of small perforated shells, while female adults were
sometimes placed in beds of unperforated shells. Shells have been
found in early British graves. These include _Nerita litoralis_, and
even _Patella vulgata_, the common limpet. Holes were rubbed in them
so that they might be strung together. In a megalithic cist unearthed
in Phoenix Park, Dublin, in 1838, two male skeletons had each beside
them perforated shells (_Nerita litoralis_). During the construction
of the Edinburgh and Granton railway there was found beside a
skeleton in a stone cist a quantity of cockle-shell rings. Two dozen
perforated oyster-shells were found in a single Orkney cist. Many
other examples of this kind could be referred to.[36]
[36] A Red Sea cowry shell (_Cyproea minor_) found on the site of
Hurstbourne station (L. & S. W. Railway, main line) in Hampshire,
was associated with "Early Iron Age" artifacts. (Paper read by J.
R. le B. Tomlin at meeting of Linnæan Society, June 14, 1921.)
In the Crô-Magnon caverns are imprints of human hands which had been
laid on rock and then dusted round with coloured earth. In a number
of cases it is shown that one or more finger joints of the left hand
had been cut off.
The practice of finger mutilation among Bushman, Australian, and Red
Indian tribes, is associated with burial customs and the ravages
of disease. A Bushman woman may cut off a joint of one of her
fingers when a near relative is about to die. Red Indians cut off
finger-joints when burying their dead during a pestilence, so as
"to cut off deaths"; they sacrificed a part of the body to save the
whole. In Australia finger mutilation is occasionally practised.
Highland Gaelic stories tell of heroes who lie asleep to gather power
which will enable them to combat with monsters or fierce enemies.
Heroines awake them by cutting off a finger joint, a part of the ear,
or a portion of skin from the scalp.[37]
[37] For references see my _Myths of Crete and Pre-Hellenic
Europe_, pp.30-31.
The colours used in drawings of hands in Palæolithic caves are black,
white, red, and yellow, as the Abbé Breuil has noted. In Spain and
India, the hand prints are supposed to protect dwellings from evil
influences. Horse-shoes, holly with berries, various plants, shells,
&c, are used for a like purpose among those who in our native land
perpetuate ancient customs.
The Arabs have a custom of suspending figures of an open hand from
the necks of their children, and the Turks and Moors paint hands upon
their ships and houses, "as an antidote and counter charm to an evil
eye; for five is with them an unlucky number; and 'five (fingers,
perhaps) in your eyes' is their proverb of cursing and defiance". In
Portugal the hand spell is called the _figa_. Southey suggests that
our common phrase "a fig for him" was derived from the name of the
Portuguese hand amulet.[38]
[38] Notes to _Thalaba_, Book V, Canto 36.
"The figo for thy friendship" is an interesting reference by
Shakespeare.[39] Fig or figo is probably from _fico_, a snap of
the fingers, which in French is _faire la figue_, and in Italian
_far le fiche_. Finger snapping had no doubt originally a magical
significance.
[39] _Henry V_, V, iii, 6.
CHAPTER V
New Races in Europe
The Solutrean Industry--A Racial and Cultural
Intrusion--Decline of Aurignacian Art--A God-cult--The
Solutrean Thor--Open-air Life--Magdalenian Culture--Decline of
Flint Working--Horn and Bone Weapons and Implements--Revival
of Crô-Magnon Art--The Lamps and Palettes of Cave Artists--The
Domesticated Horse--Eskimos in Europe--Magdalenian
Culture in England--The Vanishing Ice--Reindeer migrate
Northward--New Industries--Tardenoisian and Azilian
Industries--Pictures and Symbols of Azilians--"Long-heads"
and "Broad-heads"--Maglemosian Culture of Fair
Northerners--Pre-Neolithic Peoples in Britain.
In late Aurignacian times the influence of a new industry was felt
in Western Europe. It first came from the south, and reached as
far north as England where it can be traced in the caverns. Then,
in time, it spread westward and wedge-like through Central Europe
in full strength, with the force and thoroughness of an invasion,
reaching the northern fringe of the Spanish coast. This was the
Solutrean industry which had distinctive and independent features
of its own. It was not derived from Aurignacian but had developed
somewhere in Africa--perhaps in Somaliland, whence it radiated along
the Libyan coast towards the west and eastward into Asia. The main or
"true" Solutrean influence entered Europe from the south-east. It did
not pass into Italy, which remained in the Aurignacian stage until
Azilian times, nor did it cross the Pyrenees or invade Spain south of
the Cantabrian Mountains. The earlier "influence" is referred to as
"proto-Solutrean".
Solutrean is well represented in Hungary where no trace of
Aurignacian culture has yet been found. Apparently that part of
Europe had offered no attractions for the Crô-Magnons.
Who the carriers of this new culture were it is as yet impossible to
say with confidence. They may have been a late "wave" of the same
people who had first introduced Aurignacian culture into Europe,
and they may have been representative of a different race. Some
ethnologists incline to connect the Solutrean culture with a new
people whose presence is indicated by the skulls found at Brünn
and Brüx in Bohemia. These intruders had lower foreheads than the
Crô-Magnons, narrower and longer faces, and low cheek-bones. It
may be that they represented a variety of the Mediterranean race.
Whoever they were, they did not make much use of ivory and bone,
but they worked flint with surpassing skill and originality. Their
technique was quite distinct from the Aurignacian. With the aid
of wooden or bone tools, they finished their flint artifacts by
pressure, gave them excellent edges and points, and shaped them with
artistic skill. Their most characteristic flints are the so-called
laurel-leaf (broad) and willow-leaf (narrow) lances. These were
evidently used in the chase. There is no evidence that they were
used in battle. Withal, their weapons had a religious significance.
Fourteen laurel-leaf spear-heads of Solutrean type which were found
together at Volgu, Saône-et-Loire, are believed to have been a votive
offering to a deity. At any rate, these were too finely worked and
too fragile, like some of the peculiar Shetland and Swedish knives
of later times, to have been used as implements. One has retained
traces of red colouring. It may be that the belief enshrined in the
Gaelic saying, "Every weapon has its demon", had already come into
existence. In Crete the double-axe was in Minoan times a symbol of a
deity;[40] and in northern Egypt and on the Libyan coast the crossed
arrows symbolized the goddess Neith; while in various countries, and
especially in India, there are ancient stories about the spirits of
weapons appearing in visions and promising to aid great hunters and
warriors. The custom of giving weapons personal names, which survived
for long in Europe, may have had origin in Solutrean times.
[40] For other examples see Mr. Legge's article in _Proceedings
of the Society of Biblical Archæology_, 1899. p. 310.
Art languished in Solutrean times. Geometrical figures were incised
on ivory and bone; some engraving of mammoths, reindeer, and lions
have been found in Moravia and France. When the human figure was
depicted, the female was neglected and studies made of males. It
may be that the Solutreans had a god-cult as distinguished from the
goddess-cult of the Aurignacians, and that their "flint-god" was an
early form of Zeus, or of Thor, whose earliest hammer was of flint.
The Romans revered "Jupiter Lapis" (silex). When the solemn oath was
taken at the ceremony of treaty-making, the representative of the
Roman people struck a sacrificial pig with the _silex_ and said, "Do
thou, Diespiter, strike the Roman people as I strike this pig here
to-day, and strike them the more, as thou art greater and stronger".
Mr. Cyril Bailey (_The Religion of Ancient Rome_, p. 7) expresses the
view that "in origin the stone is itself the god".
During Solutrean times the climate of Europe, although still cold,
was drier that in Aurignacian times. It may be that the intruders
seized the flint quarries of the Crô-Magnons, and also disputed
with them the possession of hunting-grounds. The cave art declined
or was suspended during what may have been a military regime and
perhaps, too, under the influence of a new religion and new social
customs. Open-air camps beside rock-shelters were greatly favoured.
It may be, as has been suggested, that the Solutreans were as expert
as the modern Eskimos in providing clothing and skin-tents. Bone
needles were numerous. They fed well, and horse-flesh was a specially
favoured food.
In their mountain retreats, the Aurignacians may have concentrated
more attention than they had previously done on the working of
bone and horn; it may be that they were reinforced by new races
from north-eastern Europe, who had been developing a distinctive
industry on the borders of Asia. At any rate, the industry known as
Magdalenian became widespread when the ice-fields crept southward
again, and southern and central Europe became as wet and cold as in
early Aurignacian times. Solutrean culture gradually declined and
vanished and Magdalenian became supreme.
The Magdalenian stage of culture shows affinities with Aurignacian
and betrays no influence of Solutrean technique. The method of
working flint was quite different. The Magdalenians, indeed, appear
to have attached little importance to flint for implements of the
chase. They often chipped it badly in their own way and sometimes
selected flint of poor quality, but they had beautiful "scrapers"
and "gravers" of flint. It does not follow, however, that they
were a people on a lower stage of culture than the Solutreans. New
inventions had rendered it unnecessary for them to adopt Solutrean
technique. Most effective implements of horn and bone had come into
use and, if wars were waged--there is no evidence of warfare--the
Magdalenians were able to give a good account of themselves with
javelins and exceedingly strong spears which were given a greater
range by the introduction of spear-throwers--"cases" from which
spears were thrown. The food supply was increased by a new method of
catching fish. Barbed harpoons of reindeer-horn had been invented,
and no doubt many salmon, &c., were caught at river-side stations.
The Crô-Magnons, as has been found, were again in the ascendant, and
their artistic genius was given full play as in Aurignacian times,
and, no doubt, as a result of the revival of religious beliefs that
fostered art as a cult product. Once again the painters, engravers,
and sculptors adorned the caves with representations of wild animals.
Colours were used with increasing skill and taste. The artists
had palettes on which to mix their colours, and used stone lamps,
specimens of which have been found, to light up their "studios" in
deep cave recesses. During this Magdalenian stage of culture the art
of the Crô-Magnons reached its highest standard of excellence, and
grew so extraordinarily rich and varied that it compares well with
the later religious arts of ancient Egypt and Babylonia.
The horse appears to have been domesticated. There is at Saint
Michel d'Arudy a "Celtic" horse depicted with a bridle, while at
La Madeleine was found a "bâton de commandement" on which a human
figure, with a stave in his right hand, walks past two horses which
betray no signs of alarm.
Our knowledge is scanty regarding the races that occupied Europe
during Magdalenian times. In addition to the Crô-Magnons there
were other distinctive types. One of these is represented by the
Chancelade skeleton found at Raymonden shelter. Some think it betrays
Eskimo affinities and represents a racial "drift" from the Russian
steppes. In his _Ancient Hunters_ Professor Sollas shows that there
are resemblances between Eskimo and Magdalenian artifacts.
The Magdalenian culture reached England, although it never penetrated
into Italy, and was shut out from the greater part of Spain. It
has been traced as far north as Derbyshire, on the north-eastern
border of which the Cresswell caves have yielded Magdalenian
relics, including flint-borers, engravers, &c., and bone implements,
including a needle, an awl, chisels, an engraving of a horse on bone,
&c. Kent's Cavern, near Torquay in Devonshire, has also yielded
Magdalenian flints and implements of bone, including pins, awls,
barbed harpoons, &c.
During early Magdalenian times, however, our native land did not
offer great attractions to Continental people. The final glacial
epoch may have been partial, but it was severe, and there was a
decided lowering of the temperature. Then came a warmer and drier
spell, which was followed by the sixth partial glaciation. Thereafter
the "great thaw" opened up Europe to the invasion of new races from
Asia and Africa.
Three distinct movements of peoples in Europe can be traced in
post-Magdalenian times, and during what has been called the
"Transition Period", between the Upper Palæolithic and Lower
Neolithic Ages or stages. The ice-cap retreated finally from
the mountains of Scotland and Sweden, and the reindeer migrated
northward. Magdalenian civilization was gradually broken up, and the
cave art suffered sharp decline until at length it perished utterly.
Trees flourished in areas where formerly the reindeer scraped the
snow to crop moss and lichen, and rich pastures attracted the
northward migrating red deer, the roe-deer, the ibex, the wild boar,
wild cattle, &c.
The new industries are known as the Tardenoisian, the Azilian, and
the Maglemosian.
[Illustration: Geometric or "Pygmy" Flints. (After Breuil.)
1, From Tunis and Southern Spain. 2, From Portugal. 3, 4, Azilian
types. 5, 6, 7, Tardenoisian types.]
Tardenoisian flints are exceedingly small and beautifully worked,
and have geometric forms; they are known as "microliths" and "pygmy
flints". They were evidently used in catching fish, some being hooks
and others spear-heads; and they represent a culture that spread
round the Mediterranean basin: these flints are found in northern
Egypt, Tunis, Algeria, and Italy; from Italy they passed through
Europe into England and Scotland. A people who decorated with scenes
of daily life rock shelters and caves in Spain, and hunted red deer
and other animals with bows and arrows, were pressing northward
across the new grass-lands towards the old Magdalenian stations. Men
wore pants and feather head-dresses; women had short gowns, blouses,
and caps, as had the late Magdalenians, and both sexes wore armlets,
anklets, and other ornaments of magical potency. Females were nude
when engaged in the chase. The goddess Diana had evidently her human
prototypes. There were ceremonial dances, as the rock pictures show;
women lamented over graves, and affectionate couples--at least they
seem to have been affectionate--walked hand in hand as they gradually
migrated towards northern Spain, and northern France and Britain. The
horse was domesticated, and is seen being led by the halter. Wild
animal "drives" were organized, and many victims fell to archer and
spearman. Arrows were feathered; bows were large and strong. Symbolic
signs indicate that a script similar to those of the Ægean area,
the northern African coast, and pre-dynastic Egypt was freely used.
Drawings became conventional, and ultimately animals and human beings
were represented by signs. This culture lasted after the introduction
of the Neolithic industry in some areas, and in others after the
bronze industry had been adopted by sections of the people.
When the Magdalenian harpoon of reindeer horn was imitated by the
flat harpoon of red-deer horn, this new culture became what is known
as Azilian. It met and mingled with Tardenoisian, which appears to
have arrived later, and the combined industries are referred to as
Azilian-Tardenoisian.
While the race-drifts, represented by the carriers of the Azilian and
Tardenoisian industries, were moving into France and Britain, another
invasion from the East was in progress. It is represented in the
famous Ofnet cave where long-heads and broad-heads were interred. The
Asiatic Armenoids (Alpine type) had begun to arrive in Europe, the
glaciers having vanished in Asia Minor. Skulls of broad-heads found
in the Belgian cave of Furfooz, in which sixteen human skeletons were
unearthed in 1867, belong to this period. The early Armenoids met and
mingled with representatives of the blond northern race, and were the
basis of the broad-headed blonds of Holland, Denmark, and Belgium.
[Illustration: EXAMPLES OF PALÆOLITHIC ART
The objects include: handles of knives and daggers carved in
ivory and bone, line drawings of wild animals, faces of masked
men, of animal-headed deity or masked man with arms uplifted
(compare Egyptian "Ka" attitude of adoration), of wild horses on
perforated _bâton de commandement_, of man stalking a bison, of
seal, cow, reindeer, cave-bear, &c., and perforated amulets.]
Maglemosian culture is believed to have been introduced by the
ancestors of the fair peoples of Northern Europe. It has been
so named after the finds at Maglemose in the "Great Moor", near
Mullerup, on the western coast of Zeeland. A lake existed at this
place at a time when the Baltic was an inland water completely
shut off from the North Sea. In a peat bog, formerly the bed of the
lake, were found a large number of flint and bone artifacts. These
included Tardenoisian microliths, barbed harpoons of bone, needles
of bone, spears of bone, &c. Bone was more freely used than horn
for implements and weapons. The animals hunted included the stag,
roe-deer, moose, wild ox, and wild boar. Dogs were domesticated.
It appears that the Maglemosians were lake-dwellers. Their houses,
however, had not been erected on stilts, but apparently on a floating
platform of logs, which was no doubt anchored or moored to the shore.
There are traces of Magdalenian influence in Maglemosian culture.
Although many decorative forms on bone implements and engravings on
rocks are formal and symbolic, there are some fine and realistic
representations of animals worthy of the Magdalenian cave artists.
Traces of the Maglemosian racial drift have been obtained on both
sides of the Baltic and in the Danish kitchen middens. Engravings
on rocks at Lake Onega in Northern Russia closely resemble typical
Maglemosian work. Apparently the northern fair peoples entered Europe
from Western Siberia, and in time were influenced by Neolithic
culture. But before the Europeans began to polish their stone
implements and weapons, the blond hunters and fishermen settled not
only in Denmark and Southern Sweden and Norway but also in Britain.
At the time when the Baltic was an inland fresh-water lake, the
southern part of the North Sea was dry land, and trees grew on Dogger
Bank, from which fishermen still occasionally lift in their trawls
lumps of "moor-log" (peat) and the bones of animals, including those
of the reindeer, the red deer, the horse, the wild ox, the bison, the
Irish elk, the bear, the wolf, the beaver, the woolly rhinoceros,
the mammoth, and the walrus. No doubt the Maglemosians found their
way over this "land-bridge", crossing the rivers in rude boats, and
on foot when the rivers were frozen. Evidence has been forthcoming
that they also followed the present coast line towards Boulogne, near
which a typical Maglemosian harpoon has been discovered.
[Illustration: A Notable Example of late Magdalenian Culture:
engraving on bone of browsing reindeer. From Kesserloch,
Switzerland. (After Heim.)]
Traces of Maglemosian influence have been found as far north as
Scotland on the Hebridean islands of Oronsay and Risga. The MacArthur
cave at Oban reveals Azilian artifacts. In the Victoria cave near
Settle in Yorkshire a late Magdalenian or proto-Azilian harpoon
made of reindeer-horn is of special interest, displaying, as it
does, a close connection between late Magdalenian and early Azilian.
Barbed harpoons, found at the shelter of Druimvargie, near Oban, are
Azilian, some displaying Maglemosian features. Barbed harpoons of
bone, and especially those with barbs on one side only, are generally
Maglemosian, while those of horn and double-barbed are typically
Azilian.
[Illustration: Horn and Bone Implements
Harpoons: 1 and 2, from MacArthur Cave, Oban; 3, from Laugerie
Basse rock-shelter, France; 4, from shell-heap, Oronsay,
Hebrides; 5, from bed of River Dee near Kirkcudbright; 6, from
Palude Brabbie, Italy--all of Azilian type. 8, Reindeer-horn
harpoon of late Magdalenian, or proto-Azilian, type from Victoria
Cave, near Settle, Yorks. 9, Maglemosian, or Azilian-Maglemosian,
harpoon from rock-shelter, Druimvargie, Oban. 7, 10, 11, 12, 13,
and 14, bone and deer-horn implements from MacArthur Cave, Oban.]
Apparently the fair Northerners, the carriers of Maglemosian culture,
and the dark Iberians, the carriers of Azilian culture, met and
mingled in Scotland and England long before the Neolithic industry
was introduced. There were also, it would appear, communities in
Britain of Crô-Magnons, and perhaps of other racial types that
existed on the Continent and in late Magdalenian times. The fair
peoples of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland are not therefore
all necessarily descendants of Celts, Angles, Saxons, and Vikings.
The pioneer settlers in the British Isles, in all probability,
included blue and grey-eyed and fair or reddish-haired peoples who
in Scotland may have formed the basis of the later Caledonian type,
compared by Tacitus to the Germans, but bearing an undoubted Celtic
racial name, the military aristocrats being Celts.[41]
[41] The Abbé Breuil, having examined the artifacts associated
with the Western Scottish harpoons, inclines to refer to
the culture as "Azilian-Tardenoisian". At the same time he
considers the view that Maglemosian influence was operating is
worthy of consideration. He notes that traces of Maglemosian
culture have been reported from England. The Abbé has detected
Magdalenian influence in artifacts from Campbeltown, Argyllshire
(_Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries in Scotland_, 1921-2).
CHAPTER VI
The Faithful Dog
Transition Period between Palæolithic and Neolithic
Ages--Theory of the Neolithic Edge--Crô-Magnon Civilization was
broken up by Users of Bow and Arrow--Domesticated Dog of Fair
Northerners--Dogs as Guides and Protectors of Man--The Dog in
Early Religion--Dog Guides of Souls--The Dog of Hades--Dogs and
Death--The Scape-dog in Scotland--Souls in Dog Form--Traces of
Early Domesticated Dogs--Romans imported British Dogs.
The period we have now reached is regarded by some as that of
transition between the Palæolithic and Neolithic Ages, and by
others as the Early Neolithic period. It is necessary, therefore,
that we should keep in mind that these terms have been to a great
extent divested of the significance originally attached to them.
The transition period was a lengthy one, extending over many
centuries during which great changes occurred. It was much longer
than the so-called "Neolithic Age". New races appeared in Europe and
introduced new habits of life and thought, new animals appeared and
animals formerly hunted by man retreated northward or became extinct;
the land sank and rose; a great part of the North Sea and the English
Channel was for a time dry land, and trees grew on the plateau now
marked by the Dogger Bank during this "Transition Period", and
before it had ended the Strait of Dover had widened and England was
completely cut off from the Continent.
Compared with these great changes the invention of the polished
axe edge seems almost trivial. Yet some writers have regarded
this change as being all-important. "On the edge ever since its
discovery", writes one of them with enthusiasm, "has depended and
probably will depend to the end of time the whole artistic and
artificial environment of human existence, in all its infinite varied
complexity.... By this discovery was broken down a wall that for
untold ages had dammed up a stagnant, unprogressive past, and through
the breach were let loose all the potentialities of the future
civilization of mankind. It was entirely due to the discovery of the
edge that man was enabled, in the course of time, to invent the art
of shipbuilding."[42]
[42] Eirikr Magnusson in _Notes on Shipbuilding and Nautical
Terms_, London, 1906.
This is a very sweeping claim and hardly justified by the evidence
that of late years has come to light. Much progress had been
achieved before the easy method of polishing supplanted that of
secondary working. The so-called Palæolithic implements were not
devoid of edges. What really happened was that flint-working was
greatly simplified. The discovery was an important one, but it
was not due to it alone that great changes in habits of life were
introduced. Long before the introduction of the Neolithic industry,
the earliest traces of which in Western Europe have been obtained
at Campigny near the village of Blangy on the River Bresle, the
Magdalenian civilization of the Crô-Magnons had been broken up by the
Azilian-Tardenoisian intruders in Central and Western Europe and by
the Maglemosians in the Baltic area.
The invading hordes in Spain, so far as can be gathered from rock
pictures, made more use of bows and arrows than of spears, and it
may be that their social organization was superior to that of the
Magdalenians. Their animal "drives" suggest as much. It may be
that they were better equipped for organized warfare--if there was
warfare--and for hunting by organizing drives than the taller and
stronger Crô-Magnons. When they reached the Magdalenian stations they
adopted the barbed harpoon, imitating reindeer-horn forms in red-deer
horn.
The blond Maglemosians in the Baltic area introduced from Asia the
domesticated dog. They were thus able to obtain their food supply
with greater ease than did the Solutreans with their laurel-leaf
lances, or the Magdalenians with their spears tipped with bone or
horn. When man was joined by his faithful ally he met with more
success than when he pursued the chase unaided. Withal, he could
take greater risks when threatened by the angry bulls of a herd, and
operate over more extended tracks of country with less fear of attack
by beasts of prey. His dogs warned him of approaching peril and
guarded his camp by night.
Hunters who dwelt in caves may have done so partly for protection
against lions and bears and wolves that were attracted to hunters'
camps by the scent of flesh and blood. No doubt barriers had to be
erected to shield men, women, and children in the darkness; and it
may be that there were fires and sentinels at cave entrances.
The introduction of the domesticated dog may have influenced the
development of religious beliefs. Crô-Magnon hunters appear to have
performed ceremonies in the depths of caverns where they painted and
carved wild animals, with purpose to obtain power over them. Their
masked dances, in which men and women represented wild animals,
chiefly beasts of prey, may have had a similar significance. The
fact that, during the Transition Period, a cult art passed out of
existence, and the caves were no longer centres of culture and
political power, may have been directly or indirectly due to the
domestication of the dog and the supremacy achieved by the intruders
who possessed it.
There can be no doubt that the dog played its part in the development
of civilization. As much is suggested by the lore attaching to this
animal. It occupies a prominent place in mythology. The dog which
guided and protected the hunter in his wanderings was supposed to
guide his soul to the other world.
He thought admitted to that equal sky,
His faithful dog would bear him company.
In Ancient Egypt the dog-headed god Anubis was the guide and
protector of souls. Apuatua, an early form of Osiris, was a dog god.
Yama, the Hindu god of death, as Dharma, god of justice, assumed his
dog form to guide the Panadava brothers to Paradise, as is related
in the Sanskrit epic the _Mahá-bhárata_[43]. The god Indra, the
Hindu Jupiter, was the "big dog", and the custom still prevails
among primitive Indian peoples of torturing a dog by pouring hot oil
into its ears so that the "big dog" may hear and send rain. In the
_Mahá-bhárata_ there is a story about Indra appearing as a hunter
followed by a pack of dogs. As the "Wild Huntsman" the Scandinavian
god Odin rides through the air followed by dogs. The dog is in Greek
mythology the sentinel of Hades; it figures in a like capacity in
the Hades of Northern Mythology. Cuchullin, the Gaelic hero, kills
the dog of Hades and takes its place until another dog is found and
trained, and that is why he is called "Cu" (the dog) of Culann. A
pool in Kildonan, Sutherland, which was reputed to contain a pot
of gold, was supposed to be guarded by a big black dog with two
heads. A similar legend attaches to Hound's Pool in the parish of
Dean Combe, Devonshire. In different parts of the world the dog is
the creator and ancestor of the human race, the symbol of kinship,
&c. The star Sirius was associated with the dog. In Scotland and
Ireland "dog stones" were venerated. A common surviving belief is
that dogs howl by night when a sudden death is about to occur. This
association of the dog with death is echoed by Theocritus. "Hark!"
cries Simaetha, "the dogs are barking through the town. Hecate is
at the crossways. Haste, clash the brazen cymbals." The dog-god of
Scotland is remembered as _an cù sìth_ ("the supernatural dog");
it is as big as a calf, and by night passes rapidly over land and
sea. A black demon-dog--the "Moddey Dhoo"--referred to by Scott in
_Peveril of the Peak_ was supposed to haunt Peel Castle in the Isle
of Man. A former New Year's day custom in Perthshire was to send away
from a house door a scape-dog with the words, "Get away you dog!
Whatever death of men or loss of cattle would happen in this house
till the end of the present year, may it all light on your head." A
similar custom obtained among Western Himalayan peoples. Early man
appears to have regarded his faithful companion as a supernatural
being. There are Gaelic references to souls appearing in dog form to
assist families in time of need. Not only did the dog attack beasts
of prey; in Gaelic folk-tales it is the enemy of fairies and demons,
and especially cave-haunting demons. Early man's gratitude to and
dependence on the dog seems to be reflected in stories of this kind.
[43] Pronounced ma-haw'-baw'-rata (the two final _a_'s are short).
When the Baltic peoples, who are believed to be the first "wave" of
blond Northerners, moved westward towards Denmark during the period
of the "great thaw", they must have been greatly assisted by the
domesticated dog, traces of which are found in Maglemosian stations.
Bones of dogs have been found in the Danish kitchen middens and
in the MacArthur cave at Oban. It may be that the famous breed of
British hunting dogs which were in Roman times exported to Italy were
descended from those introduced by the Maglemosian hunters. Seven
Irish dogs were in the fourth century presented to Symmachus, a Roman
consul, by his brother. "All Rome", the grateful recipient wrote,
"view them with wonder and thought they must have been brought hither
in iron cages."
Great dogs were kept in Ancient Britain and Ireland for protection
against wolves as well as for hunting wild animals. The ancient Irish
made free use in battle of large fierce hounds. In the folk-stories
of Scotland dogs help human beings to attack and overcome
supernatural beings. Dogs were the enemies of the fairies, mermaids,
&c.
Dog gods figure on the ancient sculptured stones of Scotland. The
names of the Irish heroes Cuchullin and Con-chobar were derived from
those of dog deities. "Con" is the genitive of "Cu" (dog).
CHAPTER VII
Ancient Mariners Reach Britain
Reindeer in Scotland--North Sea and English Channel
Land-bridges--Early River Rafts and River Boats--Breaking
of Land-bridges--Coast Erosion--Tilbury Man--Where were
first Boats Invented?--Ancient Boats in Britain--"Dug-out"
Canoes--Imitations of Earlier Papyri and Skin Boats--Cork
Plug in Ancient Clyde Boat--Early Swedish Boats--An African
Link--Various Types of British Boats--Daring Ancient
Mariners--The Veneti Seafarers--Attractions of Early Britain
for Colonists.
The Maglemosian (Baltic) and Azilian (Iberian) peoples, who reached
and settled in Britain long before the introduction of the Neolithic
industry, appear, as has been shown, to have crossed the great
land-bridge, which is now marked by the Dogger Bank, and the narrowed
land-bridge that connected England and France. No doubt they came at
first in small bands, wandering along the river banks and founding
fishing communities, following the herds of red deer and wild cows
that had moved northward, and seeking flints, &c. The Crô-Magnons,
whose civilization the new intruders had broken up on the Continent,
were already in Britain, where the reindeer lingered for many
centuries after they had vanished from France. The reindeer moss
still grows in the north of Scotland. Bones and horns of the reindeer
have been found in this area in association with human remains as
late as of the Roman period. In the twelfth century the Norsemen
hunted reindeer in Caithness.[44] Cæsar refers to the reindeer in
the Hercynian forest of Germany (_Gallic War_, VI, 26).
[44] _The Orkneyinga Saga_, p. 182, Edinburgh, 1873, and
_Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, Vol.
VIII.
The early colonists of fair Northerners who introduced the
Maglemosian culture into Britain from the Baltic area could not have
crossed the North Sea land-bridge without the aid of rafts or boats.
Great broad rivers were flowing towards the north. The Elbe and the
Weser joined one another near the island of Heligoland, and received
tributaries from marshy valleys until a long estuary wider than is
the Wash at present was formed. Another long river flowed northward
from the valley of the Zuyder Zee, the mouth of which has been traced
on the north-east of the Dogger Bank. The Rhine reached the North
Sea on the south-west of the Dogger Bank, off Flamborough Head; its
tributaries included the Meuse and the Thames. The Humber and the
rivers flowing at present into the Wash were united before entering
the North Sea between the mouth of the Rhine and the coast of East
Riding.
The Dogger Bank was then a plateau. Trawlers, as has been stated,
sometimes lift from its surface in their trawl nets lumps of peat,
which they call "moor-log", and also the bones of wild animals,
including the wild ox, the wild horse, red deer, reindeer, the elk,
the bear, the wolf, the hyæna, the beaver, the walrus, the woolly
rhinoceros, and the hairy mammoth. In the peat have been found the
remains of the white birch, the hazel, sallow, and willow, seeds
of bog-bean, fragments of fern, &c. All the plants have a northern
range. In some pieces of peat have been found plants and insects that
still flourish in Britain.[45]
[45] Clement Reid, _Submerged Forests_, pp. 45-7. London, 1913.
The easiest crossing to Britain was over the English Channel
land-bridge. It was ultimately cut through by the English Channel
river, so that the dark Azilian-Tardenoisian peoples from Central and
Western Europe and the fair Maglemosians must have required and used
rafts or boats before polished implements of Neolithic type came into
use. In time the North Sea broke through the marshes of the river
land to the east of the Thames Estuary and joined the waters of the
English Channel. The Strait of Dover was then formed. At first it
may have been narrow enough for animals to swim across or, at any
rate, for the rude river boats or rafts of the early colonists to be
paddled over in safety between tides. Gradually, however, the strait
grew wider and wider; the chalk cliffs, long undermined by boring
molluscs and scouring shingle, were torn down by great billows during
winter storms.
It may be that for a long period after the North Sea and English
Channel were united, the Dogger Bank remained an island, and that
there were other islands between Heligoland and the English coast.
Pliny, who had served with the Roman army in Germany, writing in the
first century of our era, refers to twenty-three islands between
the Texel and the Eider in Schleswig-Holstein. Seven of these have
since vanished. The west coast of Schleswig has, during the past
eighteen hundred years, suffered greatly from erosion, and alluvial
plains that formerly yielded rich harvests are now represented by
sandbanks. The Goodwin Sands, which stretch for about ten miles off
the Kentish coast, were once part of the fertile estate of Earl
Godwin which was destroyed and engulfed by a great storm towards the
end of the eleventh century. The Gulf of Zuyder Zee was formerly a
green plain with many towns and villages. Periodic inundations since
the Roman period have destroyed flourishing Dutch farms and villages
and eaten far into the land. There are records of storm-floods
that drowned on one occasion 20,000, and on another no fewer than
100,000 inhabitants.[46] It is believed that large tracts of land,
the remnants of the ancient North Sea land-bridge, have been engulfed
since about 3000 B.C., as a result not merely of erosion but the
gradual submergence of the land. This date is suggested by Mr.
Clement Reid.
[46] The dates of the greatest disasters on record are 1421,
1532, and 1570. There were also terrible inundations in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and in 1825 and 1855.
"The estimate", he says, "may have to be modified as we obtain
better evidence; but it is as well to realize clearly that we are
not dealing with a long period of great geological antiquity; we
are dealing with times when the Egyptian, Babylonian, and Minoan
(Cretan) civilizations flourished. Northern Europe was then probably
barbarous, and metals had not come into use;[47] but the amber trade
of the Baltic was probably in full swing. Rumours of any great
disaster, such as the submergence of thousands of square miles and
the displacement of large populations, might spread far and wide
along the trade routes." It may be that the legend of the Lost
Atlantis was founded on reports of such a disaster, that must have
occurred when areas like the Dogger Bank were engulfed. It may be
too that the gradual wasting away of lands that have long since
vanished propelled migrations of peoples towards the smiling coasts
of England. According to Ammianus the Druids stated that some of the
inhabitants of Gaul were descendants of refugees from sea-invaded
areas.
[47] It was not necessarily barbarous because metal weapons had
not been invented.
The gradual sinking of the land and the process of coast erosion
has greatly altered the geography of England. The beach on which
Julius Cæsar landed has long since vanished, the dwellings of the
ancient Azilian and Maglemosian colonists, who reached England in
post-Glacial times, have been sunk below the English Channel. When
Tilbury Docks were being excavated Roman remains were found embedded
in clay several feet below high-water mark. Below several layers of
peat and mud, and immediately under a bank of sand in which were
fragments of decomposed wood, was found the human skeleton known as
"Tilbury man". The land in this area was originally 80 feet above its
present level.[48] But while England was sinking Scotland was rising.
The MacArthur cave at Oban, in which Azilian hunters and fishermen
made their home on the sea-beach, is now about 30 feet above the old
sea-level.
[48] _Submerged Forests_, p. 120.
Before Dover Strait had been widened by the gradual sinking of the
land and the process of coast erosion, and before the great islands
had vanished from the southern part of the North Sea, the early
hunters and fishermen could have experienced no great difficulty in
reaching England. It is possible that the Azilian, Tardenoisian, and
Maglemosian peoples had made considerable progress in the art of
navigation. Traces of the Tardenoisian industry have been obtained
in Northern Egypt, along the ancient Libyan coast of North Africa
where a great deal of land has been submerged, and especially at
Tunis, and in Algiers, in Italy, and in England and Scotland, as has
been noted. There were boats on the Mediterranean at a very early
period. The island of Crete was reached long before the introduction
of copper-working by seafarers who visited the island of Melos, and
there obtained obsidian (natural glass) from which sharp implements
were fashioned. Egyptian mariners, who dwelt on the Delta coast,
imported cedar, not only from Lebanon but from Morocco, as has been
found from the evidence afforded by mummies packed with the sawdust
of cedar from the Atlas Mountains.[49] When this trade with Morocco
began it is impossible to say with certainty. Long before 3000 B.C.,
however, the Egyptians were building boats that were fitted with
masts and sails. The ancient mariners were active as explorers and
traders before implements of copper came into use.
[49] _The Cairo Scientific Journal_, Vol. III. No. 32 (May,
1909), p. 105.
Here we touch on a very interesting problem. Where were boats first
invented and the art of navigation developed? Rafts and floats
formed by tying together two trees or, as in Egypt, two bundles of
reeds, were in use at a very early period in various countries. In
Babylonia the "kufa", a great floating basket made watertight with
pitch or covered with skins, was an early invention. It was used
as it still is for river ferry boats. But ships were not developed
from "kufas". The dug-out canoe is one of the early prototypes of
the modern ocean-going vessel. It reached this country before the
Neolithic industry was introduced, and during that period when
England was slowly sinking and Scotland was gradually rising. Dug-out
canoes continued to come during the so-called "Neolithic" stage of
culture ere yet the sinking and rising of land had ceased. "That
Neolithic man lived in Scotland during the formation of this beach
(the 45-to 50-foot beach) is proved", wrote the late Professor James
Geikie, "by the frequent occurrence in it of his relics. At Perth,
for example, a dug-out canoe of pine was met with towards the bottom
of the carse clays; and similar finds have frequently been recorded
from the contemporaneous deposits in the valleys of the Forth and the
Clyde."[50]
[50] _Antiquity of Man in Europe_, p. 274, Edinburgh, 1914. The
term "Neolithic" is here rather vague. It applies to the Azilians
and Maglemosians as well as to later peoples.
How did early man come to invent the dug-out? Not only did he hollow
out a tree trunk by the laborious process of burning and by chipping
with a flint adze, he dressed the trunk so that his boat could be
balanced on the water. The early shipbuilders had to learn, and did
learn, for themselves, "the values of length and beam, of draught and
sweet lines, of straight keel; with high stem to breast a wave and
high stern to repel a following sea". The fashioning of a sea-worthy,
or even a river-worthy boat, must have been in ancient times as
difficult a task as was the fashioning of the first aeroplane in our
own day. Many problems had to be solved, many experiments had to
be made, and, no doubt, many tragedies took place before the first
safe model-boat was paddled across a river. The early experimenters
may have had shapes of vessels suggested to them by fish and birds,
and especially by the aquatic birds that paddled past them on the
river breast with dignity and ease. But is it probable that the
first experiments were made with trees? Did early man undertake the
laborious task of hewing down tree after tree to shape new models,
until in the end he found on launching the correctly shaped vessel
that its balance was perfect? Or was the dug-out canoe an imitation
of a boat already in existence, just as a modern ship built of
steel or concrete is an imitation of the earlier wooden ships? The
available evidence regarding this important phase of the shipping
problem tends to show that, before the dug-out was invented, boats
were constructed of light material. Ancient Egypt was the earliest
shipbuilding country in the world, and all ancient ships were
modelled on those that traded on the calm waters of the Nile. Yet
Egypt is an almost treeless land. There the earliest boats--broad,
light skiffs--were made by binding together long bundles of the
reeds of papyrus. Ropes were twisted from papyrus as well as from
palm fibre.[51] It would appear that, before dug-outs were made, the
problems of boat construction were solved by those who had invented
papyri skiffs and skin boats. In the case of the latter the skins
were stretched round a framework, sewed together and made watertight
with pitch. We still refer to the "seams" and the "skin" of a boat.
[51] Breasted, _A History of Egypt_, pp. 96-7.
The art of boat-building spread far and wide from the area of origin.
Until recently the Chinese were building junks of the same type
as they did four or five hundred years earlier. These junks have
been compared by more than one writer to the deep-sea boats of the
Egyptian Empire period. The Papuans make "dug-outs" and carve eyes
on the prows as did the ancient Egyptians and as do the Maltese,
Chinese, &c., in our own day. Even when only partly hollowed, the
Papuan boats have perfect balance in the water as soon as they are
launched.[52] The Polynesians performed religious ceremonies when
cutting down trees and constructing boats.[53] In their incantations,
&c., the lore of boat-building was enshrined and handed down. The
Polynesian boat was dedicated to the _mo-o_ (dragon-god). We still
retain a relic of an ancient religious ceremony when a bottle of wine
is broken on the bows of a vessel just as it is being launched.
[52] Wollaston, _Pygmies and Papuans (The Stone Age To-day in
Dutch New Guinea)_, London, 1912, pp. 53 et seq.
[53] Westervelt, _Legends of Old Honolulu_, pp. 97 _et seq._
After the Egyptians were able to secure supplies of cedar wood from
the Atlas Mountains or Lebanon, by drifting rafts of lashed trees
along the coast line, they made dug-out vessels of various shapes,
as can be seen in the tomb pictures of the Old Kingdom period. These
dug-outs were apparently modelled on the earlier papyri and skin
boats. A ship with a square sail spread to the wind is depicted on an
Ancient Egyptian two-handed jar in the British Museum, which is of
pre-dynastic age and may date to anything like 4000 or 5000 B.C. At
that remote period the art of navigation was already well advanced,
no doubt on account of the experience gained on the calm waters of
the Nile.
[Illustration: (_a_) Sketch of a boat from Victoria Nyanza, after
the drawing in Sir Henry Stanley's _Darkest Africa_. Only the
handles of the oars are shown. In outline the positions of some
of the oarsmen are roughly represented.
(_b_) Crude drawing of a similar boat carved upon the rocks
in Sweden during the Early Bronze Age, after Montelius. By
comparison with (_a_) it will be seen that the vertical
projections were probably intended to represent the oarsmen.
The upturned hook-like appendage at the stern is found in ancient
Egyptian and Mediterranean ships, but is absent in the modern
African vessel shown in (_a_).
These figures are taken from Elliot Smith's _Ancient Mariners_
(1918).]
The existence of these boats on the Nile at a time when great
race migrations were in progress may well account for the early
appearance of dug-outs in Northern Europe. One of the Clyde canoes,
found embedded in Clyde silt twenty-five feet above the present
sea-level, was found to have a plug of cork which could only have
come from the area in which cork trees grow--Spain, Southern France,
or Italy.[54] It may have been manned by the Azilians of Spain whose
rock paintings date from the Transition period. Similar striking
evidence of the drift of culture from the Mediterranean area towards
Northern Europe is obtained from some of the rock paintings and
carvings of Sweden. Among the canoes depicted are some with distinct
Mediterranean characteristics. One at Tegneby in Bohuslän bears a
striking resemblance to a boat seen by Sir Henry Stanley on Lake
Victoria Nyanza. It seems undoubted that the designs are of common
origin, although separated not only by centuries but by barriers of
mountain, desert, and sea extending many hundreds of miles. From
the Maglemosian boat the Viking ship was ultimately developed; the
unprogressive Victoria Nyanza boatbuilders continued through the
Ages repeating the design adopted by their remote ancestors. In both
vessels the keel projects forward, and the figure-head is that of
a goat or ram. The northern vessel has the characteristic inward
curving stern of ancient Egyptian ships. As the rock on which it
was carved is situated in a metal-yielding area, the probability is
that this type of vessel is a relic of the visits paid by searchers
for metals in ancient times, who established colonies of dark miners
among the fair Northerners and introduced the elements of southern
culture.
[54] Lyell, _Antiquity of Man_, p. 48.
The ancient boats found in Scotland are of a variety of types. One
of those at Glasgow lay, when discovered, nearly vertical, with prow
uppermost as if it had foundered; it had been built "of several
pieces of oak, though without ribs". Another had the remains of an
outrigger attached to it: beside another, which had been partly
hollowed by fire, lay two planks that appear to have been wash-boards
like those on a Sussex dug-out. A Clyde clinker-built boat, eighteen
feet long, had a keel and a base of oak to which ribs had been
attached. An interesting find at Kinaven in Aberdeenshire, several
miles distant from the Ythan, a famous pearling river, was a dug-out
eleven feet long, and about four feet broad. It lay embedded at the
head of a small ravine in five feet of peat which appears to have
been the bed of an ancient lake. Near it were the stumps of big oaks,
apparently of the Upper Forestian period.
Among the longest of the ancient boats that have been discovered
are one forty-two feet long, with an animal head on the prow, from
Loch Arthur, near Dumfries, one thirty-five long from near the River
Arun in Sussex, one sixty-three feet long excavated near the Rother
in Kent, one forty-eight feet six inches long, found at Brigg,
Lincolnshire, with wooden patches where she had sprung a leak, and
signs of the caulking of cracks and small holes with moss.
These vessels do not all belong to the same period. The date of the
Brigg boat is, judging from the geological strata, between 1100 and
700 B.C. It would appear that some of the Clyde vessels found at
twenty-five feet above the present sea-level are even older. Beside
one Clyde boat was found an axe of polished green-stone similar to
the axes used by Polynesians and others in shaping dug-outs. This
axe may, however, have been a religious object. To the low bases of
some vessels were fixed ribs on which skins were stretched. These
boats were eminently suitable for rough seas, being more buoyant than
dug-outs. According to Himilco the inhabitants of the OEstrymnides,
the islands "rich in tin and lead", had most sea-worthy skiffs.
"These people do not make pine keels, nor", he says, "do they know
how to fashion them; nor do they make fir barks, but, with wonderful
skill, fashion skiffs with sewn skins. In these hide-bound vessels,
they skim across the ocean." Apparently they were as daring mariners
as the Oregon Islanders of whom Washington Irving has written:
"It is surprising to see with what fearless unconcern these
savages venture in their light barks upon the roughest and
most tempestuous seas. They seem to ride upon the wave like
sea-fowl. Should a surge throw the canoe upon its side, and
endanger its over turn, those to the windward lean over the
upper gunwale, thrust their paddles deep into the wave, and by
this action not merely regain an equilibrium, but give their
bark a vigorous impulse forward."
The ancient mariners whose rude vessels have been excavated around
our coasts were the forerunners of the Celtic sea-traders, who,
as the Gaelic evidence shows, had names not only for the North
Sea and the English Channel but also for the Mediterranean Sea.
They cultivated what is known as the "sea sense", and developed
shipbuilding and the art of navigation in accordance with local
needs. When Julius Cæsar came into conflict with the Veneti of
Brittany he tells that their vessels were greatly superior to those
of the Romans. "The bodies of the ships", he says, "were built
entirely of oak, stout enough to withstand any shock or violence....
Instead of cables for their anchors they used iron chains.... The
encounter of our fleet with these ships was of such a nature that
our fleet excelled in speed alone, and the plying of oars; for
neither could our ships injure theirs with their rams, so great
was their strength, nor was a weapon easily cast up to them owing
to their height.... About 220 of their ships ... sailed forth from
the harbour." In this great allied fleet were vessels from our own
country.[55]
[55] Cæsar's _Gallic War_, Book III, c. 13-15.
It must not be imagined that the "sea sense" was cultivated because
man took pleasure in risking the perils of the deep. It was stern
necessity that at the beginning compelled him to venture on long
voyages. After England was cut off from France the peoples who had
adopted the Neolithic industry must have either found it absolutely
necessary to seek refuge in Britain, or were attracted towards it by
reports of prospectors who found it to be suitable for residence and
trade.
CHAPTER VIII
Neolithic Trade and Industries
Attractions of Ancient Britain--Romans search for Gold,
Silver, Pearls, &c.--The Lure of Precious Stones and
Metals--Distribution of Ancient British Population--Neolithic
Settlements in Flint-yielding Areas--Trade in
Flint--Settlements on Lias Formation--Implements from
Basic Rocks--Trade in Body-painting Materials--Search for
Pearls--Gold in Britain and Ireland--Agriculture--The Story
of Barley--Neolithic Settlers in Ireland--Scottish Neolithic
Traders--Neolithic Peoples not Wanderers--Trained Neolithic
Craftsmen.
The "drift" of peoples into Britain which began in Aurignacian times
continued until the Roman period. There were definite reasons for
early intrusions as there were for the Roman invasion. "Britain
contains to reward the conqueror", Tacitus wrote,[56] "mines of gold
and silver and other metals. The sea produces pearls." According to
Suetonius, who at the end of the first century of our era wrote the
_Lives of the Cæsars_, Julius Cæsar invaded Britain with the desire
to enrich himself with the pearls found on different parts of the
coast. On his return to Rome he presented a corselet of British
pearls to the goddess Venus. He was in need of money to further his
political ambitions. He found what he required elsewhere, however.
After the death of Queen Cleopatra sufficient gold and silver flowed
to Rome from Egypt to reduce the loan rate of interest from 12 to 4
per cent. Spain likewise contributed its share to enrich the great
predatory state of Rome.[57]
[56] _Agricola_, Chap. XII.
[57] Smith, _Roman Empire_.
Long ages before the Roman period the early peoples entered Britain
in search of pearls, precious stones, and precious metals because
these had a religious value. The Celts of Gaul offered great
quantities of gold to their deities, depositing the precious metals
in their temples and in their sacred lakes. Poseidonius of Apamea
tells that after conquering Gaul "the Romans put up these sacred
lakes to public sale, and many of the purchasers found quantities
of solid silver in them". He also says that gold was similarly
placed in these lakes.[58] Apparently the Celts believed, as did the
Aryo-Indians, that gold was "a form of the gods" and "fire, light,
and immortality", and that it was a "life giver".[59] Personal
ornaments continued to have a religious value until Christian times.
[58] _Strabo_--IV, c. 1-13.
[59] _Satapatha-Brahmana_, Pt. V, "Sacred Books of the East",
XLIV, pp. 187, 203, 236. 239, 348-50.
[Illustration: FLINT LANCE-HEADS FROM IRELAND (British Museum)]
[Illustration:
Photo Oxford University Press
CHIPPED AND POLISHED ARTIFACTS FROM SOUTHERN ENGLAND (British
Museum)]
As we have seen when dealing with the "Red Man of Paviland", the
earliest ornaments were shells, teeth of wild animals, coloured
stones, ivory, &c. Shells were carried great distances. Then arose
the habit of producing substitutes which were regarded as of great
potency as the originals. The ancient Egyptians made use of gold to
manufacture imitation shells, and before they worked copper they
wore charms of malachite, which is an ore of copper. They probably
used copper first for magical purposes just as they used gold.
Pearls found in shells were regarded as depositories of supernatural
influence, and so were coral and amber (see Chapter XIII). Like
the Aryo-Indians, the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks, and others
connected precious metals, stones, pearls, &c., with their deities,
and believed that these contained the influence of their deities,
and were therefore "lucky". These and similar beliefs are of great
antiquity in Europe and Asia and North Africa. It would be rash
to assume that they were not known to the ancient mariners who
reached our shores in vessels of Mediterranean type.
The colonists who were attracted to Britain at various periods
settled in those districts most suitable for their modes of life.
It was necessary that they should obtain an adequate supply of the
materials from which their implements and weapons were manufactured.
The distribution of the population must have been determined by the
resources of the various districts.
At the present day the population of Britain is most dense in
those areas in which coal and iron are found and where commerce is
concentrated. In ancient times, before metals were used, it must
have been densest in those areas where flint was found--that is,
on the upper chalk formations. If worked flints are discovered in
areas which do not have deposits of flint, the only conclusion that
can be drawn is that the flint was obtained by means of trade, just
as Mediterranean shells were in Aurignacian and Magdalenian times
obtained by hunters who settled in Central Europe. In Devon and
Cornwall, for instance, large numbers of flint implements have been
found, yet in these counties suitable flint was exceedingly scarce
in ancient times, except in East Devon, where, however, the surface
flint is of inferior character. In Wilts and Dorset, however, the
finest quality of flint was found, and it was no doubt from these
areas that the early settlers in Cornwall and Devon received their
chief supplies of the raw material, if not of the manufactured
articles.
In England, as on the Continent, the most abundant finds of the
earliest flint implements have been made in those areas where the
early hunters and fishermen could obtain their raw materials. River
drift implements are discovered in largest numbers on the chalk
formations of south-eastern England between the Wash and the estuary
of the Thames.
The Neolithic peoples, who made less use of horn and bone than
did the Azilians and Maglemosians, had many village settlements
on the upper chalk in Dorset and Wiltshire, and especially at
Avebury where there were veritable flint factories, and near the
famous flint mines at Grimes Graves in the vicinity of Weeting
in Norfolk and at Cissbury Camp not far from Worthing in Sussex.
Implements were likewise made of basic rocks, including quartzite,
ironstone, green-stone, hornblende schist, granite, mica-schist,
&c.; while ornaments were made of jet, a hydrocarbon compound
allied to cannel coal, which takes on a fine polish, Kimeridge
shale and ivory. Withal, like the Aurignacians and Magdalenians,
the Neolithic-industry people used body paint, which was made with
pigments of ochre, hæmatite, an ore of iron, and ruddle, an earthy
variety of iron ore.
In those districts, where the raw materials for stone implements,
ornaments, and body paint were found, traces survive of the
activities of the Neolithic peoples. Their graves of long-barrow type
are found not only in the chalk areas but on the margins of the lias
formations. Hæmatite is found in large quantities in West Cumberland
and north Lancashire and in south-western England, while the chief
source of jet is Whitby in Yorkshire, where it occurs in large
quantities in beds of the Upper Lias shale.
[Illustration: Map of ENGLAND & WALES]
Mr. W. J. Perry, of Manchester University, who has devoted special
attention to the study of the distribution of megalithic monuments,
has been drawing attention to the interesting association of these
monuments with geological formations.[60] In the Avebury district stone
circles, dolmens, chambered barrows, long barrows, and Neolithic
settlements are numerous; another group of megalithic monuments occurs
in Oxford on the margin of the lias formation, and at the south-end of
the great iron field extending as far as the Clevelands. According to
the memoir of the geological survey, there are traces of ancient surface
iron-workings in the Middle Lias formation of Oxfordshire, where red and
brown hæmatite were found. Mr. Perry notes that there are megalithic
monuments in the vicinity of all these surface workings, as at Fawler,
Adderbury, Hook Norton, Woodstock, Steeple Aston, and Hanbury.
Apparently the Neolithic peoples were attracted to the lias formatio
because it contains hæmatite, ochre, shale, &c. There are significant
megaliths in the Whitby region where the jet is so plentiful. Amber was
obtained from the east coast of England and from the Baltic.
[60] _Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical
Society_, 1921.
The Neolithic peoples appear to have searched for pearls, which are
found in a number of English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish rivers, and
in the vicinity of most, if not all, of these megaliths occur. Gold
was the first metal worked by man, and it appears to have attracted
some of the early peoples who settled in Britain. The ancient
seafarers who found their way northward may have included searchers
for gold and silver. The latter metal was at one time found in great
abundance in Spain, while gold was at one time fairly plentiful in
south-western England, in North Wales, in various parts of Scotland
and especially in Lanarkshire, and in north-eastern, eastern, and
western Ireland. That there was a "drift" of civilized peoples into
Britain and Ireland during the period of the Neolithic industry is
made evident by the fact that the agricultural mode of life was
introduced. Barley does not grow wild in Europe. The nearest area in
which it grew wild and was earliest cultivated was the delta area of
Egypt, the region from which the earliest vessels set out to explore
the shores of the Mediterranean. It may be that the barley seeds
were carried to Britain not by the overland routes alone to Channel
ports, but also by the seafarers whose boats, like the Glasgow one
with the cork plug, coasted round by Spain and Brittany, and crossed
the Channel to south-western England and thence went northward to
Scotland. As Irish flints and ground axe-heads occur chiefly in
Ulster, it may be that the drift of early Neolithic settlers into
County Antrim, in which gold was also found, was from south-western
Scotland. The Neolithic settlement at Whitepark Bay, five miles from
the Giant's Causeway, was embedded at a considerable depth, showing
that there has been a sinking of the land in this area since the
Neolithic industry was introduced.
Neolithic remains are widely distributed over Scotland, but these
have not received the intensive study devoted to similar relics in
England. Mr. Ludovic Mann, the Glasgow archæologist, has, however,
compiled interesting data regarding one of the local industries that
bring out the resource and activities of early man. On the island of
Arran is a workable variety of the natural volcanic glass, called
pitch-stone, that of other parts of Scotland and of Ireland being
"too much cracked into small pieces to be of use". It was used by
the Neolithic settlers in Arran for manufacturing arrowheads, and
as it was imported into Bute, Ayrshire, and Wigtownshire, a trade
in this material must have existed. "If", writes Mr. Mann, "the
stone was not locally worked up into implements in Bute, it was so
manipulated on the mainland, where workshops of the Neolithic period
and the immediately succeeding overlap period yielded long fine
flakes, testifying to greater expertness in manufacturing there than
is shown by the remains in the domestic sites yet awaiting adequate
exploration in Arran. The explanation may be that the Wigtownshire
flint knappers, accustomed to handle an abundance of flint, were
more proficient than in most other places, and that the pitch-stone
was brought to them as experts, because the material required even
more skilful handling than flint".[61] In like manner obsidian, as
has been noted, was imported into Crete from the island of Melos by
seafarers, long before the introduction of metal working.[62]
[61] _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_,
1917-18, pp. 149 _et seq._
[62] See my _Myths of Crete and pre-Hellenic Europe_ under
"Obsidian" in Index.
It will be seen that the Neolithic peoples were no mere wandering
hunters, as some have represented them to have been, but they had
their social organization, their industries, and their system of
trading by land and sea. They settled not only in those areas where
they could procure a regular food supply, but those also in which
they obtained the raw materials for implements, weapons, and the
colouring material which they used for religious purposes. They made
pottery for grave offerings and domestic use, and wooden implements
regarding which, however, little is known. Withal, they had their
spinners and weavers. The conditions prevailing in Neolithic
settlements must have been similar to those of later times. There
must have been systems of laws to make trade and peaceful social
intercourse possible, and no doubt these had, as elsewhere, a
religious basis. Burial customs indicate a uniformity of beliefs over
wide areas. The skill displayed in working stone was so great that
it cannot now be emulated. Ripple-flaking has long been a lost art.
Craftsmen must have undergone a prolonged period of training which
was intelligently controlled under settled conditions of life. It is
possible that the so-called Neolithic folk were chiefly foreigners
who exploited the riches of the country. The evidence in this
connection will be found in the next chapter.
CHAPTER IX
Metal Workers and Megalithic Monuments
"Broad-heads" of Bronze Age--The Irish Evidence--Bronze
Introduced by Traders--How Metals were Traced--A Metal Working
Tribe--Damnonii in England, Scotland, and Ireland--Miners
as Slaves--The Lot of Women Workers--Megalithic Monuments
in English Metal-yielding Areas--Stone Circles in Barren
Localities--Early Colonies of Easterners in Spain--Egyptian
and Babylonian Relics associated with British Jet and Baltic
Amber--A New Flint Industry of Eastern Origin--British
Bronze identical with Continental--Ancient Furnaces of
Common Origin--"Stones of Worship" adorned with Metals--The
"Maggot God" of Stone Circles--Ancient Egyptian Beads at
Stonehenge--Earliest Authentic Date in British History--The Aim
of Conquests.
It used to be thought that the introduction of metal working
into Britain was the result of an invasion of alien peoples, who
partly exterminated and partly enslaved the long-headed Neolithic
inhabitants. This view was based on the evidence afforded by a new
type of grave known as the "Round Barrow". In graves of this class
have been found Bronze Age relics, a distinctive kind of pottery, and
skulls of broad-heads. The invasion of broad-heads undoubtedly took
place, and their burial customs suggest that their religious beliefs
were not identical with those of the long-heads. But it remains to be
proved that they were the actual introducers of the bronze industry.
They do not appear to have reached Ireland, where bronze relics are
associated with a long-headed people of comparatively low stature.
The early Irish bronze forms were obviously obtained from Spain,
while early English bronze forms resemble those of France and Italy.
Cutting implements were the first to be introduced. This fact does
not suggest that a conquest took place. The implements may have been
obtained by traders. Britain apparently had in those ancient times
its trading colonies, and was visited by active and enterprising
seafarers.
[Illustration: Long-head (Dolichocephalic) Skull]
[Illustration: Broad-head (Brachycephalic) Skull Both these
specimens were found in "Round" Barrows in the East Riding of
Yorkshire]
The discovery of metals in Britain and Ireland was, no doubt, first
made by prospectors who had obtained experience in working them
elsewhere. They may have simply come to exploit the country. How
these men conducted their investigations is indicated by the report
found in a British Museum manuscript, dating from about 1603, in
which the prospector gives his reason for believing that gold was
to be found on Crawford Moor in Lanarkshire. He tells that he saw
among the rocks what Scottish miners call "mothers" and English
miners "leaders" or "metalline fumes". It was believed that the
"fumes" arose from veins of metal and coloured the rocks as smoke
passing upward through a tunnel blackens it, and leaves traces on the
outside. He professed to be able to distinguish between the colours
left by "fumes" of iron, lead, tin, copper, or silver. On Crawford
Moor he found "sparr, keel, and brimstone" between rocks, and
regarded this discovery as a sure indication that gold was _in situ_.
The "mothers" or "leaders" were more pronounced than any he had ever
seen in Cornwall, Somersetshire, about Keswick, or "any other mineral
parts wheresoever I have travelled".[63] Gold was found in this area
of Lanarkshire in considerable quantities, and was no doubt worked
in ancient times. Of special interest in this connection is the fact
that it was part of the territory occupied by Damnonians,[64] who
appear to have been a metal-working people. Besides occupying the
richest metal-yielding area in Scotland, the Damnonians were located
in Devon and Cornwall, and in the east-midland and western parts
of Ireland, in which gold, copper, and tin-stone were found as in
south-western England. The Welsh _Dyfneint_ (Devon) is supposed by
some to be connected with a form of this tribal name. Another form
in a Yarrow inscription is Dumnogeni. In Ireland Inber Domnann is
the old name of Malahide Bay north of Dublin. Domnu, the genitive of
which is Domnann, was the name of an ancient goddess. In the Irish
manuscripts these people are referred to as Fir-domnann,[65] and
associated with the Fir-bolg (the men with sacks). A sack-carrying
people are represented in Spanish rock paintings that date from
the Azilian till early "Bronze Age" times. In an Irish manuscript
which praises the fair and tall people, the Fir-bolg and Fir-domnann
are included among the black-eyed and black-haired people, the
descendants of slaves and churls, and "the promoters of discord among
the people".
[63] R. W. Cochrane Patrick, _Early Records relating to Mining in
Scotland_. Edinburgh, 1878, p. xxviii.
[64] The _Damnonii_ or _Dumnonii_.
[65] The Fir-domnann were known as "the men who used to deepen
the earth", or "dig pits". Professor J. MacNeil in _Labor
Gabula_, p. 119. They were thus called "Diggers" like the modern
Australians. The name of the goddess referred to the depths (the
Underworld). It is probable she was the personification of the
metal-yielding earth.
The reference to "slaves" is of special interest because the lot of
the working miners was in ancient days an extremely arduous one.
In one of his collected records which describes the method "of the
greatest antiquity" Diodorus Siculus (A.D. first century) tells how
gold-miners, with lights bound on their foreheads, drove galleries
into the rocks, the fragments of which were carried out by frail
old men and boys. These were broken small by men in the prime of
life. The pounded stone was then ground in handmills by women: three
women to a mill and "to each of those who bear this lot, death is
better than life". Afterwards the milled quartz was spread out on an
inclined table. Men threw water on it, work it through their fingers,
and dabbed it with sponges until the lighter matter was removed and
the gold was left behind. The precious metal was placed in a clay
crucible, which was kept heated for five days and five nights. It may
be that the Scandinavian references to the nine maidens who turn the
handle of the "world mill" which grinds out metal and soil, and the
Celtic references to the nine maidens who are associated with the
Celtic cauldron, survive from beliefs that reflected the habits and
methods of the ancient metal workers.
It is difficult now to trace the various areas in which gold was
anciently found in our islands. But this is not to be wondered at.
In Egypt there were once rich goldfields, especially in the Eastern
Desert, where about 100 square miles were so thoroughly worked in
ancient times that "only the merest traces of gold remain".[66] Gold,
as has been stated, was formerly found in south-western England,
North Wales, and, as historical records, archæological data, and
place names indicate, in various parts of Scotland and Ireland.
During the period of the "Great Thaw" a great deal of alluvial gold
must have distributed throughout the country. Silver was found
in various parts. In Sutherland it is mixed with gold as it is
elsewhere with lead. Copper was worked in a number of districts
where the veins cannot in modern times be economically worked, and
tin was found in Ireland and Scotland as well as in south-western
England, where mining operations do not seem to have been begun, as
Principal Sir John Rhys has shown,[67] until after the supplies of
surface tin were exhausted. Of special interest in connection with
this problem is the association of megalithic monuments with ancient
mine workings. An interesting fact to be borne in mind in connection
with these relics of the activities and beliefs of the early peoples
is that they represent a distinct culture of complex character.
Mr. T. Eric Peet[68] shows that the megalithic buildings "occupy a
very remarkable position along a vast seaboard which includes the
Mediterranean coast of Africa and the Atlantic coast of Europe.
In other words, they lie entirely along a natural sea route." He
gives forcible reasons for arriving at the conclusion that "it is
impossible to consider megalithic building as a mere phase through
which many nations passed, and it must therefore have been a system
originating with one race, and spreading far and wide, owing either
to trade influence or migration". He adds:
"Great movements of races by sea were not by any means unusual
in primitive days. In fact, the sea has always been less of
an obstacle to early man than the land with its deserts,
mountains, and unfordable rivers. There is nothing inherently
impossible or even improbable in the suggestion that a great
immigration brought the megalithic monuments from Sweden to
India or vice versa. History is full of instances of such
migrations."
[66] Alford, _A Report on Ancient and Prospective Gold Mining in
Egypt_, 1900, and _Mining in Egypt_ (by Egyptologist).
[67] _Celtic Britain_, pp. 44 _et seq._ (4th edition).
[68] _Rough Stone Monuments_, London, 1912, pp. 147-8.
But there must have been a definite reason for these race movements.
It cannot be that in all cases they were forced merely by natural
causes, such as changes of climate, invasions of the sea, and
the drying up of once fertile districts, or by the propelling
influences of stronger races in every country from the British Isles
to Japan--that is, in all countries in which megalithic monuments
of similar type are found. The fact that the megalithic monuments
are distributed along "a vast seaboard" suggests that they were
the work of people who had acquired a culture of common origin,
and were attracted to different countries for the same reason.
What that attraction was is indicated by studying the elements of
the megalithic culture. In a lecture delivered before the British
Association in Manchester in 1915, Mr. W. J. Perry threw much light
on the problem by showing that the carriers of the culture practised
weaving linen, and in some cases the use of Tyrian purple, pearls,
precious stones, metals, and conch-shell trumpets, as well as curious
beliefs and superstitions attached to the latter, while they
"adopted certain definite metallurgical methods, as well as mining".
Mr. Perry's paper was subsequently published by the Manchester
Literary and Philosophical Society. It shows that in Western Europe
the megalithic monuments are distributed in those areas in which
ancient pre-Roman and pre-Greek mine workings and metal washings have
been traced. "The same correspondence", he writes, "seems to hold in
the case of England and Wales. In the latter country the counties
where megalithic structures abound are precisely those where mineral
deposits and ancient mine-workings occur. In England the grouping in
Cumberland, Westmorland, Northumberland, Durham, and Derbyshire is
precisely that of old mines; in Cornwall the megalithic structures
are mainly grouped west of Falmouth, precisely in that district where
mining has always been most active."
Pearls, amber, coral, jet, &c., were searched for as well as metals.
The megalithic monuments near pearling rivers, in the vicinity of
Whitby, the main source of jet, and in Denmark and the Baltic area
where amber was found were, in all likelihood, erected by people who
had come under the spell of the same ancient culture.
When, therefore, we come to deal with groups of monuments in areas
which were unsuitable for agriculture and unable to sustain large
populations, a reasonable conclusion to draw is that precious metals,
precious stones, or pearls were once found near them. The pearling
beds may have been destroyed or greatly reduced in value,[69] or the
metals may have been worked out, leaving but slight if any indication
that they were ever _in situ_. Reference has been made to the traces
left by ancient miners in Egypt where no gold is now found. In
our own day rich gold fields in Australia and North America have
been exhausted. It would be unreasonable for us to suppose that the
same thing did not happen in our country, even although but slight
traces of the precious metal can now be obtained in areas which were
thoroughly explored by ancient miners.
[69] The Scottish pearling beds have suffered great injury in
historic times. They are the property of the "Crown", and no one
takes any interest in them except the "pearl poachers".
When early man reached Scotland in search of suitable districts in
which to settle, he was not likely to be attracted by the barren
or semi-barren areas in which nature grudged soil for cultivation,
where pasture lands were poor and the coasts were lashed by great
billows for the greater part of the year, and the tempests of winter
and spring were particularly severe. Yet in such places as Carloway,
fronting the Atlantic on the west coast of Lewis, and at Stennis
in Orkney, across the dangerous Pentland Firth, are found the most
imposing stone circles north of Stonehenge and Avebury. Traces of
tin have been found in Lewis, and Orkney has yielded traces of lead,
including silver-lead, copper and zinc, and has flint in glacial
drift. Traces of tin have likewise been found on the mainlands of
Ross-shire and Argyllshire, in various islands of the Hebrides and
in Stirlingshire. The great Stonehenge circle is like the Callernish
and Stennis circles situated in a semi-barren area, but it is an area
where surface tin and gold were anciently obtained. One cannot help
concluding that the early people, who populated the wastes of ancient
Britain and erected megalithic monuments, were attracted by something
more tangible than the charms of solitude and wild scenery. They
searched for and found the things they required. If they found gold,
it must be recognized that there was a psychological motive for the
search for this precious metal. They valued gold, or whatever other
metal they worked in bleak and isolated places, because they had
learned to value it elsewhere.
Who were the people that first searched for, found, and used metals
in Western Europe? Some have assumed that the natives themselves did
so "as a matter of course". Such a theory is, however, difficult to
maintain. Gold is a useless metal for all practical purposes. It is
too soft for implements. Besides, it cannot be found or worked except
by those who have acquired a great deal of knowledge and skill. The
men who first "washed" it from the soil in Britain must have obtained
the necessary knowledge and skill in a country where it was more
plentiful and much easier to work, and where--and this point is a
most important one--the magical and religious beliefs connected with
gold have a very definite history. Copper, tin, and silver were even
more difficult to find and work in Britain. The ancient people who
reached Britain and first worked metals or collected ores were not
the people who were accustomed to use implements of bone, horn, and
flint, and had been attracted to its shores merely because fish,
fowl, deer, and cows, were numerous. The searchers for metals must
have come from centres of Eastern civilization, or from colonies of
highly skilled peoples that had been established in Western Europe.
They did not necessarily come to settle permanently in Britain, but
rather to exploit its natural riches.
This conclusion is no mere hypothesis. Siret,[70] the Belgian
archæologist, has discovered in southern Spain and Portugal traces
of numerous settlements of Easterners who searched for minerals,
&c., long before the introduction of bronze working in Western
Europe. They came during the archæological "Stone Age"; they even
introduced some of the flint implements classed as Neolithic by the
archæologists of a past generation.
[70] _L'Anthropologie_, 1921, contains a long account of his
discoveries.
These Eastern colonists do not appear to have been an organized
people. Siret considers that they were merely groups of people
from Asia--probably the Syrian coast--who were in contact with
Egypt. During the Empire period of Egypt, the Egyptian sphere of
influence extended to the borders of Asia Minor. At an earlier period
Babylonian influence permeated the Syrian coast and part of Asia
Minor. The religious beliefs of seafarers from Syria were likely
therefore to bear traces of the Egyptian and Babylonian religious
systems. Evidence that this was the case has been forthcoming in
Spain.
These Eastern colonists not only operated in Spain and Portugal, but
established contact with Northern Europe. They exported what they
had searched for and found to their Eastern markets. No doubt, they
employed native labour, but they do not appear to have instructed the
natives how to make use of the ores they themselves valued so highly.
In time they were expelled from Spain and Portugal by the people or
mixed peoples who introduced the working of bronze and made use of
bronze weapons. These bronze carriers and workers came from Central
Europe, where colonies of peoples skilled in the arts of mining and
metal working had been established. In the Central European colonies
Ægean and Danubian influences have been detected.
[Illustration:
Valentine
THE RING OF STENNIS, ORKNEY (see page 94)]
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.
[71] The colours blue and green were obtained from copper.
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 Phoenicians 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 Phoenicians 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 Phoenicians that the problem of the Cassiterides still
remains a difficult one to solve.
[72] _Nat. Hist._, VII, 56 (57), § 197.
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.
[Illustration: MEGALITHS
Upper: Kit's Coty House, Kent. Lower: Trethevy Stone, Cornwall.]
When the Easterners were expelled from Spain by a people from
Central Europe who used weapons of bronze, some of them appear to
have found refuge in Gaul. Siret is of opinion that others withdrew
from Brittany, where subsidences were taking place along the
coast, leaving their megalithic monuments below high-water mark,
and even under several feet of water as at Morbraz. He thinks that
the settlements of Easterners in Brittany were invaded at one and
the same time by the enemy and the ocean. Other refugees from the
colonies may have settled in Etruria, and founded the Etruscan
civilization. Etruscan menhirs resemble those of the south of France,
while the Etruscan crozier or wand, used in the art of augury,
resembles the croziers of the megaliths, &c., of France, Spain,
and Portugal. There are references in Scottish Gaelic stories
to "magic wands" possessed by "wise women", and by the mothers
of Cyclopean one-eyed giants. Ammianus Marcellinus, quoting
Timagenes,[73] attributes to the Druids the statement that part of the
inhabitants of Gaul were indigenous, but that some had come from the
farthest shores and districts across the Rhine, "having been expelled
from their own lands by frequent wars and the encroachments of the
ocean".
[73] Timagenes (_c._ 85-5 B.C.), an Alexandrian historian,
wrote a history of the Gauls which was made use of by Ammianus
Marcellinus (A.D. fourth century), a Greek of Antioch, and the
author of a history of the Roman Emperors.
The bronze-using peoples who established overland trade routes in
Europe, displacing in some localities the colonies of Easterners and
isolating others, must have instructed the natives of Western Europe
how to mine and use metals. Bronze appears to have been introduced
into Britain by traders. That the ancient Britons did not begin
quite spontaneously to work copper and tin and manufacture bronze
is quite evident, because the earliest specimens of British bronze
which have been found are made of ninety per cent of copper and ten
per cent of tin as on the Continent. "Now, since a knowledge of the
compound", wrote Dr. Robert Munro, "implies a previous acquaintance
with its component elements, it follows that progress in metallurgy
had already reached the stage of knowing the best combination of
these metals for the manufacture of cutting tools before bronze was
practically known in Britain."[74]
[74] _Prehistoric Britain_, p. 145.
The furnaces used were not invented in Britain. Professor Gowland
has shown that in Europe and Asia the system of working mines
and melting metals was identical in ancient times. Summarizing
Professor Gowland's articles in _Archæologia_ and the _Journal of
the Royal Anthropological Institute_, Mr. W. J. Perry writes in this
connection:[75] "The furnaces employed were similar; the crucibles
were of the same material, and generally of the same form; the
process of smelting, first on the surface and then in the crucibles
was found everywhere, even persisting down to present times in the
absence of any fresh cultural influence. The study of the technique
of mining and smelting has served to consolidate the floating
mass of facts which we have accumulated, and to add support for
the contention that one cultural influence is responsible for the
earliest mining and smelting and washing of metals and the getting
of precious stones and metals. The cause of the distribution of the
megalithic culture was the search for certain forms of material
wealth."
[75] _The Relationship between the Geographical Distribution of
Megalithic Monuments and Ancient Mines_, pp. 21 _et seq._
That certain of the megalithic monuments were intimately connected
with the people who attached a religious value to metals is brought
out very forcibly in the references to pagan customs and beliefs
in early Christian Gaelic literature. There are statements in the
Lives of St. Patrick regarding a pagan god called "Cenn Cruach" and
"Crom Cruach" whose stone statue was "adorned with gold and silver,
and surrounded by twelve other statues with bronze ornaments". The
"statue" is called "the king idol of Erin", and it is stated that
"the twelve idols were made of stone, but he ('Crom Cruach') was of
gold". To this god of a stone circle were offered up "the firstlings
of every issue and the chief scions of every clan". Another idol was
called Crom Dubh ("Black Crom"), and his name "is still connected",
O'Curry has written, "with the first Sunday of August in Munster
and Connaught". An Ulster idol was called Crom Chonnaill, which
was either a living animal or a tree, or was "believed to have
been such", O'Curry says. De Jubainville translates _Cenn Cruach_
as "Bloody Head" and _Crom Cruach_ as "Bloody Curb" or "Bloody
Crescent". O'Curry, on the other hand, translates _Crom Cruach_
as "Bloody Maggot" and _Crom Dubh_ as "Black Maggot". In Gaelic
legends "maggots" or "worms" are referred to as forms of supernatural
beings. The maggot which appeared on the flesh of a slain animal was
apparently regarded as a new form assumed by the indestructible
soul, just as in the Egyptian story of Bata the germ of life passes
from his bull form in a drop of blood from which two trees spring
up, and then in a chip from one of the trees from which the man
is restored in his original form.[76] A similar belief, which is
widespread, is that bees have their origin as maggots placed in
trees. One form of the story was taken over by the early Christians,
which tells that Jesus was travelling with Peter and Paul and asked
hospitality from an old woman. The woman refused it and struck Paul
on the head. When the wound putrified maggots were produced. Jesus
took the maggots from the wound and placed them in the hollow of a
tree. When next they passed that way, "Jesus directed Paul to look
in the tree hollow where, to his surprise, he found bees and honey
sprung from his own head".[77] The custom of placing crape on hives
and "telling the bees" when a death takes place, which still survives
in the south of England and in the north of Scotland, appears to be
connected with the ancient belief that the maggot, bee, and tree were
connected with the sacred animal and the sacred stone in which was
the spirit of a deity. Sacred trees and sacred stones were intimately
connected. Tacitus tells us that the Romans invaded Mona (Anglesea),
they destroyed the sacred groves in which the Druids and black-robed
priestesses covered the altars with the blood of captives.[78]
There are a number of dolmens on this island and traces of ancient
mine-workings, indicating that it had been occupied by the early
seafarers who colonized Britain and Ireland and worked metals. A
connection between the tree cult of the Druids and the cult of the
builders of megaliths is thus suggested by Tacitus, as well as by
the Irish evidence regarding the Ulster idol Crom Chonnaill, referred
to above (see also Chapter XII).
[76] A worm crept from the heart of a dead Phoenix, and gave
origin to a new Phoenix.--_Herodotus_, II, 73.
[77] Rendel Harris, _The Ascent of Olympus_, p. 2.
[78] _Annals of Tacitus_, Book XIV, Chapter 29-30.
Who were the people that followed the earliest Easterners and visited
our shores to search like them for metals and erect megalithic
monuments? It is impossible to answer that question with certainty.
There were after the introduction of bronze working, as has been
indicated, intrusions of aliens. These included the introducers of
the short-barrow method of burial and the later introducers of burial
by cremation. It does not follow that all intrusions were those of
conquerors. Traders and artisans may have come with their families in
large numbers and mingled with the earlier peoples. Some intruders
appear to have come by overland routes from southern and central
France and from Central Europe and the Danube valley, while others
came across the sea from Spain. That a regular over-seas trade-route
was in existence is indicated by the references made by classical
writers to the Cassiterides (Tin Islands). Strabo tells that the
natives "bartered tin and hides with merchants for pottery, salt, and
articles of bronze". The Phoenicians, as has been noted, "monopolized
the trade from Gades (Cadiz) with the islanders and kept the route
a close secret". It was probably along this sea-route that Egyptian
blue beads reached Britain. Professor Sayce has identified a number
of these in Devizes Museum, and writes:
"They are met with plentifully in the Early Bronze Age tumuli
of Wiltshire in association with amber beads and barrel-shaped
beads of jet or lignite. Three of them come from Stonehenge
itself. Similar beads of ivory have been found in a Bronze Age
cist near Warminster: if the material is really ivory it must
have been derived from the East. The cylindrical faience beads,
it may be added, have been discovered in Dorsetshire as well as
in Wiltshire."
Professor Sayce emphasizes that these blue beads "belong to one
particular period in Egyptian history, the latter part of the
Eighteenth Dynasty and the earlier part of the Nineteenth Dynasty....
The period to which they belong may be dated 1450-1250 B.C., and as
we must allow some time for their passage across the trade routes
to Wiltshire an approximate date for their presence in the British
barrows will be 1300 B.C."
[Illustration: Beads from Bronze Age Barrows on Salisbury Plain
The large central bead and the small round ones are of amber; the
long plain ones are of jet; and the long segmented or notched
beads are of an opaque blue substance (faience).]
Dr. H. R. Hall, of the British Museum, who discovered, at Deir
el-Bahari in Egypt, "thousands of blue glaze beads of the exact
particular type of those found in Britain", says that they date back
till "about 1500 B.C.". He noted the resemblance before Professor
Sayce had written. "It is gratifying", he comments, "that the
Professor agrees that the Devizes beads are undoubtedly Egyptian, as
an important voice is thereby added to the consensus of opinion on
the subject." Similar beads have been found in the "Middle Bronze Age
in Crete and in Western Europe". Dr. Hall thinks the Egyptian beads
may have reached Britain as early as "about 1400 B.C.".[79] We have
thus provided for us an early date in British history, based on the
well authenticated chronology of the Empire period of Ancient Egypt.
Easterners, or traders in touch with Easterners, reached our shores
carrying Egyptian beads shortly before or early in the fourteenth
century B.C. At this time amber was being imported into the south of
England from the Baltic, while jet was being carried from Whitby in
Yorkshire.
[79] The _Journal of Egyptian Archæology_, Vol. I, part I, pp.
18-19.
After the introduction of bronze working in Western Europe the
natives began to work and use metals. These could not have been
Celts, for in the fourteenth century B.C. the Celts had not yet
reached Western Europe.[80] The earliest searchers for metals who
visited Britain must therefore have been the congeners of those who
erected the megalithic monuments in the metal-yielding areas of Spain
and Portugal and north-western France.
[80] It may be that Celtic chronology will have to be readjusted
in the light of recent discoveries.
It would appear that the early Easterners exploited the virgin riches
of Western Europe for a long period--perhaps for over a thousand
years--and that, after their Spanish colonies were broken up by a
bronze-using people from Central Europe, the knowledge of how to
work metals spread among the natives. Overland trade routes were
then opened up. At first these were controlled in Western Europe by
the Iberians. In time the Celts swept westward and formed with the
natives mixed communities of Celtiberians. The Easterners appear to
have inaugurated a new era in Western European commerce after the
introduction of iron working. They had colonies in the south and
west of Europe and on the North African coast, and obtained supplies
of metals, &c., by sea. They kept the sea-routes secret. British
ores, &c., were carried to Spain and Carthage. After Pytheas visited
Britain (see next chapter) the overland trade-route to Marseilles was
opened up. Supplies of surface tin having become exhausted, tin-mines
were opened in Cornwall. The trade of Britain then came under the
control of Celtiberian and Celtic peoples, who had acquired their
knowledge of shipbuilding and navigation from the Easterners and the
mixed descendants of Eastern and Iberian peoples.
It does not follow that the early and later Easterners were all of
one physical type. They, no doubt, brought with them their slaves,
including miners and seamen, drawn from various countries where they
had been purchased or abducted.
The men who controlled the ancient trade were not necessarily
permanent settlers in Western Europe. When the carriers of bronze
from Central Europe obtained control of the Iberian colonies, many
traders may have fled to other countries, but many colonists, and
especially the workers, may have become the slaves of the intruders,
as did the Fir-bolgs of Ireland who were subdued by the Celts.
The Damnonians of Britain and Ireland who occupied mineral areas
may have been a "wave" of early Celtic or Celtiberian people.
Ultimately the Celts came, as did the later Normans, and formed
military aristocracies over peoples of mixed descent. The idea
that each intrusion involved the extermination of earlier peoples
is a theory which does not accord with the evidence of the ancient
Gaelic manuscripts, of classical writers, of folk tradition, and of
existing race types in different areas in Britain and Ireland.
A people who exterminated those they conquered would have robbed
themselves of the chief fruits of conquest. In ancient as in later
times the aim of conquest was to obtain the services of a subject
people and the control of trade.
CHAPTER X
Celts and Iberians as Intruders and Traders
Few Invasions in 1000 Years--Broad-heads--The Cremating
People--A New Religion--Celtic People in Britain--The
Continental Celts--Were Celts Dark or Fair?--Fair Types in
Britain and Ireland--Celts as Pork Traders--The Ancient
Tin Trade--Early Explorers--Pytheas and Himilco--The
Cassiterides--Tin Mines and Surface Tin--Cornish Tin--Metals in
Hebrides and Ireland--Lead in Orkney--Dark People in Hebrides
and Orkney--Celtic Art--Homeric Civilization in Britain and
Ireland--Why Romans were Conquerors.
The beginnings of the Bronze and Iron Ages in Britain are, according
to the chronology favoured by archæologists, separated by about a
thousand years. During this long period only two or three invasions
appear to have taken place, but it is uncertain, as has been
indicated, whether these came as sudden outbursts from the Continent
or were simply gradual and peaceful infiltrations of traders and
settlers. We really know nothing about the broad-headed people who
introduced the round-barrow system of burial, or of the people who
cremated their dead. The latter became predominant in south-western
England and part of Wales. In the north of England the cremating
people were less numerous. If they were conquerors they may have,
as has been suggested, represented military aristocracies. It may
be, however, on the other hand, that the cremation custom had in
some areas more a religious than a racial significance. The beliefs
associated with cremation of the dead may have spread farther than
the people who introduced the new religion. It would appear that the
habit of burning the dead was an expression of the beliefs that souls
were transported by means of fire to the Otherworld paradise. As much
is indicated by Greek evidence. Homer's heroes burned their dead,
and when the ghost of Patroklos appeared to his friend Achilles in a
dream, he said: "Thou sleepest, and hast forgotten me, O Achilles.
Not in my life wast thou unmindful of me, but in my death. Bury me
with all speed, that I may pass the gates of Hades. Far off the
spirits banish me, the phantoms of men outworn, nor suffer me to
mingle with them beyond the River, but vainly I wander along the
wide-gated dwelling of Hades. Now give me, I pray pitifully of thee,
thy hand, for never more again shall I come back from Hades, when ye
have given me my due of fire."[81] The Arab traveller Ibn Haukal, who
describes a tenth-century cremation ceremony at Kieff, was addressed
by a Russ, who said: "As for you Arabs you are mad, for those who
are the most dear to you, and whom you honour most, you place in the
ground, where they will become a prey to worms, whereas with us they
are burned in an instant and go straight to Paradise."[82]
[81] _Iliad_, XXIII, 75 (Lang, Leaf, and Myers' translation, p.
452).
[82] _The Mythology of the Eddas_, pp. 538-9 (_Transactions of
the Royal Society of Literature_, second series, Vol. XII).
The cremating people, who swept into Greece and became the over-lords
of the earlier settlers, were represented in the western movement of
tribes towards Gaul and Britain. It is uncertain where the cremation
custom had origin. Apparently it entered Europe from Asia. The Vedic
Aryans who invaded Northern India worshipped the fire-god Agni, who
was believed to carry souls to Paradise; they cremated their dead and
combined with it the practice of _suttee_, that is, of burning the
widows of the dead. In Gaul, however, as we gather from Julius Cæsar,
only those widows suspected of being concerned in the death of their
husbands were burned. The Norsemen, however, were acquainted with
_suttee_. In one of the Volsung lays Brynhild rides towards the pyre
on which Sigurd is being burned, and casts herself into the flames.
The Russians strangled and burned widows when great men were cremated.
The cremating people erected megalithic monuments, some of which
cover their graves in Britain and elsewhere.
In some districts the intruders of the Bronze Age were the earliest
settlers. The evidence of the graves in Buchan, Aberdeenshire, for
instance, shows that the broad-heads colonized that area. It may be
that, like the later Norsemen, bands of people sought for new homes
in countries where the struggle for existence would be less arduous
than in their own, which suffered from over population, and did not
land at points where resistance was offered to them. Agriculturists
would, no doubt, select areas suitable for their mode of life and
favour river valleys, while seafarers and fishermen would cling to
the coasts. The tendency of fishermen and agriculturists to live
apart in separate communities has persisted till our own time. There
are fishing villages along the east coast of Scotland the inhabitants
of which rarely intermarry with those who draw their means of
sustenance from the land.
During the Bronze Age Celtic peoples were filtering into Britain from
Gaul. They appear to have come originally from the Danube area as
conquerors who imposed their rule on the people they subjected. Like
the Achæans who overran Greece they seem to have originally been a
vigorous pastoral people who had herds of pigs, were "horse-tamers",
used chariots, and were fierce and impetuous in battle. In time
they crossed the Rhine and occupied Gaul. They overcame the
Etruscans. In 390 B.C. they sacked Rome. Their invasion of Greece
occurred in the third century, but their attempt to reach Delphi was
frustrated. Crossing into Asia Minor they secured a footing in the
area subsequently known as Galatia, and their descendants there were
addressed in an epistle by St. Paul.
Like the Achæans, the Celts appear to have absorbed the culture of
the Ægean area and that of the Ægean colony at Hallstatt in Austria.
They were withal the "carriers" of the La Tène Iron Age culture to
Britain and Ireland. The potter's wheel was introduced by them into
Britain during the archæological early Iron Age. It is possible that
the cremating people of the Bronze Age were a Celtic people. But
later "waves" of the fighting charioteers did not cremate their dead.
Sharp difference of opinion exists between scholars regarding
the Celts. Some identify them with the dark-haired, broad-headed
Armenoids, and others with the tall and fair long-headed people
of Northern Europe. It is possible that the Celts were not a pure
race, but rather a confederacy of peoples who were influenced at
different periods by different cultures. That some sections were
confederacies or small nations of blended people is made evident by
classic references to the Celtiberians, the Celto-Scythians, the
Celto-Ligyes, the Celto-Thracians, and the Celtillyrians. On reaching
Britain they mingled with the earlier settlers, forming military
aristocracies, and dominating large areas. The fair Caledonians
of Scotland had a Celtic tribal name, and used chariots in battle
like the Continental Celts. Two Caledonian personal names are
known--Calgacus ("swordsman") and Argentocoxus ("white foot"). In
Ireland the predominant tribes before and during the early Roman
period were of similar type. Queen Meave of Connaught was like
Queen Boadicea[83] of the Iceni, a fair-haired woman who rode to
battle in a chariot.
[83] _Boudicca_ was her real name.
[Illustration: Weapons and Religious Objects (British Museum)
Bronze socketed celts, bronze dagger, sword and spear-heads from
Thames; two bronze boars with "sun-disc" ears, which were worn
on armour; bronze "sun-disc" from Ireland; "chalk drum" from
grave (Yorkshire), with ornamentation showing butterfly and St.
Andrew's Cross symbols; warrior with shield, from rock carving
(Denmark).]
The Continental trade routes up the Danube and Rhone valleys leading
towards Britain were for some centuries under the control of the
Celts. It was no doubt to obtain a control over trade that they
entered Britain and Ireland. On the Continent they engaged in pork
curing, and supplied Rome and indeed the whole of Italy with smoked
and salted bacon. Dr. Sullivan tells that among the ancient Irish
the general name for bacon was _tini_. Smoke-cured hams and flitches
were called _tineiccas_, which "is almost identical in form with
the Gallo-Roman word _taniaccae_ or _tanacae_ used by Varro for
hams imported from Transalpine Gaul into Rome and other parts of
Italy". Puddings prepared from the blood of pigs--now known as "black
puddings"--were, we learn from Varro, likewise exported from Gaul to
Italy. The ancient Irish were partial to "black puddings".[84] It
would appear, therefore, that the so-called dreamy Celt was a greasy
pork merchant.
[84] Introduction to O'Curry's _Manners and Customs of the
Ancient Irish_, Vol. I, pp. ccclxix _et seq._
According to Strabo the exports from Britain in the early part of the
first century consisted of gold, silver, and iron, wheat, cattle,
skins, slaves, and dogs; while the imports included ivory ornaments,
such as bracelets, amber beads, and glass. Tin was exported from
Cornwall to Gaul, and carried overland to Marseilles, but this does
not appear to have been the earliest route. As has been indicated,
tin appears to have been carried, before the Celts obtained control
of British trade, by the sea route to the Carthaginian colonies in
Spain.
The Carthaginians had long kept secret the sources of their supplies
of tin from the group of islands known as the Cassiterides. About
322 B.C., however, the Greek merchants at Marseilles fitted out an
expedition which was placed in charge of Pytheas, a mathematician,
for the purpose of exploring the northern area. This scholar wrote an
account of his voyage, but only fragments of it quoted by different
ancient authors have come down to us. He appears to have coasted
round Spain and Brittany, and to have sailed up the English Channel
to Kent, to have reached as far north as Orkney and Shetland, and
perhaps, as some think, Iceland, to have crossed the North Sea
towards the mouth of the Baltic, and explored a part of the coast
of Norway. He returned to Britain, which he appears to have partly
explored before crossing over to Gaul. In an extract from his diary,
quoted by Strabo, he tells that the Britons in certain districts not
detailed grew corn, millet, and vegetables. Such of them as had corn
and honey made a beverage from these materials. They brought the
corn ears into great houses (barns) and threshed them there, for on
account of the rain and lack of sunshine out-door threshing floors
were of little use to them. Pytheas noted that in Britain the days
were longer and the nights brighter than in the Mediterranean area.
In the northern parts he visited the nights were so short that the
interval between sunset and sunrise was scarcely perceptible. The
farthest north headland of Britain was Cape Orcas.[85] Six days sail
north of Britain lay Thule, which was situated near the frozen sea.
There a day lasted six months and a night for the same space of time.
[85] _Orcas_ is a Celtic word signifying "young boar".
Another extract refers to hot springs in Britain, and a presiding
deity identified with Minerva, in whose temple "the fires never go
out, yet never whiten into ashes; when the fire has got dull it
turns into round lumps like stones". Apparently coal was in use at a
temple situated at Bath. Timæus, a contemporary of Pytheas, quoting
from the lost diary of the explorer, states that tin was found on an
island called Mictis, lying inwards (northward) at a distance of six
days' sail from Britain. The natives made voyages to and from the
island in their canoes of wickerwork covered with hides. Mictis could
not have been Cornwall or an island in the English Channel. Strabo
states that Crassus, who succeeded in reaching the Cassiterides,
announced that the distance to them was greater than that from the
Continent to Britain, and he found that the tin ore lay on the
surface. Evidently tin was not mined on the island of Mictis as it
was in Cornwall in later times.
An earlier explorer than Pytheas was Himilco, the Carthaginian. He
reached Britain about 500 B.C. A Latin metrical rendering of his lost
work was made by Rufus Festus Avienus in the fourth century of our
era. Reference is made to the islands called the OEstrymnides that
"raise their heads, lie scattered, and are rich in tin and lead".
These islands were visited by Himilco, and were distant "two days
voyage from the Sacred Island (Ireland) and near the broad Isle of
the Albiones". As Rufus Festus Avienus refers to "the hardy folk of
Britain", his Albiones may have been the people of Scotland. The
name Albion was originally applied to England and Scotland. In the
first century, however, Latin writers never used "Albion" except as
a curiosity, and knew England as Britain. According to Himilco, the
Tartessi of Spain were wont to trade with the natives of the northern
tin islands. Even the Carthaginians "were accustomed to visit these
seas". From other sources we learn that the Phoenicians carried tin
from the Cassiterides direct to the Spanish port of Corbilo, the
exact location of which is uncertain.
[Illustration: ENAMELLED BRONZE SHIELD (from the Thames near
Battersea)
(British Museum)]
It is of special importance to note that the tin-stone was collected
on the surface of the islands before mining operations were
conducted elsewhere. In all probability the laborious work of digging
mines was not commenced before the available surface supplies became
scanty. According to Sir John Rhys[86] the districts in southern
England, where surface tin was first obtained, were "chiefly
Dartmoor, with the country round Tavistock and that around St.
Austell, including several valleys looking towards the southern coast
of Cornwall. In most of the old districts where tin existed, it is
supposed to have lain too deep to have been worked in early times."
When, however, Poseidonius visited Cornwall in the first century of
our era, he found that a beginning had been made in skilful mining
operations. It may be that the trade with the Cassiterides was
already languishing on account of changed political conditions and
the shortage of supplies.
[86] _Celtic Britain_, p. 44.
Where then were the Cassiterides? M. Reinach struck at the heart of
the problem when he asked, "In what western European island is tin
found?" Those writers who have favoured the group of islands off the
north-western coast of Spain are confronted by the difficulty that
these have failed to yield traces of tin, while those writers who
favour Cornwall and the Scilly Islands cannot ignore the precise
statements that the "tin islands" were farther distant from the
Continent than Britain, and that in the time of Pytheas tin was
carried from Mictis, which was six days' sail from Britain. The fact
that traces of tin, copper, and lead have been found in the Hebrides
is therefore of special interest. Copper, too, has been found in
Shetland, and lead and zinc in Orkney. Withal there are Gaelic
place-names in which _staoin_ (tin) is referred to, in Islay, Jura
(where there are traces of old mine-workings), in Iona, and on the
mainland of Ross-shire. Traces of tin are said to have been found in
Lewis where the great stone circle of Callernish in a semi-barren
area indicates the presence at one time in its area of a considerable
population. The Hebrides may well have been the OEstrymnides of
Himilco and the Cassiterides of classical writers. Jura or Iona may
have been the Mictis of Pytheas. Tin-stone has been found in Ireland
too, near Dublin, in Wicklow, and in Killarney.
The short dark people in the Hebrides and Orkney may well be, like
the Silurians of Wales, the descendants of the ancient mine workers.
They have been referred to by some as descendants of the crews of
wrecked ships of the Spanish Armada, and by others as remnants of the
Lost Ten Tribes.
In Irish Gaelic literature, however, there is evidence that the
dark people were in ancient times believed to be the descendants
of the Fir-bolgs (men with sacks), the Fir-domnann (the men who
dug the ground), and the Galioin (Gauls). Campbell in his _West
Highland Tales_ has in a note referred to the dark Hebrideans.
"Behind the fire", he wrote, "sat a girl with one of those strange
faces which are occasionally to be seen in the Western Isles, a
face which reminded me of the Nineveh sculptures, and of faces seen
in San Sebastian. Her hair was black as night, and her clear dark
eyes glittered through the peat smoke. Her complexion was dark, and
her features so unlike those who sat about her that I asked if she
were a native of the island (of Barra), and learned that she was a
Highland girl." It may be that the dark Eastern people were those who
introduced the Eastern and non-Celtic, non-Teutonic prejudice against
pork as food into Scotland. In Ireland the Celtic people apparently
obliterated the "taboo" at an early period.
It was during the Archæological Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages that
the Celtic artistic patterns reached England. These betray affinities
with Ægean motifs, and they were afterwards developed in Ireland and
Scotland. In both countries they were fused with symbols of Egyptian
and Anatolian origin.
Like the Celts and the pre-Hellenic people of Greece and Crete, the
Britons and the Irish wore breeches. The Roman poet, Martial,[87]
satirizes a _life_ "as loose as the old breeches of a British
pauper". Claudian, the poet, pictures Britannia with her cheeks
tattoed and wearing a sea-coloured cloak and a cap of bear-skin. The
fact that the Caledonians fought with scanty clothing, as did the
Greeks, and as did the Highlanders in historic times, must not be
taken as proof that they could not manufacture cloth. According to
Rhys, Briton means a "cloth clad"[88] person. The bronze fibulæ found
at Bronze Age sites could not have been used to fasten heavy skins.
[87] _Ep._ X, 22.
[88] _Celtic Britain_ (4th edition), p. 212.
When the Romans reached Britain, the natives, like the heroes of
Homer, used chariots, and had weapons of bronze and iron. The
archæology of the ancient Irish stories is of similar character.
In the Bronze Age the swords were pointed and apparently used chiefly
for thrusting. The conquerors who introduced the unpointed iron
swords were able to shatter the brittle bronze weapons. These iron
swords were in turn superseded by the pointed and well-tempered
swords of the Romans. But it was not only their superior weapons,
their discipline, and their knowledge of military strategy that
brought the Romans success. England was broken up into a number of
petty kingdoms. "Our greatest advantage", Tacitus confessed, "in
dealing with such powerful people is that they cannot act in concert;
it is seldom that even two or three tribes will join in meeting a
common danger; and so while each fights for himself they are all
conquered together."[89]
[89] Tacitus, _Agricola_, Chap. XII.
When the Britons, under Agricola, began to adopt Roman civilization
they "rose superior", Tacitus says, "by the forces of their natural
genius, to the attainments of the Gauls". In time they adopted the
Roman dress,[90] which may have been the prototype of the kilt. The
Roman language supplanted the Celtic dialects in certain parts of
England.
[90] _Agricola_, Chap. XXI.
CHAPTER XI
Races of Britain and Ireland
Colours of Ancient Races and Mythical Ages--Caucasian
Race Theory--The Aryan or Indo-European Theory--Races and
Languages--Celts and Teutons--Fair and Dark Palæolithic Peoples
in Modern Britain--Mediterranean Man--The Armenoid or Alpine
Broad-heads--Ancient British Tribes--Cruithne and Picts--The
Picts of the "Brochs" as Pirates and Traders--Picts and
Fairies--Scottish Types--Racial "Pockets".
The race problem has ever been one of engrossing interest to
civilized peoples. In almost every old mythology we meet with
theories that were formulated to account for the existence of
the different races living in the world, and for the races that
were supposed to have existed for a time and became extinct. An
outstanding feature of each racial myth is that the people among
whom it grew up are invariably represented to be the finest type of
humanity.
A widespread habit, and one of great antiquity, was to divide
the races, as the world was divided, into four sections, and to
distinguish them by their colours. The colours were those of the
cardinal points and chiefly Black, White, Red, and Yellow. The same
system was adopted in dealing with extinct races. Each of these
were coloured according to the Age in which they had existence, and
the colours were connected with metals. In Greece and India, for
instance, the "Yellow Age" was a "Golden Age", the "White Age" a
"Silver Age", the "Red Age" a "Bronze Age", and the "Black Age" an
"Iron Age".
Although the old theories regarding the mythical ages and mythical
races have long been discarded, the habit of dividing mankind and
their history into four sections, according to colours and the
metals chiefly used by them, is not yet extinct. We still speak of
the "Black man", the "Yellow man", the "Red man", and the "White
man". Archæologists have divided what they call the "pre-history of
mankind" into the two "Stone Ages", the "Bronze Age" and the "Iron
Age". The belief that certain races have become extinct as the
result of conquest by invaders is still traceable in those histories
that refer, for instance, to the disappearance of "Stone Age man"
or "Bronze Age man", or of the British Celts, or of the Picts of
Scotland.
That some races have completely disappeared there can be no shadow
of a doubt. As we have seen, Neanderthal man entirely vanished from
the face of the globe, and has not left a single descendant among the
races of mankind. In our own day the Tasmanians have become extinct.
These cases, however, are exceptional. The complete extinction of a
race is an unusual thing in the history of mankind. A section may
vanish in one particular area and yet persist in another. As a rule,
in those districts where races are supposed to have perished, it is
found that they have been absorbed by intruders. In some cases the
chief change has been one of racial designation and nationality.
Crô-Magnon man, who entered Europe when the Neanderthals were
hunting the reindeer and other animals, is still represented in
our midst. Dr. Collignon, the French ethnologist, who has found
many representatives of this type in the Dordogne valley where
their ancestors lived in the decorated cave-dwellings before their
organization was broken up by the Azilian and other intruders, shows
that the intrusion of minorities of males rarely leaves a permanent
change in a racial type. The alien element tends to disappear.
"When", he writes, "a race is well seated in a region, fixed to
the soil by agriculture, acclimatized by natural selection and
sufficiently dense, it opposes, for the most precise observations
confirm it, an enormous resistance to new-comers, whoever they may
be." Intruders of the male sex only may be bred out in time.
Our interest here is with the races of Britain and Ireland, but, as
our native islands were peopled from the Continent, we cannot ignore
the evidence afforded by Western and Northern Europe when dealing
with our own particular phase of the racial problem.
It is necessary in the first place to get rid of certain old theories
that were based on imperfect knowledge or wrong foundations. One
theory applies the term "Caucasian Man" to either a considerable
section or the majority of European peoples. "The utter absurdity of
the misnomer Caucasian, as applied to the blue-eyed and fair-haired
Aryan (?) race of Western Europe, is revealed", says Ripley,[91] "by
two indisputable facts. In the first place, this ideal blond type
does not occur within many hundred miles of Caucasia; and, secondly,
nowhere along the great Caucasian chain is there a single native
tribe making use of a purely inflectional or Aryan language."
[91] _Races of Europe_, p. 436.
The term "Aryan" is similarly a misleading one. It was invented
by Professor Max Müller and applied by him chiefly to a group
of languages at a time when races were being identified by the
languages they spoke. These peoples--with as different physical
characteristics as have Indians and Norseman, or Russians and
Spaniards, who spoke Indo-European, or, as German scholars have
patriotically adapted the term, Indo-Germanic languages--were
regarded by ethnologists of the "philological school" as members of
the one Indo-European or Aryan race or "family". Language, however,
is no sure indication of race. The spread of a language over wide
areas may be accounted for by trade or political influence or
cultural contact. In our own day the English language is spoken by
"Black", "Yellow", and "Red", as well as by "White" peoples.
A safer system is to distinguish racial types by their physical
peculiarities. When, however, this system is applied in Europe, as
elsewhere, we shall still find differences between peoples. Habits
of thought and habits of life exercise a stronger influence over
individuals, and groups of individuals, than do, for instance, the
shape of their heads, the colours of their hair, eyes, and skin, or
the length and strength of their limbs. Two particular individuals
may be typical representatives of a distinct race and yet not only
speak different languages, but have a different outlook on life, and
different ideas as to what is right and what is wrong. Different
types of people are in different parts of the world united by their
sense of nationality. They are united by language, traditions, and
beliefs, and by their love of a particular locality in which they
reside or in which their ancestors were wont to reside. A sense
of nationality, such as unites the British Empire, may extend to
far-distant parts of the world.
[Illustration: EUROPEAN TYPES
I, Mediterranean. II, Crô-Magnon. III, Armenoid (Alpine). IV,
Northern.]
But, while conscious of the uniting sense of nationality, our
people are at the same time conscious of and interested in their
physical differences and the histories of different sections of our
countrymen. The problem as to whether we are mainly Celtic or
mainly Teutonic is one of perennial interest.
Here again, when dealing with the past, we meet with the same
condition of things that prevail at the present day. Both the ancient
Celts and the people they called Teutons ("strangers") were mixed
peoples with different physical peculiarities. The Celts known to
the Greeks were a tall, fair-haired people. In Western Europe, as
has been indicated, they mingled with the dark Iberians, and a
section of the mingled races was known to the Romans as Celtiberians.
The Teutons included the tall, fair, long-headed Northerners, and
the dark, medium-sized, broad-headed Central Europeans. Both the
fair Celts and the fair Teutons appear to have been sections of
the northern race known to antiquaries as the "Baltic people", or
"Maglemosians", who entered Europe from Siberia and "drifted" along
the northern and southern shores of the Baltic Sea--the ancient
"White Sea" of the "White people" of the "White North". As we have
seen, other types of humanity were "drifting" towards Britain at the
same time--that is, before the system of polishing stone implements
and weapons inaugurated what has been called the "Neolithic Age".
As modern-day ethnologists have found that the masses of the
population in Great Britain and Ireland are of the early types known
to archæologists as Palæolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age men, the
race history of our people may be formulated as follows:
The earliest inhabitants of our islands whose physical
characteristics can be traced among the living population were the
Crô-Magnon peoples. These were followed by the fair Northerners,
the "carriers" of Maglemosian culture, and the dark, medium-sized
Iberians, who were the "carriers" of Azilian-Tardenoisian culture.
There were thus fair people in England, Scotland, and Ireland
thousands of years before the invasions of Celts, Angles, Saxons,
Jutes, Norsemen, or Danes.
For a long period, extending over many centuries, the migration
"stream" from the Continent appears to have been continuously
flowing. The carriers of Neolithic culture were in the main
Iberians of Mediterranean racial type--the descendants of the
Azilian-Tardenoisian peoples who used bows and arrows, and broke up
the Magdalenian civilization of Crô-Magnon man in western and central
Europe. This race appears to have been characterized in north and
north-east Africa. "So striking", writes Professor Elliot Smith,
"is the family likeness between the early Neolithic peoples of the
British Isles and the Mediterranean and the bulk of the population,
both ancient and modern, of Egypt and East Africa, that a description
of the bones of an Early Briton of that remote epoch might apply in
all essential details to an inhabitant of Somaliland."[92]
[92] _The Ancient Egyptians_, p. 58.
This proto-Egyptian (Iberian) people were of medium stature, had
long skulls and short narrow faces, and skeletons of slight and
mild build; their complexions were as dark as those of the southern
Italians in our own day, and they had dark-brown or black hair with
a tendency to curl; the men had scanty facial hair, except for a
chin-tuft beard.
These brunets introduced the agricultural mode of life, and, as they
settled on the granite in south-western England, appear to have
searched for gold there, and imported flint from the settlers on the
upper chalk formation.
In time Europe was invaded from Asia Minor by increasing numbers of
an Asiatic, broad-headed, long-bearded people of similar type to
those who had filtered into Central Europe and reached Belgium and
Denmark before Neolithic times. This type is known as the "Armenoid
race" (the "Alpine race" of some writers). It was quite different
from the long-headed and fair Northern type and the short, brunet
Mediterranean (proto-Egyptian and Iberian) type. The Armenoid
skeletons found in the early graves indicate that the Asiatics were a
medium-sized, heavily-built people, capable, as the large bosses on
their bones indicate, of considerable muscular development.
During the archæological Bronze Age these Armenoids reached Britain
in considerable numbers, and introduced the round-barrow method of
burial. They do not appear, however, as has been indicated, to have
settled in Ireland.
At a later period Britain was invaded by a people who cremated their
dead. As they thus destroyed the evidence that would have afforded us
an indication of their racial affinities, their origin is obscure.
While these overland migrations were in progress, considerable
numbers of peoples appear to have reached Britain and Ireland by sea
from northern and north-western France, Portugal, and Spain. They
settled chiefly in the areas where metals and pearls were once found
or are still found. "Kitchen middens" and megalithic remains are in
Ireland mainly associated with pearl-yielding rivers.
The fair Celts and the darker Celtiberians were invading and settling
in Britain before and after the Romans first reached its southern
shores. During the Roman period, the ruling caste was mainly of
south-European type, but the Roman legions were composed of Gauls,
Germans, and Iberians, as well as Italians. No permanent change
took place in the ethnics of Britain during the four centuries of
Roman occupation. The Armenoid broad-heads, however, became fewer:
"the disappearance", as Ripley puts it, "of the round-barrow men
is the last event of the prehistoric period which we are able to
distinguish". The inhabitants of the British Isles are, on the whole,
long-headed. "Highland and lowland, city or country, peasant or
philosopher, all are", says Ripley, "practically alike in respect to
this fundamental racial characteristic." Broad-headed types are, of
course, to be found, but they are in the minority.
[Illustration:
Valentine
RUINS OF PICTISH TOWER AT CARLOWAY, LEWIS
Modern "black house" in the foreground.]
The chief source of our knowledge regarding the early tribes or
little nations of Britain and Ireland is the work of Ptolemy, the
geographer, who lived between A.D. 50 and 150, from which the
earliest maps were compiled in the fourth century. He shows that
England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland were divided among a number of
peoples. The Dumnonii,[93] as has been stated, were in possession of
Devon and Cornwall, as well as of a large area in the south-western
and central lowlands of Scotland. Near them were the Durotriges, who
were also in Ireland. Sussex was occupied by the Regni and Kent by
the Cantion. The Atrebates, the Belgæ, and the Parisii were invaders
from Gaul during the century that followed Cæsar's invasion. The
Belgæ lay across the neck of the land between the Bristol Channel
and the Isle of Wight; the Atrebates clung to the River Thames,
while the Parisii, who gave their name to Paris, occupied the east
coast between the Wash and the Humber. Essex was the land of the
Iceni or Eceni, the tribe of Boadicea (Boudicca). Near them were the
Catuvellauni (men who rejoiced in battle) who were probably rulers of
a league, and the Trinovantes, whose name is said to signify "very
vigorous". The most important tribe of the north and midlands of
England was the Brigantes,[94] whose sphere of influence extended to
the Firth of Forth, where they met the Votadini, who were probably
kinsmen or allies. On the north-west were the Setantii, who appear
to have been connected with the Brigantes in England and Ireland.
Cuchullin, the hero of the Red Branch of Ulster, was originally named
Setanta.[95] In south Wales the chief tribe was the Silures, whose
racial name is believed to cling to the Scilly (Silura) Islands.
They were evidently like the Dumnonii a metal-working people.
South-western Wales was occupied by the Demetæ (the "firm folk"). In
south-western Scotland, the Selgovæ ("hunters") occupied Galloway,
their nearest neighbours being the Novantæ of Wigtownshire. The
Selgovæ may have been those peoples known later as the Atecotti. From
Fife to southern Aberdeenshire the predominant people on the east
were the Vernicones. In north-east Aberdeenshire were the Tæxali.
To the west of these were the Vacomagi. The Caledonians occupied
the Central Highlands from Inverness southward to Loch Lomond. In
Ross-shire were the Decantæ, a name resembling Novantæ and Setantii.
The Lugi and Smertæ (smeared people) were farther north. The Cornavii
of Caithness and North Wales were those who occupied the "horns" or
"capes". Along the west of Scotland were peoples called the Cerones,
Creones, and Carnonacæ, or Carini, perhaps a sheep-rearing people.
The Epidii were an Argyll tribe, whose name is connected with that
of the horse--perhaps a horse-god.[96] Orkney enshrines the tribal
name of the boar--perhaps that of the ancient boar-god represented
on a standing stone near Inverness with the sun symbol above its
head. The Gaelic name of the Shetlanders is "Cat". Caithness is the
county of the "Cat" people, too. Professor Watson reminds us that the
people of Sutherland are still "Cats" in Gaelic, and that the Duke of
Sutherland is referred to as "Duke of the Cats".
[93] Englished "Damnonians" (Chapter IX).
[94] Tacitus says that the Brigantes were in point of numbers the
most considerable folkin Britain (_Agricola_, Chapter XVII).
[95] Evidently Cuchullin and other heroes of the "Red Branch" in
Ireland were descended from peoples who had migrated into Ireland
from Britain. Their warriors in the old manuscript tales receive
their higher military training in Alba. It is unlikely they would
have been trained in a colony.
[96] Ancient sacred stones with horses depicted on them survive
in Scotland. In Harris one horse-stone remains in an old church tower.
The Picts are not mentioned by Ptolemy. They appear to have been an
agricultural and sea-faring people who (_c._ A.D. 300) engaged in
trade and piracy. A flood of light has been thrown on the Pictish
problem by Professor W. J. Watson, Edinburgh.[97] He shows that
when Agricola invaded Scotland (A.D. 85) the predominant people
were the Caledonians. Early in the third century the Caledonians
and Mæatæ--names which included all the tribes north of Hadrian's
Wall--were so aggressive that Emperor Septimus Severus organized a
great expedition against them. He pressed northward as far as the
southern shore of the Moray Firth, and, although he fought no battle,
lost 50,000 men in skirmishes, &c. The Caledonians and Mæatæ rose
again, and Severus was preparing a second expedition when he died
at York in A.D. 211. His son, Caracalla, withdrew from Scotland
altogether. The Emperor Constantius, who died at York in A.D. 306,
had returned from an expedition, not against the Caledonians, but
against the Picts. The Picts were beginning to become prominent. In
360 they had again to be driven back. They had then become allies
of the Scots from Ulster, who were mentioned in A.D. 297 by the
orator Eumenius, as enemies of the Britons in association with the
Picti. Professor Watson, drawing on Gaelic evidence, dates the first
settlement of the Scots in Argyll "about A.D. 180".
[97] _The Picts_, Inverness, 1921 (lecture delivered to the
Gaelic Society of Inverness and reprinted from _The Inverness
Courier_).
In 368 the Caledonians were, like the Verturiones, a division of the
Picts. Afterwards their tribal name disappeared. That the Picts and
Caledonians were originally separate peoples is made clear by the
statement of a Roman orator who said: "I do not mention the woods
and marshes of the Caledonians, the Picts, and others". In 365 the
Pecti, Saxons, Scots, and Atecotti harassed the Britons. Thus by the
fourth century the Picts had taken the place of the Caledonians as
the leading tribe, or as the military aristocrats of a great part of
Scotland, the name of which, formerly Caledonia, came to be Pictland,
Pictavia.
Who then were the Picts? Professor Watson shows that the racial name
is in old Norse "Pettr", in Old English "Peohta", and in old Scots
"Pecht"[98] These forms suggest that the original name was "Pect".
Ammianus refers to the "Pecti". In old Welsh "Peith-wyr" means
"Pict-men" and "Peith" comes from "Pect". The derivation from the
Latin "pictus" (painted) must therefore be rejected. It should be
borne in mind in this connection that the Ancient Britons stained
their bodies with woad. The application of the term "painted" to
only one section of them seems improbable. "Pecti", says Professor
Watson, "cannot be separated etymologically from Pictones, the name
of a Gaulish tribe on the Bay of Biscay south of the Loire, near
neighbours of the Veneti. Their name shows the same variation
between Pictones and Pectones. We may therefore claim Pecti as a
genuine Celtic word. It is of the Cymric or Old British and Gaulish
type, not of the Gaelic type, for Gaelic has no initial P, while
those others have." Gildas (_c._ A.D. 570), Bede (_c._ A.D. 730), and
Nennius (_c._ A.D. 800) refer to the Picts as a people from the north
of Scotland. Nennius says they occupied Orkney first. The legends
which connect the Picts with Scythia and Hercules were based on
Virgil's mention of "picti Agathyrsi" and "picti Geloni" (_Æneid_ IV,
146, _Georgics_, II, 115) combined with the account by Herodotus (IV,
10) of the descent of Gelonus and Agathyrsus from Hercules. Of late
origin therefore was the Irish myth that the Picts from Scythia were
called Agathyrsi and were descended from Gelon, son of Hercules.
[98] The fact that in the Scottish Lowlands the fairies were
sometimes called "Pechts" has been made much of by those who
contend that the prototypes of the fairies were the original
inhabitants of Western Europe. This theory ignores the
well-established custom of giving human names to supernatural
beings. In Scotland the hill-giants (Fomorians) have been
re-named after Arthur (as in Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh), Patrick
(Inverness), Wallace (Eildon Hills), Samson (Ben Ledi), &c.
In like manner fairies were referred to as Pechts. The Irish
evidence is of similar character. The Danann deities were
consigned to fairyland. Donald Gorm, a West Highland chief, gave
his name to an Irish fairy. Fairyland was the old Paradise.
Arthur, Thomas the Rhymer, Finn-mac-Coul, &c., became "fairy-men"
after death. A good deal of confusion has been caused by
mistranslating the Scottish Gaelic word _sith_ (Irish _sidhe_)
as "fairy". The word _sith_ (pronounced _shee_) means anything
unearthly or supernatural, and the "peace" of supernatural
life--of death after life, as well as the silence of the
movements of supernatural beings. The cuckoo was supposed to
dwell for a part of the year in the underworld, and was called
_eun sith_ ("supernatural bird"). Mysterious epidemics were
_sith_ diseases. There were _sith_ (supernatural) dogs, cats,
mice, cows, &c., as well as _sith_ men and _sith_ women.
There never were Picts in Ireland, except as visitors. The theory
about the Irish Picts arose by mistranslating the racial name
"Cruithne" as "Picts". Communities of Cruithne were anciently settled
in the four provinces of Ireland, but Cruithne means Britons not
Picts.
[Illustration:
Valentine
A SCOTTISH "BROCH" (Mousa, Shetland Isles)
Compare with Sardinian _Nuraghe_, page 136.]
The ancient name of Great Britain was Albion, while Ireland was in
Greek "Ierne", and in Latin "Iubernia" (later "Hibernia"). The racial
name was applied by Pliny to Albion and Hibernia when he referred
to the island group as "Britanniæ". Ptolemy says that Albion is "a
Britannic isle" and further that Albion (England and Scotland) was
an island "belonging to the Britannic Isles". Ireland was also a
Britannic isle. It is therefore quite clear that the Britons were
regarded as the predominant people in England, Wales, Scotland,
and Ireland, and that the verdict of history includes Ireland in
the British Isles. The Britons were P-Celts, and their racial
name "Pretan-Pritan" became in the Gaelic language of the Q-Celts
"Cruithen", plural "Cruithne".
In Latin the British Isles are called after their inhabitants,
the rendering being "Britanni", while in Greek it is "Pretannoi" or
"Pretanoi". As Professor W. J. Watson and Professor Sir J. Morris
Jones, two able and reliable philologists, have insisted, the Greek
form is the older and more correct, and the Latin form is merely an
adaptation of the Greek form.
In the early centuries of our era the term "Britannus" was shortened
in Latin to "Britto" plural "Brittones". This diminutive form, which
may be compared with "Scotty" for Scotsman, became popular. In
Gaelic it originated the form "Breatain", representing "Brittones"
(Britons), which was applied to the Britons of Strathclyde, Wales,
and Cornwall, who retained their native speech under Roman rule;
in Welsh, the rendering was "Brython". The Welsh name for Scotland
became "Prydyn". The northern people of Scotland, having come under
the sway of the Picts, were referred to as Picts just as they became
"Scots" after the tribe of Scots rose into prominence. In this sense
the Scottish Cruithne were Picts. But the Cruithne (Britons) of
Ireland were never referred to as Picts. Modern scholars who have
mixed up Cruithne and Picts are the inventors of the term "Irish
Picts".
The Picts of Scotland have been traditionally associated with the
round buildings known as "brochs", which are all built on the same
plan. "Of 490 known brochs", says Professor W. J. Watson, "Orkney
and Shetland possess 145, Caithness has 150, and Sutherland 67--a
total of 362. On the mainland south of Sutherland there are 10 in
Ross, 6 Inverness-shire, 2 in Forfar, 1 in Stirling, Midlothian,
Selkirk, and Berwick-shires, 3 in Wigtownshire. In the Isles there
are 28 in Lewis, 10 in Harris, 30 in Skye, 1 in Raasay, and at least
5 in the isles of Argyll. The inference is that the original seat of
the broch builders must have been in the far north, and that their
influence proceeded southwards. The masonry and contents of the
brochs prove them to be the work of a most capable people, who lived
partly at least by agriculture and had a fairly high standard of
civilization.... The distribution of the brochs also indicate that
their occupants combined agriculture with sea-faring.... The Wigtown
brochs, like the west coast ones generally, are all close to the sea,
and in exceedingly strong positions."
These Scottish brochs bear a striking resemblance to the _nuraghi_
of the island of Sardinia. Both the broch and the _nuraghe_ have
low doorways which "would at once put an enemy at a disadvantage in
attempting to enter".
Describing the Sardinian structures, Mr. T. Eric Peet writes:[99]
"All the _nuraghi_ stand in commanding situations overlooking large
tracts of country, and the more important a position is from a
strategical point of view the stronger will be the _nuraghe_ which
defends it". Ruins of villages surround these structures. "There
cannot be the least doubt", says Peet, "that in time of danger the
inhabitants drove their cattle into the fortified enclosure, entered
it themselves, and then closed the gates."
[99] _Rough Stone Monuments_, pp. 82 _et seq._
In the Balearic Islands are towers called _talayots_ which "resemble
rather closely", in Peet's opinion, the _nuraghi_ of Sardinia.
The architecture of the _talayots_, the _nuraghi_, and the brochs
resembles that of the bee-hive tombs of Mycenæ (pre-Hellenic Greece).
There are no brochs in Ireland. The "round towers" are of Christian
origin (between ninth and thirteenth centuries A.D.). A tomb at
Labbamologa, County Cork, however, resembles the tombs of the
Balearic Isles and Sardinia (Peet, _Rough Stone Monuments_, pp. 43-4).
The Picts appear to have come to Scotland from the country of the
ancient Pictones, whose name survives in Poitiers (Poictiers) and
the province of Poitou in France. These Pictones were anciently
rivals of the Veneti, the chief sea-traders in Western and Northern
Europe during the pre-Roman period. We gather from Cæsar that the
Pictones espoused the cause of the Romans when the Veneti and their
allies revolted. They and their near neighbours, the Santoni,
supplied Cæsar with ships.[100] These were apparently skiffs which
were much lighter and smaller than the imposing vessels of the
Veneti. As the big vessels of the Armada were no match for the
smaller English vessels, so were the Veneti ships no match for the
skiffs of the Pictones.
[100] _De Bello Gallico_, Book III, Chapter II.
The Picts who settled in Orkney appear to have dominated the eastern
and western Scottish sea-routes. It is possible that they traded with
Scandinavia and imported Baltic amber. Tacitus states that the Baltic
people, who engaged in the amber trade, spoke a dialect similar to
that of Britain, worshipped the mother-goddess, and regarded the boar
as the symbol of their deity.[101] Orkney, as has been noted, is
derived from the old Celtic word for boar. The boar-people of Orkney
who came under the sway of the Picts may have been related to the
amber traders.
[101] _Manners of the Germans_, Chapter XLV. The boar was the son
of a sow-goddess. Demeter had originally a sow form.
The Scottish broch-people, associated in tradition with the Picts,
were notorious for their piratic habits. In those ancient days,
however, piracy was a common occupation. The later Vikings, who
seized the naval base of Orkney for the same reason we may conclude
as did the Picts, occupied the brochs. Viking means "pirate", as York
Powell has shown. In _Egil's Saga_ (Chapter XXXII) the hero Bjorn
"was sometimes in Viking but sometimes on trading voyages".[102]
[102] _Scandinavian Britain_ (London, 1908), pp. 61-3.
It may be that the term _pictus_ was confused with the racial
name Pecti, because the Picts had adopted the sailor-like habit
of tattoing their skins--a habit which probably had a religious
significance. Claudian, the fourth-century Roman poet, refers to "the
fading steel-wrought figures on the dying Pict". Like the sea-faring
Scots of northern Ireland who harried the Welsh coast between the
second and fifth centuries of our era, the Picts of Scotland had
skiffs (scaphæ) with sails and twenty oars a side. Vessels, masts,
ropes, and sails were painted a neutral tint, and the crews were
attired in the same colour. Thus "camouflaged", the Picts and Scots
were able to harry the coasts of Romanized Britain. They appear to
have turned Hadrian's wall from the sea. The Pictish sea-faring
tribes, the Keiths or Cats and the Mæatæ, have left their names in
Caithness, Inchkeith, Dalkeith, &c., and in the Isle of May, &c.[103]
[103] Rhys, _Celtic Britain_ (4th ed.), pp. 152, 317.
A glimpse of piratical operations in the first century before the
Christian era is obtained in an Irish manuscript account of certain
happenings in the reign of King Conaire the Great of Ireland. So
strict was this monarch's rule that several lawless and discontented
persons were forced into exile.
"Among the most desperate of the outlaws were the monarch's
own foster brothers, the four sons of Dond Dess, an important
chieftain of Leinster. These refractory youths, with a large
party of followers, took to their boats and ships and scoured
the coasts of Britain and Scotland, as well as of their own
country. Having met on the sea with Ingcel, the son of the King
of Britain, who, for his misdeeds, had been likewise banished
by his own father, both parties entered into a league, the
first fruits of which were the plunder and devastation of a
great part of the British coast."
[Illustration:
By courtesy of the Director of The British School of Rome
A SARDINIAN _NURAGHE_ (page 134)
Compare with the Scottish "Broch", page 132.]
They afterwards made a descent on the coast of Ireland, and when
King Conaire returned from a visit to Clare, "he found the whole
country before him one sheet of fire, the plunderers having landed in
his absence and carried fire and sword wherever they went".[104]
[104] O'Curry, _Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish_, Vol.
III, p. 136.
In his description of Britain, Tacitus says that the inhabitants
varied in their physical traits. Different conclusions were drawn
concerning their origin. He thought the Caledonians were, because of
their ruddy hair and muscular limbs, of German descent, and that the
dark Silures of Wales were descendants of Iberian colonists. He noted
that the inhabitants of southern England resembled those of Gaul.[105]
[105] _Agricola_, Chap. XI.
Later writers have expressed divergent views regarding the ethnics of
the British Isles. One theory is that the fair Teutonic peoples, who
invaded Britain during the post-Roman period, drove the "dark Celts"
westward, and that that is the reason why in England and Scotland the
inhabitants of western areas are darker than those in the eastern.
As we have seen, however, the early metal workers settled in the
western areas for the reason that the minerals they sought for were
located there. In south-western Scotland the inhabitants are darker
than those on the east, except in Aberdeenshire, where there are
distinctive megalithic remains and two famous pearling rivers, the
Ythan and Ugie, as well as deposits of flint and traces of gold.
The people of Scotland are, on the whole, the tallest and heaviest
people in Europe. It has been suggested that their great average
stature is due to the settlement in their country of the hardy
Norsemen of the Viking period, but this is improbable, because the
average stature of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark is lower than that
of Scotland. A distinctive feature of the Scottish face is the
high cheek-bone. The Norse cheek-bone is distinctly flatter. It
may be that the tall Crô-Magnons, who had high cheek-bones, have
contributed to Scottish physical traits. That all the fair peoples
of Britain and Ireland are, as has been indicated, not necessarily
descendants of the fair Celts and Anglo-Saxons is evident from the
traces that have been found of the early settlement in these islands
of the proto-Scandinavians, who introduced the Maglemosian culture
long before the introduction of the Neolithic industry. Modern
ethnologists lean to the view that the masses of the present-day
population of Europe betray Palæolithic racial affinities. In no
country in Europe, other than our own, have there been fewer ethnic
changes. As we have seen, there were only two or three intrusions
from the Continent between the periods when the bronze and iron
industries were introduced--that is, during about a thousand years.
The latter invasions were those of types already settled in Britain.
As in other countries, the tendency to revert to the early types
represented by the masses of the people has not been absent in our
native land. The intrusions of energetic minorities may have caused
changes of languages and habits of life, but in time the alien
element has been absorbed.[106] Withal, the influences of climate
and of the diseases associated with localities have ever been at
work in eliminating the physically unfit--that is, those individuals
who cannot live in a climate too severe for their constitutions. In
large industrial cities the short, dark types are more numerous than
the tall, fair, and large-lunged types. The latter appear to be more
suited for an open-air life.
[106] "The rule is", writes Beddoe in this connection
(_The Anthropological History of Europe_, p. 53), "that an
anthropological type is never wholly dispossessed or extirpated".
"Pockets" of peoples of distinctive type are to be found in different
parts of the British Isles. In Barvas, Lewis, and elsewhere in the
Hebrides, pockets of dark peoples of foreign appearance are reputed
by theorists, as has been indicated, to be descendants of the
sailors of the Spanish Armada. They resemble, however, the Fir-bolgs
of Ireland and the Silures of Wales. Hertfordshire has a dark, short
people too. Galloway, the country of the ancient Selgovæ (hunters),
is noted for its tall people. It may be that there is a Crô-Magnon
strain in Galloway, and that among the short, dark peoples are
descendants of the ancient metal workers, including the Easterners
who settled in Spain. (See Chaps. IX and XII.) Beddoe thinks that the
Phoenician type "occasionally crops up" in Cornwall.[107]
[107] _The Anthropological History of Europe_ (new edition,
Paisley, 1912), p. 50.
CHAPTER XII
Druidism in Britain and Gaul
Culture Mixing--Classical Evidence regarding Druids--Doctrine
of Transmigration of Souls--Celtic Paradises: Isles of
the Blest, Land-under-waves, Fairyland, and "Loveless
Land"--Paradise as Apple-land--Apples, Nuts, and Pork of
Longevity--Mistletoe connected with the Oak, Apple, and Other
Trees--Druids and Oracular Birds--Druids as Soothsayers--Thomas
the Rhymer as "True Thomas"--Christ as the Druid of St.
Columba--Stones of Worship--Druid Groves and Dolmens in
Anglesea--Early Christians denounce Worship of Stones, Trees,
Wells, and Heavenly Bodies--Vows over Holy Objects--Bull
Sacrifices, Stone Worship, &c., in Highlands--"Cup-marked"
Stones--Origin of Druidism--Milk-Goddesses and Milk-yielding
Trees--European and Oriental Milk Myths--Tree Cults and
Megalithic Monuments.
When the question is asked "What was the religion of the ancient
Britons?" the answer generally given is "Druidism". But such a term
means little more than "Priestism". It would perhaps be better not
to assume that the religious beliefs of our remote ancestors were
either indigenous or homogeneous, or that they were ever completely
systematized at any period or in any district. Although certain
fundamental beliefs may have been widespread, it is clear that there
existed not a few local or tribal cults. "I swear by the gods of my
people" one hero may declare in a story, while of another it may be
told that "Coll" (the hazel) or "Fire" was his god. Certain animals
were sacred in some districts and not in others, or were sacred to
some individuals only in a single tribe.
In a country like Britain, subjected in early times to periodic
intrusions of peoples from different areas, the process of "culture
mixing" must have been active and constant. Imported beliefs
were fused with native beliefs, or beliefs that had assumed
local features, while local pantheons no doubt reflected local
politics--the gods of a military aristocracy being placed over the
gods of the subject people. At the same time, it does not follow that
when we find a chief deity bearing a certain name in one district,
and a different name in another, that the religious rites and
practices differed greatly. Nor does it follow that all peoples who
gave recognition to a political deity performed the same ceremonies
or attached the same importance to all festivals. Hunters, seafarers,
and agriculturists had their own peculiar rites, as surviving
superstitions (the beliefs of other days) clearly indicate, while the
workers in metals clung to ceremonial practices that differed from
those performed by representatives of a military aristocracy served
by the artisans.
Much has been written about the Druids, but it must be confessed
that our knowledge regarding them is somewhat scanty. Classical
writers have made contradictory statements about their beliefs and
ceremonies. Pliny alone tells that they showed special reverence for
the mistletoe growing on the oak, and suggests that the name Druid
was connected with the Greek word _drus_ (an oak). Others tell that
there were Druids, Seers, and Bards in the Celtic priesthood. In his
book on divination, Cicero indicates that the Druids had embraced
the doctrines of Pythagoras, the Greek philosopher, who was born
about 586 B.C., including that of the transmigration of souls.[108]
Julius Cæsar tells that the special province of the Druids in Gaulish
society was religion in all its aspects; they read oracles, and
instructed large numbers of the nation's youth. Pomponius Mela[109]
says the instruction was given in caves and in secluded groves. Cæsar
records that once a year the Druids presided over a general assembly
of the Gauls at a sacred spot in the country of the Carnutes, which
was supposed to be the centre of Gaul. It is not known whether this
holy place was marked by a mound, a grove, a stone circle, or a
dolmen. The Archdruid was chief of the priesthood. Cæsar notes that
the Germans had no Druids and paid no attention to sacrifices.
[108] Cæsar (_De Bello Gallico_, VI, XIV, 4) says the Druids
believed the soul passed from one individual to another.
[109] A Spaniard of the first century A.D.
Of special interest is the statement that the Druids believed in the
doctrine of Transmigration of Souls--that is, they believed that
after death the soul passed from one individual to another, or into
plants or animals before again passing into a human being at birth.
According to Diodorus Siculus, who lived in the latter part of the
first century A.D., the Gauls took little account of the end of life,
believing they would come to life after a certain term of years,
entering other bodies. He also refers to the custom of throwing
letters on the funeral pyre, so that the dead might read them.[110]
This suggests a belief in residence for a period in a Hades.
[110] Book V. Chap. XXVIII.
The doctrine of Transmigration of Souls did not, however, prevail
among all Celtic peoples even in Gaul. Valerius Maximus, writing
about A.D. 30, says that the Gauls were in the habit of lending sums
of money on the promise that they would be repaid in the next world.
Gaelic and Welsh literature contains little evidence of the doctrine
of Transmigration of Souls. A few myths suggest that re-birth was
a privilege of certain specially famous individuals. Mongan, King
of Dalriada in Ulster, and the Welsh Taliessin, for instance, were
supposed to have lived for periods in various forms, including
animal, plant, and human forms, while other heroes were incarnations
of deities. The most persistent British belief, however, was that
after death the soul passed to an Otherworld.
Julius Cæsar says that Druidism was believed to have originated
in Britain.[111] This cannot apply, however, to the belief in
transmigration of souls, which was shared in common by Celts, Greeks,
and Indians. According to Herodotus, "the Egyptians are the first
who have affirmed that the soul is immortal, and that when the body
decays the soul invariably enters another body on the point of
death". The story of "The Two Brothers" (Anpu and Bata) indicates
that the doctrine was known in Egypt. There are references in the
"Book of the Dead" to a soul becoming a lily, a golden falcon, a
ram, a crocodile, &c., but this doctrine was connected, according
to Egyptologists, with the belief that souls could assume different
shapes in the Otherworld. In India souls are supposed to pass
through animal or reptile forms only. The Greek doctrine, like the
Celtic, includes plant forms. Certain African tribes believe in the
transmigration of souls.
[111] Pliny (Book XXX) says Britain seems to have taught Druidism
to the Persians. Siret's view, given in the concluding part of
this chapter, that Druidism was of Eastern origin, is of special
interest in this connection.
In ancient Britain and Ireland the belief obtained, as in Greece
and elsewhere, that there was an Underworld Paradise and certain
Islands of the Blest (in Gaelic called "The Land of Youth", "The
Plain of Bliss", &c.) The Underworld was entered through caves,
wells, rivers or lakes, or through the ocean cavern from which the
moon arose. There are references in Scottish folk-tales to "The
Land-Under-Waves", and to men and women entering the Underworld
through a "fairy" mound, and seeing the dead plucking fruit and
reaping grain as in the Paradise of the Egyptian god Osiris. It is
evident that Fairyland was originally a Paradise, and the fairy queen
an old mother goddess. There are references in Welsh to as gloomy
an Underworld as the Babylonian one. "In addition to _Annwfn_, a
term which", according to the late Professor Anwyl, "seems to mean
the 'Not-world', we have other names for the world below, such as
_anghar_, 'the loveless place'; _difant_, the unrimmed place (whence
the modern Welsh word _difancoll_, 'lost for ever'); _affwys_, the
abyss; _affan_, 'the land invisible'." In a Welsh poem a bard speaks
of the Otherworld as "the cruel prison of earth, the abode of death,
the loveless land".[112]
[112] _Celtic Religion_, p. 62.
The Border Ballads of Scotland contain references to the Fairyland
Paradise of the Underworld, to the islands or continent of Paradise,
and to the dark Otherworld of the grave in which the dead lie among
devouring worms.
In one Celtic Elysium, known to the Welsh and Irish, the dead feast
on pork as do the heroes in the Paradise of the Scandinavian god
Odin. There is no trace in Scotland of a belief or desire to reach a
Paradise in which the pig was eaten. The popularity of the apple as
the fruit of longevity was, however, widespread. It is uncertain when
the beliefs connected with it were introduced into England, Wales,
Scotland, and Ireland. As they were similar to those connected with
the hazel-nut, the acorn, the rowan, &c., there may have simply been
a change of fruit rather than a religious change, except in so far
as new ceremonies may have been associated with the cultivated apple
tree.
A Gaelic story tells of a youth who in Paradise held a fragrant
golden apple in his right hand. "A third part of it he would eat and
still, for all he consumed, never a whit would it be diminished."
As long as he ate the apple "nor age nor dimness could affect him".
Paradise was in Welsh and Gaelic called "Apple land".[113] Its "tree
of life" always bore ripe fruit and fresh blossoms. One of the Irish
St. Patrick legends pictures a fair youth coming from the south[114]
clad in crimson mantle and yellow shirt, carrying a "double armful of
round yellow-headed nuts and of most beautiful golden-yellow apples".
There are stories, too, about the hazel with its "good fruit", and
of holy fire being taken from this tree, and withal a number of
hazel place-names that probably indicate where sacred hazel groves
once existed. Hallowe'en customs connected with apples and nuts are
evidently relics of ancient religious beliefs and ceremonies.
[113] Avalon, Emain Ablach, &c.
[114] The south was on the right and signified heaven, while the
north was on the left and signified hell.
The Druids are reported by Pliny (as has been stated) to have
venerated the mistletoe, especially when it was found growing on an
oak. But the popular parasitic plant is very rarely found associated
with this tree. In France and England it grows chiefly on firs
and pines or on apple trees, but never on the plane, beech, or
birch.[115] It is therefore doubtful if the name Druid was derived
from the root _dru_ which is found in the Greek word _drus_ (oak).
In Gaelic the Druids are "wise men" who read oracles, worked spells,
controlled the weather, and acted as intercessors between the
gods and men. Like the dragon-slayers of romance, they understood
"the language of birds", and especially that of the particular
bird associated with the holy tree of a cult. One sacred bird was
the wren. According to Dr. Whitley Stokes the old Celtic names of
wren and Druid were derived from the root _dreo_, which is cognate
with the German word _treu_ and the English _true_. The Druid
was therefore, as one who understood the language of the wren, a
soothsayer, a truth-sayer--a revealer of divine truth. A judgment
pronounced by Druid or king was supposed to be inspired by the deity.
It was essentially a divine decree. The judge wore round his neck
the symbol of the deity. "When what he said was true, it was roomy
for his neck; when false, it was narrow." This symbol according to
_Cormac's Glossary_ was called _sin_ (sheen). Some seers derived
their power to reveal the truth by tasting the blood or juice of a
holy animal or reptile, or, like Thomas the Rhymer, by eating of an
apple plucked from the tree of life in the Paradise of Fairyland.
In an old ballad it is told that when Thomas was carried off to the
Underworld by the fairy queen he was given an inspiring apple that
made him a "truth-sayer" (a prophet).
[115] Bacon wrote: "Mistletoe groweth chiefly upon crab trees,
apple trees, sometimes upon hazels, and rarely upon oaks; the
mistletoe whereof is counted very medicinal. It is evergreen in
winter and summer, and beareth a white glistening berry; and it
is a plant utterly differing from the plant on which it groweth."
Syne they came to a garden green
And she pu'd an apple frae a tree;
"Take this for thy wages, True Thomas;
It will give thee the tongue that can never lee (lie)."
"True Thomas" was "Druid Thomas".
An interesting reference to Druidism is found in a Gaelic poem
supposed to have been written by St. Columba, in which the missionary
says:
The voices of birds I do not reverence,
Nor sneezing, nor any charm in this wide world.
Christ, the Son of God, is my Druid.
There are Gaelic stories about Druids who read the omens of the air
and foretell the fates of individuals at birth, fix the days on which
young warriors should take arms, &c.
In England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales not only trees and birds
were reverenced, but also standing stones, which are sometimes
referred to even in modern Gaelic as "stones of worship". Some
stories tell of standing stones being transformed into human beings
when struck by a magician's wand. The wand in one story is possessed
by a "wise woman". Other traditions relate that once a year the
stones become maidens who visit a neighbouring stream and bathe in
it. A version of this myth survives in Oxfordshire. According to
Tacitus there were on the island of Mona (Anglesea), which was a
centre of religious influence, not only Druids, but "women in black
attire like Furies"--apparently priestesses. As has been noted, a
large number of dolmens existed on Mona, in which there were also
"groves devoted to inhuman superstitions".[116]
[116] _The Annals of Tacitus_, XIV, 30. The theory that mediæval
witches were the priestesses of a secret cult that perpetuated
pre-Roman British religion is not supported by Gaelic evidence.
The Gaelic "witches" had no meetings with the devil, and never
rode on broomsticks. The Gaelic name for witchcraft is derived
from English and is not old.
The early Christian writers refer to the "worship of stones" in
Ireland. In the seventh century the Council at Rouen denounced all
those who offer vows to trees, or wells, or stones, as they would
at altars, or offer candles or gifts, as if any divinity resided
there capable of conferring good or evil. The Council at Arles (A.D.
452) and the Council at Toledo (A.D. 681) dealt with similar pagan
practices. That sacred stones were associated with sacred trees is
indicated in a decree of an early Christian Council held at Nantes
which exhorts "bishops and their servants to dig up and remove and
hide in places where they cannot be found those stones which in
remote and woody places are still worshipped and where vows are still
made". This worship of stones was in Britain, or at any rate in part
of England, connected with the worship of the heavenly bodies. A
statute of the time of King Canute forbids the barbarous adoration
of the sun and moon, fire, fountains, stones, and all kinds of trees
and wood. In the Confession attributed to St. Patrick, the Irish
are warned that all those who adore the sun shall perish eternally.
_Cormac's_ _Glossary_ explains that _Indelba_ signified _Images_
and that this name was applied to the altars of certain idols. "They
(the pagans) were wont to carve on them the forms of the elements
they adored: for example, the figure of the sun." Irish Gaels swore
by "the sun, moon, water, and air, day and night, sea and land".
In a Scottish story some warriors lift up a portion of earth and
swear on it. The custom of swearing on weapons was widespread in
these islands. In ancient times people swore by what was holiest to
them.[117]
[117] "Every weapon has its demon" is an old Gaelic saying.
One of the latest references to pagan religious customs is found in
the records of Dingwall Presbytery dating from 1649 to 1678. In the
Parish of Gairloch, Ross-shire, bulls were sacrificed, oblations of
milk were poured on the hills, wells were adored, and chapels were
"circulated"--the worshippers walked round them sunwise. Those who
intended to set out on journeys thrust their heads into a hole in
a stone.[118] If a head entered the hole, it was believed the man
would return; if it did not, his luck was doubtful. The reference to
"oblations of milk" is of special interest, because milk was offered
to the fairies. A milk offering was likewise poured daily into
the "cup" of a stone known as Clach-na-Gruagach (the stone of the
long-haired one). A bowl of milk was, in the Highlands, placed beside
a corpse, and, after burial took place, either outside the house
door or at the grave. The conventionalized Azilian human form is
sometimes found to be depicted by small "cups" on boulders or rocks.
Some "cups" were formed by "knocking" with a small stone for purposes
of divination. The "cradle stone" at Burghead is a case in point.
It is dealt with by Sir Arthur Mitchell (_The Past in the Present_,
pp. 263-5), who refers to other "cup-stones" that were regarded as
being "efficacious in cases of barrenness". In some hollowed stones
Highland parents immersed children suspected of being changelings.
[118] According to the Dingwall records knowledge of "future
events in reference especialle to lyfe and death" was obtained by
performing a ceremony in connection with the hollowed stone.
A flood of light has been thrown on the origin of Druidism by
Siret,[119] the discoverer of the settlements of Easterners in Spain
which have been dealt with in an earlier chapter. He shows that
the colonists were an intensely religious people, who introduced
the Eastern Palm-tree cult and worshipped a goddess similar to the
Egyptian Hathor, a form of whom was Nut. After they were expelled
from Spain by a bronze-using people, the refugees settled in Gaul
and Italy, carrying with them the science and religious beliefs
and practices associated with Druidism. Commercial relations were
established between the Etruscans, the peoples of Gaul and the south
of Spain, and with the Phoenicians of Tyre and Carthage during the
archæological Early Iron Age. Some of the megalithic monuments of
North Africa were connected with this later drift.
[119] _L'Anthropologie_, 1921. Tome XXX, pp. 235 _et seq._
The goddess Hathor of Egypt was associated with the sycamore fig
which exudes a milk-like fluid, with a sea-shell, with the sky
(as Nut she was depicted as a star-spangled woman), and with the
primeval cow. The tree cult was introduced into Rome. The legend
of the foundation of that city is closely associated with the
"milk"-yielding fig tree, under which the twins Romulus and Remus
were nourished by the wolf. The fig-milk was regarded as an elixir
and was given by the Greeks to newly born children.
Siret shows that the ancient name of the Tiber was Rumon, which was
derived from the root signifying milk. It was supposed to nourish
the earth with terrestrial milk. From the same root came the name of
Rome. The ancient milk-providing goddess of Rome was Deva Rumina.
Offerings of milk instead of wine were made to her. The starry
heavens were called "Juno's milk" by the Romans, and "Hera's milk" by
the Greeks, and the name "Milky Way" is still retained.
The milk tree of the British Isles is the hazel. It contains a milky
fluid in the green nut, which Highland children of a past generation
regarded as a fluid that gave them strength. Nut-milk was evidently
regarded in ancient times as an elixir like fig-milk.[120] There is
a great deal of Gaelic lore connected with the hazel. In Keating's
_History of Ireland_ (Vol. I, section 12) appears the significant
statement, "Coll (the hazel) indeed was god to MacCuil". "Coll" is
the old Gaelic word for hazel; the modern word is "Call". "Calltuinn"
(Englished "Calton") is a "hazel grove". There are Caltons in
Edinburgh and Glasgow and well-worn forms of the ancient name
elsewhere. In the legends associated with the Irish Saint Maedóg is
one regarding a dried-up stick of hazel which "sprouted into leaf
and blossom and good fruit". It is added that this hazel "endures
yet (A.D. 624), a fresh tree, undecayed, unwithered, nut-laden
yearly".[121] The sacred hazel was supposed to be impregnated with
the substance of life. Another reference is made to _Coll na nothar_
("hazel of the wounded"). Hazel-nuts of longevity, as well as
apples of longevity, were supposed to grow in the Gaelic Paradise.
In a St. Patrick legend a youth comes from the south ("south" is
Paradise and "north" is hell) carrying "a double armful of round
yellow-headed nuts and of beautiful golden-yellow apples". Dr. Joyce
states that the ancient Irish "attributed certain druidical or fairy
virtues to the yew, the hazel, and the quicken or rowan tree", and
refers to "innumerable instances in tales, poems, and other old
records, in such expressions as 'Cruachan of the fair hazels',
'Derry-na-nath, on which fair-nutted hazels are constantly found'....
Among the blessings a good king brought on the land was plenty of
hazel-nuts:--'O'Berga (the chief) for whom the hazels stoop', 'Each
hazel is rich from the hero'." Hazel-nuts were like the figs and
dates of the Easterners, largely used for food.[122]
[120] "Comb of the honey and milk of the nut" (in Gaelic _cir
na meala 'is bainne nan cnò_) was given as a tonic to weakly
children, and is still remembered, the Rev. Kenneth MacLeod,
Colonsay, informs me.
[121] Standish H. O'Grady, _Silva Gadelica_, p. 505.
[122] _A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland_, pp. 100-2
and 367-8.
Important evidence regarding the milk elixir and the associated myths
and doctrines is preserved in the ancient religious literature of
India and especially in the _Mahá-bhárata_. The Indian Hathor is the
cow-mother Surabhi, who sprang from Amrita (Soma) in the mouth of
the Grandfather (Brahma). A single jet of her milk gave origin to
"Milky Ocean". The milk "mixing with the water" appeared as foam,
and was the only nourishment of the holy men called "Foam drinkers".
Divine milk was also obtained from "milk-yielding trees", which were
the "children" of one of her daughters. These trees included nut
trees. Another daughter was the mother of birds of the parrot species
(oracular birds). In the Vedic poems _soma_, a drink prepared from a
plant, is said to have been mixed with milk and honey, and mention
is made of "_Su-soma_" ("river of Soma"). _Madhu_ (mead) was a drink
identified with _soma_, or milk and honey.[123]
[123] Macdonell and Keith, _Vedic Index_, under _Soma_ and
_Madhu_.
There are rivers of mead in the Celtic Paradise. Certain trees are
in Irish lore associated with rivers that were regarded as sacred.
These were not necessarily milk-yielding trees. In Gaul the plane
tree took the place of the southern fig tree. The elm tree in Ireland
and Scotland was similarly connected with the ancient milk cult.
One of the old names for new milk, found in "Cormac's Glossary", is
_lemlacht_, the later form of which is _leamhnacht_. From the same
root (_lem_) comes _leamh_, the name of the elm. The River Laune
in Killarney is a rendering of the Gaelic name _leamhain_, which in
Scotland is found as Leven, the river that gave its name to the area
known as Lennox (ancient _Leamhna_). Milk place-names in Ireland
include "new milk lake" (Lough Alewnaghta) in Galway, "which",
Joyce suggests, "may have been so called from the softness of its
water". A mythological origin of the name is more probable. Wounds
received in battle were supposed to be healed in baths of the milk
of white hornless cows.[124] In Irish blood-covenant ceremonies new
milk, blood, and wine were mixed and drunk by warriors.[125] As late
as the twelfth century a rich man's child was in Ireland immersed
immediately after birth in new milk.[126] In Rome, in the ninth
century, at the Easter-eve baptism the chalice was filled "not with
wine but with milk and honey, that they may understand ... that they
have entered already upon the promised land".[127]
[124] Joyce, _Irish Names of Places_, Vol. I, pp. 507-9, Vol. II,
pp. 206-7 and 345· Marsh mallows (_leamh_) appear to have been
included among the herbals of the milk-cult as the soma-plant was
in India.
[125] _Revue Celtique_, Vol. XIII, p. 75.
[126] Warren, _Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church_, p. 67.
[127] Henderson's _Survivals_, p. 218.
The beliefs associated with the apple, rowan, hazel, and oak trees
were essentially the same. These trees provided the fruits of
longevity and knowledge, or the wine which was originally regarded
as an elixir that imparted new life and inspired those who drank it
to prophecy[128]. The oak provided acorns which were eaten. Although
it does not bear red berries like the rowan, a variety of the oak
is greatly favoured by the insect _Kermes_, "which yields a scarlet
dye nearly equal to cochineal, and is the 'scarlet' mentioned in
Scripture". This fact is of importance as the early peoples attached
much value to colour and especially to red, the colour of life blood.
Withal, acorn-cups "are largely imported from the Levant for the
purposes of tanning, dyeing, and making ink".[129] A seafaring people
like the ancient Britons must have tanned the skins used for boats
so as to prevent them rotting on coming into contact with water. Dr.
Joyce writes of the ancient Irish in this connection, "Curraghs[130]
or wicker-boats were often covered with leather. A jacket of hard,
tough, tanned leather was sometimes worn in battle as a protecting
corslet. Bags made of leather, and often of undressed skins, were
pretty generally used to hold liquids. There was a sort of leather
wallet or bag called _crioll_, used like a modern travelling bag, to
hold clothes and other soft articles. The art of tanning was well
understood in ancient Ireland. The name for a tanner was _sudaire_,
which is still a living word. Oak bark was employed, and in
connection with this use was called _coirteach_ (Latin, _cortex_)."
The oak-god protected seafarers by making their vessels sea-worthy.
[128] Rowan-berry wine was greatly favoured. There are Gaelic
references to "the wine of the apple (cider)".
[129] George Nicholson, _Encyclopædia of Horticulture_, under
"Oak".
[130] Curragh is connected with the Latin _corium_, a hide.
Mistletoe berries may have been regarded as milk-berries because
of their colour, and the ceremonial cutting of the mistletoe with
the golden sickle may well have been a ceremony connected with the
fertilization of trees practised in the East. The mistletoe was
reputed to be an "all-heal", although really it is useless for
medicinal purposes.
That complex ideas were associated with deities imported into this
country, the history of which must be sought for elsewhere, is made
manifest when we find that, in the treeless Outer Hebrides, the
goddess known as the "maiden queen" has her dwelling in a tree and
provides the "milk of knowledge" from a sea-shell. She could not
possibly have had independent origin in Scotland. Her history is
rooted in ancient Egypt, where Hathor, the provider of the milk
of knowledge and longevity, was, as has been indicated, connected
with the starry sky (the Milky Way), a sea-shell, the milk-yielding
sycamore fig, and the primeval cow.
The cult animal of the goddess was in Egypt the star-spangled cow;
in Troy it was a star-spangled sow[131]. The cult animal of Rome was
the wolf which suckled Romulus and Remus. In Crete the local Zeus was
suckled, according to the belief of one cult, by a horned sheep[132],
and according to another cult by a sow. There were various cult
animals in ancient Scotland, including the tabooed pig, the red deer
milked by the fairies, the wolf, and the cat of the "Cat" tribes
in Shetland, Caithness, &c. The cow appears to have been sacred to
certain peoples in ancient Britain and Ireland. It would appear, too,
that there was a sacred dog in Ireland.[133]
[131] Schliemann, _Troy and Its Remains_, p. 232.
[132] _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, Vol. XXI, p. 129.
[133] It was because Zeus had been suckled by a sow that the
Cretans, as Athenæus records, "will not taste its flesh"
(Farnell, _Cults of the Greek States_, Vol. I, p. 37). In Ireland
the dog was taboo to Cuchullin. There is a good deal of Gaelic
lore about the sacred cow.
It is evident that among the Eastern beliefs anciently imported into
the British Isles were some which still bear traces of the influence
of cults and of culture mixing. That religious ideas of Egyptian
and Babylonian origin were blended in this country there can be
little doubt, for the Gaelic-speaking peoples, who revered the hazel
as the Egyptians revered the sycamore, regarded the liver as the
seat of life, as did the Babylonians, and not the heart, as did the
Egyptians. In translations of ancient Gaelic literature "liver" is
always rendered as "vitals".
[Illustration: Cult Animals and "Wonder Beasts" (dragons or
makaras) on Scottish Sculptured Stones]
It is of special interest to note that Siret has found evidence to
show that the Tree Cult of the Easterners was connected with the
early megalithic monuments. The testimony of tradition associates
the stone circles, &c., with the Druids. "We are now obliged",
he writes[134], "to go back to the theory of the archæologists of
a hundred years ago who attributed the megalithic monuments to the
Druids. The instinct of our predecessors has been more penetrating
than the scientific analysis which has taken its place." In Gaelic,
as will be shown, the words for a sacred grove and the shrine within
a grove are derived from the same root _nem_. (See also Chapter IX in
this connection.)
[134] _L'Anthropologie_ (1921), pp. 268 _et seq._
CHAPTER XIII
The Lore of Charms
The Meaning of "Luck"--Symbolism of Charms--Colour
Symbolism--Death as a Change--Food and Charms for the Dead--The
Lucky Pearl--Pearl Goddess--Moon as "Pearl of Heaven"--Sky
Goddess connected with Pearls, Groves, and Wells--Night-shining
Jewels--Pearl and Coral as "Life Givers"--The Morrigan and
Morgan le Fay--Goddess Freyja and Jewels--Amber connected
with Goddess and Boar--"Soul Substance" in Amber, Jet, Coral,
&c.--Enamel as Substitute for Coral, &c.--Precious Metal and
Precious Stones--Goddess of Life and Law--Pearl as a Standard
of Value in Gaelic Trade.
Our ancestors were greatly concerned about their luck. They consulted
oracles to discover what luck was in store for them. To them luck
meant everything they most desired--good health, good fortune,
an abundant food supply, and protection against drowning, wounds
in battle, accidents, and so on. Luck was ensured by performing
ceremonies and wearing charms. Some ceremonies were performed round
sacred bon-fires (bone fires), when sacrifices were made, at holy
wells, in groves, or in stone circles. Charms included precious
stones, coloured stones, pearls, and articles of silver, gold,
or copper of symbolic shape, or bearing an image or inscription.
Mascots, "lucky pigs", &c., are relics of the ancient custom of
wearing charms.
The colour as well as the shape of a charm revealed its particular
influence. Certain colours are still regarded as being lucky or
unlucky ("yellow is forsaken" some say). In ancient times colours
meant much to the Britons, as they did to other peoples. This
fact is brought out in many tales and customs. A Welsh story, for
instance, which refers to the appearance of supernatural beings
attired in red and blue, says, "The red on the one part signifies
burning, and the blue on the other signifies coldness".[135]
[135] Lady Charlotte Guest, _The Mabinogion_ (Story of "Kilwch
and Olwen" and note on "Gwyn the son of Nudd").
On their persisting belief in luck were based the religious ideas and
practices of the ancient Britons. Their chief concern was to protect
and prolong life in this world and in the next. When death came it
was regarded as "a change". The individual was supposed either to
fall asleep, or to be transported in the body to Paradise, or to
assume a new form. In Scottish Gaelic one can still hear the phrase
_chaochail e_ ("he changed") used to signify that "he died".[136]
But after death charms were as necessary as during life. As in
Aurignacian times, luck-charms in the form of necklaces, armlets,
&c., were placed in the graves of the dead by those who used flint,
or bronze, or iron to shape implements and weapons. The dead had to
receive nourishment, and clay vessels are invariably found in ancient
graves, some of which contain dusty deposits. The writer has seen at
Fortrose a deposit in one of these grave urns, which a medical man
identified as part of the skeleton of a bird.
[136] Also _shiubhail e_ which signifies "he went off" (as when
walking).
Necklaces of shells, of wild animals' teeth, and ornaments of ivory
found in Palæolithic graves or burial caves were connected with
the belief that they contained the animating influence or "life
substance" of the mother goddess. In later times the pearl found in
the shell was regarded as being specially sacred.
Venus (Aphrodite) is, in one of her phases, the personification of
a pearl, and is lifted from the sea seated on a shell. As a sky
deity she was connected with the planet that bears her name[137]
and also with the moon. The ancients connected the moon with the
pearl. In some languages the moon is the "pearl of heaven". Dante,
in his _Inferno_, refers to the moon as "the eternal pearl". One of
the Gaelic names for a pearl is _neamhnuid_. The root is _nem_ of
_neamh_, and _neamh_ is "heaven", so that the pearl is "a heavenly
thing" in Gaelic, as in other ancient languages. It was associated
not only with the sky goddess but with the sacred grove in which
the goddess was worshipped. The Gaulish name _nemeton_, of which
the root is likewise _nem_, means "shrine in a grove". In early
Christian times in Ireland the name was applied as _nemed_ to a
chapel, and in Scottish place-names[138] it survives in the form of
_neimhidh_, "church-land", the Englished forms of which are _Navity_,
near Cromarty, _Navaty_ in Fife, "Rosneath", formerly Rosneveth
(the promontory of the _nemed_), "Dalnavie" (dale of the _nemed_),
"Cnocnavie" (hillock of the _nemed_), Inchnavie (island of the
_nemed_), &c. The Gauls had a _nemetomarus_ ("great shrine"), and
when in Roman times a shrine was dedicated to Augustus it was called
_Augustonemeton_. The root _nem_ is in the Latin word _nemus_ (a
grove). It was apparently because the goddess of the grove was the
goddess of the sky and of the pearl, and the goddess of battle as
well as the goddess of love, that Julius Cæsar made a thanksgiving
offering to Venus in her temple at Rome of a corslet of British
pearls.
[137] When depicted with star-spangled garments she was the
goddess of the starry sky ("Milky Way") like the Egyptian Hathor
or Nut.
[138] Professor W. J. Watson, _Place-names of Ross and Cromarty_,
pp. 62-3.
The Irish goddess Nemon was the spouse of the war god Neit. A Roman
inscription at Bath refers to the British goddess N[)e]m[)e]t[)o]na.
The Gauls had a goddess of similar name. In Galatia, Asia Minor, the
particular tree connected with the sky goddess was the oak, as is
shown by the name of their religious centre which was _Dru-nemeton_
("Oak-grove"). It will be shown in a later chapter that the sacred
tree was connected with the sky and the deities of the sky, with the
sacred wells and rivers, with the sacred fish, and with the fire,
the sun, and lightning. Here it may be noted that the sacred well is
connected with the holy grove, the sky, the pearl, and the mother
goddess in the Irish place-name _Neamhnach_ (Navnagh),[139] applied
to the well from which flows the stream of the Nith. The well is
thus, like the pearl, "the heavenly one". The root _nem_ of _neamh_
(heaven) is found in the name of St. Brendan's mother, who was called
_Neamhnat_ (Navnat), which means "little" or "dear heavenly one".
In _neamhan_ ("raven" and "crow") the bird form of the deity is
enshrined.
[139] Dr. Joyce, _Irish Names of Places_, Vol. I, p. 375.
[Illustration:
Upper picture by courtesy of Director, British School of Rome
MEGALITHS
Upper: Dolmen near Birori, Sardinia. Lower: Tynewydd Dolmen.]
Owing to its connection with the moon, the pearl was supposed to
shine by night. The same peculiarity was attributed to certain
sacred stones, to coral, jade, &c., and to ivory. Munster people
perpetuate the belief that "at the bottom of the lower lake of
Killarney there is a diamond of priceless value, which sometimes
shines so brightly that on certain nights the light bursts forth with
dazzling brilliancy through the dark waters".[140] Night-shining
jewels are known in Scotland. One is suppose to shine on Arthur's
Seat, Edinburgh, and another on the north "souter" of the Cromarty
Firth.[141] Another sacred stone connected with the goddess was the
onyx, which in ancient Gaelic is called _nem_. Night-shining jewels
are referred to in the myths of Greece, Arabia, Persia, India,
China, Japan, &c. Laufer has shown that the Chinese received their
lore about the night-shining diamond from "Fu-lin" (the Byzantine
Empire).[142]
[140] _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 378.
[141] The two headlands, the "souters" or "sutors", are supposed
to have been so called because they were sites of tanneries.
[142] _The Diamond_ (Chicago, 1915).
The ancient pearl-fishers spread their pearl-lore far and wide. It
is told in more than one land that pearls are formed by dew-drops
from the sky. Pliny says the dew-or rain-drops fall into the shells
of the pearl-oyster when it gapes.[143] In modern times the belief
is that pearls are the congealed tears of the angels. In Greece the
pearl was called _margaritoe_, a name which survives in Margaret,
anciently the name of a goddess. The old Persian name for pearl is
_margan_, which signifies "life giver". It is possible that this is
the original meaning of the name of Morgan le Fay (Morgan the Fairy),
who is remembered as the sister of King Arthur, and of the Irish
goddess Morrigan, usually Englished as "Sea-queen" (the sea as the
source of life), or "great queen". At any rate, Morgan le Fay and the
Morrigan closely resemble one another. In Italian we meet with Fata
Morgana.
[143] _Natural History_, Book IX. Chap. LIV.
The old Persian word for coral is likewise _margan_. Coral was
supposed to be a tree, and it was regarded as the sea-tree of the
sea and sky goddess. Amber was connected, too, with the goddess. In
northern mythology, amber, pearls, precious stones, and precious
metals were supposed to be congealed forms of the tears of the
goddess Freyja, the Venus of the Scandinavians.
Amber, like pearls, was sacred to the mother goddess because her life
substance (the animating principle) was supposed to be concentrated
in it. The connection between the precious or sacred amber and the
goddess and her cult animal is brought out in a reference made by
Tacitus to the amber collectors and traders on the southern shore
of the Baltic. These are the Æstyans, who, according to Tacitus,
were costumed like the Swedes, but spoke a language resembling the
dialect of the Britons. "They worship", the historian records,
"the mother of the gods. The figure of a wild boar is the symbol
of their superstition; and he who has that emblem about him thinks
himself secure even in the thickest ranks of the enemy without any
need of arms or any other mode of defence."[144] The animal of the
amber goddess was thus the boar, which was the sacred animal of the
Celtic tribe, the Iceni of ancient Britain, which under Boadicea
revolted against Roman rule. The symbol of the boar (remembered as
the "lucky pig") is found on ancient British armour. On the famous
Witham shield there are coral and enamel. Three bronze boar symbols
found in a field at Hounslow are preserved in the British Museum. In
the same field was found a solar-wheel symbol. "The boar frequently
occurs in British and Gaulish coins of the period, and examples have
been found as far off as Gurina and Transylvania."[145] Other sacred
cult animals were connected with the goddess by those people who
fished for pearls and coral or searched for sacred precious stones or
precious metals.
[144] Tacitus, _Manners of the Germans_, Chap. XLV.
[145] _British Museum Guide to the Antiquities of the Early Iron
Age_, pp. 135-6.
At the basis of the ancient religious system that connected coral,
shells, and pearls with the mother goddess of the sea, wells, rivers,
and lakes, was the belief that all life had its origin in water.
Pearls, amber, marsh plants, and animals connected with water were
supposed to be closely associated with the goddess who herself had
had her origin in water. Tacitus tells that the Baltic worshippers
of the mother goddess called amber _glesse_. According to Pliny[146]
it was called _glessum_ by the Germans, and he tells that one of
the Baltic islands famous for its amber was named _Glessaria_. The
root is the Celtic word _glas_, which originally meant "water" and
especially life-giving water. Boece (_Cosmographie_, Chapter XV)
tells that in Scotland the belief prevailed that amber was generated
of sea-froth. It thus had its origin like Aphrodite. _Glas_ is now a
colour term in Welsh and Gaelic, signifying green or grey, or even
a shade of blue. It was anciently used to denote vigour, as in the
term _Gaidheal glas_ ("the vigorous Gael" or "the ambered Gael", the
vigour being derived from the goddess of amber and the sea); and in
the Latinized form of the old British name Cuneglasos, which like the
Irish Conglas signified "vigorous hound".[147] Here the sacred hound
figures in place of the sacred boar.
[146] _Natural History_, Book XXXVIII, Chapter III.
[147] Rhys rejects the view of Gildas that "Cuneglasos" meant
"tawny butcher".
From the root _glas_ comes also _glaisin_, the Gaelic name for woad,
the blue dyestuff with which ancient Britons and Gaels stained or
tattooed their bodies with figures of sacred animals or symbols,[148]
apparently to secure protection as did those who had the boar symbol
on their armour. For the same reason Cuchullin, the Irish Achilles,
wore pearls in his hair, and the Roman Emperor Caligula had a pearl
collar on his favourite horse. Ice being a form of water is in French
_glacé_, which also means "glass". When glass beads were first
manufactured they were regarded, like amber, as depositories of "life
substance" from the water goddess who, as sky goddess, was connected
with sun and fire. Her fire melted the constituents of glass into
liquid form, and it hardened like jewels and amber. These beads
were called "adder stones" (Welsh _glain neidre_ and "Druid's gem"
or "glass"--in Welsh _Gleini na Droedh_ and in Gaelic _Glaine nan
Druidhe_).
[148] Herodian, Lib. III, says of the inhabitants of Caledonia,
"They mark their bodies with various pictures of all manner of
animals".
A special peculiarity about amber is that when rubbed vigorously
it attracts or lifts light articles. That is why it is called in
Persian Kahruba (_Kah_, straw; _ruba_, to lift). This name appears in
modern French as _carabé_ (yellow amber). In Italian, Spanish, and
Portuguese it is _carabe_. No doubt the early peoples, who gathered
Adriatic and Baltic amber and distributed it and its lore far and
wide, discovered this peculiar quality in the sacred substance. In
Britain, jet was used in the same way as amber for luck charms and
ornaments. Like amber it becomes negatively electric by friction.
Bede appears to have believed that jet was possessed of special
virtue. "When heated", he says, "it drives away serpents."[149] The
Romans regarded jet as a depository of supernatural power[150] and
used it for ornaments. Until comparatively recently jet was used in
Scotland as a charm against witchcraft, the evil eye, &c. "A ring
of hard black schistus found in a cairn in the parish of Inchinan",
writes a local Scottish historian, "has performed, if we believe
report, many astonishing cures."[151] Albertite, which, like jet and
amber, attracts light articles when vigorously rubbed, was made into
ornaments. It takes on a finer lustre than jet but loses it sooner.
[149] Book I. Chapter I.
[150] Pliny, Lib. XXXVI. cap. 34.
[151] Ure's _History of Rutherglen and Kilbride_, p. 219.
The fact that jet, albertite, and other black substances were
supposed to be specially efficacious for protecting black horses and
cattle is of peculiar interest. Hathor, the cow goddess of Egypt,
had a black as well as a white form as goddess of the night sky
and death. She was the prototype of the black Aphrodite (Venus).
In Scotland a black goddess (the _nigra dea_ in Adamnan's _Life of
Columba_) was associated with Loch Lochy.
The use of coral as a sacred substance did not begin in Britain until
the knowledge of iron working was introduced. Coral is not found
nearer than the Mediterranean. The people who first brought it to
Britain must have received it and the beliefs attached to it from the
Mediterranean area. Before reaching Britain they had begun to make
imitation coral. The substitute was enamel, which required for its
manufacture great skill and considerable knowledge, furnaces capable
of generating an intense heat being necessary. It is inconceivable
that so expensive a material could have been produced except for
religious purposes. The warriors apparently believed that coral and
its substitutes protected them as did amber and the boar symbol of
the mother goddess.
At first red enamel was used as a substitute for red coral, but
ultimately blue, yellow, and white enamels were produced. Sometimes
we find, as at Traprain in Scotland, that silver took the place of
white enamel. It is possible that blue enamel was a substitute for
turquoise and lapis lazuli, the precious stones associated with the
mother goddesses of Hathor type, and that yellow and white enamels
were substitutes for yellow and white amber. The Greeks called white
amber "electrum". The symbolism of gold and silver links closely
with that of amber. Possibly the various sacred substances and their
substitutes were supposed to protect different parts of the body.
As much is suggested, for instance, by the lingering belief that
amber protects and strengthens the eyes. The solar cult connected
the ear and the ear-ring with the sun, which was one of the "eyes"
of the world-deity, the other "eye" being the moon. When human ears
were pierced, the blood drops were offered to the sun-god. Sailors
of a past generation clung to the ancient notion that gold ear-rings
exercised a beneficial influence on their eyes. Not only the colours
of luck objects, but their shapes were supposed to ensure luck. The
Swashtika symbol, the U-form, the S-form, and 8-form symbols, the
spiral, the leaf-shaped and equal-limbed crosses, &c., were supposed
to "attract" and "radiate" the influence of the deity. Thus Buddhists
accumulate religious "merit" not only by fasting and praying, but by
making collections of jewels and symbols.
In Britain, as in other countries, the deity was closely associated
as an influence with law. A Roman inscription on a slab found at
Carvoran refers to the mother goddess "poising life and laws in a
balance". This was Ceres, whose worship had been introduced during
the Roman period, but similar beliefs were attached to the ancient
goddesses of Britain. Vows were taken over objects sacred to her, and
sacred objects were used as mediums of exchange. In old Gaelic, for
instance, a jewel or pearl was called a _set_; in modern Gaelic it is
_sed_ (pronounced _shade_). A _set_ (pearl) was equal in value to an
ounce of gold and to a cow. An ounce of gold was therefore a _set_
and a cow was a _set_, too. Three _sets_ was the value of a bondmaid.
The value of three sets was one _cumal_. Another standard of value
was a sack of corn (_miach_).[152]
[152] Joyce, _A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland_, p.
478.
The value attached to gold and pearls was originally magical.
Jewels and precious metals were searched for for to bring wearers
"luck"--that is, everything their hearts desired. The search for
these promoted trade, and the _sets_ were used as a standard of value
between traders. Thus not only religious systems, but even the early
systems of trade were closely connected with the persistent belief in
luck and the deity who was the source of luck.[153]
[153] Professor W. J. Watson has drawn my attention to an
interesting reference to amber. In the _Proceedings of the
British Academy_, Vol. II, p. 18, under "Celtic Inscriptions of
France and Italy", Sir John Rhys deals with Vebrumaros, a man's
name. The second element in this name is _m[=a]ros_ (great); the
first, _uebru_, "is perhaps to be explained by reference to the
Welsh word _gwefr_ (amber)". Rhys thought the name meant that the
man was distinguished for his display of amber "in the adornment
of his person". The name had probably a deeper significance.
Amber was closely associated with the mother goddess. One of her
names may have been "Uebru". She personified amber.
CHAPTER XIV
The World of Our Ancestors
"All Heals"--Influences of Cardinal Points--The Four Red
Divisions of the World--The Black North, White South, Purple
East, and Dun or Pale East--Good and Bad Words connected
with South and North--North the left, South the right, East
in front, and West behind--Cardinal Points Doctrine in
Burial Customs--Stone Circle Burials--Christian and Pagan
Burial Rites--Sunwise Customs--Raising the Devil in Stone
Circle--Coloured Winds--Coloured Stones raise Winds--The "God
Body" and "Spirit Husk"--Deities and Cardinal Points--Axis
of Stonehenge Avenue--God and Goddesses of Circle--Well
Worship--Lore of Druids.
The ancient superstitions dealt with in the previous chapter afford
us glimpses of the world in which our ancestors lived, and some idea
of the incentives that caused them to undertake long and perilous
journeys in search of articles of religious value. They were as
greatly concerned as are their descendants about their health and
their fate. Everything connected with the deity, or possessing, as
was believed, the influence of the deity, was valuable as a charm or
as medicine. The mistletoe berry was a famous medicine because it was
the fruit of a parasite supposed to contain the "life substance" of a
powerful deity. It was an "All Heal" or "Cure All",[154] yet it was
a quack medicine and quite useless. Red earth was "blood earth"; it
contained the animating principle too. Certain herbs were supposed
to be curative. Some herbs were, and in the course of time their
precise qualities were identified. But many of them continued in
use, although quite useless, because of the colour of their berries,
the shape of their leaves, or the position in which they grew. If
one red-berried plant was "lucky" or curative, all red-berried
plants shared in its reputation. It was because of the lore attached
to colours that dusky pearls were preferred to white pearls, just
as in Ceylon yellow pearls are chiefly favoured because yellow is
the sacred colour of the Buddhists. Richard of Cirencester,[155]
referring to Bede, says that British pearls are "often of the best
kind and of every colour: that is, red, purple, violet, green, but
principally white".
[154] Richard of Cirencester (fourteenth century) says the
mistletoe increased the number of animals, and was considered as
a specific against all poisons (Book I, Chap. IV).
[155] Book I. Chap. V.
In the lore of plants, in religious customs, including burial
customs, and in beliefs connected with the seasons, weather, and
sacred sites, there are traces of a doctrine based on the belief that
good or bad influences "flowed" from the cardinal points, just as
good or bad influences "flowed" from gems, metals, wood, and water.
When, for instance, certain herbs were pulled from the ground, it
was important that one should at the time of the operation be facing
the south. A love-enticing plant had to be plucked in this way, and
immediately before sunrise.
There was much superstition in weather lore, as the beliefs connected
with St. Swithin's Day indicate. Certain days were lucky for removals
in certain directions. Saturday was the day for flitting northward,
and Monday for flitting southward. Monday was "the key of the week".
An old Gaelic saying, repeated in various forms in folk stories, runs:
Shut the north window,
And quickly close the window to the south;
And shut the window facing west,
Evil never came from the east.
South-running water was "powerful" for working protective charms;
north-running water brought evil.
[Illustration: Diagram of the Gaelic Airts (Cardinal Points) and
their Associated Colours referred to in the text
Spring was connected with the east, summer with the south, autumn
with the west, and winter with the north.]
The idea behind these and other similar beliefs was that "the four
red divisions" or the "four brown divisions" of the world were
controlled by deities or groups of deities, whose influences for good
or evil were continually "flowing", and especially when winds were
blowing. A good deity sent a good wind, and a bad deity sent a bad
wind. Each wind was coloured. The north was the airt[156] (cardinal
point) of evil, misfortune, and bad luck, and was coloured black;
the south was the source of good luck, good fortune, summer, and
longevity, and was coloured white; the east was a specially sacred
airt, and was coloured purple-red, while the west was the airt of
death, and was coloured dun or pale. East and south and north and
west were connected. There were various colours for the subsidiary
points of the compass.
[156] This excellent Gaelic word is current in Scotland. Burns
uses it in the line, "O' a' the airts the wind can blaw".
This doctrine was a very ancient one, because we find that in the
Gaelic language the specially good words are based on the word for
the south, and the specially bad ones on the name for the north. In
Welsh and Gaelic the north is on the left hand and the south on the
right hand, the east in front, and the west behind. It is evident,
therefore, that the colour scheme of the cardinal points had a
connection with sun worship. A man who adored the rising sun faced
the east, and had the north on his left and the south on his right.
In early Christian Gaelic literature it is stated that on the Day
of Judgment the goats (sinners) will be sent to the north (the left
hand) and the sheep (the justified) to the south (the right hand).
The same system can be traced in burial customs. Many of the ancient
graves lie east and west. Graves that lie north and south may have
been those of the members of a different religious cult, but in some
cases it is found that the dead were placed in position so that they
faced the east. In the most ancient graves in Egypt men were laid on
their right sides with their feet directed towards the "red north"
and their faces towards the golden east. Women were laid on the left
sides facing the east. Red was in ancient Egypt the male colour, and
white and yellow the female colours; the feet of the men were towards
the red north and those of women towards the white or yellow south.
All ancient British burials were not made in accordance with
solar-cult customs. It can be shown, however, in some cases that,
although a burial custom may appear to be either of local or of
independent origin, the fundamental doctrine of which it was an
expression was the same as that behind other burial customs.
Reference may be made, by way of illustration, to the graves at the
stone circle of Hakpen Hill in the Avebury area. In the seventeenth
century a large number of skeletons were here unearthed. Dr. Toope of
Oxford, writing in 1685, has recorded in this connection:[157]
"About 80 yards from where the bones were found is a
temple,[158] 40 yards diameter, with another 15 yards; round
about bones layd so close that scul (skull) toucheth scul.
Their feet all round turned towards the temple, one foot below
the surface of the ground. At the feet of the first order lay
the head of the next row, the feet always tending towards the
temple."
[157] Quoted by Sir H. Colt Hoare in _Ancient Wiltshire_, II. p.
63.
[158] Stone circle.
Here the stone circle is apparently the symbol of the sun and the
"Mecca" from which the good influence or "luck" of the sun emanated
and gave protection. One seems to come into touch with the influence
of an organized priesthood in this stone circle burial custom.
The more ancient custom of burying the dead so that the influences
of the airts might be exercised upon them according to their deserts
seems, however, to have been deep-rooted and persistent. In England,
Wales, Scotland, and Ireland the custom obtained until recently of
reserving the north side of a churchyard for suicides and murderers;
the "black north" was the proper place for such wrong-doers, who
were refused Christian rites of burial, and were interred according
to traditional pagan customs. The east was reserved chiefly for
ecclesiastics, the south for the upper classes, and the west for the
poorer classes. Funeral processions still enter the older churchyards
from the east, and proceed in the direction of the sun towards the
open graves. Suicides and murderers were carried in the opposite
direction ("withershins about").[159] The custom of dealing out cards
"sunwise", of stirring food "sunwise", and other customs in which
turning to the right (the south) is observed, appear to be relics of
the ancient belief in the influences of the airts. Some fishermen
still consider it unlucky to turn their boats "against the sun".
It was anciently believed, as references in old ballads indicate,
that a tempest-stricken vessel turned round three times against the
sun before it sank. According to a belief that has survival in some
parts of the north of Scotland, the devil will appear in the centre
of a stone circle if one walks round it three times "against the
sun" at midnight. Among the ancient Irish warriors, Professor W. J.
Watson tells me, it was a mark of hostile intent to drive round a
fort keeping the left hand towards it. The early Christian custom of
circulating chapels and dwelling-houses "sunwise" was based on the
pagan belief that good influences were conjured in this way.
[159] In Gaelic _deis-iùil_ means a turning sunwise (by the right
or south) from east to west, and _tual_, i.e. _tuath-iùil_, a
turning by the north or left from east to west. _Deis_ is the
genitive of _Deas_ (south, right hand), and _Tuath_ is north or
left hand.
As the winds were coloured like the airts from which they blew, it
was believed that they could be influenced by coloured objects. In
his description of the Western Isles, Martin, a seventeenth century
writer, referring to the Fladda Chuan Island, relates:
"There is a chapel in the isle dedicated to St. Columba. It has
an altar in the east end and therein a blue stone of a round
form on it, which is always moist. It is an ordinary custom,
when any of the fishermen are detained in the isle by contrary
winds, to wash the blue stone with water all round, expecting
thereby to procure a favourable wind.... And so great is the
regard they have for this stone, that they swear decisive oaths
upon it."
[Illustration:
Valentine
ONE OF THE GREAT TRI-LITHONS, STONEHENGE
(see page 174)]
The moist stone had an indwelling spirit, and was therefore a
holy object which made vows and agreements of binding character. In
Japan a stone of this kind is called _shintai_ ("god body"). The
Gaelic name for a god body is "_cuach anama_" ("soul shrine", or
"spirit-case", or "spirit-husk"). _Coich na cno_ is the shell of
a nut. The Chinese believe that moist and coloured stones are the
"eggs" of weather-controlling dragons.
The connection between blue and the mother goddess is of great
antiquity. Imitation cowries and other shells in blue enamelled
terra-cotta have been found in Egyptian graves. Blue was the colour
of the "luck stone" of Hathor, the sky and water goddess whose
symbols included the cowrie. The Brigantes of ancient Britain had,
according to Seneca, blue shields. Shields were connected with the
goddess of war. In Gaelic, blue is the luck colour for womens'
clothing.[160] English and Scottish fishermen still use blue as a
mourning colour. When a death takes place, a blue line is painted
round a fishing-boat. The desire for protection by invoking the blue
goddess probably gave origin to this custom.
[160] The following stanza is from the "Book of Ballymote":
Mottled to simpletons; blue to women;
Crimson to kings of every host;
Green and black to noble laymen;
White to clerics of proper devotion.
As influences came from the coloured airts, so did the great deities
and the groups of minor deities associated with them. The god Lugh,
for instance, always comes in the old stories from the north-east,
while the goddess Morrigan comes from the north-west.[161] The fierce
wind-raising Scottish goddess of spring comes from the south-west.
All over Britain the fairies come from the west and on eddies of wind
like the Greek nereids. In Scotland the evil-working giants come
from the black north. It was believed that the dead went westward
or south-westward towards Paradise. The fact that the axis of
Stonehenge circle and avenue points to the north-east is of special
interest when we find that the god Lugh, a Celtic Apollo, came from
that airt. Either Lugh, or a god like him, may have been invoked to
come through the avenue or to send his influence through it, while
the priests walked in procession round the circle sunwise. Apparently
the south-west part of the circle, with its great trilithons,
resembling the portals of the goddess Artemis, was specially
consecrated to a goddess like the Scottish Cailleach ("Old Wife")
who had herds of wild animals, protected deer from huntsmen, raised
storms, and transformed herself into a standing stone. The Gaulish
goddess Ro-smerta ("very smeared") is regularly associated with the
god identified with Mercury. The god Smertullis is equated with Essus
(the war god) by d'Arbois de Jubainville.
[161] In the Cuchullin Saga Lugh is "a lone man out of the
north-eastern quarter". When the cry of another supernatural
being is heard, Cuchullin asks from which direction it came. He
is told "from the north-west". The goddess Morrigan then appeared.
The differently coloured winds were divine influences and revealed
their characters by their colours. It was apparently because water
was impregnated with the influences of the deities that wind and
water beliefs were closely associated. Holy and curative wells
and sacred rivers and lakes were numerous in ancient Britain and
Ireland. Offerings made at wells were offerings made to a deity.
These offerings might be gold and silver, as was the case in Gaul,
or simply pins of copper. A good many wells are still known as "pin
wells" and "penny wells". The metals and pearls and precious stones
supposed to contain vital substance were offered to the deities so
as to animate them. The images of gods were painted red for the same
reason, or sacrifices were offered and their altars drenched with
blood. In Ireland children were sacrificed to a god called Crom
Cruach and exchanged for milk and corn. As a Gaelic poem records:
Great was the horror and the scare of him.
The ancient doctrines of which faint or fragmentary traces survive
in Britain and Ireland may have been similar to those taught by the
Druids in Gaul. According to Pomponius Mela, these sages professed to
know the secrets of the motions of the heavenly bodies and the will
of the gods.[162] Strabo's statement that the Druids believed that
"human souls and the world were immortal, but that fire and water
would sometime prevail" is somewhat obscure. It may be, however, that
light is thrown on the underlying doctrine by the evidence given in
the next chapter regarding the beliefs that fire, water, and trees
were intimately connected with the chief deity.
[162] In a Cuchullin saga the hero, addressing the charioteer,
says: "Go out, my friend, observe the stars of the air, and
ascertain when midnight comes". The Irish Gaelic _grien-tairisem_
is given in an eighth-or ninth-century gloss. It means
"sun-standing", and refers to the summer solstice.
CHAPTER XV
Why Trees and Wells were Worshipped
Ancient British Idols--Pagan Temples--Animism and Goddess
Worship--Trees and Wells connected with Sky--Life Principle in
Water--Sacred Berries, Nuts, and Acorns--Parasite as "King of
Trees"--Fire-making Beliefs--Tree and Thunder-god--The Sacred
Fish--Salmon as form of the Dragon--The Dragon Jewel--Celtic
Dragon Myth--The Salmon and the Solar Ring--Polycrates
Story--The St. Mungo Legends--Glasgow Coat of Arms--Holy Fire
from the Hazel--Hunting the Wren, Robin, and Mouse--Mouse
Lore and Mouse Deity--Mouse-Apollo in Britain--Goddess Bride
or Brigit--The Brigantian Chief Deity--Goddess of Fire,
Healing, Smith-work, and Poetry--Bride's Bird, Tree, and
Well--Mythical Serpents--Soul Forms--Souls in Reptiles,
Animals, and Trees--Were-animals--The Butterfly Deity--Souls as
Butterflies--Souls as Bees--a Hebridean Sea-god.
Gildas, a sixth-century churchman, tells us that the idols in ancient
Britain "almost surpassed in number those of Egypt". That he did not
refer merely to standing stones, which, as we have seen, were "idols"
to the Gaels, is evident from his precise statements that some idols
could be seen in his day "mouldering away within or without the
deserted temples", and that they had "stiff and deformed features".
"Mouldering" suggests wood. Gildas states further that besides
worshipping idols the British pagans were wont to pay "divine honour"
to hills and wells and rivers. Reference is made in the _Life of
Columba_ to a well which was worshipped as a god.
The British temples are referred to also by Pope Gregory the Great,
who in a.d. 601 addressed a letter to Abbot Mellitus, then on a
mission to England, giving him instructions for the guidance of
Augustine of Canterbury. The Pope did not wish to have the heathen
buildings destroyed, "for", he wrote, "if those are well constructed,
it is requisite that they can be converted from the worship of demons
to the service of the true God.... Let the idols that are in them be
destroyed."[163]
[163] Bede, _Historia Ecclesiastica_, Lib. I, cap. 30.
The temples in question may have been those erected during the
Romano-British period. One which stood at Canterbury was taken
possession of by St. Augustine after the conversion of King
Ethelbert, who had worshipped idols in it. The Celtic peoples may,
however, have had temples before the Roman invasion. At any rate
there were temples as well as sacred groves in Gaul. Poseidonius of
Apamea refers to a temple at Toulouse which was greatly revered and
richly endowed by the gifts of numerous donors. These gifts included
"large quantities of gold consecrated to the gods". The Druids
crucified human victims who were sacrificed within their temples.
Diodorus Siculus refers as follows to a famous temple in Britain:
"There is in that island a magnificent temple of Apollo and a
circular shrine, adorned with votive offerings and tablets with
Greek inscriptions suspended by travellers upon the walls. The
kings of that city and rulers of the temples are the Boreads
who take up the government from each other according to the
order of their tribes. The citizens are given up to music,
harping and chaunting in honour of the sun."
Some writers have identified this temple with Stonehenge circle.
Layamon informs us in his _Brute_, however, that the temple of Apollo
was situated in London. Of course there may have been several temples
to this god or the British deity identified with him.
It may be that the stone circles were regarded as temples. It may be,
too, that temples constructed of wattles and clay were associated
with the circles. In Pope Gregory's letter reference is made to the
custom of constructing on festival days "tabernacles of branches of
trees around those churches which have been changed from heathen
temples", and to the pagan custom of slaying "oxen in sacrifices to
demons". Pytheas refers to a temple on an island opposite the mouth
of the Loire. This island was inhabited by women only, and once a
year they unroofed and reroofed their temple. In the Hebrides the
annual custom of unroofing and reroofing thatched houses is not yet
obsolete; it may originally have had a religious significance.
Gildas's reference to the worship of hills, wells, and rivers is
by some writers regarded as evidence of the existence in ancient
Britain of the "primitive belief" in spirits. This stage of religious
culture is called Animism (Spiritism). The discovery, however, that
a goddess was worshipped in Aurignacian times by the Crô-Magnon
peoples in Western Europe suggests that Animistic beliefs were
not necessarily as ancient as has been assumed. It may be that
what we know as Animism was a product of a later period when there
arose somewhat complex ideas about the soul or the various souls
in man, and the belief became widespread that souls could not only
transform themselves into animal shapes, but could enter statues
and gravestones. This conception may have been confused with
earlier ideas about stones, shells, &c., being impregnated with
"life substance" (the animating principle) derived from the mother
goddess. Backward peoples, who adopted complex religious beliefs
that had grown up in centres of civilization, may not always have
had a complete understanding of their significance. It is difficult
to believe that even savages, who adopted the boats invented in
Egypt from those peoples that came into touch with them, were always
entirely immune to other cultural influences, and retained for
thousands of years the beliefs supposed to be appropriate for those
who were in the "Stone Age".
Our concern here is with the ancient Britons. It is unnecessary for
us to glean evidence from Australia, South America, or Central Africa
to ascertain the character of their early religious conceptions
and practices. There is sufficient local evidence to show that a
definite body of beliefs lay behind their worship of trees, rivers,
lakes, wells, standing stones, and of the sun, moon, and stars. Our
ancestors do not appear to have worshipped natural objects either
because they were beautiful or impressive, but chiefly because they
were supposed to contain influences which affected mankind either
directly or indirectly. These influences were supposed to be under
divine control, and to emanate, in the first place, from one deity or
another, or from groups of deities. A god or goddess was worshipped
whether his or her influence was good or bad. The deity who sent
disease, for instance, was believed to be the controller of disease,
and to him or her offerings were made so that a plague might cease.
Thus in the _Iliad_ offerings are made to the god Mouse-Apollo, who
had caused an epidemic of disease.
Trees and wells were connected with the sky and the heavenly bodies.
The deity who caused thunder and lightning had his habitation at
times in the oak, the fir, the rowan, the hazel, or some other tree.
He was the controller of the elements. There are references in Gaelic
charms to "the King of the Elements".
The belief in an intimate connection between a well, a tree, and the
sky appears to have been a product of a quaint but not unintelligent
process of reasoning.[164] The early folk were thinkers, but their
reasoning was confined within the limits of their knowledge, and
biassed by preconceived ideas. To them water was the source of all
life. It fell from the sky as rain, or bubbled up from the underworld
to form a well from which a stream flowed. The well was the mother
of the stream, and the stream was the mother of the lake. It was
believed that the well-water was specially impregnated with the
influences that sustained life. The tree that grew beside the well
was nourished by it. If this tree was a rowan, its red berries were
supposed to contain in concentrated form the animating influence of
the deity; the berries cured diseases, and thus renewed youth, or
protected those who used them as charms against evil influences. They
were luck-berries. If the tree was a hazel, its nuts were similarly
efficacious; if an oak, its acorns were regarded likewise as
luck-bringers. The parasitic plant that grew on the tree was supposed
to be stronger and more influential than the tree itself. This
belief, which is so contrary to our way of thinking, is accounted for
in an old Gaelic story in which a supernatural being says:
"O man that for Fergus of the feasts dost kindle fire ... never
burn the King of the Woods. Monarch of Innisfail's forest the
woodbine is, whom none may hold captive; no feeble sovereign's
effort it is to hug all tough trees in his embrace."
[164] Of course it does not follow that the reasoning originally
took place in these islands. Complex beliefs were imported at an
early period. These were localized.
The weakly parasite was thus regarded as being very powerful. That
may be the reason why the mistletoe was reverenced, and why its
milk-white berries were supposed to have curative and life-prolonging
qualities.
Although the sacred parasite was not used for firewood, it served
as a fire-producer. Two fire-sticks, one from the soft parasite and
one from the hard wood of the tree to which it clung, were rubbed
together until sparks issued forth and fell on dry leaves or dry
grass. The sparks were blown until a flame sprang up. At this flame
of holy fire the people kindled their brands, which they carried
to their houses. The house fires were extinguished once a year and
relit from the sacred flames. Fire was itself a deity, and the deity
was "fed" with fuel. "Need fires" (new fires)[165] were kindled
at festivals so that cattle and human beings might be charmed
against injury. These festivals were held four times a year, and
the "new-fire" custom lingers in those districts where New Year's
Day, Midsummer, May Day, and Hallowe'en bon-fires are still being
regularly kindled.
[165] In Gaelic these are called "friction fires".
The fact that fire came from a tree induced the early people to
believe that it was connected with lightning, and therefore with the
sky god who thundered in the heavens. This god was supposed to wield
a thunder-axe or thunder-hammer with which he smote the sky (believed
to be solid) or the hills. With his axe or hammer he shaped the
"world house".
In Scotland, a goddess, who is remembered as "the old wife",[166]
was supposed to wield the hammer, or to ride across the sky on a
cloud and throw down "fire-balls" that set the woods in flame. Here
we find, probably as a result of culture mixing, a fusion of beliefs
connected with the thunder god and the mother goddess.
[166] According to some, Isis is a rendering of a Libyan name
meaning "old wife".
Rain fell when the sky deity sent thunder and lightning. To early
man, who took fire from a tree which was nourished by a well, fire
and water seemed to be intimately connected.[167] The red berries
on the sacred tree were supposed to contain fire, or the essence of
fire. When he made rowan-berry wine, he regarded it as "fire water"
or "the water of life". He drank it, and thus introduced into his
blood fire which stimulated him. In his blood was "the vital spark".
When he died the blood grew cold, because the "vital spark" had
departed from it.
[167] This connection can be traced in ancient Egypt. The sun
and fire were connected, and the sun originally rose from the
primordial waters. The sun's rays were the "tears" of Ra (the sun
god). Herbs and trees sprang up where Ra's tears fell.
In the water fire lived in another form. Fish were found to be
phosphorescent. The fish in the pool was at any rate regarded as a
form of the deity who nourished life and was the origin of life. A
specially sacred fish was the salmon. It was observed that this fish
had red spots, and these were accounted for by the myth that the red
berries or nuts from the holy tree dropped into the well and were
swallowed by the salmon. The "chief" or "king" of the salmon was
called "the salmon of wisdom". If one caught the "salmon of wisdom"
and, when roasting it, tasted the first portion of juice that came
from its body, one obtained a special instalment of concentrated
wisdom, and became a seer, or magician, or Druid.
The salmon was reverenced also because it was a migratory fish. Its
comings and goings were regular as the seasons, and seemed to be
controlled by the ruler of the elements with whom it was intimately
connected. One of its old Gaelic names was _orc_ (pig). It was
evidently connected with that animal; the sea-pig was possibly a form
of the deity. The porpoise was also an _orc_.[168]
[168] So was a whale. The Latin orca is a Celtic loan-word.
Milton uses the Celtic whale-name in the line
The haunt of seals, and orca, and sea-mews' clang.
--_Paradise Lost_, Book XI, line 835.
Hidden in the well lay a great monster which in Gaelic and Welsh
stories is referred to as "the beast", "the serpent", or "the great
worm". Ultimately it was identified with the dragon with fiery
breath. An Irish story connects the salmon and dragon. It tells that
a harper named Cliach, who had the powers of a Druid, kept playing
his harp until a lake sprang up. This lake was visited by a goddess
and her attendants, who had assumed the forms of beautiful birds. It
was called Loch Bél Seád ("lake of the jewel mouth") because pearls
were found in it, and Loch Crotto Cliach ("lake of Cliach's harps").
Another name was Loch Bél Dragain ("dragon-mouth lake"), because
Ternog's nurse caught "a fiery dragon in the shape of a salmon"
and she was induced to throw this salmon into the loch. The early
Christian addition to the legend runs: "And it is that dragon that
will come in the festival of St. John, near the end of the world,
in the reign of Flann Cinaidh. And it is of it and out of it shall
grow the fiery bolt which will kill three-fourth of the people of the
world."[169] Here fire is connected with the salmon.
[169] O'Curry, _Manuscript Materials_, pp. 426-7.
The salmon which could transform itself into a great monster guarded
the tree and its life-giving berries and the treasure offered to
the deity of the well. Apparently its own strength was supposed
to be derived from or concentrated in the berries. The queen of
the district obtained the supernatural power she was supposed to
possess from the berries too, and stories are told of a hero who was
persuaded to enter the pool and pluck the berries for the queen.
He was invariably attacked by the "beast", and, after handing the
berries to the queen, he fell down and died. There are several
versions of this story. In one version a specially valued gold ring,
a symbol of authority, is thrown into the pool and swallowed by the
salmon. The hero catches and throws the salmon on to the bank. When
he plucks the berries, he is attacked by the monster and kills it.
Having recovered the ring, he gives it to the princess, who becomes
his wife. Apparently she will be chosen as the next queen, because
she has eaten the salmon and obtained the gold symbol.
It may be that this story had its origin in the practice of
offering a human sacrifice to the deity of the pool, so that the
youth-renewing red berries might be obtained for the queen, the human
representative of the deity. Her fate was connected with the ring
of gold in which, as in the berries, the influence of the deity was
concentrated.
Polycrates of Samos, a Hellenic sea-king, was similarly supposed
to have his "luck" connected with a beautiful seal-stone, the most
precious of his jewels. On the advice of Pharaoh Amasis of Egypt he
flung it into the sea. According to Herodotus, it was to avert his
doom that he disposed of the ring. But he could not escape his fate.
The jewel came back; it was found a few days later in the stomach of
a big fish.
In India, China, and Japan dragons or sea monsters are supposed
to have luck pearls which confer great power on those who obtain
possession of them. The famous "jewel that grants all desires" and
the jewels that control the ebb and flow of tides are obtained from,
and are ultimately returned to, sea-monsters of the dragon order.
The British and Irish myths about sacred gold or jewels obtained from
the dragon or one of its forms were taken over with much else by the
early Christian missionaries, and given a Christian significance.
Among the legends attached to the memory of the Irish Saint Moling is
one that tells how he obtained treasure for Christian purposes. His
fishermen caught a salmon and found in its stomach an ingot of gold.
Moling divided the gold into three parts--"one third for the poor,
another for the ornamenting of shrines, a third to provide for labour
and work".
The most complete form of the ancient myth is, however, found in the
life of Glasgow's patron saint, St. Kentigern (St. Mungo). A queen's
gold ring had been thrown into the River Clyde, and, as she was
unable, when asked by the king, to produce it, she was condemned to
death and cast into a dungeon. The queen appealed to St. Kentigern,
who instructed her messenger to catch a fish in the river and bring
it to him. A large fish "commonly called a salmon" was caught. In
its stomach was found the missing ring. The grateful queen, on her
release, confessed her sins to the saint and became a Christian.
St. Mungo's seal, now the coat of arms of Glasgow, shows the salmon
with a ring in its mouth, below an oak tree, in the branches of
which sits, as the oracle bird, a robin red-breast. A Christian bell
dangles from a branch of the tree.
[Illustration: Seal of City of Glasgow, 1647-1793, showing Tree,
Bird, Salmon, and Bell]
That the Glasgow saint took the place of a Druid,[170] so that the
people might say "Kentigern is my Druid" as St. Columba said "Christ
is my Druid", is suggested by his intimate connection, as shown in
his seal, with the sacred tree of the "King of the Elements", the
oracular bird (the thunder bird), the salmon form of the deity, and
the power-conferring ring. As the Druids produced sacred fire from
wood, so did St. Kentigern. It is told that when a youth his rivals
extinguished the sacred fire under his care. Kentigern went outside
the monastery and obtained "a bough of growing hazel and prayed to
the 'Father of Lights'". Then he made the sign of the cross, blessed
the bough, and breathed on it.
[170] Professor W. J. Watson says in this connection: "The
Celtic clerics stepped in to the shoes of the Druids. The people
regarded them as superior Druids."
"A wonderful and remarkable thing followed. Straightway fire
coming forth from heaven, seizing the bough, as if the boy had
exhaled flames for breath, sent forth fire, vomiting rays,
and banished all the surrounding darkness.... God therefore
sent forth His light, and led him and brought him into the
monastery.... That hazel from which the little branch was taken
received a blessing from St. Kentigern, and afterwards began to
grow into a wood. If from that grove of hazel, as the country
folks say, even the greenest branch is taken, even at the
present day, it catches fire like the driest material at the
touch of fire...."
A red-breast, which was kept as a pet at the monastery, was hunted
by boys, who tore off its head. Kentigern restored the bird to life.
The robin was hunted down in some districts as was the wren in other
districts. An old rhyme runs:
A robin and a wren
Are God's cock and hen.
In Pagan times the oracular bird connected with the holy tree was
sacrificed annually. The robin represented the god and the wren
(Kitty or Jenny Wren) the goddess in some areas. In Gaelic, Spanish,
Italian, and Greek the wren is "the little King" or "the King of
Birds". A Gaelic folk-tale tells that the wren flew highest in a
competition held by the birds for the kingship, by concealing itself
on an eagle's back. When the eagle reached its highest possible
altitude, the wren rose above it and claimed the honour of kingship.
In the Isle of Man the wren used to be hunted on St. Stephen's Day.
Elsewhere it was hunted on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. The dead
bird was carried on a pole at the head of a procession and buried
with ceremony in a churchyard.
In Scotland the shrew mouse was hunted in like manner, and buried
under an apple tree. A standing stone in Perthshire is called in
Gaelic "stone of my little mouse". As there were mouse feasts in
ancient Scotland, it would appear that a mouse god like Smintheus
(Mouse-Apollo) was worshipped in ancient times. Mouse cures were at
one time prevalent. The liver of the mouse[171] was given to children
who were believed to be on the point of death. They rallied quickly
after swallowing it. Roasted mouse was in England and Scotland a
cure for whooping-cough and smallpox. The Boers in South Africa are
perpetuating this ancient folk-cure.[172] In Gaelic folk-lore the
mouse deity is remembered as _lucha sith_ ("the supernatural mouse").
[171] In old Gaelic the liver is the seat of life.
[172] Mrs. E. Tawse Jollie, Hervetia, S. Melsetter, S. Rhodesia,
writes me under October 12, 1918, in answer to my query, that the
Boers regard _striep muis_ (striped mice) as a cure for "weakness
of the bowel" in children, &c.
There still survive traces of the worship of a goddess who is
remembered as Bride in England and Scotland, and as Brigit in
Ireland. A good deal of the lore connected with her has been attached
to the memory of St. Brigit of Ireland.
February 1st (old style) was known as Bride's Day. Her birds were
the wood linnet, which in Gaelic is called "Bird of Bride", and
the oyster catcher called "Page of Bride", while her plant was the
dandelion (_am bearnan brìde_), the "milk" of which was the salvation
of the early lamb. On Bride's Day the serpent awoke from its winter
sleep and crept from its hole. This serpent is called in Gaelic
"daughter of Ivor", _an ribhinn_ ("the damsel"), &c.
The white serpent was, like the salmon, a source of wisdom and
magical power. It was evidently a form of the goddess. Brigit was
the goddess of the Brigantes, a tribe whose territory extended from
the Firth of Forth to the midlands of England.[173] The Brigantes
took possession of a part of Ireland where Brigit had three forms as
the goddess of healing, the goddess of smith-work, and the goddess
of poetry, and therefore of metrical magical charms. Some think her
name signifies "fiery arrow". She was the source of fire, and was
connected with different trees in different areas. The Bride-wells
were taken over by Saint Bride.
[173] In a Roman representation of her at Birrens, in Perthshire,
she is shown as a winged figure holding a spear in her right hand
and a globe in her left. An altar in Chester is dedicated to
"De Nymphæ Brig". Her name is enshrined in Bregentz (anciently
Brigantium), a town in Switzerland.
The white serpent, referred to in the legends associated with
Farquhar, the physician, and Michael Scott, sometimes travelled very
swiftly by forming itself into a ring with its tail in its mouth.
This looks like the old Celtic solar serpent. If the serpent were
cut in two, the parts wriggled towards a stream and united as soon
as they touched water. If the head were not smashed, it would become
a _beithis_, the biggest and most poisonous variety of serpent.[174]
The "Deathless snake" of Egypt, referred to in an ancient folk-tale,
was similarly able to unite its severed body. Bride's serpent links
with the serpent dragons of the Far East, which sleep all winter
and emerge in spring, when they cause thunder and send rain, spit
pearls, &c. Dr. Alexander Carmichael translates the following Gaelic
serpent-charm:
To-day is the day of Bride,
The serpent shall come from his hole;
I will not molest the serpent
And the serpent will not molest me.
[174] The _beithis_ lay hidden in arms of the sea and came ashore
to devour animals.
De Visser[175] quotes the following from a Chinese text referring to
the dragons:
If we offer a deprecatory service to them,
They will leave their abodes;
If we do not seek the dragons
They will also not seek us.
[175] _The Dragon in China and Japan_ (1913).
The serpent, known in Scotland as _nathair challtuinn_ ("snake
of the hazel grove"), had evidently a mythological significance.
Leviathan is represented by the Gaelic _cirein cròin_ (sea-serpent),
also called _mial mhòr a chuain_ ("the great beast of the sea")
and _cuairtag mhòr a chuain_ ("the great whirlpool of the sea");
a sea-snake was supposed to be located in Corryvreckan whirlpool.
Kelpies and water horses and water bulls are forms assumed by the
Scottish dragon. There are Far Eastern horse-and bull-dragons.
In ancient British lore there are references to souls in serpent
form. A serpent might be a "double" like the Egyptian "Ka". It
was believed in Wales that snake-souls were concealed in every
farm-house. When one crept out from its hiding-place and died, the
farmer or his wife died soon afterwards. Lizards were supposed to
be forms assumed by women after death.[176] The otter, called in
Scottish Gaelic _Dobhar-chù_ ("water dog") and _Righ nàn Dobhran_
("king of the water" or "river"), appears to have been a soul
form. When one was killed a man or a woman died. The king otter
was supposed to have a jewel in its head like the Indian _n[=a]ga_
(serpent deity), the Chinese dragon, the toad, &c. The king otter was
invulnerable except on one white spot below its chin. Those who wore
a piece of its skin as a charm were supposed to be protected against
injury in battle. Evidently, therefore, the otter was originally a
god like the boar, the image of which, as Tacitus records, was worn
for protection by the Baltic amber searchers of Celtic speech. The
_biasd na srogaig_ ("the beast of the lowering horn") was a Hebridean
loch dragon with a single horn on its head; this unicorn was tall and
clumsy.
[176] Trevelyan. _Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales_, p. 165.
The "double" or external soul might also exist in a tree. Both in
England and Scotland there are stories of trees withering when some
one dies, or of some one dying when trees are felled. Aubrey tells
that when the Earl of Winchelsea began to cut down an oak grove near
his seat at Eastwell in Kent, the Countess died suddenly, and then
his eldest son, Lord Maidstone, was killed at sea. Allan Ramsay, the
Scottish poet, tells that the Edgewell tree near Dalhousie Castle
was fatal to the family from which he was descended, and Sir Walter
Scott refers to it in his "Journal", under the date 13th May, 1829.
When a branch fell from it in July, 1874, an old forester exclaimed
"The laird's deed noo!" and word was received not long afterwards
of the death of the eleventh Earl of Dalhousie. Souls of giants
were supposed to be hidden in thorns, eggs, fish, swans, &c. At
Fasnacloich, in Argyllshire, the visit of swans to a small loch is
supposed to herald the death of a Stewart.
"External souls", or souls after death, assumed the forms of
cormorants, cuckoos, cranes, eagles, gulls, herons, linnets, magpies,
ravens, swans, wrens, &c., or of deer, mice, cats, dogs, &c. Fairies
(supernatural beings) appeared as deer or birds. Among the Scottish
were-animals are cats, black sheep, mice, hares, gulls, crows,
ravens, magpies, foxes, dogs, &c. Children were sometimes transformed
by magicians into white dogs, and were restored to human form by
striking them with a magic wand or by supplying shirts of bog-cotton.
The floating lore regarding were-animals was absorbed in witch-lore
after the Continental beliefs regarding witches were imported into
this country. In like manner a good deal of floating lore was
attached to the devil. In Scotland he is supposed to appear as a goat
or pig, as a gentleman with a pig's or horse's foot, or as a black or
green man riding a black or green horse followed by black or green
dogs. Eels were "devil-fish", and were supposed to originate from the
hairs of horses' manes or tails. Men who ate eels became insane, and
fought horses.
In Scotland butterflies and bees were not only soul-forms but
deities, and there are traces of similar beliefs in England,
Wales, and Ireland. Scottish Gaelic names of the butterfly include
_dealbhan-dé_ ("image" or "form of God"), _dealbh_ signifying
"image", "form", "picture", "idol", or "statue"; _dearbadan-dé_
("manifestation of God"); _eunan-dé_ ("small bird of God");
_teine-dé_ ("fire of God"); and _dealan-dé_ ("brightness of God").
The word _dealan_ refers to (1) lightning, (2) the brightness of the
starry sky, (3) burning coal, (4) the wooden bar of a door, and (5)
to a wooden peg fastening a cow-halter round the neck. The bar and
peg, which gave security, were evidently connected with the deity.
In addition to meaning butterfly, _dealan-dé_ ("the _dealan_ of God")
refers to a burning stick which is shaken to and fro or whirled round
about. When "need fires" (new fires) were lit at Beltain festival
(1st May)--"Beltain" is supposed to mean "bright fires" or "white
fires", that is, luck-bringing or sacred fires--burning brands were
carried from them to houses, all domestic fires having previously
been extinguished. The "new fire" brought luck, prosperity,
health, increase, protection, &c. Until recently Highland boys
who perpetuated the custom of lighting bon-fires to celebrate old
Celtic festivals were wont to snatch burning sticks from them and
run homewards, whirling the _dealan-dé_ round about so as to keep it
burning.
Souls took the form of a _dealan-dé_ (butterfly). Lady Wilde relates
in _Ancient Legends_ (Vol. I, pp. 66-7) the Irish story of a child
who saw the butterfly form of the soul--"a beautiful living creature
with four snow-white wings"; it rose from the body of a man who had
just died and went "fluttering round his head". The child and others
watched the winged soul "until it passed from sight into the clouds".
The story continues: "This was the first butterfly that was ever seen
in Ireland; and now all men know that the butterflies are the souls
of the dead waiting for the moment when they may enter Purgatory, and
so pass through torture to purification and peace".
In England and Scotland moths were likewise souls of the dead
that entered houses by night or fluttered outside windows, as if
attempting to return to former haunts.
The butterfly god or soul-form was known to the Scandinavians.
Freyja, the northern goddess, appears to have had a butterfly
_avatar_. At any rate, the butterfly was consecrated to her. In
Greece the nymph Psyche, beloved by Cupid, was a beautiful maiden
with the wings of a butterfly; her name signifies "the soul". Greek
artistes frequently depicted the human soul as a butterfly, and
especially the particular species called [Greek: psychê] ("the
soul"). On an ancient tomb in Italy a butterfly is shown issuing
from the open mouth of a death-mask. The Serbians believed that the
butterfly souls of witches arose from their mouths when they slept.
They died if their butterfly souls did not return.[177] Evidence
of belief in the butterfly soul has been forthcoming in Burmah,
where ceremonies are performed to prevent the baby's butterfly soul
following that of a dead mother.[178] The pre-Columbian Americans,
and especially the Mexicans, believed in butterfly souls and
butterfly deities. In China the butterfly soul was carved in jade
and associated with the plum tree;[179] the sacred butterfly was in
Scotland associated apparently with the honeysuckle (_deoghalag_),
a plant containing "life-substance" in the form of honey (_lus a
mheahl_: "honey herb") and milk (another name of the plant being
_bainne-ghamhnach_: "milk of the heifer"). As we have seen, the
honeysuckle was supposed to be more powerful than the tree to which
it clung; like the ivy and mistletoe, it was the plant of a powerful
deity. Its milk and honey names connect it with the Great Mother
goddess who was the source of life and nourishment, and provided the
milk-and-honey elixir of life.
[177] W. R. S. Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_, pp. 117
_et seq._
[178] _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, XXVI (1897). p.
23.
[179] Laufer, _Jade_, p. 310.
Bee-souls figure in Scottish folk-stories. Hugh Miller relates a
story of a sleeping man from whose mouth the soul issued in the
form of the bee.[180] Another of like character is related by a
clergyman.[181] Both are located in the north of Scotland, where,
as in the south of England, the custom was prevalent of "telling
the bees" when a death took place, and of placing crape on hives.
The bee-mandible symbol appears on Scottish sculptured stones. Both
the bee and the butterfly were connected with the goddess Artemis.
Milk-yielding fig trees were fertilized by bees or wasps, and the
goddess, especially in her form as Diana of the Ephesians, was
connected with the fig tree, the figs being "teats".
[180] _My Schools and Schoolmasters_, Chapter VI.
[181] Rev. W. Forsyth, Dornoch, in _Folk-lore Journal_, VI, 171.
Little is known regarding the Hebridean sea-god _Seonaidh_
(pronounced "shony"), who may have been a form of the sea-god known
to the Irish as Lir and to the Welsh as Llyr. His name connects him
with the word _seonadh_, signifying "augury", "sorcery", "druidism".
According to Martin, the inhabitants of Lewis contributed the malt
from which ale was brewed for an offering to the gods. At night a man
waded into the sea up to his middle and cried out, "Seonaidh! I give
thee this cup of ale, hoping that thou wilt be so good as to send us
plenty of sea-ware for enriching our ground during the coming year."
He then poured the ale into the sea. The people afterwards gathered
in the church of St. Mulway, and stood still for a time before the
altar on which a candle was burning. When a certain signal was given
the candle was extinguished. The people then made merry in the
fields, drinking ale.
CHAPTER XVI
Ancient Pagan Deities
Deities as Birds--Triads of Gaelic Goddesses--Shape-shifting
Goddesses--Black Annis of Leicestershire--The Scottish
Black Annis--Black Kali and Black Demeter--Cat Goddess and
Witches--A Scottish Artemis--Celtic Adonis Myth--The Cup
of Healing--Myths of Gaelic Calendar--Irish and Scottish
Mythologies Different--Scottish Pork Taboo--Eel tabooed in
Scotland but not in England--Ancient English Food Taboos--Irish
Danann Deities--Ancient Deities of England and Wales--The Apple
Cult--English Wassailling Custom--The Magic Cauldron--The
Holy Grail--Cauldron a Goddess Symbol--Pearls and Cows of
the Cauldron--Goddess--Romano-British Deities--Grouped
Goddesses--The Star Goddess--Sky and Sea Spirits.
Many of the old British and Irish deities had bird forms, and might
appear as doves, swallows, swans, cranes, cormorants, scald crows,
ravens, &c. The cormorant, for instance, is still in some districts
called the _Cailleach dubh_ ("the black old wife"). Some deities,
like Brigit and Morrigan, had triple forms, and appeared as three
old hags or as three beautiful girls, or assumed the forms of women
known to those they visited. In the Cuchullin stories the Morrigan
appears with a supernatural cow, the milk of which heals wounds and
prolongs life. When in conflict with Cuchullin, she takes alternately
the forms of an eel, a grey wolf, and a white cow with red ears. On
one occasion she changes from human form to that of a dark bird.
An old west of England goddess was remembered until recently in
Leicestershire as "Black Annis", "Black Anny", or "Cat Anna". She
frequented a cave on the Dane Hills,[182] above which grew an oak
tree. In the branches of the tree she concealed herself, so that
she might pounce unawares on human beings. Shepherds attributed
to her the loss of lambs, and mothers their loss of children. The
supernatural monster had one eye in her blue face, and talons instead
of hands. Round her waist she wore a girdle of human skins.
[182] It has been suggested that "Dane" stands for "Danann".
A Scottish deity called "Yellow Muilearteach" was similarly one-eyed
and blue-faced, and had tusks protruding from her mouth. An apple
dangled from her waist girdle. The Indian goddess Black Kali is
depicted as a ferocious being of like character, with a forehead eye,
in addition to ordinary eyes, and a waist girdle of human heads.
Greece had its Black Demeter with animal-head (a horse's or pig's),
and snakes in her hair. She haunted a cave in Phigalia. The Egyptian
goddess Hathor in her cat form (Bast) was kindly, and in her Sekhet
form was a fierce slayer of mankind.[183]
[183] A text states: "Kindly is she as Bast: terrible is she as
Sekhet."
Witches assume cat forms in Scottish witch lore,[184] and appear on
the riggings and masts of ships doomed to destruction. There are
references, too, to cat roasting, so as to compel the "Big Cat" to
appear. The "Big Cat" is evidently the deity. In northern India
dogs are tortured to compel the "Big Dog" (the god Indra) to send
rain. "Lapus Cati" (the cat stone) is referred to in early Christian
records. As a mouse was buried under an apple tree to make it
fruitful, a cat was buried under a pear tree.
[184] The Gaelic word for "witch" comes from English. Gaelic
"witch lore" is distinctive, having retained more ancient beliefs
than those connected with the orthodox witches.
The Scottish "Yellow Muilearteach" revels in the slaughter of human
beings, and folk poems, describing a battle waged against her, have
been collected. In the end she is slain, and her consort comes from
the sea to lament her death. A similar hag is remembered as the
Cailleach ("the old wife"). She had a "blue-black face" and one eye
"on the flat of her forehead", and she carried a magic hammer. During
the period of "the little sun" (the winter season) she held sway over
the world. Her blanket was washed in the whirlpool of Corryvreckan,
which kept boiling vigorously for several days. Ben Nevis was her
chief dwelling-place, and in a cave in that mountain she kept as a
prisoner all winter a beautiful maiden who was given the task of
washing a brown fleece until it became white. When wandering among
the mountains or along the sea-shore she is followed, like Artemis,
by herds of deer, goats, swine, &c. The venomous black boar is in
some of the stories under her special protection. Apparently this
animal was her symbol as it was that of the Baltic amber traders. The
hero who hunts and slays the boar is himself killed by it, as was
the Syrian god Adonis by the boar form of Ares (Mars). In Gaul the
boar-god Moccus was identified by the Romans with Mars.
In Gaelic stories the hero who hunts and slays the boar is remembered
as Diarmid, the eponymous ancestor of the Campbell clan. Apparently
the goddess was the ugly hag to whom he once gave shelter. She
transformed herself into a beautiful maiden who touched his forehead
and left on it a "love spot".[185]
[185] The "fairy" Queen (the queen of enchantment), who carried
off Thomas the Rhymer, appeared as a beautiful woman, but was
afterwards transformed into an ugly hag. Thomas laments:
How art thou faded thus in the face,
That shone before as the sun so bricht (bright).
When she vanished he followed her to the "Land-Under-Waves". There
he finds her as a beautiful girl who is suffering from a wasting
disease. To cure her he goes on a long journey to obtain a draught
of water from a healing well. This water he carries in the "Cup of
Healing".
The winter hag has a son who falls in love with the beautiful maiden
of Ben Nevis. When he elopes with her, his mother raises storms in
the early spring season to keep the couple apart and prevent the
grass growing. These storms are named in the Gaelic Calendar as "the
Pecker", "the Whistle", "the Sweeper", "the Complaint", &c. In the
end her son pursues her on horseback, until she transforms herself
into a moist grey stone "looking over the sea". The story tells that
the son's horse leapt over arms of the sea. On Loch Etiveside a
place-name "Horseshoes" is attached to marks on a rock supposed to
have been caused by his great steed. In the Isle of Man the place
of the giant son is taken by St. Patrick. He rides from Ireland on
horseback like the ancient sea god. He cursed a monster, which was
turned into solid rock. St. Patrick's steed left the marks of its
hoofs on the cliffs.[186]
[186] Wm. Cashen, _Manx Folk-lore_ (Douglas, 1912), p. 48.
In Arthurian romance King Arthur pursues Morgan le Fay, who likewise
transforms herself into a stone. A Welsh folk story tells that
Arthur's steed leapt across the Bristol Channel, and left the marks
of its hoofs on a rock.
It appears that Morgan le Fay is the same deity as the Irish
Morrigan. Both appear to link with Anu, or Danu, the Irish mother
goddess, and with Black Anna or Annis of Leicestershire. The Irish
Danann deities wage war against the Fomorians, who are referred to in
one instance as the gods of the Fir Domnann (Dumnonii), the mineral
workers or "diggers" of Cornwall and Devon, of the south-western and
central lowlands of Scotland, and central and south-western Ireland.
In Scotland the Fomorians are numerous; they are hill and cave giants
like the giants of Cornwall. But there are no Scottish Dananns and
no "war of the gods". The Fomorians of Scotland wage war against
the fairies (as in Wester Ross) or engage in duels, throwing great
boulders at one another.
The intruding people who in Ireland formulated the Danann mythology
do not appear to have reached Scotland before the Christian period.
An outstanding difference between Scottish and Irish beliefs and
practices is brought out by the treatment of the pig in both
countries. Like the Continental Celts, the Irish Celts, who formed a
military aristocracy over the Firbolgs, the Fir Domnann, and the Fir
Gailian (Gauls), kept pigs and ate pork. In Scotland the pig was a
demon as in ancient Egypt, and pork was tabooed over wide areas. The
prejudice against pork in Scotland is not yet extinct. It is referred
to by Sir Walter Scott in a footnote in _The Fortunes of Nigel_,
which states:
"The Scots (Lowlanders), till within the last generation,
disliked swine's flesh as an article of food as much as the
Highlanders do at present. Ben Jonson, in drawing James's
character,[187] says he loved no part of a swine."[188]
[187] King James VI of Scotland and I of England.
[188] Ben Jonson's reference is in _A Masque of the Metamorphosed
Gipsies_.
Dr. Johnson wrote in his _A Journey to the Western Highlands in 1773_:
"Of their eels I can give no account, having never tasted them,
for I believe they are not considered as wholesome food.... The
vulgar inhabitants of Skye, I know not whether of the other
islands, have not only eels, but pork and bacon in abhorrence;
and, accordingly, I never saw a hog in the Hebrides, except one
at Dunvegan."
"In the year 1691 a question was put, 'Why do Scotchmen hate swine's
flesh?' and", says J. G. Dalyell,[189] "unsatisfactorily answered,
'They might borrow it of the Jews'." As the early Christians of
England and Ireland did not abhor pork, the prejudice could not
have been of Christian origin. It was based on superstition, and as
the superstitions of to-day were the religious beliefs of yesterday,
the prejudice appears to be a survival from pagan times. An ancient
religious cult, which may have originally been small, became
influential in Scotland, and the taboo spread even after its original
significance was forgotten. The Scottish prejudice against pork
existed chiefly among "the common people", as Dr. Johnson found when
in Skye. Proprietors of alien origin and monks ate pork, but the old
taboo persisted. Pig-dealers, &c., in the Highlands in the nineteenth
century refused to eat pork. They exported their pigs.[190]
[189] _The Darker Superstitions of Scotland_ (London, 1834), p.
425, and _Athenian Mercury_, V, 1, No. 20, p. 13.
[190] The south-western Scottish pork trade dates only from the
latter part of the eighteenth century. There was trouble at
Carlisle custom house when the Lowland Scots began to export
cured pork, because of the difference between the English and
Scottish salt duty. "For some time", complained a Scottish writer
on agriculture, in June, 1811, "a duty of 2s. per hunderweight
has been charged." Dublin was exporting pork to London in the
reign of Henry VIII. A small trade in pork was conducted in
eastern Scotland but was sporadic.
Traces of ancient food taboos, which were connected evidently with
religious beliefs, have been obtained by archæologists in England.
In some districts pork appears to have been more favoured than the
beef or mutton or goat flesh preferred in other districts. Evidence
has been forthcoming that horse flesh was eaten in ancient England.
A reference in the _Life of St. Columba_ to a relapsing Christian
returning to horse flesh suggests that it was a favoured food of a
Pagan cult.
As the devil is called in Scottish Gaelic the "Big Black Pig" and in
Wales is associated with the "Black Sow of All Hallows", it may be
that the Welsh had once their pig taboo too. The association of the
pig with Hallowe'en is of special interest.
In Scotland the eel is still tabooed, although it is eaten freely
in England. The reason may be that an ancient goddess, remembered
longest in Scotland, had an eel form. Julius Cæsar tells that the
ancient Britons with whom he came into contact did not regard it
lawful to eat the hare, the domestic fowl, or the goose. In Scotland
and England the goose was, until recently, eaten only once a year
at a festival. The tabooed pig was eaten once a year in Egypt. It
was sacrificed to Osiris and the moon. An annual sacrificial pig
feast may have been observed in ancient Scotland. It is of special
interest to find in this connection that in the _Statistical Account
of Scotland_ (1793) the writer on the parishes of Sandwick and
Stromness, Orkney, says: "Every family that has a herd of swine,
kills a sow on the 17th day of December, and thence it is called
'Sow-day'." Orkney retains the name of the Orcs (Boars), a Pictish
tribe.
There are still people in the Highlands who detest "feathered flesh"
or "white flesh" (birds), and refuse to eat hare and rabbit. Fish
taboos have likewise persisted in the north of Scotland, where
mackerel, ling,[191] and skate are disliked in some areas, while in
some even the wholesome haddock is not eaten in the winter or spring,
and is supposed not to be fit for food until it gets three drinks of
May water--that is, after the first three May tides have ebbed and
flowed.
[191] King James I of England and VI of Scotland detested ling as
he detested pork. The food prejudices of the common people thus
influenced royalty, although earlier kings and Norman nobles ate
pork, eels, &c.
The Danann deities of Ireland were the children of descendants of the
goddess Danu, whose name is also given as Ana or Anu. She was the
source of abundance and the nourisher of gods and men. As "Buanann"
she was "nurse of heroes". As Aynia, a "fairy"[192] queen, she is
still remembered in Ulster, while as Aine, a Munster "fairy", she
was formerly honoured on St. John's Eve, when villagers, circulating
a mound, carried straw torches which were afterwards waved over
cattle and crops to give protection and increase.
[192] The Gaelic word _sidh_ (Irish) or _sith_ (Scottish) means
"supernatural" and the "peace" and "silence" of supernatural
beings. "Fairy", as Skeat has emphasized, means "enchantment".
It has taken the place of "fay", which is derived from fate. The
"fay" was a supernatural being.
A prominent Danann god was Dagda, whose name is translated as "the
good god", "the good hand", by some, and as "the fire god" or "fire
of god" by others. He appears to have been associated with the oak.
By playing his harp, he caused the seasons to follow one another in
their proper order. One of his special possessions was a cauldron
called "The Undry", from which an inexhaustible food supply could be
obtained. He fed heavily on porridge, and was a cook (supplier of
food) as well as a king. In some respects he resembles Thor, and,
like him, he was a giant slayer. His wife was the goddess Boann,
whose name clings to the River Boyne, which was supposed to have had
its origin from an overflowing well. Above this well were nine hazel
trees; the red nuts of these fell into the well to be devoured by
salmon and especially by the "salmon of knowledge". Here again we
meet with the tree and well myth. Brigit was a member of the Dagda's
family. Another was Angus, the god of love.
Diancecht was the Danann god of healing. His grandson Lugh
(pronounced _loo_) has been called the "Gaelic Apollo". Goibniu was a
Gaelic Vulcan.
Neit, whose wife was Nemon,[193] was a Fomorian god of battle. The
sea god was Manannán mac Lir. He was known to the Welsh as Manawydan
ab Llyr, who was not only a sea god but "lord of headlands" and a
patron of traders. Llyr has come down as the legendary King Lear, and
his name survives in Leicester, originally Llyr-cestre of Cær-Llyr
(walled city of Llyr). His famous and gigantic son Bran became, in
the process of time, the "Blessed Bran" who introduced Christianity
into Britain.
[193] From the root _nem_ in _neamh_, heaven, _nemus_, a grove,
&c.
Another group of Welsh gods, known as "the children of Don",
resemble somewhat the Danann deities of Ireland. The closest link
is Govannon, the smith, who appears to be identical with the Irish
Goibniu. As Irish pirates invaded and settled in Wales between the
second and fifth centuries of our era, it may be that the process of
"culture mixing" which resulted can be traced in the mythological
elements embedded in folk and manuscript stories. The Welsh deities,
however, were connected with certain constellations and may have
been "intruders" from the Continent. Cassiopea's chair was Llys Don
(the court of the goddess Don). Arianrod (silver circle), a goddess
and wife of Govannon, had for her castle the Northern Crown (Corona
Borealis). She is, in Arthurian romance, the sister of Arthur. Her
brother Gwydion had for his castle the "Milky Way", which in Irish
Gaelic is "the chain of Lugh". The Irish Danann god Nuada has been
identified with the British Nudd whose children formed the group of
"the children of Nudd".
There were three groups of Welsh deities, the others being "the
children of Lyr" and "the children of Don". Professor Rhys has
identified Nudd with Lud, the god whose name survives in London
(originally Cær Lud) and in Ludgate, which may, as has been
suggested, have originally been "the way of Lud", leading to his holy
place now occupied by St. Paul's Cathedral. Lud had a sanctuary at
Lidney in Gloucestershire, where he was worshipped in Roman times as
is indicated by inscriptions. A bronze plaque shows a youthful god,
with solar rays round his head, standing in a four-horsed chariot.
Two winged genii and two Tritons accompany him. Apparently he was
identified with Apollo. The Arthurian Lot or Loth was Lud or Ludd.
His name lingers in "Lothian".
Gwydion, the son of Don, was a prominent British deity and has been
compared to Odin. He was the father of the god Lleu, whose mother was
Arianrod. The rainbow was "Lleu's rod-sling". Dwynwen, the so-called
British Venus, was Christianized as "the blessed Dwyn" and the patron
saint of the church of Llanddwyn in Anglesey. The magic cauldron was
possessed by the Welsh goddess Kerridwen.
[Illustration: BRONZE URN AND CAULDRON (_circa_ 500 B.C.)
(British Museum)
Vessels such as these are unknown outside the British Isles.]
A prominent god whose worship appears to have been widespread was
connected with the apple tree, which in the Underworld and Islands
of the Blest was the "Tree of Life". Ancient beliefs and ceremonies
connected with the apple cult survive in those districts in southern
England where the curious custom is observed of "wassailing" the
apple trees on Christmas Eve or Twelfth Night.[194] The "wassailers"
visit the tree and sing a song in which each apple is asked to bear
Hat-fulls, lap-fulls,
Sack-fulls, pocket-fulls.
Cider is poured about the roots of apple trees. This ceremony appears
to have been originally an elaborate one. The tom-tit or some other
small bird was connected with the apple tree, as was the robin or
wren of other cults with the oak tree. At the wassailing ceremony a
boy climbed up into a tree and impersonated the bird. It may be that
in Pagan times a boy was sacrificed to the god of the tree. That
the bird (in some cases it was the robin red-breast) was hunted and
sacrificed is indicated by old English folk-songs beginning like the
following:
Old Robin is dead and gone to his grave,
Hum! Ha! gone to his grave;
They planted an apple tree over his head,
Hum! Ha! over his head.
[194] Rendel Harris, _Apple Cults_, and _The Ascent of Olympus_.
In England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland a deity, or a group of
deities in the Underworld, was associated with a magic cauldron, or
as it is called in Gaelic a "pot of plenty". Heroes or gods obtain
possession of this cauldron, which provides an inexhaustible food
supply and much treasure, or is used for purposes of divination. It
appears to have been Christianized into the "Holy Grail", to obtain
possession of which Arthurian knights set out on perilous journeys.
Originally the pot was a symbol of the mother goddess, who renewed
youth, provided food for all, and was the source of treasure, luck,
victory, and wisdom. This goddess was associated with the mother
cow and the life-prolonging pearls that were searched for by early
Eastern prospectors. There are references to cows and pearls in Welsh
and Gaelic poems and legends regarding the pot. An old Welsh poem in
the _Book of Taliesin_ says of the cauldron:
By the breath of nine maidens it would be kindled.
The head of Hades' cauldron--what is it like?
A rim it has, with pearls round its border:
It boils not coward's food: it would not be perjured.
This extract is from the poem known as "Preidden Annwfn" ("Harryings
of Hades"), translated by the late Professor Sir John Rhys. Arthur
and his heroes visit Hades to obtain the cauldron, and reference is
made to the "Speckled Ox". Arthur, in another story, obtains the
cauldron from Ireland. It is full of money. The Welsh god Bran gives
to a king of Ireland a magic cauldron which restores to life those
dead men who are placed in it. A Gaelic narrative relates the story
of Cuchullin's harrying of Hades, which is called "Dun Scaith".
Cuchullin's assailants issue from a pit in the centre of Dun Scaith
in forms of serpents, toads, and sharp-beaked monsters. He wins the
victory and carries away three magic cows and a cauldron that gives
inexhaustible supplies of food, gold, and silver.
The pot figures in various mythologies. It was a symbol of the mother
goddess Hathor of ancient Egypt and of the mother goddess of Troy,
and it figures in Indian religious literature. In Gaelic lore the
knife which cuts inexhaustible supplies of flesh from a dry bone is
evidently another symbol of the deity.
The talismans possessed by the Dananns were the cauldron, the sword
and spear of Lugh, and the Lia Fail (or Stone of Destiny)[195],
which reminds one of the three Japanese symbols, the solar mirror,
the dragon sword, and the tama (a pearl or round stone) kept in a
Shinto shrine at Ise. The goddess's "life substance" was likewise
in fruits like the Celestial apples, nuts, rowan berries, &c., of
the Celts, and the grapes, pomegranates, &c., of other peoples, and
in herbs like the mugwort and mandrake. Her animals were associated
with rivers. The name of the River Boyne signifies "white cow". Tarf
(bull) appears in several river names, as also does the goddess name
Deva (Devona) in the Devon, Dee, &c. Philologists have shown that
Ness, the Inverness-shire river, is identical with Nestos in Thrace
and Neda in Greece. The goddess Belisama (the goddess of war) was
identified with the Mersey.
[195] Called also _clach na cineamhuinn_ (the fatal stone).
Goddess groups, usually triads, were as common in Gaul as they were
in ancient Crete. These deities were sometimes called the "Mothers",
as in Marne, the famous French river, and in the Welsh _Y Mamau_, one
of the names of the "fairies".
Other names of goddess groups include Proximæ (kinswoman), Niskai
(water spirits), and Dervonnæ (oak spirits). The Romans took over
these and other groups of ancient deities and the beliefs about
their origin in the mythical sea they were supposed to cross or
rise from. Gaelic references to "the coracle of the fairy woman" or
"supernatural woman" are of special interest in this connection,
especially when it is found that the "coracle" is a sea-shell which,
by the way, figures as a canopy symbol in some of the sculptured
groups of Romano-British grouped goddesses who sometimes bear baskets
of apples, sheafs of grain, &c. When the shell provides inexhaustible
supplies of curative or knowledge-conferring milk, it links with the
symbolic pot.
Most of the ancient deities had local names, and consequently a
number of Gaulish gods were identified by the Romans with Apollo,
including Borvo, whose name lingers in Bourbon, Grannos of Aquæ
Granni (Aix la Chapelle), Mogounus, whose name has been shortened
to Mainz, &c. The gods Taranucus (thunderer), Uxell[)i]mus (the
highest), &c., were identified with Jupiter; Dunatis (fort god),
Albiorix (world king), Caturix (battle king), Belatucadros (brilliant
in war), Cocidius, &c., were identified with Mars. The name of
the god Cam[)u]los clings to Colchester (Camulodunun). There are
Romano-British inscriptions that refer to the ancient gods under
various Celtic names. A popular deity was the god of Silvanus, who
conferred health and was, no doubt, identified with a tree or herb.
It is uncertain at what period beliefs connected with stars were
introduced into the British Isles.[196] As we have seen, the Welsh
deities were connected with certain star groups. "Three Celtic
goddesses", writes Anwyl, referring to Gaul, "whose worship attained
to highest development were Damona (the goddess of cattle), Sirona
(the aged one or the star goddess), and Ep[)o]na (the goddess of
horses). These names are Indo-European." An Irish poem by a bard
who is supposed to have lived in the ninth century refers to the
Christian saint Ciaran of Saigir as a man of stellar origin:
Liadaine (his mother) was asleep
On her bed.
When she turned her face to heaven
A star fell into her mouth.
Thence was born the marvellous child
Ciaran of Saigir who is proclaimed to thee.
[196] There is evidence in the Gaelic manuscripts that time was
measured by the apparent movements of the stars. Cuchullin, while
sitting at a feast, says to his charioteer: "Laeg, my friend, go
out, observe the stars of the air, and ascertain when midnight
comes".
In the north and north-west Highlands the aurora borealis is called
_Na Fir Chlis_ ("the nimble men") and "the merry dancers". They are
regarded as fairies (supernatural beings) like the sea "fairies" _Na
Fir Ghorm_ ("blue men"), who were probably sea gods.
The religious beliefs of the Romans were on no higher a level than
those of the ancient Britons and Gaels.
CHAPTER XVII
Historical Summary
The evidence dealt with in the foregoing chapters throws considerable
light on the history of early man in Britain. We really know more
about pre-Roman times than about that obscure period of Anglo-Saxon
invasion and settlement which followed on the withdrawal of the
Roman army of occupation, yet historians, as a rule, regard it as
"pre-historic" and outside their sphere of interest. As there are no
inscriptions and no documents to render articulate the archæological
Ages of Stone and Bronze, they find it impossible to draw any
definite conclusions.
It can be urged, however, in criticism of this attitude, that the
relics of the so-called "pre-historic age" may be found to be even
more reliable than some contemporary documents of the "historic"
period. Not a few of these are obviously biassed and prejudiced,
while some are so vague and fragmentary that the conclusions drawn
from them cannot be otherwise than hypothetical in character. A
plainer, clearer, and more reliable story is revealed by the bones
and the artifacts and the surviving relics of the intellectual
life of our remote ancestors than by the writings of some early
chroniclers and some early historians. It is possible, for instance,
in consequence of the scanty evidence available, to hold widely
diverging views regarding the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic problems.
Pro-Teutonic and pro-Celtic protagonists involve us invariably in
bitter controversy. That contemporary documentary evidence, even
when somewhat voluminous, may fail to yield a clear record of facts
is evident from the literature that deals, for instance, with the
part played by Mary Queen of Scots in the Darnley conspiracy and in
the events that led to her execution.
The term "pre-historic" is one that should be discarded. It is
possible, as has been shown, to write, although in outline, the
history of certain ancient race movements, of the growth and decay
of the civilization revealed by the cavern art of Aurignacian and
Magdalenian times, of early trade and of early shipping. The history
of art goes back for thousands of years before the Classic Age dawned
in Greece; the history of trade can be traced to that remote period
when Red Sea shells were imported into Italy by Crô-Magnon man; and
the history of British shipping can be shown to be as old as those
dug-outs that foundered in ancient Scottish river beds before the
last land movement had ceased.
The history of man really begins when and where we find the first
clear traces of his activities, and as it is possible to write not
only regarding the movements of the Crô-Magnon races, but of their
beliefs as revealed by burial customs, their use of body paint, the
importance attached to shell and other talismans, and their wonderful
and high attainments in the arts and crafts, the European historical
period can be said to begin in the post-Glacial epoch when tundra
conditions prevailed in Central and Western Europe and Italy was
connected with the North African coast.
In the case of ancient Egypt, historical data have been gleaned from
archæological remains as well as from religious texts and brief
records of historical events. The history of Egyptian agriculture
has been traced back beyond the dawn of the Dynastic Age and to that
inarticulate period before the hieroglyphic system of writing had
been invented, by the discovery in the stomachs of the bodies of
proto-Egyptians, naturally preserved in hot dry sands, of husks of
barley and of millet native to the land of Egypt.[197]
[197] Elliot Smith, _The Ancient Egyptians_, p. 42.
The historical data so industriously accumulated in Egypt and
Babylonia have enabled excavators to date certain finds in Crete,
and to frame a chronological system for the ancient civilization
of that island. Other relics afford proof of cultural contact
between Crete and the mainland, as far westward as Spain, where
traces of Cretan activities have been discovered. With the aid of
comparative evidence, much light is thrown, too, on the history
of the ancient Hittites, who have left inscriptions that have
not yet been deciphered. The discoveries made by Siret in Spain
and Portugal of unmistakable evidence of Egyptian and Babylonian
cultural influence, trade, and colonization are, therefore, to be
welcomed. The comparative evidence in this connection provides a more
reliable basis than has hitherto been available for Western European
archæology. It is possible for the historian to date approximately
the beginning of the export trade in jet from England--apparently
from Whitby in Yorkshire--and of the export trade in amber from the
Baltic, and the opening of the sea routes between Spain and Northern
Europe. The further discovery of Egyptian beads in south-western
England, in association with relics of the English "Bronze Age", is
of far-reaching importance. A "prehistoric" period surely ceases to
be "prehistoric" when its relics can be dated even approximately. The
English jet found in Spain takes us back till about 2500 B.C., and
the Egyptian beads found in England till about 1300 B.C.
The dating of these and other relics raises the question whether
historians should accept, without qualification, or at all, the
system of "Ages" adopted by archæologists. Terms like "Palæolithic"
(Old Stone) and "Neolithic" (New Stone) are, in most areas, without
precise chronological significance. As applied in the historical
sense, they tend to obscure the fact that the former applies to a
most prolonged period during which more than one civilization arose,
flourished, and decayed. In the so-called "Old Stone Age" flint was
worked with a degree of skill never surpassed in the "New Stone Age",
as Aurignacian and Solutrean artifacts testify; it was also sometimes
badly worked from poorly selected material, as in Magdalenian times,
when bone and horn were utilized to such an extent that archæologists
would be justified in referring to a "Bone and Horn Age".
Before the Neolithic industry was introduced into Western Europe
and the so-called "Neolithic Age" dawned, as it ended, at various
periods in various areas, great climatic changes took place, and
the distribution of sea and land changed more than once. Withal,
considerable race movements took place in Central and Western Europe.
In time new habits of life were introduced into our native land that
influenced more profoundly the subsequent history of Britain than
could have been possibly accomplished by a new method of working
flint. The most important cultural change was effected by the
introduction of the agricultural mode of life.
It is important to bear in mind in this connection that the ancient
civilizations of Egypt and Babylonia were based on the agricultural
mode of life, and that when this mode of life passed into Europe a
complex culture was transported with it from the area of origin. It
was the early agriculturists who developed shipbuilding and the art
of navigation, who first worked metals, and set a religious value
on gold and silver, on pearls, and on certain precious stones, and
sent out prospectors to search for precious metals and precious gems
in distant lands. The importance of agriculture in the history
of civilization cannot be overestimated. In so far as our native
land is concerned, a new epoch was inaugurated when the first
agriculturist tilled the soil, sowed imported barley seeds, using
imported implements, and practising strange ceremonies at sowing,
and ultimately at harvest time, that had origin in a far-distant
"cradle" of civilization, and still linger in our midst as folk-lore
evidence, testifies to the full. In ancient times the ceremonies were
regarded as being of as much importance as the implements, and the
associated myths were connected with the agriculturists' Calendar, as
the Scottish Gaelic Calendar bears testimony.
Instead, therefore, of dividing the early history of man in Britain
into periods, named after the materials from which he made implements
and weapons, these should be divided so as to throw light on habits
of life and habits of thought. The early stages of civilization can
be referred to as the "Pre-Agricultural", and those that follow as
the "Early Agricultural".
Under "Pre-Agricultural" come the culture stages, or rather the
industries known as (1) Aurignacian, (2) Solutrean, and (3)
Magdalenian. These do not have the same chronological significance
everywhere in Europe, for the Solutrean industry never disturbed
or supplemented the Aurignacian in Italy or in Spain south of the
Cantabrian Mountains, nor did Aurignacian penetrate into Hungary,
where the first stage of Modern Man's activities was the Solutrean.
The three stages, however, existed during the post-Glacial period,
when man hunted the reindeer and other animals favouring similar
climatic conditions. The French archæologists have named this the
"Reindeer Age". Three later industries were introduced into Europe
during the Pre-Agricultural Age. These are known as (1) Azilian, (2)
Tardenoisian, and (3) Maglemosian. The ice-cap was retreating, the
reindeer and other tundra animals moved northward, and the red deer
arrived in Central and Western Europe. We can, therefore, refer to
the latter part of the Pre-Agricultural times as the "Early Red Deer
Age".
There is Continental evidence to show that the Neolithic industry was
practised prior to the introduction of the agricultural mode of life.
The "Early Agricultural Age", therefore, cuts into the archæological
"Neolithic Age" in France. Whether or not it does so in Britain is
uncertain.
At the dawn of the British "Early Agricultural Age" cultural
influences were beginning to "flow" from centres of ancient
civilization, if not directly, at any rate indirectly. As has
been indicated in the foregoing pages, the Neolithic industry
was practised in Britain by a people who had a distinct social
organization and engaged in trade. Some Neolithic flints were of
Eastern type or origin. The introduction of bronze from the Continent
appears to have been effected by seafaring traders, and there is no
evidence that it changed the prevailing habits of thought and life.
Our ancestors did not change their skins and their ideas when they
began to use and manufacture bronze. A section of them adopted a new
industry, but before doing so they had engaged in the search for
gold. This is shown by the fact that they settled on the granite in
Devon and Cornwall, while yet they were using flints of Neolithic
form which had been made elsewhere. Iron working was ultimately
introduced. The Bronze and Iron "Ages" of the archæologists can
be included in the historian's "Early Agricultural Age", because
agriculture continued to be the most important factor in the economic
life of Britain. It was the basis of its civilization; it rendered
possible the development of mining and of various industries, and the
promotion of trade by land and sea. In time the Celtic peoples--that
is, peoples who spoke Celtic dialects--arrived in Britain. The
Celtic movement was in progress at 500 B.C., and had not ended after
Julius Cæsar invaded southern England. It was finally arrested by the
Roman occupation, but continued in Ireland. When it really commenced
is uncertain; the earliest Celts may have used bronze only.
The various Ages, according to the system suggested, are as follows:--
1. =The Pre-Agricultural Age.=
Sub-divisions: (A) the _Reindeer Age_ with the Aurignacian,
Solutrean, and Magdalenian industries; (B) the _Early Red Deer
Age_ with the Azilian, Tardenoisian, and Maglemosian industries.
2. =The Early Agricultural Age.=
Sub-divisions: (A) the _Pre-Celtic Age_ with the Neolithic,
copper and bronze industries; (B) the _Celtic Age_ with the
bronze, iron, and enamel industries.
3. =The Romano-British Age.=
Including in Scotland (A) the _Caledonian Age_ and (B) the
_Early Scoto-Pictish Age_; and in Ireland the _Cuchullin Age_,
during which bronze and iron were used.
The view favoured by some historians that our ancestors were, prior
to the Roman invasion, mere "savages" can no longer obtain. It is
clearly without justification. Nor are we justified in perpetuating
the equally hazardous theory that early British culture was of
indigenous origin, and passed through a series of evolutionary stages
in isolation until the country offered sufficient attractions to
induce first the Celts and afterwards the Romans to conquer it. The
correct and historical view appears to be that from the earliest
times Britain was subjected to racial and cultural "drifts" from the
Continent, and that the latter outnumbered the former.
In the Pre-Agricultural Age Crô-Magnon colonists reached England and
Wales while yet in the Aurignacian stage of civilization. As much
is indicated by the evidence of the Paviland cave in South Wales.
At a later period, proto-Solutrean influence, which had entered
Western Europe from North Africa, filtered into England, and can be
traced in those caverns that have yielded evidence of occupation.
The pure Solutrean culture subsequently swept from Eastern Europe
as far westward as Northern Spain, but Britain, like Southern Spain
and Italy, remained immune to it. Magdalenian culture then arose and
became widespread. It had relations with the earlier Aurignacian and
owed nothing to Solutrean. England yields undoubted traces of its
influence, which operated vigorously at a time when Scotland was
yet largely covered with ice. Certain elements in Aurignacian and
Magdalenian cultures appear to have persisted in our midst until
comparatively recent times, especially in connection with burial
customs and myths regarding the "sleeping heroes" in burial caverns.
The so-called "Transition Period" between the Upper Palæolithic and
Neolithic Ages is well represented, especially in Scotland, where the
land rose after early man's arrival, and even after the introduction
of shipping. As England was sinking when Scotland was rising, English
traces of the period are difficult to find. This "Transition Period"
was of greater duration than the archæological "Neolithic Age".
Of special interest is the light thrown by relics of the "Transition
Period" on the race problem. Apparently the Crô-Magnons and other
peoples of the Magdalenian Age were settled in Britain when the
intruders, who had broken up Magdalenian civilization on the
Continent, began to arrive. These were (1) the Azilians of Iberian
(Mediterranean) type; (2) the Tardenoisians, who came through
Italy from North Africa, and were likewise, it would appear, of
Mediterranean racial type; and (3) the Maglemosians, who were mainly
a fair, tall people of Northern type. The close proximity of Azilian
and Maglemosian stations in western Scotland--at the MacArthur cave
(Azilian) and the Drumvaragie shelter (Maglemosian) at Oban, for
instance--suggests that in the course of time racial intermixture
took place. That all the fair peoples of England, Scotland, and
Ireland are descended from Celts or Norwegians is a theory which has
not taken into account the presence in these islands at an early
period, and before the introduction of the Neolithic industry, of the
carriers from the Baltic area of Maglemosian culture.
We next pass to the so-called Neolithic stage of culture,[198] and
find it affords fuller and more definite evidence regarding the early
history of our native land. As has been shown, there are data which
indicate that there was no haphazard distribution of the population
of England when the Neolithic industry and the agricultural mode of
life were introduced. The theory must be discarded that "Neolithic
man" was a wanderer, whose movements depended entirely on those
of the wild animals he hunted, as well as the further theory that
stone implements and weapons were not used after the introduction of
metals. There were, as can be gathered from the evidence afforded by
archæological remains, settled village communities, and centres of
industry in the Age referred to by archæologists as "Neolithic". The
Early Agricultural Age had dawned. Sections of the population engaged
in agriculture, sections were miners and workers of flint, sections
were hunters and fishermen, sections searched for gold, pigments
for body paint, material for ornaments of religious value, &c.,
and sections engaged in trade, not only with English and Scottish
peoples, but with those of the Continent. The English Channel, and
probably the North Sea, were crossed by hardy mariners who engaged in
trade.
[198] It must be borne in mind that among the producers and users
of Neolithic artifacts were the Easterners who collected and
exported ores.
At an early period in the Early Agricultural Age and before bronze
working was introduced, England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland,
were influenced more directly than had hitherto been the case by the
high civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia, and especially by their
colonies in South-western Europe. The recent Spanish finds indicate
that a great "wave" of high Oriental culture was in motion in Spain
as far back as 2500 B.C., and perhaps at an even earlier period.
Included among Babylonian and Egyptian relics in Spain are, as has
been stated, jet from Whitby, Yorkshire, and amber from the Baltic.
Apparently the colonists had trading relations with Britain. Whether
the "Tin Land", which was occupied by a people owing allegiance to
Sargon of Akkad, was ancient Britain is quite uncertain. It was
more probably some part of Western Europe. That Western European
influence was reaching Britain before the last land movement had
ceased is made evident by the fact that the ancient boat with a cork
plug, which was found in Clyde silt at Glasgow, lay 25 feet above
the present sea-level. The cork plug undoubtedly came from Spain or
Italy, and the boat is of Mediterranean type.[199] It is evident that
long before the introduction of bronze working the coasts of Britain
were being explored by enterprizing prospectors, and that the virgin
riches of our native land were being exploited. In this connection it
is of importance to find that the earliest metal artifacts introduced
into our native islands were brought by traders, and that those
that reached England were mainly of Gaulish type, while those that
reached Ireland were Spanish. The Neolithic industry does not appear
to have been widespread in Ireland, where copper artifacts were in
use at a very early period.
[199] The boat dates the silting process rather than the silting
process the boat.
A large battle-axe of pure copper, described by Sir David Brewster in
1822 (_Edinburgh Philosophical Journal_, Vol. VI, p. 357), was found
at a depth of 20 feet in Ratho Bog, near Edinburgh. Above it were 9
feet of moss, 7 feet of sand, and 4 feet of hard black till-clay.
"It must have been deposited along with the blue clay", wrote
Brewster, "prior to the formation of the superincumbent stratum of
sand, and must have existed before the diluvial operations by which
that stratum was formed. This opinion of its antiquity is strongly
confirmed by the peculiarity of its shape, and the nature of its
composition." The Spanish discoveries have revived interest in this
important find.
As has been indicated, jet, pearls, gold, and tin appear to have
been searched for and found before bronze working became a British
industry. That the early prospectors had experience in locating and
working metals before they reached this country there can be little
doubt. There was a psychological motive for their adventurous voyages
to unknown lands. The distribution of the megalithic monuments and
graves indicates that metals were found and worked in south-western
England, in Wales, in Derbyshire, and Cumberland, that jet was worked
at Whitby, and that metals were located in Ireland and Scotland.
Gold must have been widely distributed during the period of the
great thaw. It is unlikely that traces of alluvial gold, which
had been located and well worked in ancient times, should remain
until the present time. In Scotland no traces of gold can now be
found in a number of districts where, according to the records, it
was worked as late as the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Some
of the surviving Scottish megalithic monuments may mark the sites
of ancient goldfields that were abandoned in early times when the
supplies of precious metal became exhausted. The great circles of
Callernish in Lewis and Stennis in Orkney are records of activity in
semi-barren areas. Large communities could not have been attracted to
these outlying islands to live on the produce of land or sea. Traces
of metals, &c., indicate that, in both areas in ancient times, the
builders of megalithic monuments settled in remote areas in Britain
for the same reason as they settled on parts of the Continent. A gold
rod has been discovered in association with the "Druid Temple" at
Leys, near Inverness. The Inverness group of circles may well have
been those of gold-seekers. In Aberdeenshire a group of megalithic
monuments appears to have been erected by searchers for pearls. Gold
was found in this county in the time of the Stuart kings.
The close association of megalithic monuments with ancient mine
workings makes it impossible to resist the conclusion that the
worship of trees and wells was closely connected with the religion
of which the megalithic monuments are records. Siret shows that the
symbolic markings on typical stone monuments are identical with those
of the tree cult. Folk-lore and philological data tend to support
this view. From the root _nem_ are derived the Celtic names of the
pearl, heaven, the grove, and the shrine within the grove (see Chap.
XIII). The Celts appear to have embraced the Druidic system of the
earlier Iberians in Western Europe, whose culture had been derived
from that of the Oriental colonists.
The Oriental mother goddess was connected with the sacred tree, with
gold and gems, with pearls, with rivers, lakes, and the sea, with
the sky and with the heavenly bodies, long centuries before the
Palm-tree cult was introduced into Spain by Oriental colonists. The
symbolism of pearls links with that of jet, the symbolism of jet
with that of Baltic amber, and the symbolism of Baltic amber with
that of Adriatic amber and of Mediterranean coral. All these sacred
things were supposed to contain, like jasper and turquoise in Egypt,
the "life substance" of the mother goddess who had her origin in
water and her dwelling in a tree, and was connected with the sky and
"the waters above the firmament". Coral was supposed to be her sea
tree, and jet, amber, silver, and gold were supposed to grow from
her fertilizing tears. Beliefs about "grown gold" were quite rife in
mediæval Britain.[200]
[200] The ancient belief is enshrined in Milton's lines referring
to "ribs of gold" that "grow in Hell" and are dug out of its hill
(_Paradise Lost_, Book I, lines 688-90).
It should not surprise us, therefore, to find traces of Oriental
religious conceptions in ancient Britain and Ireland. These have
apparently passed from country to country, from people to people,
from language to language, and down the Ages without suffering great
change. Even when mixed with ideas imported from other areas, they
have preserved their original fundamental significance. The Hebridean
"maiden-queen" goddess, who dwells in a tree and provides milk from
a sea-shell, has a history rooted in a distant area of origin, where
the goddess who personified the life-giving shell was connected with
the cow and the sky (the Milky Way), as was the goddess Hathor, the
Egyptian Aphrodite. The tendency to locate imported religious beliefs
no doubt provides the reason why the original palm tree of the
goddess was replaced in Britain by the hazel, the elm, the rowan, the
apple tree, the oak, &c.
On the Continent there were displacements of peoples after the
introduction of bronze, and especially of bronze weapons. There was
wealth and there was trade to attract and reward the conqueror.
The Eastern traders of Spain were displaced. Some appear to have
migrated into Gaul and North Italy; others may have found refuge in
Ireland and Britain. The sea-routes were not, however, closed. Ægean
culture filtered into Western Europe from Crete, and through the
Hallstatt culture centre from the Danubian area. The culture of the
tribes who spoke Celtic dialects was veined with Ægean and Asiatic
influences. In time Continental Druidism imbibed ideas regarding the
Transmigration of Souls and the custom of cremation from an area in
the East which had influenced the Aryan invaders of India.
The origin of the Celts is obscure. Greek writers refer to them as a
tall, fair people. They were evidently a branch of the fair Northern
race, but whether they came from Northern Europe or Northern Asia is
uncertain. In Western Europe they intruded themselves as conquerors
and formed military aristocracies. Like other vigorous, intruding
minorities elsewhere and at different periods, they were in certain
localities absorbed by the conquered. In Western Europe they were
fused with Iberian communities, and confederacies of Celtiberians
came into existence.
Before the great Celtic movements into Western Europe began--that
is, before 500 B.C.--Britain was invaded by a broad-headed people,
but it is uncertain whether they came as conquerors or as peaceful
traders. In time these intruders were absorbed. The evidence afforded
by burial customs and surviving traces of ancient religious beliefs
and practices tends to show that the culture of the earlier peoples
survived over large tracts of our native land. An intellectual
conquest of conquerors or intruders was effected by the indigenous
population which was rooted to the soil by agriculture and to centres
of industry and trade by undisturbed habits of life.
Although the pre-Celtic languages were ultimately displaced by
the Celtic--it is uncertain when this process was completed--the
influence of ancient Oriental culture remained. In Scotland the
pig-taboo, with its history rooted in ancient Egypt, has had tardy
survival until our own times. It has no connection with Celtic
culture, for the Continental Celts were a pig-rearing and pork-eating
people, like the Ægæan invaders of Greece. The pig-taboo is still as
prevalent in Northern Arcadia as in the Scottish Highlands, where
the descendants not only of the ancient Iberians but of intruders
from pork-loving Ireland and Scandinavia have acquired the ancient
prejudice and are now perpetuating it.
Some centuries before the Roman occupation, a system of gold coinage
was established in England. Trade with the Continent appears to have
greatly increased in volume and complexity. England, Wales, Scotland,
and Ireland were divided into small kingdoms. The evidence afforded
by the Irish Gaelic manuscripts, which refer to events before and
after the Roman conquest of Britain, shows that society was well
organized and that the organization was of non-Roman character.
Tacitus is responsible for the statement that the Irish manners and
customs were similar to those prevailing in Britain, and he makes
reference to Irish sea-trade and the fact that Irish sea-ports were
well known to merchants. England suffered more from invasions before
and after the arrival of Julius Cæsar than did Scotland or Ireland.
It was consequently incapable of united action against the Romans, as
Tacitus states clearly. The indigenous tribes refused to be allies of
the intruders.[201]
[201] _Agricola_, Chap. XII.
In Ireland, which Pliny referred to as one of the British Isles,
the pre-Celtic Firbolgs were subdued by Celtic invaders. The later
"waves" of Celts appeared to have subdued the earlier conquerors,
with the result that "Firbolg" ceased to have a racial significance
and was applied to all subject peoples. There were in Ireland, as in
England, upper and lower classes, and military tribes that dominated
other tribes. Withal, there were confederacies, and petty kings,
who owed allegiance to "high kings". The "Red Branch" of Ulster, of
which Cuchullin was an outstanding representative, had their warriors
trained in Scotland. It may be that they were invaders who had passed
through Scotland into Northern Ireland; at any rate, it is unlikely
that they would have sent their warriors to a "colony" to acquire
skill in the use of weapons. There were Cruithne (Britons) in all the
Irish provinces. Most Irish saints were of this stock.
The pre-Roman Britons had ships of superior quality, as is made
evident by the fact that a British squadron was included in the
great Veneti fleet which Cæsar attacked and defeated with the aid of
Pictones and other hereditary rivals of the Veneti and their allies.
In early Roman times Britain thus took an active part in European
politics in consequence of its important commercial interests.
[Illustration: BRONZE BUCKLERS OR SHIELDS (British Museum)
Upper: from the Thames. Lower: from Wales.]
When the Romans reached Scotland the Caledonians, a people with a
Celtic tribal name, were politically predominant. Like the English
and Irish pre-Roman peoples, they used chariots and ornamented these
with finely worked bronze. Enamel was manufactured or imported. Some
of the Roman stories about the savage condition of Scotland may be
dismissed as fictions. Who can nowadays credit the statement of
Herodian[202] that the warriors of Scotland in Roman times passed
their days in the water, or Dion Cassius's[203] story that they were
wont to hide in mud for several days with nothing but their heads
showing, and that despite their fine physique they fed chiefly on
herbs, fruit, nuts, and the bark of trees, and, withal, that they
had discovered a mysterious earth-nut and had only to eat a piece no
larger than a bean to defy hunger and thirst. The further statement
that the Scottish "savages" were without state or family organization
hardly accords with historical facts. Even Agricola had cause to
feel alarm when confronted by the well-organized and well-equipped
Caledonian army at the battle of Mons Grampius, and he found it
necessary to retreat afterwards, although he claimed to have won
a complete victory. His retreat appears to have been as necessary
as that of Napoleon from Moscow. The later invasion of the Emperor
Severus was a disastrous one for him, entailing the loss of 50,000
men.
[202] _Herodian_, III, 14.
[203] Dion Cassius (_Xiphilinus_) LXXVI, 12.
A people who used chariots and horses, and artifacts displaying
the artistic skill of those found in ancient Britain, had reached
a comparatively high state of civilization. Warriors did not
manufacture their own chariots, the harness of their horses, their
own weapons, armour, and ornaments; these were provided for them by
artisans. Such things as they required and could not obtain in their
own country had to be imported by traders. The artisans had to be
paid in kind, if not in coin, and the traders had to give something
in return for what they received. Craftsmen and traders had to be
protected by laws, and the laws had to be enforced.
The evidence accumulated by archæologists is sufficient to prove
that Britain had inherited from seats of ancient civilization a high
degree of culture and technical skill in metal-working, &c., many
centuries before Rome was built. The finest enamel work on bronze in
the world was produced in England and Ireland, and probably, although
definite proof has not yet been forthcoming, in Scotland, the enamels
of which may have been imported and may not. Artisans could not
have manufactured enamel without furnaces capable of generating a
high degree of heat. The process was a laborious and costly one. It
required technical knowledge and skill on the part of the workers.
Red, white, yellow, and blue enamels were manufactured. Even the
Romans were astonished at the skill displayed in enamel work by the
Britons. The people who produced these enamels and the local peoples
who purchased them, including the Caledonians, were far removed from
a state of savagery.
Many writers, who have accepted without question the statements of
certain Roman writers regarding the early Britons and ignored the
evidence that archæological relics provide regarding the arts and
crafts and social conditions of pre-Roman times, have in the past
written in depreciatory vein regarding the ancestors of the vast
majority of the present population of these islands, who suffered
so severely at the altar of Roman ambition. Everything Roman has
been glorified; Roman victories over British "barbarians" have been
included among the "blessings" of civilization. Yet "there is", as
Elton says, "something at once mean and tragical about the story
of the Roman conquest.... On the one side stand the petty tribes,
prosperous nations in minature, already enriched by commerce and
rising to a homely culture; on the other the terrible Romans strong
in their tyranny and an avarice which could never be appeased."[204]
[204] _Origins of English History_, pp. 302-3.
It was in no altruistic spirit that the Romans invaded Gaul and broke
up the Celtic organization, or that they invaded Briton and reduced
a free people to a state of bondage. The life blood of young Britain
was drained by Rome, and, for the loss sustained, Roman institutions,
Roman villas and baths, and the Latin language and literature were
far from being compensations. Rome was a predatory state. When its
military organization collapsed, its subject states fell with it.
Gaul and Britain had been weakened by Roman rule; the ancient spirit
of independence had been undermined; native initiative had been
ruthlessly stamped out under a system more thorough and severe than
modern Prussianism. At the same time, there is, of course, much to
admire in Roman civilization.
During the obscure post-Roman period England was occupied by Angles
and Saxons and Jutes, who have been credited with the wholesale
destruction of masses of the Britons. The dark-haired survivors
were supposed to have fled westward, leaving the fair intruders
in undisputed occupation of the greater part of England. But the
indigenous peoples of the English mining areas were originally a
dark-haired and sallow people, and the invading Celts were mainly a
fair people. Boadicea was fair-haired like Queen Maeve of Ireland.
The evidence collected of late years by ethnologists shows that the
masses of the English population are descended from the early peoples
of the Pre-Agricultural and Early Agricultural Ages. The theory of
the wholesale extermination by the Anglo-Saxons of the early Britons
has been founded manifestly on very scant and doubtful evidence.
What the Teutonic invasions accomplished in reality was the
destruction not of a people but of a civilization. The native arts
and crafts declined, and learning was stamped out, when the social
organization of post-Roman Britain was shattered. On the Continent
a similar state of matters prevailed. Roman civilization suffered
decline when the Roman soldier vanished.
Happily, the elements of "Celtic" civilization had been preserved
in those areas that had escaped the blight of Roman ambition.
The peoples of Celtic speech had preserved, as ancient Gaelic
manuscripts testify, a love of the arts as ardent as that of Rome,
and a fine code of chivalry to which the Romans were strangers.
The introduction of Christianity had advanced this ancient Celtic
civilization on new and higher lines. When the Columban missionaries
began their labours outside Scotland and Ireland, they carried
Christianity and "a new humanism" over England and the Continent,
"and became the teachers of whole nations, the counsellors of kings
and emperors". Ireland and Scotland had originally received their
Christianity from Romanized England and Gaul. The Celtic Church
developed on national lines. Vernacular literature was promoted by
the Celtic clerics.
In England, as a result of Teutonic intrusions and conquests,
Christianity and Romano-British culture had been suppressed. The
Anglo-Saxons were pagans. In time the Celtic missionaries from
Scotland and Ireland spread Christianity and Christian culture
throughout England.
It is necessary for us to rid our minds of extreme pro-Teutonic
prejudices. Nor is it less necessary to avoid the equally dangerous
pitfall of the Celtic hypothesis. Christianity and the associated
humanistic culture entered these islands during the Roman period. In
Ireland and Scotland the new religion was perpetuated by communities
that had preserved pre-Roman habits of life and thought which were
not necessarily of Celtic origin or embraced by a people who can
be accurately referred to as the "Celtic race". The Celts did not
exterminate the earlier settlers. Probably the Celts were military
aristocrats over wide areas.
Before the fair Celts had intruded themselves in Britain and Ireland,
the seeds of pre-Celtic culture, derived by trade and colonization
from centres of ancient civilization through their colonies, had
been sown and had borne fruit. The history of British civilization
begins with neither Celt nor Roman, but with those early prospectors
and traders who entered and settled in the British Isles when mighty
Pharaohs were still reigning in Egypt, and these and the enterprising
monarchs in Mesopotamia were promoting trade and extending their
spheres of influence. The North Syrian or Anatolian carriers of
Eastern civilization who founded colonies in Spain before 2500 B.C.
were followed by Cretans and Phoenicians. The sea-trade promoted by
these pioneers made possible the opening up of overland trade routes.
It was after Pytheas had (about 300 B.C.) visited Britain by coasting
round Spain and Northern France from Marseilles that the volume of
British trade across France increased greatly and the sea-routes
became of less importance. When Carthage fell, the Romans had the
trade of Western Europe at their mercy, and their conquests of Gaul
and Britain were undoubtedly effected for the purpose of enriching
themselves at the expense of subject peoples. We owe much to Roman
culture, but we owe much also to the culture of the British pre-Roman
period.
INDEX
Achæans, Celts and, 111, 112.
Acheulian culture, 13, 14.
Adonis, killed by boar, 197.
Ægean culture, Celts absorbed, 112.
-- -- in Central Europe, 96.
Æstyans, the, amber traders, 161.
-- worship of mother goddess and boar god, 161, 162.
Africa, Crô-Magnon peoples entered Europe from, 35.
-- ostrich eggs, ivory, &c., from, found in Spain, 96.
-- transmigration of souls in, 143.
Age, the Agricultural and pre-Agricultural, 213.
-- the Early Red Deer, 214, 215.
-- the Prehistoric, 217.
-- the Historic, 217.
-- the Reindeer, 213.
Ages, Archæological, new system of, 215.
-- -- problem of Scottish copper axe, 219.
-- the Mythical, colours and metals of, 121.
See also _Geological_ and _Archæological Ages_.
Agriculture, beginning of, in Britain, 217.
-- importance of introduction of, 212.
-- history of, 210.
-- Neolithic sickles, 4.
-- barley, wheat, and rye cultivated, 5.
Aine, the Munster fairy, 202.
Airts (Cardinal Points), the, doctrine of, 145.
See also _Cardinal Points_.
Akkad, Sargon of, his knowledge of Western Europe, 96, 218.
Alabaster, Eastern perfume flasks of, in Neolithic Spain, 96.
Albertite, jet and, 164.
Albiorix, the Gaulish god, 207.
All Hallows, Black Sow of, 200.
Amber, associated with jet and Egyptian blue beads in
England, 104, 105 (_ill._), 106.
-- Celtic and German names of, 162.
-- as magical product of water, 162, 163.
-- eyes strengthened by, 165.
-- imported into Britain at 1400 B.C., 106; and in first
century A.D., 114.
-- jet and pearls and, 22.
-- as "life substance", 80.
-- Megalithic people searched for, 93.
-- origin of, in Scottish lore, 162.
-- Persian, &c., names of, 163, 164.
-- Tacitus on the Baltic Æstyans, 161.
-- connection of, with boar god and mother goddess, 161.
-- as "tears" of goddess, 161.
-- trade in, 219.
-- the "vigorous Gael" and, 163.
-- connection of, with Woad, 163.
-- white enamel as substitute for, 165.
America, green stone symbolism in, 34.
Angles, 126.
-- Celts and, 227.
Anglo-Saxon intruders, our scanty knowledge of, 209.
Angus, the Irish god of love, 202.
Animism, not the earliest stage in religion, 178.
Annis, Black (also "Black Anny" and "Cat Anna"), 195.
-- -- Irish Anu (Danu), and, 198.
Anthropology, stratification theory, 11, 12.
Anu (Ana), the goddess, 198, 201.
Aphrodite, 221.
-- amber and, 163.
-- the black form of, 164.
-- connection of, with pearl and moon, 158.
-- Julius Cæsar's pearl offering to, 159.
-- myth of origin of, 38.
-- Egyptian Hathor and, 38.
-- the Scandinavian, 161.
Apollo, British temples of, 177.
-- the Gaelic, 202.
-- the Gaulish, 207.
-- god of London, 203.
-- mouse connection of, 179.
-- mouse feasts, 187.
Apple, 221.
-- connection of mouse with, 196.
-- as fruit of longevity, 144.
-- Scottish hag-goddess and, 196.
-- Thomas the Rhymer and apple of knowledge and longevity, 146.
-- "wassailing", 204.
Apple land (Avalon), the Celtic Paradise, 144.
Apples, life substance in, 206.
Apple tree, God of, 204.
Archæological Ages, 1400 B.C., a date in British history, 106.
-- -- "Broad-heads" in Britain and "Long-heads" in Ireland
use bronze, 87.
-- -- climate in Upper Palæolithic, 14.
-- -- Egyptian and Babylonian relics in Neolithic Spain, 96.
-- -- Egyptian Empire beads associated with bronze industry in
south-western England, 104, 105 (_ill._), 106.
-- -- few intrusions between Bronze and Iron Ages, 109.
-- -- in humorous art, 1.
-- -- "Stone Age" man not necessarily a savage, 2.
Archæological Ages, influences of Neanderthal and Crô-Magnon
races, 12.
-- -- Irish sagas and, 119.
-- -- bronze and iron swords, 119.
-- -- Lord Avebury's system, 8.
-- -- Neolithic industry introduced by metal workers
in Spain, 95, 99.
-- -- relations of Neanderthal and Crô-Magnon races, 14, 15, 16.
-- -- "Transition Period" longer than "Neolithic Age", 61.
-- -- Western European metals reached Mesopotamia between 3000 B.C.
and 2000 B.C., 99, 100.
See also _Palæolithic_ and _Neolithic_.
Archæology, stratification theory, 11, 12.
Argentocoxus, the Caledonian, 112.
Armenoid (Alpine) races, early movements of, 56.
Armenoids in Britain, 222.
-- intrusions of, in Europe, 126.
-- partial disappearance of, from Britain, 127.
Armlets, in graves, 158.
Arrow, the fiery, and goddess Brigit, 188.
Arrows, Azilians introduced, into Europe, 55.
-- as symbols of deity, 51.
Art, ancient man caricatured in modern, 1.
Artemis, bee and butterfly connected with, 193.
-- myth of the Scottish, 174, 197.
Arthur, King, Celtic myth attached to, 198.
Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh, night-shining gem of, 160.
-- -- giant of, 131, and also note 1.
Aryans, The, 123.
Astronomy in Ancient Britain and Ireland, 175, and also note 1.
-- Welsh and Gaelic names of constellations, 203.
Atlantis, The Lost, 70.
Atrebates, The, in Britain, 128.
Augustine of Canterbury, Pope Gregory's letter, 176.
-- -- Canterbury temple occupied by, 177.
Augustonemeton (shrine of Augustus), 159.
Aurignac, Crô-Magnon cave-tomb of, 20, 22.
Aurignacian, African source of culture called, 27, 35.
-- custom of smearing bodies with red earth, 27.
-- animism and goddess worship, 178.
-- influence in Britain, 19, 216.
-- burial customs, 45.
-- cave hand-prints, 47.
-- "Combe-Capelle" man, 25.
-- Brüx and Brünn race, 26.
-- Crô-Magnons and, 14.
-- culture of Crô-Magnon grotto, 23, 24.
-- heart as seat of life, 32.
-- green stone symbolism, 33.
-- Indian Ocean shell at Grimaldi, 36.
-- Magdalenians and, 52.
-- the Mother-goddess, 42, 178.
-- Egyptian milk and shells link, 43.
-- "Tama" belief, 44.
-- origin of term, 22.
-- pre-Agricultural, 213.
-- Proto-Solutrean influence on, 49.
-- no trace of, in Hungary, 50.
Aurignacian Age, 13.
Aurignacian implements 21, (_ill._).
Australian natives, Neanderthal man and, 9.
Avalon (Apple land), the Celtic Paradise, 144.
Avebury, megaliths of, 82.
-- -- burial customs, 171.
Axe, Chellean 14, (_ill._).
-- double, as "god-body", 50.
-- Glasgow and Spanish green-stone axes, 97.
-- as religious object, 77.
Axes, Neolithic, distribution of population and, 82, 84.
-- Neolithic, mathematical skill in manufacture of, 4.
Aynia, Irish fairy queen, 201.
Azilian culture, 62.
-- -- artifacts, 13.
-- -- English Channel land-bridge crossed by
carriers of, 58, 67, 69.
Azilian culture, Iberian carriers of, 216.
-- -- pre-Agricultural, 213.
-- -- rock paintings, 55.
-- -- customs of, revealed in art, 55.
-- -- script used, 56.
-- -- in Scotland and England, 58, 60.
-- boats, 75.
Azilians in Britain, 70, 125.
Babylonia, goddess of, in Neolithic Spain, 96.
-- influence of, in Asia Minor and Syria, 95.
-- influence of culture of, 212.
-- influence of, in Britain, 218.
-- knowledge of European metal-fields in, 99.
-- religious ideas of, in Britain, 154.
Baptism, milk and honey used in, 152.
Barley, cultivation of, 5.
-- the Egyptian, reaches Britain, 84, 85.
Basket-making, relation of, to pottery and knitting, 6.
Beads, as "adder stones" and "Druid's gems", 163.
-- Egyptian blue beads in England, 104, 105 (_ill._), 106.
-- Egyptian, in Britain, 211.
Bede, on jet symbolism, 164.
Bee, connection of, with Artemis and fig tree, 193.
-- as soul form in legends, 193.
Bees, connection of, with maggot soul form, 102.
-- "Telling the bees" custom, 103, 193.
Belatucadros, a Gaulish Mars, 207.
Belgæ, The, in Britain, 128.
Belisama, goddess of Mersey, 206.
Beltain festival, fires at, 191.
Berries, fire in, 181.
-- life substance in, 206.
-- "the luck", 180.
-- salmon and red, 183.
Berry charms, 47.
Birds, butterfly as "bird of god", 191.
-- Celtic deities as, 195.
Birds, language of, Druids and wren, 145.
-- language of, in India, 151.
-- language of, St. Columba and, 146.
-- oyster catcher and wood linnet as birds of goddess Bride, 187.
-- swan form of soul, 190.
-- taboo in Ancient Britain, 201.
-- taboo in Highlands, 201.
-- tom-tit, robin, wren, and apple cults, 204.
-- wren as king of, 186.
Black Annis, Irish Anu (Danu) and, 198.
--Leicestershire hag-deity, 195, 196.
Black Demeter, 196.
Black goddesses, Greek and Scottish, 164.
Black Kali, Indian goddess, 196.
Black Pig, Devil as, 200.
Black Sow, Devil as, 200.
Blood Covenant, 152.
Boadicea, 162, 227.
-- (Boudicca), Queen, 114.
-- Iceni tribe of, 128.
Boann, the goddess, 202.
Boar, Adonis and Diarmid slain by, 197.
-- in Orkney, 129.
-- salmon and porpoise as, 182.
Boar god on British and Gaulish coins, 162.
-- -- connection of, with amber, 161.
-- -- the Gaulish, 197.
-- -- Mars as, 197.
-- -- The Inverness, 129, 155 (_ill._).
Boats, ancient migrations by sea, 92.
-- axe of Clyde boat, 77.
-- Himilco's references to skin-boats, 77.
-- sea-worthiness of skin-boats, 77.
-- how sea-sense was cultivated, 78.
-- Veneti vessels, 78.
-- Azilian-Tardenoisians and Maglemosians required, 69.
-- Britain reached by, before last land movement ceased, 72.
-- Perth dug-out, under carse clays, 72.
Boats, Forth and Clyde dug-outs, 72.
-- dug-outs not the earliest, 72, 73.
-- Ancient Egyptian papyri and skin-boats, 73.
-- "seams" and "skins" of, 74.
-- Egyptian models in Europe and Asia, 74.
-- religious ceremonies at construction of dug-outs, 74.
-- Polynesian, dedicated to gods, 74.
-- earliest Egyptian, 74.
-- Britons and Veneti, 224.
-- Celtic pirates, 136.
-- earliest, in Britain, 218.
-- early builders of, 6.
-- Easterners exported ores by, from Western Europe, 99.
-- Egyptian barley carried by early seafarers to Britain, 84.
-- exports from early Britain, 104.
-- Glasgow discoveries of ancient, 75, 76.
-- cork plug in Glasgow boat, 75, 76.
-- invention of, 72.
-- oak god and skin boats, 153.
-- outrigger at Glasgow, 76.
-- ancient Clyde clinker-built boat, 76.
-- Aberdeenshire dug-out, 76.
-- Sussex, Kentish, and Dumfries finds of, 77.
-- Brigg boat, 77.
-- Pictish, 136.
-- pre-Roman British, 224.
-- similar types in Africa and Scandinavia 75, (_ill._).
-- why early seafarers visited Britain, 80, 81.
Bodies painted for religious reasons, 28.
Boers, the mouse cure of, 187, and also note 2.
Bone implements, 82.
-- -- Magdalenians favoured, 52.
Bonfires, at Pagan festivals, 181.
Borvo, the Gaulish Apollo, 207.
Bows and arrows, Azilians introduced, into Europe, 55.
Boyne, River goddess of, 202.
Boyne, The "white cow", 206.
Bran, the god and saint, 202.
Bride, The goddess, Bird of, and Page of, 187.
-- -- dandelion as milk-yielding plant of, 187.
-- serpent of, as "daughter of Ivor" and the "damsel", 187, 188.
See _Brigit_.
-- Saint, Goddess Bride and, 188.
Bride's Day, 187.
Bride wells, 188.
Brigantes, blue shields of, 173.
-- Brigit (Bride) goddess of, 187.
-- territory occupied by, 188.
-- in England, Scotland, and Ireland, 128, 188.
Brigit, Dagda and, 202.
-- as "fiery arrow", 188.
-- the goddess (also Bride), Brigantes and, 187.
-- three forms of, 188, 195.
-- as hag or girl, 195.
Britain, Stone Age man in, 1.
-- early races in, 16.
-- date of last land movement in, 18.
Briton, "cloth clad", 119.
Britons, the, Cruithne of Ireland were, 131, 132.
-- chief people in ancient England, Ireland, and Scotland, 132.
Brittany, Easterners in, 100.
Bronze, Celts and, 106.
-- Gaelic gods connected with, 102.
-- knowledge of, introduced into Britain by traders, 101.
-- British, same as Continental, 101.
-- Spanish Easterners displaced by carriers of, 221.
Bronze Age, The Archæological, British "broad-heads" and Irish
"long-heads" as bronze users, 87.
-- -- French forms in Britain and Spanish in Ireland, 88.
-- -- conquest theory, 88.
-- -- prospectors discovered metals in Britain, 89.
-- -- how metals were located, 89.
-- -- bronze carriers reached Spain from Central Europe, 96.
-- -- carriers of bronze earliest
settlers in Buchan, Aberdeenshire, 111.
Bronze Age, Celtic horse-tamers as bronze carriers, 111.
-- -- carriers expel Easterners from Spain, 100, 101.
-- -- Druidism and, 149.
-- -- Egyptian relics of, 104.
-- -- relics of 113, (_ill._).
Bronze industry, fibulæ and clothing, 119.
Brünn and Brüx races, 50.
-- -- skull caps, 25, 26.
_Brut, The_, reference in, to Apollo's temple, 177.
Bull, rivers and, 206.
Bulls, The Sacred, 155 (_ill._).
-- sacrifice of, in Ross-shire in seventeenth century, 148.
Burial Customs, Avebury evidence regarding, 171.
-- -- body painting, 27.
-- -- Seven Sleepers myth, 29.
-- -- British Pagan survivals, 17.
-- -- Crô-Magnon Aurignacian, in Wales, 19.
-- -- doctrine of Cardinal Points and, 168, 170.
-- -- Egyptian pre-dynastic customs, 170.
-- -- food for the dead, 158.
-- -- urns in graves, 158.
-- -- green stones in mouths of Crô-Magnon dead, 33.
-- -- Egyptian and American use of green stones, 33, 34.
-- -- long-barrow folk in England, 82.
-- -- milk offerings to dead, 148.
-- -- in Neolithic Britain, 86.
-- -- Palæolithic, 158.
-- -- "Round Barrow" folk, 87.
-- -- Shakespeare's reference to Pagan, 45.
-- -- Crô-Magnon rites, 45.
-- -- shell and other ornaments, 36.
-- -- short-barrow and cremation intruders, 104.
-- -- solar aspect of ancient British, 170.
-- -- Welsh ideas about destiny of soul, 144.
-- -- why dead were cremated, 109, 110, 111.
Butterfly, connection of, with jade and soul in China, 193.
-- connection with plum tree in China and honeysuckle
in Scotland, 193.
-- as fire god in Gaelic, 191.
-- Gaelic names of, 191.
-- goddess Freyja and, 192.
-- Psyche as, 192.
-- as Italian soul form, 192.
-- Serbian witches and, 192.
-- Burmese soul as, 193.
-- Mexican soul and fire god as, 194.
Byzantine Empire, The, Chinese lore from, 160.
Cailleach, The, 174, 197.
See _Artemis_.
Caithness, the "cat" country, 130.
Caledonians, The, 129.
-- Celtic tribal name of, 112.
-- personal names of, 112.
-- clothing of, 119.
-- the Picts and, 130.
-- Romans and, 224.
-- Tacitus's theory regarding, 137.
Calendar, the Gaelic, 198.
Calgacus, 112.
Callernish stone circle, 94.
Calton (hazel grove), 150.
Camulos, god of Colchester, 207.
Canoes. See _Boats_.
Canterbury Pagan temple, St. Augustine used, 177.
Cantion, the, Kent tribe, 128.
Cardinal Points, doctrine of, 145, 168.
-- -- south as road to heaven, 145, and also note 1.
-- -- Gaelic colours of, 168.
-- -- goddesses and gods come from their own, 173.
-- -- giants of north and fairies of west, 173.
-- -- in modern burial customs, 171.
-- -- "sunwise" and "withershins", 172, and also note 1.
Carnonacæ Carini, the, 129.
Carthage, Britain and, 229.
-- British and Spanish connection with, 107.
-- megalithic monuments and, 149.
Carthage, trade of, with Britain, 114.
Cassiterides, The, 98.
-- Carthagenians' trade with, 114.
-- Pytheas and, 115.
-- Crassus visits, 116.
-- exports and imports of, 104.
-- OEstrymnides of Himilco and, 116.
-- the Hebrides and, 117.
Cat, the Big, 196.
-- as goddess, 154.
-- pear tree and, 196.
Cat-Anna, Leicestershire hag-goddess, 195.
Cat goddess of Egypt, 196.
Cat stone, 196.
Cats, the, peoples of Shetland, Caithness, and
Sutherland as, 129, 130.
-- witches as, 196.
Caturix, the Gaulish god, 207.
Catuvellauni, The, in England, 128.
Cauldron. See _Pot_.
Cauldron, the Celtic, 90, 91.
-- -- Welsh goddess of, 204.
-- of Dagda, 202.
-- Holy Grail and, 205.
-- myth of, 205.
Celts, Achæans and, 111.
-- as carriers of La Tène culture, 112.
-- confederacies formed by, 112.
-- as conquerors of earlier settlers in Britain and Ireland, 107.
-- as military aristocrats in Britain, 107.
-- conquests of, 111.
-- Etruscans overcome by, 112.
-- Sack of Rome, 112.
-- Danube valley and Rhone valley trade routes controlled by, 114.
-- as pig rearers and pork curers, 114, 223.
-- destiny of soul, 144.
See _Soul_.
-- displacement theory regarding, 137.
-- earlier fair folks in Britain, 125.
-- ethnics of, 112.
-- the fair in Britain and Ireland, 227.
-- fair queens of, 112.
-- gold and silver offered to deities by, 80.
Celts, Maglemosians and, 138.
-- origin of, obscure, 222.
-- as Fair Northerners, 222.
-- Pictish problem, 130. See _Picts_.
-- as pirates, 136.
-- references to clothing of, 119.
-- British breeches, 119.
-- settlement of, in Asia Minor, 112.
-- Tacitus on the Caledonians, &c., 137.
-- Teutons and, 125.
-- Iberians and, 125.
-- Teutons did not exterminate, in England, 227.
-- early Christian influence of, 228.
-- theory of extermination of, in Britain, 122.
-- as traders in Britain, 107.
-- and transmigration of souls, 143.
-- tribes of, in ancient Britain, 128.
-- tribal rivalries of, in Britain, 119.
-- westward movement of, 214.
Celtic art, Ægean affinities, 118, 119.
-- cauldron, 205, 206.
-- gods, connection of, with metals, 102.
Cenn Cruach, Irish god, 102, 103.
Cereals, 5.
Cerones, Creones, the, 129.
Chancelade Man, 53.
Chariots, in pre-Roman Britain, 119.
Charms, hand-prints, horse-shoes, and berries as, 47.
-- herbs and berries as, 167.
-- lore of, 157 _et seq._ See _Shells_, _Necklaces_, _Pearls_.
-- otter skin charm, 189.
Chellean culture, 13.
-- -- artifacts of, 13, 14.
-- _Coup de Poing_ 14, (_ill._).
Children sacrificed, 174.
China, butterfly soul of, 193.
Chinese dragon, Scottish Bride serpent and, 188, 189.
Churchyards, Pagan survivals, 171.
Cocidius, a Gaulish Mars, 207.
Cockle-shell elixir, in Japan and Scotland, 40, 41.
-- -- in Crete, 41.
Coinage, ancient British, 223.
Colour symbolism, black and white goddesses, 164.
-- -- blue artificial shells, 173.
-- -- blue shields of Brigantes, 173.
-- -- blue as female colour, 173.
-- -- blue as fishermen's mourning colour, 173.
-- -- blue stone raises wind, 172.
-- -- body paint used by Neolithic industry peoples, 82.
-- -- Celtic root _glas_ as colour term, and in
amber, &c., 162, 163.
-- -- coloured pearls favoured, 168.
-- -- coloured races and coloured ages, 121, 124.
-- -- coloured stones as amulets, 80.
-- -- Dragon's Eggs, 173.
-- -- enamel colours, 165.
-- -- four colours of Aurignacian hand impressions in caves, 47.
-- -- Gaelic colours of seasons, 169.
-- -- Gaelic colours of winds and of Cardinal Points, 168.
-- -- green stones used by Crô-Magnon, Ancient Egyptian, and
pre-Columbian American peoples, 33, 34.
-- -- how prospectors located metals by rock colours, 89.
-- -- Irish rank colours, 173, and also note 1.
-- -- jade tongue amulets in China, 34.
-- -- luck objects, 165.
-- -- lucky and unlucky colours, 157.
-- -- painted vases in Neolithic Spain, 96.
-- -- painting of god, 174.
-- -- red berries as "fire berries", 181.
-- -- red berries, 31.
-- -- Greek gods painted red, 31.
-- -- Indian megaliths painted, 32.
-- -- Chinese evidence, 32.
-- -- red earth devoured, 32.
-- -- _Ruadh_ (red) means "strong" in Gaelic, 32.
Colour symbolism, red and blue supernaturals in Wales, 158.
-- -- red body paint in Welsh Aurignacian cave burial, 20.
-- -- red earth and blood, 167.
-- -- herbs and berries, 167.
-- -- red jasper as blood of goddess, 45.
-- -- red stone in Aurignacian cave tomb, 46.
-- -- shells coloured, in Mentone cave, 46.
-- -- Red symbolism, 31.
-- -- red blood and red fire, 31, 32.
-- -- blood as food of the dead, 32.
-- -- red souls in "Red Land", 32.
-- -- red woman as goddess, 45.
-- -- scarlet-yielding insect, 152.
-- -- sex colours, 170.
-- -- significance of wind colours, 174.
-- -- Solutrean flint-offerings coloured red, 50.
-- -- white serpent, 188.
-- -- why Crô-Magnon bodies were smeared with red earth, 27.
-- -- Woad dye, 163.
Columba, Saint, Christ as his Druid, 146.
"Combe-Capelle" man, 25, 26, 36.
-- -- shells worn by, 46.
Con-chobar, dog god and, 66.
Copper, axe of, in Scotland, 219.
-- in Britain, 91.
-- difficult to find and work in Britain, 95.
-- Easterners worked, in Spain, 97, 98.
-- as variety of gold, 80.
-- offered to water deity, 174.
Coral, enamel and, 162.
-- as "life-giver" (_margan_), 161.
-- as "life substance", 80.
-- Megalithic people searched for, 93.
-- symbolism of, 221.
-- use of, in Britain, 164, 165.
-- enamel as substitute for, 165.
Cormorants, Celtic deities as, 195.
Cornavii, The, in England and Scotland, 129.
Cornwall, Damnonians in, 89.
Cow, The Sacred, in Britain and Ireland, 152, 154, 195, 206.
-- connected with River Boyne, 206.
-- Dam[)o]na, Celtic goddess of cattle, 208.
-- Indian, and milk-yielding trees, 151.
-- Morrigan as, 195.
-- The Primeval, in Egypt, 149.
-- white, sacred in Ireland, 152.
Cranes, Celtic deities as, 195.
Cremation, in Britain, 127.
-- significance of, 109.
Cresswell caves, Magdalenian art in, 53.
Cromarty, night-shining gem of, 160.
Crom Cruach, Irish god, 102; children sacrificed to, 174.
-- -- as maggot god, 102.
Crô-Magnon, animism, 178.
Crô-Magnon Grotto, discovery of, 23.
-- -- skeletons in, 23.
Crô-Magnon Races, advent of, in Europe, 12.
-- -- ancestors of "modern man", 10, 11.
-- -- archæological horizon of, 9.
-- -- Aurignacian culture of the, 14.
-- -- Brüx and Brünn types different from, 26.
-- -- burial customs of, 45.
-- -- cultural influence of, on Neanderthals, 14.
-- -- discovery of Crô-Magnon grotto skeletons, 23.
-- -- first discovery of traces of, in France, 20.
-- -- history of modern man begins with, 26.
-- -- as immigrants from Africa, 35.
-- -- Indian Ocean shell at Mentone, 36, 37.
-- -- inventive and inquiring minds of, 27.
-- -- Magdalenian culture stage of, 53.
-- -- domestication of horse, 53.
-- -- modern representatives of, 122.
Crô-Magnon Races, Mother-goddess of, 42.
-- -- "Tama" belief, 44.
-- -- not in Hungary, 50.
-- -- "Red Man" of Wales, 19.
-- -- Red Sea shells imported by, 210.
-- -- history of, 210.
-- -- relations of, with Neanderthal man, 14.
-- -- in Wales, 19.
-- -- sea-shell necklace 39, (_ill._).
-- -- trade of, in shells, 40.
-- -- tall types, 24.
-- -- high cheek-bones of, 25.
-- -- tallest types in Riviera, 35, 36.
Crô-Magnon skulls 24, (_ill._).
Crô-Magnons, Azilian intruders and, 62.
-- heart as seat of life, among, 32.
-- in Britain, 67, 125, 216.
-- English Channel land-bridge crossed by, 67.
-- hand-prints and mutilation of fingers, 47.
-- modern Scots and, 137.
-- Selgovæ and, 139.
Crow, and goddess of grove and sky, 160.
Crows, Celtic deities as, 195.
Cruithne, in Ireland, 224.
-- the Irish, not Picts, 132.
-- the Q-Celtic name of Britons, 132.
Cuchullin, and Scotland, 224.
-- dog god and, 64.
-- goddess Morrigan and, 195.
-- his knowledge of astronomy, 175, and also note 1.
-- pearls in hair of, 163.
Dagda, the god, 202.
-- connection with oak and fire, 202.
-- cauldron of, 202.
-- Thor and, 202.
-- a giant-slayer, 202.
Damnonians. See _Dumnonii_.
-- an early Celtic "wave", 107.
-- Fomorians as gods of, 198.
-- settlements of, in metal-yielding areas, 89.
Damona, Celtic goddess of cattle, 208.
Danann deities, 201.
-- -- not in Scotland, 199.
-- -- talismans of, 205.
-- -- Japanese talismans, 205.
-- -- war against Fomorians, 198.
-- -- Welsh "Children of Don" and, 203.
Dandelion, as milk-yielding plant of goddess Bride, 187.
Danes, in Britain, 126.
Dante, moon called "eternal pearl" by, 159.
Danu, the goddess, 198.
Danube valley trade route, 114.
Danubian culture in Central Europe, 96.
-- -- Celts as carriers of, 111, 112.
Decantæ, The, 129.
Deer, as goddess, 154.
Demetæ, The, in Wales, 129.
Demeter, The black, 196.
Demons, dogs as enemies of, 65.
Derbyshire, Magdalenian art in, 53.
Deva, Devona, Dee, Rivers, 206.
Devil as "Big Black Pig" in Scotland, 200.
-- as Black Sow in Wales, 200.
-- as pig, goat, and horse, 191.
Devon, Damnonians in, 89.
-- Magdalenian art in, 54.
Diamond, The night-shining, 160.
Diana of the Ephesians, fig tree and, 193.
Diancecht, Irish god of healing, 202.
Diarmid, Gaelic Adonis, 197.
Diodorus Siculus, on gold mining, 90.
-- -- reference to British temple to Apollo, 177.
Disease, deity who sends also withdraws, 179.
-- ancient man suffered from, 2.
-- "Yellow Plague", 2.
Dog, The Big, god Indra as, 196.
-- The Sacred, 154, 155 (_ill._).
-- taboo to Cuchullin, 154, and also note 3. See _Dogs_.
Dogger Bank, ancient plateau, 68.
-- -- animal bones, &c., from, 57, 61.
-- -- Island, 69.
Dog gods, 64.
Dogs, children transformed into, 190.
-- domesticated by Maglemosians, 57, 63.
-- religious beliefs regarding, 63.
-- early man's dependence on, 65.
-- in ancient Britain and Ireland, 66.
-- in warfare, 66.
-- exported from Britain in first century A.D., 114.
Dog Star, The, 64.
Dolmen, The. See _Megalithic monuments_.
Domnu, tribal goddess of Damnonians, 90.
Don, the Children of, 203.
Doves, Celtic deities as, 195.
Dragon, Bride's Scottish serpent charm and Chinese charm, 188.
-- Hebridean, 190.
-- Irish, and the salmon, 182.
-- otter and, 189.
-- on sculptured stone, 155 (_ill._).
-- luck pearls of, 184.
-- stones as eggs of, 173.
Dragon-mouth Lake, The Irish, 183.
Dragon Slayers, the, Druids and, 145.
Druid Circle, the Inverness, 220.
Druidism, 140.
-- belief in British origin of, 142.
-- doctrines absorbed by, 222.
-- eastern origin of, 149.
-- in ancient Spain, 149.
-- Pliny on Persian religion and, 143, and also note 1.
-- oak cult, 145.
-- tree cults and, 141.
Druids, in Anglesea, 103.
-- human sacrifices of, 103.
-- "Christ is my Druid", 146.
-- the collar of truth, 146.
-- connection of, with megalithic monuments, 103, 154.
-- and oak, 141.
-- classical references to, 141.
-- "Druid's gem", 163.
-- evidence of, regarding races in Gaul, 100.
-- Tacitus on Anglesea Druids, 147.
-- temples of, 177.
-- "True Thomas" (the Rhymer) as "Druid Thomas", 146.
-- sacred salmon and, 182.
Druids, salmon and dragon myth, 182.
-- star lore of, 175.
-- Kentigern of Glasgow as Christian Druid, 185.
-- wren connection, 145.
-- soothsayers, 145, 146.
Dug-out canoes, origin of, 72. See _Boats_.
Dumnogeni, The, in Yarrow inscription, 89.
Dumnonii, 128. See _Damnonians_.
-- Fomorians as gods of, 198.
-- Silures and, 129.
Dunatis, Gaulish Mars, 207.
Durotriges, in Britain and Ireland, 128.
Dwyn, St., formerly a goddess, 204.
Dwynwen, British Venus, 204.
Eagle, the Sacred, 155 (_ill._).
-- wren and, in myth, 186.
Ear-rings, as solar symbols, 165.
East, The, "Evil never came from", 168. See _Cardinal Points_.
Easterners, colonies of, in Spain and
Portugal, 95, 100, 211, 218, 229.
-- descendants of, in Britain, 118.
-- displacement of, in Spain, 100, 221.
-- Druidism introduced into Europe by, 149.
-- as exploiters of Western Europe, 98.
-- settlements of, in France and Etruria, 100.
-- in Hebrides, 139.
-- influence of, in Britain and Ireland, 221.
-- iron industry and, 107.
-- not all of one race, 107.
-- Neolithic industry of, 214.
-- in touch with Britain at 1400 B.C., 106.
-- in Western Europe, 218, 229.
Eel, Morrigan as, 195.
Eels, as "devil fish" in Scotland, 190.
-- tabooed in Scotland, 199.
Eggs, Dragons', stones as, 173.
Egypt, alabaster flasks, &c., from, in Neolithic Spain, 96.
-- artificial shells in, 41, 173.
-- barley of, carried to Europe, 84.
-- black and white goddesses of, 164.
-- blue beads from, in England, 104, 105 (_ill._), 106, 211.
-- Cat goddess of, 196.
-- culture of, transferred with barley seeds, 212.
-- "Deathless snake" of, and Scottish serpent, 188.
-- dog-headed god of, 64.
-- earliest sailing ship in, 74.
-- earliest use of gold in, 80.
-- malachite charms in, 80.
-- flint sickles of, 4.
-- furnaces and crucibles of, in Western Europe, 101.
-- Hathor and Aphrodite, 38.
-- shell amulets in early graves in, 39.
-- Isis as "Old Wife", 181, and also note 2.
-- gods in weapons, 51.
-- gold in, 90, 93.
-- gold diadem from, in Spanish Neolithic tomb, 98.
-- gold models of shells in, 41.
-- green stone symbolism, 33.
-- Hathor as milk goddess, 149.
-- history of agriculture in, 210.
-- ideas regarding soul in, 103.
-- influence of, in Asia Minor and Europe, 95.
-- influence of, in Britain, 218.
-- invention of boats in, 72.
-- ivory from, found in Spain, 96·
-- Ka and serpent, 189.
-- milk elixir in Pyramid Texts, 43.
-- milk goddess of, in Scotland, 221.
-- Mother Pot of, and Celtic cauldron, 206.
-- Osirian Underworld Paradise, 143.
-- pork taboo in, 201.
-- annual sacrifice of pigs in Scotland and, 201.
-- Post-Glacial forests of, 15.
-- pre-dynastic burial customs, 170.
-- sex colours in, 170.
Egypt, proto-Egyptians and British Iberians, 126.
-- red jasper as "Blood of Isis", 45.
-- "Red Souls" in "Red Land", 32.
-- why gods of, were painted, 32.
-- religious ideas of, in Britain, 154, 201, 206, 218, 221.
-- stones, pearls, metals, &c., and deities of, 80.
-- symbols of, in Celtic art, 118.
-- transmigration of souls, 143.
Elk, on Dogger Bank, 57, 68.
Elm, 221.
Enamel, 224.
-- British, the finest, 225.
-- coral and, 162.
-- as substitute for coral, 165.
-- turquoise, lapis lazuli, white amber and, 165.
Enamels, colours of the British, 226.
Eoliths, 13, 26.
Epidii, The, 129.
Ep[)o]na, Celtic goddess of horses, 208.
Eskimo, the Chancelade skull, 53.
-- Magdalenian art of, 53.
Etruscans, 149.
-- Celts as conquerors of, 112.
-- civilization of, origin of, 100.
European metal-yielding areas, 99.
Evil Eye, The, shells as protection against, 39.
Fairies, associated with the west, 173.
-- dogs as enemies of, 65.
-- on eddies of western wind, 173.
-- Greek nereids and, 173.
-- Fomorians (giants) at war with, 198.
-- goddess as "fairy woman", 207.
-- shell boat of, 207.
-- Irish "queens" of, 201.
-- as milkers of deer, 154.
-- as "the mothers" in Wales, 206.
-- Picts and, 131, and also note 1.
-- Scottish "Nimble Men" and "Blue Men", 208.
Fairies, as supernatural beings, 201, and also note 2.
Fairy dogs, 64.
Fairyland, as Paradise, 144.
-- Thomas the Rhymer in Paradise of, 146.
Fata Morgana, 161.
Fauna, Post-Glacial, in Southern and Western Europe, 14.
Festus Avienus, 116.
Figs, hazel-nuts and, 151.
Fig milk, 149.
-- trees, bees and wasps fertilize, 193.
-- tree, Diana of the Ephesians and, 193.
Finger charms, 47.
Finger-mutilation, Aurignacian custom, 47.
-- Australian, Red Indian, and Scottish customs, 47.
Fir, The Sacred, 179.
Fir-bolgs, The, 188.
-- as miners, 90, and also note 1.
-- as slaves, 90.
-- Celts as subduers of, 107.
-- subject peoples called, 223.
Fir-domnan, 90, and also note 1.
Fir-domnann, 118.
-- Fomorians as gods of, 198. See _Damnonians_ and _Dumnonii_.
Fire, Beltain need fires, 191.
-- Brigit and, 188.
-- butterfly as god of, in Gaelic, 191.
-- God Dagda and, 202.
-- goddess and, 163.
-- Mexican god of, as butterfly, 193.
-- pool fish and, 182.
-- salmon and, 183.
-- Scottish goddess of, 181.
-- in red berries, 181.
-- in St. Mungo myth, 186.
-- from trees, 180.
-- lightning and, 181.
-- worshipped in ancient Britain, 147.
Fire-sticks, The, 180.
"Fire water" as "water of life", 181.
Fish taboo, 201.
Flax, Stone Age people cultivated, 5.
Flint, as god, 51.
Flints, in Aurignacian cave-tomb, 45.
-- as offerings to deity, 50.
Flint deposits, English, 81.
-- -- early peoples settled beside, 81.
-- -- river-drift man in England near, 81.
Flint industry, Tardenoisian microliths used by Maglemosians, 57.
-- working, ancient English flint factories, 82.
-- -- Aurignacian, 13, 14. See _Palæolithic_.
-- -- Aurignacian, Solutrean, and Magdalenian
implements 21, (_ill._).
-- -- Chellean _coup de poing_ 14, (_ill._).
-- -- "Combe-Capelle" man's, 25.
-- -- early English trade in worked flints, 81.
-- -- eastern influence in Neolithic industry, 214.
-- -- Egyptian origin of Spanish Neolithic industry, 97.
-- -- the evolution theory, 99.
-- -- Hugh Miller's and Andrew Lang's theories regarding, 11.
-- -- Neanderthal and pre-Neanderthal, 12.
-- -- Neolithic saws or sickles, 4.
-- -- Palæolithic and Neolithic, 212.
-- -- Tardenoisian microliths or "pygmy flints", 54, 55 (_ill._).
-- -- proto-Solutrean and "true" Solutrean, 49.
Flint-god, the Solutrean, 51.
-- Zeus and Thor as, 51.
Foam, as milk, 151.
Fomorians, duels of, in Scotland, 199.
-- as gods of Dumnonii, 198.
-- Neit as war god, 202.
-- Nemon as goddess of, 202.
-- war of, with fairies, 198, 199.
Fowl taboo in ancient Britain, 201.
Freyja, Scandinavian Venus, 161.
-- pearls, amber, &c., as tears of, 161.
Furfooz man, 56.
Gaelic Calendar, 198.
Galatia, Celts in, 112.
Galley Hill man, 26.
Gaul, Celts of, in Roman army, 127.
-- early inhabitants of, 100.
-- refugees from sea-invaded areas in, 70.
Gaulish gods, 207.
Gems, "Druid's gem", 163.
-- night-shining, 160.
-- as soul-bodies, 44.
Geological Ages, breaking of North Sea and English Channel
land-bridges, 69.
-- -- confusion regarding, in modern art, 1.
-- -- date of last land movement, 100.
-- -- megalithic monuments submerged, 100.
-- -- early boats and, 72.
-- -- England in Magdalenian times, 54.
-- -- sixth glaciation and race movements, 54.
-- -- England sinking when Scotland was rising, 71.
-- -- last land movement, 70, 100.
-- -- horizon of Crô-Magnon races, 26.
-- -- Pleistocene fauna in Europe, 14.
-- -- Archæological Ages and, 14.
-- -- Post-Glacial and the early Archæological, 13, 14, 15.
-- -- theories of durations of, 16, 17, 18.
Giants, associated with the north, 173.
-- (Fomorians) as gods, 198.
-- war of, with fairies, 198.
-- Scottish, named after heroes, 131, and also note 1.
_Glas_, as "water", "amber", &c., 162, 163.
Glasgow, seal of city of, 185.
Glass, connection of, with goddess, 163.
-- imported into Britain in first century A.D., 114.
Goat, Devil as, 191.
God, in stone, 173.
God-cult, Solutreans and, 51.
God-cult, stone as god, 51, 173.
Goddess, Anu (Danu), 198, 201.
-- -- as "fairy queen" in Ireland, 201, 202.
-- bird forms of, 195.
-- Black Annis, 195.
-- Black Aphrodite, 164.
-- Black goddess of Scotland, 164.
-- The Blue, 173.
-- Bride (Brigit) and her serpent, 187.
-- Brigit as goddess of healing, smith-work, and poetry, 188.
-- cat forms of, 196.
-- connection of, with amber and swine deities, 161.
-- connection of, with glass, 163.
-- connection of, with grove, sky, pearl, &c., in Celtic
religion, 158-60, 162, 179, 206.
-- animals and plants of, 162.
-- cult animals of, 154, 161, 162, 195, 196, 200.
-- eel and, 200.
-- eel, wolf, &c., forms of, 195.
-- Egyptian milk goddess, 149.
-- Indian milk goddess, 151.
-- Gaulish goddess Ro-smerta, 174.
-- influences of, 179.
-- groups of "mothers", 206.
-- Hebridean "maiden queen", 221.
-- honeysuckle as milk-yielding plant, 193.
-- bee and, 193.
-- luck and, 167.
-- Morrigan comes from north-west, 173.
-- wind goddess from south-west, 173.
-- Scottish Artemis, 174, 196.
-- The Mother, Aurignacians favoured, 51.
-- -- connection of, with law and trade, 166.
-- -- Crô-Magnon form of, 42, 51.
-- -- jasper as blood of, 45.
-- -- her life-giving shells, 40.
-- -- shell-milk Highland myth, 42.
-- The mother-pot, 205.
-- rivers and, 206.
-- Oriental, in Spain, 220.
Goddess, pearl, &c., offerings to, 174.
-- precious stones of, 221.
-- Scottish hag goddess, 174, 196.
-- Indian Kali, 196.
-- shell and milk Hebridean goddess, 153.
Gods, animal forms of, 196.
-- Danann deities, 198.
-- deity who sends diseases withdraws them, 179.
-- influences of, 179.
-- Gaelic references to, 140, 179.
-- Hazel god, 140, 150.
-- Gaelic fire god, 140.
-- "King of the Elements", 179.
-- Romano-Gaulish, 207.
Goibniu, Irish god and the Welsh Govannan, 203.
Gold, amber and, 165.
-- coins of, in pre-Roman Britain, 223.
-- deposits of, in Britain and
Ireland, 79, 84, 89, 91, 95, 114, 219, 220.
-- mixed with silver in Sutherland, 91.
-- earliest use of, in Egypt, 80.
-- copper used like, 80.
-- Egyptian diadem of, found in Neolithic Spain, 98.
-- in England (map), 83.
-- exported from Britain in first century A.D., 114.
-- finds of, in Scotland, 220.
-- first metal worked, 84.
-- as a "form of the gods", 80.
-- as "fire, light, and immortality", 80.
-- as "life giver", 80.
-- Gaelic god and, 102.
-- Gauls offered, to water deity, 174·
-- how miners worked, 90.
-- "World Mill" myth, 90.
-- ingot of, from salmon, 184.
-- luck of, 166.
-- no trace of where worked out, 93.
-- not valued by hunting peoples in Europe, 99.
-- offered to deities by Celts, 80.
-- psychological motive for searches for, 94.
Gold, knowledge and skill of searchers for, in Britain, 95.
-- ring in St. Mungo legend, 185.
-- rod of, at Inverness stone circle, 220.
-- in salmon myths, 183.
-- Scottish deposits of, 89.
-- search for, in Britain, 214, 217.
-- shells imitated in, 41, 80.
-- trade in, 219.
-- as tree, 221.
Goodwin Sands, 69.
Goose, taboo in ancient Britain, 201.
Govannan. See _Goibniu_.
Grail, The Holy, 205.
Grannos, Gaulish Apollo, 207.
Gregory the Great, letter from, to Mellitus, 176.
Grimaldi, Indian Ocean shell in Aurignacian cave at, 36.
Grove, The sacred, Celtic names of, 159·
-- -- Latin "nemus", 159.
Gwydion, the god, Odin and, 204.
Hades, dog and, 64.
Hallowe'en, pig associated with, 200.
Hallstatt culture, Celts influenced by, 112.
Hand-prints, in Aurignacian caves, 47·
-- four colours used, 47.
-- dwellings protected by, in India and Spain, 47.
-- Arabian, Turkish, &c., customs, 47·
Hare, taboo in ancient Britain, 201
Harpoon, 62.
-- Victoria cave, late Magdalenian or proto-Azilian, 58.
-- finds of, in England and Scotland, 58.
-- Azilians imitated Magdalenian reindeer horn in red deer horn, 56.
-- Magdalenians introduced, 52.
Hazel, nut of, as fruit of longevity, 144.
-- as god, 150, 179.
-- in early Christian legends, 150.
-- as milk-yielding tree, 150.
Hazel, as sacred tree, 150.
-- nuts of, as food, 151.
-- palm tree and, 221.
-- The Sacred, 150, 179.
-- connection of, with sky, wells, &c., 179.
-- snakes and, 189.
-- in St. Mungo (St. Kentigern) myth, 186.
-- sacred fire from, 186.
-- Groves, Sacred, "Caltons" were, 150.
Heart, as seat of life, 154.
-- as seat of life to Crô-Magnons and Ancient Egyptians, 32.
Heaven as South, 170.
Hebrides, dark folks in, 138.
-- descendants of Easterners in, 118.
-- "Maiden Queen" of, 221.
-- reroofing custom in, 178.
-- Sea god of, 193.
-- traces of metals in, 117.
-- as the OEstrymnides, 118.
Heifer, milk of, in honeysuckle, 193.
Hell, as North. See _Cardinal Points_.
Herbs, ceremonial gathering of, 168.
-- life substance in, 206.
-- lore of, 167.
-- from tears of sun god, 181, and also note 3.
-- Silvanus, god of, 207.
Hills, Gildas on worship of, 176, 178.
Himilco, voyage of, 116.
Homer, reference of, to cremation, 110.
Honey, in baptisms, 152.
-- as life-substance, 193.
-- nut milk and, 150, and also note 1.
-- in "soma" and "mead", 151.
Honeysuckle, butterfly and, 193.
-- honey and milk of, 193.
Horn implements, 82.
-- -- Magdalenians favoured, 52.
Horse, Demeter and, 196.
-- domesticated by Azilians, 55.
-- domesticated by Crô-Magnons, 53.
-- eaten in Scotland, 200.
-- Ep[)o]na, Celtic horse goddess, 208.
Horse, The Sacred, 155 (_ill._).
-- god, 129, and also note 2.
Horse-shoe charms, 47.
Hound's Pool, 64.
Houses, Neolithic, 5.
Human sacrifices, children as, 174.
Iberians, Armenoids and, 127.
-- as carriers of Neolithic culture, 126.
-- Celts and, 125.
-- Silurians as, 137.
Ice, connection of, with amber, &c., 163.
Ice Age. See _Geological Ages_.
Iceni, The, of Essex, 128.
-- boar god of, 162.
Idols, in ancient Britain, 147, 176.
-- Pope Gregory's reference to ancient English, 176.
Indo-European theory, 124.
Indo-Germanic theory, 124.
Indra, dog and, 64.
Ireland, as a British island, 132.
Iron, exported from Britain in first century, A.D., 114.
Iron Age, Celts in, 112.
Iron industry, Easterners and, in Western Europe, 107.
Island of Women, 178.
Isles of the Blest, Gaelic, 143.
Ivory, associated with bronze, jet, and Egyptian beads
in England, 104.
-- in Crô-Magnon grotto, 23.
-- Egyptian, in Neolithic Spain, 96.
-- imported into Britain in first century A.D., 114.
-- in Welsh cave-tomb, 20.
Jade, butterfly soul in, 193.
Japan, the _shintai_ (god body) and Gaelic "soul case", 173.
-- talismans of, and the Irish, 206.
Jasper, symbolism of, 221.
Jet, amber and, 164.
-- British and Roman beliefs regarding, 164.
-- as article of trade at 1400 B.C., 106.
-- associated in Stonehenge area with Egyptian
blue beads, 104, 105 (_ill._), 106.
Jet, early trade in, 219.
-- early working of, 82.
-- megalithic people searched for, 93·
-- pearls and amber and, 221.
Jupiter, The Gaulish, 207.
-- Lapis, 51.
Jutes, 126.
-- Celts and, 227.
Kali, the Black, 196.
Kentigern, St., as Druid, 185.
-- -- in salmon and ring legend, 184.
Kent's Cavern, Magdalenian art in, 54·
Kerridiwen, the goddess, cauldron of, 204.
Knife of deity, 206.
Knitting, Stone Age people and, 5.
-- relation to basket-making and pottery, 5.
Lake, the Sacred, goddess and, 180.
Lanarkshire, Damnonians in, 89.
Land-bridges, breaking of North Sea and English Channel bridges, 69.
-- Dogger Bank, 57, 61, 67, 68.
-- English Channel, 17, 67.
-- Italian, 14, 35.
Land movement, the last, 216.
Language and race, 123, 124, 222.
Language of birds. See _Birds_.
La Tène culture, Celts as carriers of, to Britain, 112.
Leicestershire, Black Annis, a hag deity of, 195.
Lewis, Callernish stone circle, 94.
Lightning, butterfly form of god of, 191.
-- as heavenly fire, 181.
-- and trees, 181.
Lir, sea god, 202.
See _Llyr_.
-- sea god, "Shony" and, 194.
Liver as seat of life in Gaelic, 154, 187.
-- cure from mouse's, 187.
Lizard as soul-form, 189.
Lleu, the god, 204.
Llyr, sea god, 202.
See _Lir_.
-- the sea god, "Shony" and, 194.
London, god's name in, 203.
Love-enticing plants, 168.
Luck, belief in, 157.
-- berries and, 180.
-- fire as bringer of, 191.
-- lucky and unlucky days, 168.
-- pearls and, 166, 167.
Lud, god of London, 203.
-- form of, 203.
Lugh, Celtic god, associated with north-east, 173.
-- Gaelic Apollo, 202.
Lugi, The, 129.
Mæatæ, The, Picts and Caledonians and, 130.
Magdalenian culture, 13.
-- -- Azilian and, 62.
-- -- Eskimo art and, 53.
-- -- in Britain, 53.
-- -- origin of, 52.
-- -- new implements, 52.
-- -- traces of influence of, in Scotland, 60.
-- -- Victoria cave reindeer harpoon, 58.
-- cave art revival and progress, 53.
-- implements, 21 (_ill._).
-- pre-Agricultural, 213.
Maggot god, early Christian myth of, 103.
-- -- bees and, 103.
-- -- Gaelic, 102.
Magic wands, 146, 191.
-- -- Etruscan, French, and Scottish, 100.
Maglemosian culture, 54, 56.
-- -- art and, 57.
-- -- Magdalenian influence on, 57.
-- -- Siberian origin of, 57.
-- -- artifacts and, 13.
-- -- in Britain, 125.
-- -- Northerners as carriers of, 217.
-- -- pre-Agricultural, 213.
Maglemosians, boats of, 76.
-- animals hunted, 57.
-- land-bridges crossed by, 57.
-- in France and Britain, 58.
-- in Britain, 70.
-- Celts and, 138.
-- Dogger Bank land-bridge crossed by, 57, 67.
-- dogs domesticated by, 63.
-- Tardenoisian microliths used by, 58.
Malachite charms, 80.
Mammoth, bones of, from Dogger Bank, 68.
-- evidence that heart was regarded as seat of life, 33, (_ill._).
-- in Western Europe, 14.
See _Fauna_.
Man, the Red, of Wales, ornaments of, 80.
Mars, the Gaulish, 207.
-- Greek and Gaulish boar forms of, 197.
Marsh plants, goddess and, 162.
Mead, milk and honey in, 151.
Meave, Queen, 112, 114, 227.
Mediterranean race in North Africa and Britain, 126.
-- Sea, divided by Italian land-bridge, 14.
Megalithic culture, Egyptian influence in Britain, &c., 101.
-- monuments, burial customs and, 170.
-- -- connection of, with ancient mine workings, &c., 92, 93.
-- -- connection of, with metal deposits, 82.
-- -- connection of, with sacred groves, 103.
-- -- cult animals on Scottish, 155 (_ill._).
-- -- "cup-marked" stones, 148.
-- -- knocking stones, 148.
-- -- Gruagach stone, 148.
-- -- "cradle stone", 148.
-- -- child-getting stones, 148.
-- -- distributed along vast seaboard. 91.
-- -- searchers for metals, gems, &c., erected, 92.
-- -- distribution of, 82, 83 (_ill._).
-- -- distribution of Scottish, 219.
-- -- Druids and, 103, 154.
-- -- Easterners and followers of, as builders of, 104, 149.
-- -- Egyptian Empire beads and Stonehenge
circle, 104, 105 (_ill._), 106.
-- -- Gaelic gods and, 102.
-- -- Gaelic metal symbolism and, 102.
-- -- Gaelic name of sacred shrine, 159.
-- -- Phoenicians and, 149.
Megalithic monuments, their relation to exhausted deposits
of metals, 94.
-- -- problem of Lewis and Orkney circles, 94.
-- -- Standing Stones as maidens 147.
-- -- Tacitus on Anglesea altars and Druids, 147.
-- -- Stonehenge as temple, 177.
-- -- Heathen temples and, 178.
-- -- stone circle as sun symbol, 170.
-- -- stones submerged in Brittany, 100.
-- -- Tree Cult and, 220.
-- -- worship of stones, 147, 179.
-- -- connection of, with trees and wells, 147.
Mentone, Aurignacian Mother-goddess, 43.
-- Indian Ocean shell in Aurignacian cave at, 36.
Mersey, the, goddess of, 206.
Mesopotamia, influence of, in Western Europe, 218.
-- knowledge of European metal fields in, 99.
Metals, eastern colonists worked, in Spain, 95.
-- Egyptian furnaces and crucibles in Britain, 101.
-- megalithic monuments and deposits of, 82.
-- searchers for, in Britain, 89.
-- searchers for; how prospectors located deposits of gold, &c., 89.
-- traces of, in Scotland, 93.
Metal symbolism, Gaelic gods and metals, 102.
See _Gold_, _Silver_, _Copper_, and _Bronze_.
Metal working, after introduction of bronze working, 106.
Mictis, tin from, 116.
Milk, baptisms of, 152.
-- in the blood covenant, 152.
-- children sacrificed for corn and milk, 174.
-- cult animals of milk goddess, 154.
-- dandelion as milk-yielding plant of goddess Bride, 187.
-- in elixirs, 151.
Milk, "soma" and "mead" and, 151.
-- elm as milk tree, 151.
-- foam as milk, 151.
-- goddess-cow gives healing milk, 195.
-- Hebridean milk goddess, 153, 221.
-- honeysuckle as milk-yielding plant, 193.
-- Indian evidence regarding "river milk" and milk-yielding
trees, 151.
-- Irish milk lake, 152.
-- healing baths of, 152.
-- marsh mallows and, 152, and also note 1.
-- mistletoe berries as milk berries, 153.
-- Oblations of, in Ross-shire, 148.
-- offerings of, to dead, 148.
-- elixir, Highland shell-goddess myth, 42.
-- -- Egyptian evidence regarding, 43.
-- -- prepared from shells in Japan and Scotland, 40.
-- goddess, Hathor as, 149.
Milky Way, The, 154, 221.
-- -- in ancient religion, 150.
-- -- in Welsh and Gaelic, 203.
Mind, heart as, 33.
Mining, Egyptian methods in Western Europe, 102.
Mistletoe, as "All Heal", 153, 167.
-- milk berries, 153.
-- trees on which it grows in Britain, 145, and also note 2.
Modern man, 9.
See _Crô-Magnon Races_.
Mogounus, a Gaulish Apollo, 207.
Moon, Aphrodite as goddess of, 159.
-- Dante refers to, as pearl, 159.
-- Gaels swore by, 148.
-- as "Pearl of Heaven", 159.
-- worship of, in ancient Britain, 147.
Morgan le Fay, Arthur's pursuit of, 198.
-- -- goddess Anu and, 198.
-- -- as "life giver", 161.
Morrigan, The (Irish goddess), Anu and, 198.
Morrigan, associated with north-west, 173.
-- as the "life giver", 161.
-- forms of, 195.
Mother goddess. See _Goddess_.
Moths as soul forms, 192.
Mouse, buried under apple tree, 196.
-- hunting of, in Scotland, 187.
-- mouse cures, 187.
-- Scottish supernatural, 187.
-- Apollo and, 179.
-- -- mouse feasts, 187.
-- cures, Boers have, 187, and also note 2.
-- feasts in Scotland and the Troad, 187.
Mousterian Age, 13.
-- -- artifacts of, 14.
-- -- Neanderthal races of, 14.
Mungo, St., as Druid, 185, 186.
-- -- salmon legend of, 184.
Navigation. See _Boats_.
Neanderthal man, Crô-Magnon influence on, 14.
-- -- disappearance of, 15, 16, 122.
-- -- European climates experienced by, 14.
-- -- relations of, with Crô-Magnon races, 14.
-- -- first discovery of bones of, 8, 9.
-- -- skeleton of, found, 9.
-- -- Australian natives and, 9.
-- -- description of, 9, 10.
-- -- flint working of, 12.
-- -- Mousterian artifacts of, 14.
-- -- Piltdown man and, 26.
Necklaces in Crô-Magnon grotto, 23.
-- Crô-Magnon sea shells, 39 (_ill._).
-- Egyptian blue beads in British "Bronze Age"
necklace, 104, 105 (_ill._), 106.
-- as gods, 44.
-- in graves, 158.
-- shell, in Welsh Aurignacian cave-tomb, 20.
-- why worn, 37.
Need fires, 181.
-- -- butterfly and, 191.
Neit, god of battle, 202.
_Nem_, the root in _neamh_ (heaven), _neamhnuid_ (pearl), _nemeton_
(shrine in a grove), _nemed_ (chapel), _neimhidh_ (church-land),
_nemus_ (a grove), _Nemon_ (goddess), and _N[)e]m[)e]t[)o]na_
(goddess), 159, 160.
N[)e]m[)e]t[)o]na, British goddess, 159.
Nemon, the goddess, a Fomorian, 202.
-- Irish goddess, and pearl, heaven, &c., 159.
Neolithic, chronological problem, 212.
-- Egyptian diadem of gold found in Spanish Neolithic tomb, 98.
-- Egyptian origin of Spanish Neolithic industry, 97, 214.
-- metal workers as flint users, 98.
-- Scottish copper axe problem, 219.
-- why ornaments were worn, 37, 38.
-- Age, transition period longer than, 61.
-- Culture, Iberians as carriers of, 126.
-- Industry, carriers of, attracted to Britain, 78.
-- -- distribution of population and, 81-4.
-- -- "Edge" theory, 61.
-- -- Campigny find, 62.
-- -- in Ireland, 85.
-- -- in Scotland, 85.
-- -- Scottish pitch-stone artifacts, 85.
-- -- carriers of, not wanderers, 86.
-- -- a lost art, 86.
Nereids, the, fairies and, 173.
Ness, the River, 206.
Night-shining gems, 160.
Norsemen, 126.
-- modern Scots and, 137.
Northern fair race, 125.
Northerners, Armenoids and, 127.
Novantæ, The, 129.
Nudd, the god, 203.
Nut, as "soul case", 173.
Nut-milk, 150.
-- -- honey and, as elixir, 150, and also note 1.
Nuts, life substance in, 206.
-- of longevity, 150.
Oak, 221.
-- acorn as fruit of longevity, 144.
-- Druids and, 141, 145.
-- Black Annis and, 196.
-- Galatian oak grove and shrine, 159.
-- on Glasgow seal, 185.
-- god of, and seafarers, 153.
-- god Dagda and, 202.
-- the Sacred, 179.
-- use of acorns, 153.
-- in tanning, 153.
-- Spirits, 207.
Oaths, Sacred, Gaels swore by sun, moon, &c., 148.
Oban, MacArthur Cave, 58, 217.
Obsidian artifacts, 86.
Odin, the dog and, 64.
-- pork feasts of, 144.
-- Welsh Gwydion and, 204.
OEstrymnides, The, Himilco's tin islands, 116, 118.
Onyx, same name as pearl in Gaelic, 160.
Oracles, Druids and, 145.
Orc (young boar), salmon as, 182.
Orcs, The Picts as, 201.
Orkney, boar name of, 129.
-- megalithic remains in, 94.
-- "Sow day" in, 201.
Ornaments, "adder stones", "Druid gems", &c., 163.
-- jet charms, 164.
-- in Crô-Magnon grotto, 23.
-- as gods or god-cases, 44.
-- in grotto at Aurignac, 22.
-- in Mentone cave-tombs, 45.
-- religious value of, 80, 165.
-- in Welsh Aurignacian cave-tomb, 20.
-- why worn by early peoples, 37, 38.
Ostrich eggs, found in Spain, 96.
Otter, skin charm of, 189.
-- as god, 190.
-- as soul-form, 189.
-- the king, 189.
-- jewel of, 189.
Palæolithic, chronological problem, 212.
-- implements of Upper Palæolithic, 21 (_ill._).
Palæolithic Age, why ornaments were worn, 37, 38.
-- -- break in culture of, 12.
-- -- origin of term, 8.
-- -- races of, 8.
-- -- sub-divisions of, 12, 13.
See, _Chellean_, _Acheulian_, _Mousterian_, _Aurignacian_,
_Solutrean_, and _Magdalenian_.
Palm tree, British substitutes for, 221.
-- -- cult of, in ancient Spain, 149.
Paradise, as "Apple land" (Avalon) 144.
-- Celtic ideas regarding, 143.
-- fairyland as, 143.
-- pork feasts in, 144.
-- Welsh ideas regarding, 144.
-- in Border Ballads, 144.
Parisii, The, in Britain, 128.
Patrick, St., Pagan myth attached to, 198.
Paviland cave, Crô-Magnon burial in Welsh, 19.
Pearl, Aphrodite (Venus) as pearl, 158.
-- as life substance, 80, 158.
-- moon as "Eternal Pearl" in Dante's _Inferno_, 159.
-- Gaelic name of, 159.
-- nocturnal luminosity of, 160.
Pearls, British, attracted Romans, 79·
-- and sacred grove, &c., 159.
-- Cæsar's pearl offering to Venus, 159.
-- in Cuchullin's hair, 163.
-- on Roman emperor's horse, 163.
-- dragons possess, 184.
-- in England (map), 83, 84.
-- fabulous origin of, 161.
-- Irish standard of value a _set_ (pearl), 166.
-- luck of, 166.
-- jet and amber and, 221.
-- as "life substance", 80, 158.
-- as _margan_ (life-giver), 161.
-- as medicine in India, 41.
-- searched for by megalithic people, 92.
-- soul in, 206.
-- as _tama_ in Japan, 44.
-- as "tears" of goddess Freyja, 161.
Pearls, why offered to goddess, 174.
-- Ythan River, Aberdeenshire, yields, 76.
Pear tree, cat and, 196.
Peat, from Dogger Bank, 57, 68.
Penny Wells, 174.
Phoenicians, the Cassiterides monopoly of, 104.
-- eastern colonists in Spain and, 98.
-- methods of, as exploiters, 98.
-- in Iron Age, 107.
-- megalithic monuments and, 149.
-- in modern Cornwall, 139.
Pictones, The, as allies of Romans, 224.
-- Scottish Picts and, 131.
Picts, The, agriculturists and seafarers, 130.
-- Caledonians and, 130.
-- allies of the Scots, 130.
-- Cruithne were Britons, 132.
-- fairy theory, 131, and also note 1.
-- as Pechts and Pecti, 131.
-- Gildas, Bede, and Nennius on, 132.
-- Irish myth regarding, 132.
-- Irish Cruithne not Picts, 132.
-- Saxon allies of, 131.
-- Roman, Scottish, and Welsh names of, 131.
-- as branch of the Pictones, 131.
-- tattooing habit of, 136.
-- vessels of, 136.
-- tribes of, 136.
-- as pirates, 136.
Pig, Demeter and, 196.
-- Devil as, 191, 200.
-- in Roman religious ceremony, 51.
-- Scottish and Irish treatment of, 199.
-- taboo in Scotland, 199.
-- the Sow goddess, 154.
Pigs, Achæans and Celts as rearers of, 111, 199.
-- Adonis and Diarmid and, 197.
-- Celts rearers of, 114.
-- and amber, 161.
-- as food of the dead, 144.
-- "lucky pigs", 157.
-- Orkney a boar name, 129.
Pigs, salmon as, 182.
See _Pork taboo_.
Piltdown man, 26.
Pin Wells, 174.
Pirates, ancient, Picts as, 136.
-- -- Gaelic reference to, 136.
Pliocene mammals, 16.
Poetry, goddess of, 188.
Polycrates of Samos, luck of, in seal, 184.
Pope Gregory the Great, letter on Pagans in England, 176.
Pork. See _Pigs_ and _Swine_.
-- taboo in Arcadia, 223.
-- -- why Cretans detested, 154, and also note 3.
-- -- Scottish, 199 _et seq._, 223.
-- -- Celts ate pork, 199.
Porpoise as sea-boar, 182.
Portugal, colonists from, in Britain, 106.
-- early eastern influence in, 211.
-- settlements of Easterners in, 95.
-- settlers from, in Britain, 127.
Pot, the, shell as, 207.
-- as symbol of Mother-goddess, 205.
-- the Mother, Celtic cauldron as, 90.
"Pot of Plenty", Celtic cauldron as, 205.
Potter's wheel, 112.
Pottery, Neolithic, 5.
-- relation to basket-making and knitting, 5, 6.
Priestesses, ancient British, Tacitus refers to, 147.
-- witches and, 147, and also note 1.
Ptolemy, evidence of, regarding British tribes, 128.
Purple-yielding shells, in Crô-Magnon grotto, 23.
-- -- searched for by megalithic people, 92.
Pytheas, 229.
-- exploration of Britain by, 115.
-- the Mictis problem, 116.
-- voyage of, 107.
Races, alien elements may vanish, 123.
-- "Caucasian Man", 123.
-- Aryan theory, 123.
Races, animal names of Scoto-Celtic tribes, 129.
-- Azilian and Tardenoisian, 55.
-- Maglemosian, 56.
-- Britain in Roman period, 127.
-- Britain mainly "long-headed", 128.
-- Ptolemy's evidence regarding British tribes, 128.
-- British extermination theory, 227.
-- British Iberians and proto-Egyptians, 126.
-- Armenoid intrusions, 87, 126, 222.
-- Spanish settlers in Britain, 127.
-- bronze carriers displace eastern metal searchers in
Western Europe, 100.
-- bronze users as earliest settlers in Aberdeenshire, 111.
-- Brünn and Brüx, 50.
-- Celts and Armenoids, 112.
-- Celts and Northerners, 112, 222.
-- Celts as conquerors of early settlers in Britain, 107.
-- colours of the mythical, 121, 125·
-- extermination theory, 122.
-- Celts as Fair Northerners, 222.
-- "broad heads" in Britain, 56, 87, 126, 222.
-- Celts and Teutons, 125.
-- Chancelade skull and Eskimos, 53.
-- Crô-Magnons in Wales, 19.
-- first discovery of Crô-Magnons in France, 20.
-- Cuchullin and Scotland, 224.
-- Britons in Ireland, 224.
-- Damnonians as metal workers, 89.
-- Damnonians in England, Scotland, and Ireland, 89, 90.
-- dark and fair peoples in England, 227.
-- descendants of Easterners in Britain, 118.
-- drifts of, into Britain, 79.
-- early settlers in Britain, 125, 216.
-- eastern colonists in Spain, 95.
-- Easterners reached ancient Britain from Spain, 97.
-- fair and dark among earliest
settlers in Post-Glacial Britain, 60.
Races, fair Celts and Teutons, 60.
-- Fir-bolgs in Ireland, 223.
-- Furfooz type, 56.
-- broad-headed fair types, 56.
-- Gaelic Fir-domnann and Firbolg, 90, and also note 1.
-- Gibraltar man, 8.
-- Cannstadt man, 8.
-- Neanderthal man, 9.
See _Neanderthal Man_.
-- great migrations by sea, 92.
-- high and heavy Scots, 137.
-- intrusion of "Round Barrow", broad-headed people, 87, 126.
-- "Long heads" use bronze in Ireland, 87.
-- megalithic intruders, 94.
-- mixed peoples among Easterners in Western Europe, 107.
-- modern Crô-Magnons in Africa, British Isles, and France, 25.
-- "Combe-Capelle" man, 25.
-- Brüx and Brünn skulls, 25.
-- "Galley Hill" man, 26, 27.
-- modern man, 9.
-- Crô-Magnon, 9, 19.
See _Crô-Magnon Races_.
-- Piltdown man, 9, 26.
-- Heidelberg man, 9.
-- Phoenician type in Cornwall, 139.
-- physical characters of, 124.
-- "pockets" in British Isles, 138.
-- Post-Glacial movements of, 54.
-- pre-Celtic extermination theory, 107.
-- few intrusions in ancient Britain, 109.
-- settlements of traders and workers, 109.
-- "short barrow" intruders, 104.
-- cremating intruders, 104.
-- Solutrean intrusion, 49.
-- Tacitus's references to British races, 137.
-- transition period and Neolithic, 61.
Rainbow as god's rod-sling, 204.
Raven and goddess of grove and sky, 160.
Ravens, Celtic deities as, 195.
Red deer on Dogger Bank, 68.
"Red Man", The Welsh, 19, 27.
Regni, The, Sussex tribe, 128.
Reindeer on Dogger Bank, 68.
-- French and German, in early, Aurignacian times, 14.
See _Fauna_.
-- in Scotland till twelfth century, 67.
-- in Germany in Roman times, 68.
-- Age, the, 213.
Rhodesia, mouse cure in, 187, and also note 2.
Rhone valley trade route, 114.
Rivers, goddesses and, 206.
River-worship, 176, 178, 179.
Robin, apple cult and, 204.
Robin Red-breast, on Glasgow seal, 185.
-- -- in St. Mungo legend, 186.
Romans, how Britain was conquered by, 119, 120.
-- Celtic boats superior to boats of, 224.
-- as exploiters of conquered countries, 79.
-- how loan-rate of interest was reduced, 79.
-- goddess, groups of, 207.
-- Gauls in army of, 127.
-- mean and tragical conquest of Britain by, 226, 227.
-- myths of, regarding savages in ancient Britain, 224.
-- references of, to Picts and Caledonians, 130.
-- religious beliefs of, no higher than those of Gaels, 208.
-- Tacitus on rewards of, in Britain, 79.
-- wars for trade, 229.
Rome, connection of, with milk goddess cult, 149, 150.
-- sacked by Celts, 112.
Ro-smerta, the Gaulish goddess, 174.
Rowan, 221.
-- berry of, as fruit of longevity, 144.
-- the sacred, 179, 180.
See _Tree Cults_.
Rye, cultivation of, 5.
Sacred stones and sacred trees,
103. See _Megalithic Monuments_ and _Tree Cults_.
Sacrifices, annual pig sacrifices,201.
-- oxen sacrificed to demons in England, 178.
-- at "wassailing", 204, 205.
Sahara, 27.
-- grass-lands of the, 14.
St. Swithin's Day, 168.
Salmon on city of Glasgow seal, 185.
-- as form of dragon, 182.
-- fire and, 183.
-- Gaelic names of, 182.
-- Irish saint finds gold in stomach of, 184.
-- in St. Mungo legend, 184.
-- the ring myth, 183.
-- the sacred "salmon of wisdom", 182.
Sargon of Akkad, his knowledge of Western European metal-yielding
areas, 99 _et seq._, 218.
Saxons, 126.
-- Celts and, 227.
-- the, Picts as allies of, 131.
Scape-dog, the, 65.
Scots, The, Crô-Magnons and, 137.
-- Picts and, 130.
-- first settlement of, in Scotland, 130.
Scott, Michael, in serpent myth, 188.
Seafaring. See _Boats_.
Sea god, the Hebridean _Seonaidh_ (Shony), 193.
Seasons, Gaelic colours of, 169.
Selgovæ, The, 139.
-- in Galloway, 129.
Serpent, Bride's serpent and dragon, 188.
-- as "daughter of Ivor", the "damsel", &c., 187.
-- dragon as, 182.
-- goddess Bride and, 187.
-- jet drives away, 164.
-- sacred white, 188.
-- on sculptured stones, 155 (_ill._).
-- "snake of hazel grove", 189.
-- sea-serpent, 189.
-- as soul, 189.
-- the white, in Michael Scott legend, 188.
Setantii, The, in England and Ireland, 128.
-- Cuchullin and, 128.
Severus, disastrous invasion of Scotland by, 130, 225.
Sheep, goddess as, 154.
-- in Scoto-Celtic tribal names, 129.
Shells, as amulets, 34, 80.
-- Aphrodite as pearl in, 158.
-- in British graves, 46.
-- finds of, in Ireland and Scotland, 46.
-- coloured, in Aurignacian cave-tomb, 46.
-- wearing of, not a juvenile custom, 46.
-- Combe-Capelle man wore, 25.
-- in Crô-Magnon grotto, 23.
-- Crô-Magnon trade in, 40.
-- Japanese and Scottish "shell-milk" elixirs, 40, 221.
-- "Cup of Mary" Highland myth, 42.
-- limpet lore, 42, and also note 1.
-- Egyptian artificial, 173.
-- Egyptian gold models of, 41.
-- stone, ivory, and metal models of, 41.
-- as "life-givers", 41.
-- "Evil Eye" charms, 39.
-- Crô-Magnon necklace, 39 (_ill._).
-- as food for dead, 41.
-- Cretan artificial, 41.
-- fairy woman's coracle a shell, 207.
-- in grotto at Aurignac, 22.
-- ground shells as elixir, 38.
-- as "houses" of gods, 38.
-- love girdle of, 38.
-- Hebridean tree goddess and, 153.
-- Indian Ocean shell in Aurignacian cave, 36.
-- as "life substance", 80, 158, 178.
-- mantle of, in Aurignacian cave-tomb, 45.
-- milk from, 40, 221.
-- "personal ornaments" theory, 37.
-- Red Sea shell in Hampshire, 47, and also note 1.
-- Red Sea shell in Neolithic Spain, 96.
Shells, Red Sea shell at Mentone, 210.
-- searched for by megalithic people, 92 _et seq._
-- in Welsh cave-tomb, 20.
Ships. See _Boats_.
Silures, The, Hebrideans and, 139.
-- Tacitus on, 137.
-- in Wales and Scilly Islands, 129.
Silurians, as miners, 118.
Silvanus, British deity, 207.
Silver, amber and, 165.
-- in Britain, 91.
-- difficult to find and work in Britain, 95.
-- exported from Britain in first century A.D., 114.
-- Easterners worked, in Spain, 97.
-- Gaelic god connected with, 102.
-- offered to water deity by Gauls, 174.
-- offered to deities by Celts, 80.
-- lead, as ballast for boats of Easterners, 99.
Sin (pronounced _sheen_), the Druid's judgment collar, 146.
Skins, exported from Britain in first century, A.D., 114.
Sky, connection of sacred trees and wells with, 179.
Slaves, exported from Britain in first century A.D., 114.
See _Fir-bolgs_.
Sleepers myth, in Highland story, 47.
-- the Seven, antiquity of myth of, 29.
Smertæ, The, 129.
Smertullis, the god, Ro-smerta and, 174.
Smintheus Apollo. See _Mouse Apollo_.
Solutrean Age, 13.
-- pre-Agricultural, 213.
-- proto-Solutrean influence, 216.
-- culture, cave art declines, 51.
-- -- characteristic artifacts, 50.
-- -- climate, 51.
-- -- open-air camps, 51.
-- -- bone needles numerous, 52.
-- -- decline of, in Europe, 52.
-- -- earliest influence of, in Europe, 49.
Solutrean culture, "true" wave of, 49.
-- -- carriers of, 50.
-- Implements, 21 (_ill._).
Soul, animal shapes of, 65, 178, 190.
-- bee and butterfly forms of, 191.
-- bee forms of, in folk tales, 193.
-- beliefs regarding, Sleepers myth, 29.
-- soul-case in Scotland and Japan, 44.
-- butterfly as, in Greece, Italy, Serbia, Burmah, Mexico, China,
Scotland, Ireland, &c., 192, 193.
-- the "change" in Gaelic, 158.
-- nourishment of, 158.
-- cremation customs and destiny of, 109.
-- dead go west, 173.
-- dog form of, 65.
-- Druids and transmigration, 142.
-- heart and liver as seats of life, 154.
-- maggot as, 102.
-- Egyptian Bata myth, 103.
-- moth form of, 192.
-- serpent form of, 189.
-- lizard and other forms of, 189.
-- star as, 208.
-- in stone or husk, 173.
-- in trees, 190.
-- in egg, fish, swans, &c., 190.
-- in weapons, 50.
-- Welsh ideas regarding destiny of, 144.
Sow-day in Orkney, 201.
Sow goddess, the, 154.
See _Pigs_.
Spain, British trade with, 114, 116.
-- colonists from, in Britain, 106.
-- displacement of Easterners in, 221.
-- Druidism in, 149.
-- early trade of, with Britain, 218.
-- Easterners in, 95, 211, 218, 229.
-- Easterners kept natives of, ignorant of uses of metals, 99.
-- Egyptian gold diadem in Neolithic tomb, 98.
-- Egyptian origin of Neolithic industry in, 97.
-- expulsion of Easterners from, 100.
-- in pre-Agricultural Age, 213.
-- settlers from, in Britain, 127.
Spear of god Lugh, 206.
Spinning, 5.
Spirit worship. See _Animism_.
Standing Stones. See _Megalithic Monuments_.
Star, St. Ciaran's stellar origin, 208.
-- the Dog, 64.
Stars, Druid lore of, 175.
-- Gaels measured time by, 175, and also note 1.
-- Sir[)o]na, star goddess, 208.
-- Milky Way and milk goddess cult, 149.
-- Welsh and Gaelic names of, 203.
Stennis, Standing Stones of, 94.
Stone of Danann deities, 206.
-- as god, 51.
Stonehenge, doctrine of Cardinal Points and, 174.
-- and Egyptian Empire beads, 104, 105 (_ill._), 106.
-- Temple theory, 177.
Stones, in graves, 33, 34.
-- wind raised by, in Hebrides, 172.
-- as "god body", 173.
-- as dragon's eggs, 173.
Sumeria. See _Babylonia_.
Sun, ancient British solar symbol, 162.
-- circulating chapels, &c., 148.
-- ear-rings and, 165.
-- fire and, 181.
-- rays of, as tears, 181, and also note 3.
-- Gaelic worship of, 170.
-- Gaels swore by, 148.
-- goddess and, 163.
-- modern and ancient sunwise customs, 171.
Sun-worship in Britain, King Canute and, 147.
Surgery, ancient man's skill in, 2.
-- folk-lore evidence regarding, 3, 4.
Surrogate of life blood, 28.
Sussex dug-out, 76, 77.
Swallows, Celtic deities as, 195.
Swans, as souls, 190.
-- as oracles, 190.
-- Celtic deities as, 195.
Swine. See _Pork Taboo_.
-- Celts rearers of, 114.
-- Devil and, 200.
Swine, Maglemosian hunters of, 57.
-- Orkney a boar name, 129.
-- in Roman religious ceremony, 51.
-- Scottish taboo of, 199.
Sword of god Lugh, 206.
Symbols, swashtika, &c., 165, 166.
See _Colour Symbolism_.
Tæxali, The, 129.
Talismans, Irish and Japanese, 206.
Taran[)u]cus (Thunderer), Gaulish god, 207.
Tardenoisian, 54, 62.
-- artifacts, 13.
-- Iberian carriers of, 216.
-- pre-Agricultural, 213.
-- pygmy flints, 54, 55 (_ill._).
Tardenoisians, The, in Britain, 125.
-- English Channel land-bridge crossed by, 69.
-- Industry, traces of, in Africa, Asia, and Europe, 71.
-- Maglemosians and, 57.
Temples, pagan, used as Christian churches, 177.
-- the Gaulish, 177.
-- Apollo's temple in England, 177.
-- Stonehenge, 177.
-- Pytheas refers to, 178.
-- reroofing custom, 178.
Ten Tribes, The Lost, 118.
Teutons, British Celts' relations with, 137.
-- Celts and, 125.
Thomas the Rhymer, "True Thomas" as "Druid Thomas", 146.
Thor, Dagda and, 202.
Tilbury man, 70, 71.
Tin, 101.
-- beginning of mining in Cornwall, 116.
-- Scottish and Irish, 94, 117.
-- in Britain and Ireland, 91.
-- surface tin collected in Britain, 9.
-- English mines of, opened after surface tin was exhausted, 91.
-- the Mictis problem, 116.
-- descendants of ancient miners in Britain, 118.
-- exported from Cornwall in first century A.D., 114.
Tin, Phoenicians and the Cassiterides, 104.
-- search for, in Britain, 95.
-- traces of, in Scotland, 94.
-- trade in, 219.
-- voyage of Pytheas, 107.
-- Cornish mines opened, 107.
See _Cassiterides_ and _OEtrymnides_.
Tin Land, Sargon of Akkad's knowledge of the
Western European, 99, 218.
Tin-stone as ballast for boats of Easterners, 99.
Toad, The, Jewel of, 189.
Tom-tit, apple cult of, 204.
Toothache, ancient man suffered from, 2.
Torquay, Magdalenian art near, 54.
Trade, early British exports, 104.
-- Red Sea shell in Hampshire, 47, and also note 1.
-- routes, British and Irish, 223.
-- -- British trade with Spain and Carthage, 114.
-- -- Danube valley and Rhone valley, 114.
-- -- early trade between Spain and Britain, 218.
-- -- exports from Britain in first century A.D., 114.
-- -- when overland routes were opened, 106.
-- -- Celts and, 106, 107.
-- -- Phoenicians kept sea-routes secret, 107.
-- -- voyage of Pytheas, 107.
Transition Period. See _Azilian_, _Tardenoisian_, and _Maglemosian_.
-- -- longer than Neolithic Age, 61.
-- -- race movements in, 54.
-- in Scotland, 216.
Transmigration, Druidism and, 142, 222.
Traprain, silver as substitute for white enamel at, 165.
Tree cults, apple of knowledge eaten by Thomas the Rhymer, 146.
-- -- apple tree as "Tree of Life", 204.
-- -- birds and apple trees, 204.
-- -- Artemis and the fig, 193.
Tree cults, bee and maggot soul forms in trees, 103.
-- -- and standing stones, 103, 104.
-- -- coral as sea tree, 221.
-- -- grown gold, 221.
-- -- and standing stones and wells, 147.
-- -- trees and wells and heavenly bodies, 180.
-- -- Druidism and, 141.
-- -- fig as milk-yielding tree, 149.
-- -- Gaelic and Latin names of sacred groves, 159.
-- -- Galatian sacred oak, 159.
-- -- Gaulish, 151.
-- -- elm as milk tree, 151.
-- -- plane as milk tree, 151.
-- -- grove goddess as raven or crow, 160.
-- -- the hazel god, 140, 144.
-- -- apple of longevity, 144.
-- -- Hebridean shell and milk goddess and, 153.
-- -- Indian milk-yielding trees, 151.
-- -- mouse and apple tree, 196.
-- -- mistletoe and Druidism, 145.
-- -- megalithic monuments and, 220.
-- -- and pearls, &c., 220.
-- -- palm tree cult in Spain, 220.
-- -- oak on Glasgow seal, 185.
-- -- sacred groves and stone shrines, 156.
-- -- sacred rowan, 180.
-- -- Silvanus, British tree god, 207.
-- -- souls in trees, 190.
-- -- St. Mungo takes fire from the hazel, 186.
-- -- stone circles and, 178.
-- -- Trees of Longevity and Knowledge, 152.
-- -- woodbine as "King of the Woods" in Gaelic, 180.
-- -- fire-producing trees, 180.
Trepanning in ancient times, 2.
Trinovantes, The, in England, 128.
Turquoise, symbolism of, 221.
Twelfth Night, 204.
Underworld, Gaelic ideas regarding, 143.
Underworld, Egyptian paradise of, 143.
-- fairyland as Paradise, 144.
-- Welsh ideas of, 144.
-- "Well of healing" in, 197.
Urns, burial, food and drink in, 158.
Uxellimus, Gaulish god, 207.
Vacomagi, The, 129.
Veneti, The, Pictones assist Romans against, 224.
-- Picts and, 131.
Venus. See _Aphrodite_.
-- the British, 204.
-- Cæsar offered British pearls to, 79.
-- origin of, 38.
-- the Scandinavian, 161.
Vernicones, The, in Scotland, 129.
Viking ship, origin of, 76.
Votadini, in Scotland, 129.
Vulcan, the Celtic, 202, 203.
Warfare, Neolithic weapons rare, 6.
Water, fire in, 182.
-- as source of all life, 180.
-- spirits, 207.
"Water of Life", "fire water" as, 181, 182.
Weapons, Celts swore by, 148.
-- demons in, 50.
-- as sacred symbols in Ireland and Japan, 206.
Well, "Beast" (dragon) in, 182.
Wells, Bride (Brigit) and, 188.
-- connection of, with trees, stones, and sky, 180.
-- goddess and, 180.
-- "well of healing" in Underworld, 197.
Well-worship and sacred grove, heaven, &c., 160.
Well-worship, Dingwall Presbytery deals with, 148.
-- Gildas refers to, 176.
-- well as a god, 176-9.
-- trees, standing stones, and, 147.
-- winds and, 174.
-- offerings of gold, &c., 174.
Welsh gods, 203.
Were-animals, Scottish, 190.
-- witches and, 191.
Wheat, cultivation of, 5.
Whistle, the, antiquity of, 31.
Widow-burning, 110.
Wind, fairies come on eddies of, 173.
Wind and water beliefs, 174.
Wind goddess, Scottish, associated with south-west, 173.
Winds, colours of, 169 _et seq._
-- Gaelic names of, in spring, 198.
-- Hebridean wind-stone, 172.
Witches, cat forms of, 196.
-- priestesses and, 147.
-- were-animals and, 191.
Withershins, 172.
Woad, Celtic connection of, with water, amber, &c., 163.
Wolf, goddess as, 154.
-- goddess Morrigan as, 195.
Woodbine as "King of the Woods", 180.
"World Mill", The, metal workers and, 90.
Wren, apple cult of, 204.
-- Druids and, 145.
-- hunting of, 187.
-- the sacred, 186.
-- as king of birds, 186.
Yellow Muilearteach, the, Scottish deity, 196, 197.
Zuyder Zee, formerly a plain, 69.
-- -- disasters of, 69, 70.
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