The Evolution of an English Town Part 2

THE NEOLITHIC OR NEW STONE AGE Succeeded the Old Stone Age and overlapped the Bronze Age.

THE BRONZE AGE Succeeded the New Stone Age and overlapped the Early Iron Age.

THE EARLY IRON AGE Succeeded the Bronze Age and continued in Britain until the Roman Invasion in B.C. 54.

_(All these periods overlapped.)_

The Palaeolithic men had reached England when it was part of the continent of Europe, but after the lesser Glacial Period had driven the hairy savages southwards a slow earth movement produced what is now the English Channel and Britain was isolated. Gradually the cold relaxed and vegetation once more became luxuriant, great forests appeared and England was again joined to the continent. Possibly the more genial climate which began to prevail in this country and the northward movement of the reindeer brought the first Neolithic men into England, and it has been suggested that some of these earlier tribes whose implements have been discovered in White Park Bay, County Antrim and the MacArthur Cave, near Oban, form a link between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic people.

The culture of the New Stone Age was a huge advance upon that of the earlier races, although it is more than probable that the higher development existed in different parts of the world simultaneously with the lower, the more primitive people becoming influenced by the more advanced. A wave of great progress came with the Iberians of Spain who spread across France and reached Britain by means of boats at a time when it was probably once more an island.

Armed with bows and arrows and carefully finished stone axes and spears, clothed in skins and wearing ornaments of curious coloured stones or pieces of bone threaded on thin leathern cords, these Iberians or Neolithic men gradually spread all over the British Islands. They evidently liked the hills overlooking the fresh waters of Lake Pickering for their remains have been found there in considerable quant.i.ties.

The hills on all sides of the Vale are studded with barrows from which great quant.i.ties of burial urns and skeletons have been exhumed, and wherever the land is under cultivation the plough exposes flint arrow and spear-heads and stone axes.

Many of the numerous finds of this nature have disappeared in small private collections and out of the many barrows that have been explored only in a certain number of instances have any accurate records been taken. It is thus a somewhat difficult task to discover how much or how little of the plunder of the burial mounds belongs to the Neolithic and how much to the Bronze and later ages. The Neolithic people buried in long barrows which are by no means common in Yorkshire, but many of the round ones that have been thoroughly examined reveal no traces of metal, stone implements only being found in them.[1] In Mr. Thomas Bateman's book, ent.i.tled "Ten Years' Diggings," there are details of two long barrows, sixty-three circular ones, and many others that had been already disturbed, which were systematically opened by Mr. James Ruddock of Pickering. The fine collection of urns and other relics are, Mr. Bateman states, in his own possession, and are preserved at Lomberdale; but this was in 1861, and I have no knowledge of their subsequent fate.

[Footnote 1: Greenwell, William. "British Barrows," p. 483.]

One of the few long barrows near Pickering, of which Canon Greenwell gives a detailed account, is situated near the Scamridge d.y.k.es--a series of remarkable mounds and ditches running for miles along the hills north of Ebberston. It is highly interesting in connection with the origin of these extensive entrenchments to quote Canon Greenwell's opinion. He describes them as "forming part of a great system of fortification, apparently intended to protect from an invading body advancing from the east, and presenting many features in common with the wold entrenchments on the opposite side of the river Derwent...." "The adjoining moor," he says, "is thickly sprinkled with round barrows, all of which have, at some time or other, been opened, with what results I know not; while cultivation has, within the last few years (1877), destroyed a large number, the very sites of which can now only with great difficulty be distinguished. On the surface of the ground flint implements are most abundant, and there is probably no place in England which has produced more arrow-points, sc.r.a.pers, rubbers, and other stone articles, than the country in the neighbourhood of the Scamridge d.y.k.es." The doubts as to the antiquity of the d.y.k.es that have been raised need scarcely any stronger refutation, if I may venture an opinion, than that they exist in a piece of country so thickly strewn with implements of the Stone Age. These entrenchments thus seem to point unerringly to the warfare of the early inhabitants of Yorkshire, and there can be little doubt that the d.y.k.es were the scene of great intertribal struggles if the loss of such infinite quant.i.ties of weapons is to be adequately accounted for.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Scamridge d.y.k.es above Troutsdale.]

The size and construction of the Scamridge d.y.k.es vary from a series of eight or ten parallel ditches and mounds deep enough and high enough to completely hide a man on horseback, to a single ditch and mound barely a foot above and below the ground level. The positions of the d.y.k.es can be seen on the sketch map accompanying this book, but neither an examination of the map nor of the entrenchments themselves gives much clue as to their purpose. They do not keep always to the hill-tops and in places they appear to run into the valleys at right angles to the chief line.

Overlooking Troutsdale, to the east of Scamridge farm, where the ground is covered with heather the excavations seem to have retained their original size, for at that point the parallel lines of entrenchments are deepest and most numerous. In various places the farmers have levelled cart tracks across the obstructions and in others they have been almost obliterated by ploughing, but as a rule, where cultivation touches them, the trenches have come to be boundaries for the fields.

The Neolithic people were only beginning to emerge from a state of absolute savagery, and it is possible that even at this time they were still cannibals. The evidence in support of this theory has been obtained from the condition of the bones found in long barrows, for, in many instances, they are discovered in such a dislocated and broken state, that there can be little doubt that the flesh was removed before burial. The long barrow at Scamridge is a good example of this, for the remains of at least fourteen bodies were laid in no order but with the component bones broken, scattered, and lying in the most confused manner. Half a jaw was lying on part of a thigh-bone and a piece of a skull among the bones of a foot, while other parts of what appeared to belong to the same skull were found some distance apart. Canon Greenwell, who describes this barrow with great detail, also mentions that this disarrangement was not due to any disturbance of the barrow after its erection, but, on the contrary, there were most certain indications that the bones had been originally deposited exactly as they were found. He also points out that this condition of things is obviously inconsistent with the idea that the bodies had been buried with the flesh still upon them, and goes on to say that "it appeared to Dr Thurnam that there were in these broken and scattered fragments of skulls and disconnected bones the relics of barbarous feasts, held at the time of the interment, when slaves, captives, or even wives were slain and eaten." But although this argument appeared to Canon Greenwell to have some weight, he is inclined to think that the broken condition of the bones may have been due to the pressure of the mound above them after they had been partially burnt with the fires which were lit at one end of the barrow and so arranged that the heat was drawn through the interior.

As the centuries pa.s.sed the Neolithic people progressed in many directions. They improved their methods of making their weapons until they were able to produce axe-heads so perfectly ground and polished and with such a keen cutting edge that it would be impossible to make anything better. These celts like the arrow-heads were always fitted into cleft handles or shafts of wood, and it was probably at a later period that the stone hammer, pierced with a hole, made its appearance. Spinning and weaving in some extremely primitive fashion were evolved, so that the people were not entirely clothed in skins. They cultivated wheat to a small extent and kept herds of goats and horned sheep. The pottery they made was crude and almost entirely without ornament. The skeletons of this period show that although they led a life of great activity, probably as hunters, they were rather short in stature, averaging, it is thought by Dr Garson, less than 5 feet 65 inches. Their jaws were not prognathous as in negroes, and their brow ridges were not nearly so prominent as in the men of the Old Stone Age, and thus their facial expression must have been mild.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRE-HISTORIC WEAPONS IN THE MUSEUM AT PICKERING.

Flint arrow head of unusual shape.

Bronze Spear head.

Bronze celt found at Kirby Moorside.

Flint arrow head found at Yeddingham (_half size_).

Flint arrow heads found at Moorc.o.c.k and Wrelton (_half size_).

Highly polished celt of a bluish-white stone found at Scamridge.

Bronze celt found at Scamridge.

Stone hammer found at Cawthorne.

A flint knife, 4-1/8 inches long.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Leaf-shaped arrow head found by Dr J.L. Kirk.]

A most interesting discovery of lake-dwellings was made in 1893 by Mr James M. Mitchelson of Pickering, but although the relics brought to light are numerous, no one has yet been able to make any definite statement as to the period to which they belong. The Costa Beck, a stream flowing from the huge spring at Keld Head, on the west side of Pickering, was being cleaned out for drainage purposes at a spot a little over two miles from the town, when several pieces of rude pottery were thrown on to the bank.

These excited Mr Mitchelson's interest and at another occasion his examination revealed more pottery and mixed up with the fragments were the bones of animals. Some piles forming two parallel rows about 4 feet apart were also discovered crossing the stream at right angles to its course.

The diagram given here shows the position of the piles as far as they were revealed in one of the excavations and it also shows their presumed continuation, but no reliance can be placed on anything but those actually dug out and indicated with a solid black spot. The piles were made of oak, birch and alder, with very rough pointed ends, and they measured from 6 to 10 inches in diameter. Three other rows cross the Costa in the same neighbourhood separated by a few hundred yards and as they lie at right angles to the stream which there forms a concave bend, they appear to converge upon one point. This would be what may roughly be termed an island between the Costa and a large drain where water in ancient times probably acc.u.mulated or flowed.

There can therefore be little doubt that the island was the home of prehistoric lake-dwellers who constructed their homes on rude platforms raised above the water or marshy ground by means of piles after the fashion of the numerous discoveries in Switzerland, and the present habits of the natives of many islands in the Pacific. Among the quant.i.ties of skulls and bones of animals, pottery and human skeletons, no traces of metal were brought to light and the coa.r.s.e jars and broken urns were, with one exception, entirely devoid of ornamentation. The ground that was removed before the chief discoveries were made, consisted of about 8 or 10 inches of cultivated soil, below which came about 2 feet 6 inches of stiff blue clay, and then about 6 feet of peat resting on the Kimmeridge clay that formed the bottom of Lake Pickering. Most of the relics were found resting on the clay so they must have remained there for a sufficient time to have allowed these thick deposits to have formed, and it is possible that they may be a.s.sociated with some of the Neolithic people who took to this mode of living when the Celtic invaders with their bronze weapons were steadily driving them northwards or reducing them to a state of slavery. A complete account of the discoveries was in 1898 read by Captain Cecil Duncombe at a meeting of the members of the Anthropological Inst.i.tute and in the discussion which followed,[1] Mr C.H. Reid gave it as his opinion that the pottery probably belonged to a period not much earlier than the Roman occupation. Against this idea we have a most interesting statement made on another occasion by Professor Boyd Dawkins concerning one of the human bones; on examining the femur ill.u.s.trated here he said that it could only have belonged to an individual possessing prehensile toes, and he also pointed out that the ends of this bone show signs of having been gnawed by dogs or similar animals. Captain Duncombe, who was to some extent quoting Professor Boyd Dawkins, said that the bones were "apparently those of a very small race." The complete skeleton of a young woman was found with the exception of the skull. "Though an adult,"

he says, "she could not, judging from the thigh-bones, have exceeded 4 feet 6 inches in height, and the owner of the longest thigh-bone would not have exceeded 5 feet. Though the bones are those of a people of short stature they are remarkable for their very prominent ridges for the attachment of the muscles, such as are quite unknown at the present day in England. They denote a race inured to hard toil, or one leading a life of constant activity." On the breast bone of the woman were found the two ornaments ill.u.s.trated. They were made from the tines of a red deer's horn.

[Footnote 1: _Journal of the Anthropological Inst.i.tute_, New Series (1899), vol. i. p. 150.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: DETAILS OF THE DISCOVERIES IN THE LAKE DWELLINGS.

A vase of black earthenware.

Two pieces of horn, one showing attempts to cut with some instrument. The lower piece has been neatly cut at both ends.

A whorl stone for weaving.

A human femur (thigh bone). The ends show signs of having been gnawed by wolves.

Ornaments made from deer's horn, found with the skeleton of a woman.

Fragment of a large earthenware jar or urn.

A sketch plan of the excavations (_from the Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic Society_).

Another interesting discovery was the evidence of different attempts to cut some pieces of deer's horn. The shallow grooves were probably made by rubbing with a rib bone or some other sharp edge and sand and water. A small black vase unornamented but in perfect condition was dug up near the remains of the young woman. There were numerous skulls of the prehistoric ox or bos longifrons and also of the straight-horned sheep. A piece of the antlers of a great palmated deer now extinct tends to place the discoveries at an early time, but until more evidence is forthcoming the period to which these lake-dwellers belong must remain uncertain.

A list of the bones discovered includes the following:--

Human (of at least four individuals).

Deer (of three species).

Horse (a small variety), numerous.

Ox (Bos longifrons), numerous.

Sheep (straight-horned), numerous.

Goat (one skull).

Pig (both wild and domesticated).

Wolf.

Fox.

Otter.

Beaver (one skull).

Voles (of different kinds).

Birds.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Some examples of remains of Pre-historic Animals discovered in the Lake Dwellings by the river Costa.

The skull of a Wolf.

Part of the horns of a Great Palmated Deer.

Part of the skull of a Straight-horned Sheep.

The skull of a Bos Longifrons or Pre-historic Ox.

The introduction of metal into Britain was due to the successive waves of Celtic Aryans who by means of their bronze weapons were able to overcome the Neolithic people. The Brythons or Britons, one of these Celtic peoples, seem to have succeeded in occupying the whole of England. They buried their dead in the round barrows which are to be found in most parts of the country but are particularly numerous on the hills immediately surrounding Pickering and on the wolds to the south of the Vale.

Some of the round barrows, as already mentioned, contain no traces of metal but in a number of those near Pickering have been found bronze Celts and spear-heads accompanied by beautifully finished weapons of stone.

There can be no doubt, therefore, that the use of metal crept in slowly, and that stone, horn and bone continued to be used for many centuries after its introduction.