Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-10-26
The Outline of History-By H. @. Wells
|. The Romance of Mother Earth

22-REMA1NS OF A FORGOTTEN PEOPLE
will be of interest here to give brief
account of the life Of the Neolithic peO-
pie before the appearance of metals. We
get our light upon that life from various
sources. They scattered their refuse about,
and in some places (e. g., on the Danish
coast) it accumulated In great heaps, known
as the kitchen middens
They buried some of their people, but not
the common herd, with great care and dis
tinction, and made uge heaps Of earth over
their sepulchers these heaps are the bar
rows or dolmens which contribute a feature
to the Europeans, Indian and American seem
cry in many districts to this day. In con-
nection with the mounds, or independently
of them, they set up great stones Omega
lths), either singly or in groups, of which
Stonehenge in Wiltshire, and Carnac in Brit
tany are among the best-known examples In
various places their villages are still trace
able.
The "Lake DveIlers"
One fruitful source of knowledge about
Neolithic life comes from Switzerland and
was first revealed by the very dry winter of
1854, when the water level of one OF the
lakes, sinking to an unheard of lowness, re-
veaIed the foundations of prehistoric pile
dwellings of the Neolithic and early Bronze
ages, built out over the water after the fash
ion of similar homes that exist today in
Celebes and elsewhere.
Not only were the timhers of those an
cfent platforms preserved, but great multi
tude of wooden, bone, stone and earthenware
utensils and ornaments, remains OF food and
the like, were found in the peaty accumula-
tions below them. Even pieces of net and
garments have been recovered.
Similar lake dwellings existed in Scotland,
ireland and observation-disclosures are we'll
known remains at Glastonbury in Somerset
shire; in Ireland lake dwellings were inhab-
tied from prehistoric times up to the days
when O'Nei, of Tyrone, was fighting against
the English, before the plantation of Scotch
cOlonsts to replace the Irish in Ulster in the
reign of James I. of England These lake
villages had considerable defensive value,
and there was a sanitary advantage in living
over flowing water.
Strange Monuments
Probably these Neolithic Swiss pile dwell
ings did not shelter the largest communities
that existed in those days. They were the
homes of small .,atriarchal groups Else
where upon fertile plains and in more open
country there were probably already much
larger assemblies of homes than in those
mountain valleys.
There are traces Of such large com
munity Of families in Wiltshire in England
for example; the remains Of the stone circle
of Avebury near Silbury mound were once
the FINEST megalithic ruin in Europe" II
consisted of two circles Of stones surrounded
by larger circle and a ditch, and covering
altogether twenty-eight and half acres
From it two avenues of stones, each mile
and a half long, ran west and south on either
side of Silbury HILL Silbury Hill is the larg
est prehistoric artificial mound in England.
The dimensions of this center OF faith
and a social life, now forgotten altogether By
men indicate the concerted efforts and tntor