{xv}
In dealing with the subject of Prehistoric Man, it is impossible to speak definitely, owing to the absence of all historic records. The chief evidence of his existence is to be found in the great earthworks he constructed, and the implements he formed out of flint. It may be safely assumed that Prehistoric Man was immeasurably more exposed to attack from the animal world than his successors are to-day; and if one always bears this fact in mind, some satisfactory explanation may be found of the earthworks he constructed around his settlements, which in many cases extended for several miles from the centre of his habitation.
At the time when Prehistoric Man constructed the gigantic earthworks of the Downs in the south of England—for example, those at Cissbury, near Worthing, and Maiden Castle, near Dorchester—he had probably not discovered the art of building; but, with an infinity of patience and labour, he piled up his great earth embankments and scraped out his trenches {xvi} or “valla,” behind which works he lived and defended himself, certainly against his animal assailants, and probably against his human antagonists.
It is not known at what period these earthworks were constructed, but they probably date to a time long prior to the building of Stonehenge, which may be taken with approximate accuracy at 1800 b.c. Cissbury and Chanctonbury would therefore be far older; possibly they are 4000, perhaps 6000, years old. The latter date would make them contemporary with the Pyramid Age in Egypt.
It should be remembered that these great earthworks were constructed without the assistance of any tools made of metal. The only surviving specimens of such tools as man then employed are the rough implements he fashioned out of flint, or constructed from the antlers of the red deer, like those found in the flint mines sunk in the chalk at Cissbury years ago, and investigated by General Pitt-Rivers and others.
Flint implements may still be picked up on the surface at Cissbury. One we found, whitened by exposure, has the appearance of being of the Palaeolithic period; but it more probably belongs to the Neolithic.
Sir John Evans is of opinion that a regular manu-{xvii}factory of flint implements was carried on at Cissbury, and that some of the depressions in the ground to which we shall afterwards refer were entrances to the old workings of flint quarries. Though the surface of the ground is strewn with flints in all directions, the quality of the flints on the surface was not, he thinks, considered suitable for implements by Neolithic Man.
No doubt some of the depressions or sinkings in the ground were entrances to the old workings, but we are of opinion that the smaller cup-shaped depressions represent the sites of Neolithic Man’s dwellings.
To these we shall refer more particularly when describing that settlement of Neolithic Man which comprised Cissbury Ring and Chanctonbury Ring.
85 Gresham Street, E.C.
1904.