EARLY MAN Querns and bronze celts are said to have been found near the floors, but the statement lacks that precision which would make it valuable evidence for antiquarian purposes. At the same time it must be admitted that there is no good reason why the depressions should not mark the floors of huts of Neolithic or some subsequent age. Depressions in the ground indicating the sites of ancient dwellings and probably of the Neolithic age have been found at Roughton Heath, Beeston Heath, Edgefield, Marsham Heath, Mousehold, and Eaton Heath. The precise periods to which they may be assigned however cannot be determined without careful and systematic exploration. The inhabitants of Norfolk in the Neolithic age were farmers and herdsmen. They possessed domesticated animals, and this was one of their most reliable sources of food supply. They had a rudimentary knowledge of the potter's art and were well acquainted with spinning and possibly with weaving. They were able to construct canoes and seaworthy boats. Their dress consisted partly of the natural skins of animals and partly of the productions of the spindle and distaff, and their personal ornaments included beads and pendants of jet, amber, bone, etc. The dead were buried in a contracted posture near the surface of the ground, and a long oval-shaped mound or barrow was afterwards deposited over the site. Weapons and other articles were usually buried with the dead body, and this has led to the inference that this primitive people had a belief in a future state of existence after death. The Neolithic man was of small stature, generally standing about 5 feet 5 inches high. His skull was long or oval in shape and of fair capacity. The length of the skull, which is one of the most characteristic marks of the race, was produced by a development at the back of the head. The face was oval in outline and the cheekbones only slightly developed. The forehead was low and the nose aquiline. The modern Basques present the nearest resemblance to this ancient race, and they are generally considered to have descended from it. Some of the defensive earthworks in various parts of England usually known as camps are supposed upon reasonable grounds to repre- sent the strongholds in which Neolithic men entrenched themselves, their families and their cattle, but the difficulty of determining the period to which the earthworks belong is much increased by the fact that they have been occupied by successive races, and further that no excavations or minute examinations of them upon a sufficiently extensive scale have yet been made. The latter remark is particularly true of the earthworks of Norfolk, few of which can with any degree of probability be referred to a period earlier than the Roman occupation. The camps at Tasburgh and Fakenham, however, are probably pre-Roman works. Remains of the Neolithic age, in the form of chipped and ground flint and occasionally other stone, are abundant in many parts of England, particularly in those districts where flint occurs naturally. Norfolk is no exception to this rule, and the recorded discoveries are too numerous for particular mention. The following, however, is a list of the more im- 265
