The bronze age and the Celtic world - Universal History Library

28 THE BRONZE AGE AND THE CELTIC WORLD
Pyrenees, where their culture declined to that which we know as Azihan." The invaders
passed on through Celtic lands, bringing with them a new culture, known as Tardenoisian,'*
and seem to have reached the British Isles before 5000 B.C.
These people seem to have been another variety of the same long-headed race, which
had developed into a distinct type in North Africa, and had there, perhaps, mingled to a
greater or lesser degree with the descendants of the Grimaldi men, whom we met with
at the beginning of the period of Aurignac. If we may judge by those who seem to be
their descendants, they were of rather short, slight build, with long narrow heads, brown
skin, dark hair and eyes, the type which to-day is known as the Mediterranean race.^'
It is possible that the Grimaldi elements in their composition, and which are sometimes
found comparatively pure, may account for that small dark type, often showing marked
alveolar prognathism, which has been found in certain out of the way regions, such as
Apuha and Sardinia, and which are known to some anthropologists as lapygian,'^ and
have been termed Ethiopic by Ruggeri.'^
This new population seems to have been peaceably inclined and made no attempt
to exterminate its predecessors, but settled down in the lower lands and by the sea shore,
while the Cromagnon men remained in the mountain zones of the Pyrenees and the
Dordogne, and the Combe Capelle type survived in Central Europe and among the hills
of Wales. It seems almost certain that the newcomers were still hunters, quite ignorant
of agriculture and the domestication of animals ; as some of their settlements have
been found by the sea shore and on the banks of streams, it seems likely that they lived
to a considerable extent on fish and moUuscs.
It would appear, then, that the t5^e which we know as the Mediterranean racCi
and which has given to Wales, Scotland and Ireland the majority of their small brunette
inhabitants, is made up of the descendants of all the types of long-headed men—except
the Chancelade variety— ^which we meet with in the Celtic lands of western Europe during
the upper palaeolithic period. That the Combe Capelle type survives on the moorlands
of Plynlimmon has been shown by Fleure : examples of an africanoid type with alveolar
prognathism are not uncommon in Wales and in the poorer quarters of our big cities, -
55 Macalister (1921) 1, 525. 58 Brace (1863) 65, 66 ; Keane (1908) 360.
56 Macalister (1921) 1. 537, 538. 59 Giufirida-Ruggeri (1921).
57 Sergi (1901).