The Prehistoric World: or, Vanished Races, page 199 by E.A. Allen
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Iron would not drive out Bronze--The primitive Iron- worker--The advance in government--Pottery and ornaments of the Iron Age,--Weapons of early Iron Age--The battle-field at Tilfenan--Trade of early Iron Age--Invention of Money--Invention of Alphabetic Writing--Invasion of the Germanic Tribes--The cause of the Dark Ages--Connection of these three Ages-- Necessity of believing in an extended past--Attempts to determine the same--Tiniere Delta--Lake Bienne, British Fen-beds--Maximum and Minimum data--Argument from the widespread dispersion of the Turanian Race--Mr. Geikie's conclusions--The isolation of the Paleolithic Age.
The introduction of bronze was the harbinger of better days to the various tribes of Europe. Without metals it is doubtful if man would ever have been able to raise himself from barbarism. His advance in civilization has been in direct proportion to his ability to work metals. As long as he knew how to work bronze only he could not hope for the best results. The trouble was not in the metal itself, but in the supply; for copper and tin, the constituents of bronze, are found only in limited amounts. When we reflect on the multiplicity of purposes for which some metallic substance is needed, we at once perceive that men require a metal which can not only be worked cheaply, but must exist in great abundance, so that the needs of a rich and varied culture may be met.
The Divine Author of nature has stored away just such a metal, and in such exhaustless quantities that it forms an ingredient in nearly all soils, and flows away in the waters of many springs and rivers. It exists in abundance in nearly every country of the globe, in some forming veritable mountain masses. We refer to iron, the king of metals; and when man had learned to reduce it from its ores he had taken the first step in a new direction, the end whereof is yet far distant.
We have in the preceding chapter presented some reasons why copper would be known before iron. In the first place, how were men to learn the