ge, if not for long ages before. All this gave us
a point of departure, and we have showed with what care scholars have
studied all questions relating to the date of the Glacial Age.

But aside from the fact that geology points out that a long time went by
after the close of the Glacial Age before Neolithic man arrived on the
scene, we are largely deprived of its aid in our investigations; for all
the various implements and specimens of the household industries, from
which we derive our knowledge of these latter ages, are found only
in surface deposits; that is, in the modern alluvia and silt of river
bottoms, in superficial deposits, in caves, and in peat-bogs; and even
in other instances where apparently deeply buried, as in the submerged
forest deposits of the British coasts, we know that, geologically
speaking, their age is recent.

But in spite of these difficulties, attempts have been made from time
to time to determine the absolute chronology of these ages. The results,
however, can only be considered as approximations of the truth. We will
call attention to some of these calculations. Their value to us consists
in showing us the methods by which this problem has been attacked, and
not in the results obtained. M. Morlot, of Switzerland, has sought to
determine this question by a study of the delta of the Tiniere, which
is a small river flowing into the lake of Geneva. Like all mountain
streams, it brings down considerable quantities of sediment, with which
it has formed a conical shaped delta. Cuttings for a railroad exposed
a fine section of this cone, and showed that at three different times
layers of vegetable soil, which must once have been its old surface were
found.

The lowest surface was some twenty feet beneath the present surface,
and here were found relics of the Stone Age. The second layer was at the
depth of ten feet, and contained relics of the Bronze Age. Finally the
first buried layer, three feet beneath the present surface, was found to
contain relics of the Roman Age. Obtaining from other data the time that
has elapsed since the deposits of the Roman layer, he readily calculates
the age of the Stone and Bronze layers. By this means he obtains for the
Bronze Age an antiquity of between three and four thousand years, and
for the Neolithic Age from five to seven thousand years.<17> M. Morlot
does not claim for his calculation more than approximate accuracy.<18>
But if we were to allow it a greate