DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5625#0130
I08 Survey of the Ancient World
193. Late
Stone Age
Europe
receives the
first copper
194. Europe
hears of the
earliest ships
in the far-
away Nile
195. Back-
wardness of
the continent
of Europe
after receiv-
ing metal
(3000-
2O0O B.C.)
The inland villages of this age in Europe were already receiv-
ing occasional visits from the traders who came from the coast
settlements along the Mediterranean. Such a trader's wares
were always eagerly inspected, but the interest was greatest when
he exhibited a few shining beads or neck rings of a strange,
heavy, gleaming/reddish substance, so beautiful that the villagers
trafficked eagerly for them. Most desired of all, however, was
the dagger or ax head made of the same unfamiliar substance-
Thus inner Europe made its first acquaintance with copper.
With rapt attention and awe-struck faces the Late Stone Age
Europeans listened to the trader's tales, telling of huge ships
(Fig. 13) which made the rude European dugouts (Fig. 5) look
like tiny chips. They came out of the many mouths of the
vast river of Egypt, greater than any other river in the world,
said the trader. They were-heavily loaded with the works of
the Egyptian workshops which we have visited (§§ 52-59); and
these things they carried across the Mediterranean to the
islands and coasts of southeastern Europe or neighboring Asia-
Thus at the dawn of history barbarian Europe looked across
the Mediterranean to the great civilization of the Nile, as our
own North American Indians fixed their wondering eyes on
the first Europeans who landed in America, and listened to like
strange tales of great and distant peoples.
Slowly Europe learned the use of metal.1 In spite of much
progress in craftsmanship and a more civilized life in general,
the possession of metal did not enable the peoples of Europe
to advance to a high type of civilization. They still remained
without writing, without architecture in hewn-stone masonry,
and without large sailing ships for commerce. In that portion
of Europe nearest to Egypt, however, we find that civilization
developed most rapidly; namely, around the ^Egean Sea, to
which we must now go.
1 As we shall see, the Stone Age was only very gradually succeeded by the
Copper or Bronze Age. Metal reached southeastern Europe not long afW
3000 B.C., but in western and northern Europe it was almost 2000 B.C. bef°re
the beginning of the Copper Age, which soon became the Bronze Age.
193. Late
Stone Age
Europe
receives the
first copper
194. Europe
hears of the
earliest ships
in the far-
away Nile
195. Back-
wardness of
the continent
of Europe
after receiv-
ing metal
(3000-
2O0O B.C.)
The inland villages of this age in Europe were already receiv-
ing occasional visits from the traders who came from the coast
settlements along the Mediterranean. Such a trader's wares
were always eagerly inspected, but the interest was greatest when
he exhibited a few shining beads or neck rings of a strange,
heavy, gleaming/reddish substance, so beautiful that the villagers
trafficked eagerly for them. Most desired of all, however, was
the dagger or ax head made of the same unfamiliar substance-
Thus inner Europe made its first acquaintance with copper.
With rapt attention and awe-struck faces the Late Stone Age
Europeans listened to the trader's tales, telling of huge ships
(Fig. 13) which made the rude European dugouts (Fig. 5) look
like tiny chips. They came out of the many mouths of the
vast river of Egypt, greater than any other river in the world,
said the trader. They were-heavily loaded with the works of
the Egyptian workshops which we have visited (§§ 52-59); and
these things they carried across the Mediterranean to the
islands and coasts of southeastern Europe or neighboring Asia-
Thus at the dawn of history barbarian Europe looked across
the Mediterranean to the great civilization of the Nile, as our
own North American Indians fixed their wondering eyes on
the first Europeans who landed in America, and listened to like
strange tales of great and distant peoples.
Slowly Europe learned the use of metal.1 In spite of much
progress in craftsmanship and a more civilized life in general,
the possession of metal did not enable the peoples of Europe
to advance to a high type of civilization. They still remained
without writing, without architecture in hewn-stone masonry,
and without large sailing ships for commerce. In that portion
of Europe nearest to Egypt, however, we find that civilization
developed most rapidly; namely, around the ^Egean Sea, to
which we must now go.
1 As we shall see, the Stone Age was only very gradually succeeded by the
Copper or Bronze Age. Metal reached southeastern Europe not long afW
3000 B.C., but in western and northern Europe it was almost 2000 B.C. bef°re
the beginning of the Copper Age, which soon became the Bronze Age.