Of all the prehistoric periods yet distinguished in Western Europe the Neolithic has suffered the hardest fate. Having in the past enjoyed a seemingly secure and important position in the field of prehistory, with an estimated duration of several thousand years, this unfortunate period has of late been so assailed before and behind that its very existence has been called in question. In Britain, however, recent researches seem to have rescued our Neolithic from complete extinction by the encroaching Mesolithic and Bronze Ages, and given it an established position once more, albeit a more humble one than it occupied in its days of undue inflation. Because it has become better understood, an epoch to which formerly thousands of yearswere allocated is now limited to hundreds.
