As the centuries passed the Neolithic people progressed in many
directions. They improved their methods of making their weapons until they
were able to produce axe-heads so perfectly ground and polished and with
such a keen cutting edge that it would be impossible to make anything
better. These celts like the arrow-heads were always fitted into cleft
handles or shafts of wood, and it was probably at a later period that the
stone hammer, pierced with a hole, made its appearance. Spinning and
weaving in some extremely primitive fashion were evolved, so that the
people were not entirely clothed in skins. They cultivated wheat to a
small extent and kept herds of goats and horned sheep. The pottery they
made was crude and almost entirely without ornament. The skeletons of this
period show that although they led a life of great activity, probably as
hunters, they were rather short in stature, averaging, it is thought by Dr
Garson, less than 5 feet 65 inches. Their jaws were not prognathous as in
negroes, and their brow ridges were not nearly so prominent as in the men
of the Old Stone Age, and thus their facial expression must have been
mild.
[Illustration: PRE-HISTORIC WEAPONS IN THE MUSEUM AT PICKERING.
Flint arrow head of unusual shape.
Bronze Spear head.
Bronze celt found at Kirby Moorside.
Flint arrow head found at Yeddingham (_half size_).
Flint arrow heads found at Moorcock and Wrelton (_half size_).
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