ABSTRACT
To understand the “Nordic” battle-axe cultures which intruded into the Danubian province in period III we must now return to Scandinavia and take up the story of culture there at the critical period where we left it in chapter I. We then raised the question whether the neolithic civilization of Scandinavia was a spontaneous local creation or whether it was introduced or inspired from without. Now Montelius divided the new stone age in the north into four periods of which the first is represented by polished flint celts with pointed butts. However Montelius’ period I is really an empty name. No graves or settlements are known containing the typical implement and so it cannot be said whether a neolithic culture prevailed in the period—if such a period existed at all. And indeed its very existence has been doubted by high authorities; 1 for the celts with pointed butts are rare and to speak of a period with no content is absurd.
