April
7,
1870]
NA TURE
58:
one or both ends broken off. The breaking of the point of the dead warrior's spear was probably a solemn ceremony, and contrasts agreeably with repulsive funereal practices to which we shall presently refer. The bones and teeth of animals apparently used for. food, are found in considerable numbers. The remains of Bos loiigifrolls and Cer'i'us elaplitis are, however, less
endorses Mr. Greenwell's opinion on this point in the " Altogether I see no difficulty in following words acceding to the conclusion of Mr. Greenwcll, ihat in the
frequent than in the unchambered barrows, whilst those of the wild boar are much more abundant. have already in our first article alluded to the important evidence which the critical study of the human remains from the long barrows is calculated to afford us, but in our remarks thus far we have purposely refrained from entering into the details of this subject. Although certain of the chambered barrows have afforded numerous skeletons, these monuments have been so frequently disturbed by treasure-seekers in bygone times, that our information as to the mode of interment is not so satis-
feasts,
We
FIG.
disjointed, cleft, and broken condition of the human b mes in many of the long barrows, and especially in those
examined by him
Scamridge, near Ebberstone, and we have indications of funeral where slaves, captives, and others were slain and
eaten."
In a large proportion of the long barrows of the Southof England, many of the skulls have been found to be split open apparently by some such weapon as a stone axe. The sharpness of the fracture seems to leave no doubt that the injuries were inflicted during life, or at all events before burial. It is inferred from the frequency of these cleft skulls, and the direction in which they are split, that they are those of victims immolated at the burial of a chief. Sometimes one skull is found uninjured
West
4.— VIEW IN THE CHAMBER, LOOKING THROUGH THE ENTRANCE
There seems, however, to be factory as could be wished. little doubt that the bodies were placed round the walls of the chambers in a crouching or squatting posture, a favourite attitude for the dead both among early races and existing savages. The primary interments in the simple unchambered barrows consist either of a single or two separate skeletons, or of a number of bones promisIn the latter case the bones are cuously interred. frequently found huddled together in so narrow a compass as to preclude the idea of the corpses having been buried This is most reasonably accounted for by the entire. practice known to prevail among savage races of burying the dead in or near their huts, and subsequently disinterring the bones for the purpose of burying (hem in the cemetery Canon Greenwell, so well known for his of the tribe. explorations in the Wolds of Yorkshire, thinks, that some of the bones from long barrows examined by him indicate Dr. Thurnam the horrible practice of cannibalism.
at
near Rudstone, Yorkshire,
FIG.
5.
— GALLERY
LOOKING TOWARDS THE CHAMBER
In the light of what has the others are injured. to us from classical writers of the customs of Western Europeans at the beginning of our era, we see no reason to doubt Dr. Thurnam's conclusions on this point, although we should have liked to have more precise information of the relative number of cleft and uninjured skulls in particular barrows. The question how far the human remains, more especially the skulls, enable us to determine the race characters of the people or peoples who lie buried in the tumuli of Britain, has been discussed with great care and at considerable length in two papers by the Memoirs of the in Dr. Thurnam, published Anthropological Society for the years 1864 and 1870. In the first of these papers the conclusions, based on the examination of a very considerable number of skulls and limb bones, were maintained that the people whose remains are found in the long barrows were a short, longwhile
all
come down
