ings were formed most probably of stone, wood, and earth, for they even buried their dead with much care in Cromlechs, which were formed of large stones, smooth on the inner side. By the side of the dead were laid their hunting and fishing implements, of bone and stone. Similar Cromlechs, with similar contents, are to be seen on the south coast of the Baltic, and on the north-west and west coasts of Europe, in England and Ireland, but have not been found either in the interior of Europe, in Norway, or in the northern parts of Sweden.
In the next period, or during the age of bronze, a greater degree of cultivation was introduced into the country, and by this means all previous relations were completely changed. The natives were now in possession of two metals, bronze, (a com- position of copper and tin,) and gold. They possessed woven cloth, and handsomely wrought trinkets, weapons, shields, helmets, and wind instruments, which were adorned with peculiar embellishments, particularly with the so-called spiral ornaments. Bronze tools gradually supplanted the implements of stone, which however continued for a long time to be used by the poorer classes; and hunting and fishing gave way to agriculture, which was then commencing. The forests in the interior of the country were cleared by degrees, in proportion as agriculture was more widely extended, and the population increased. Intercourse with other countries was opened, partly by means of warlike expeditions, partly by commerce: navigation acquired importance, and ships were built of a larger and better description, than the simple vessels formed of hollow trees. At this period it was customary to burn the bodies of the dead, and to deposit the bones which remained in cinerary urns, in small stone cists, or under heaps of stones in large mounds of earth. Sometimes the bodies were also interred unburnt in stone cists, which are however always totally different, both in size and form, from the Cromlechs of the stone-period. Barrows containing implements of bronze are found in great numbers over nearly the whole of Europe, except in Norway and Sweden, where they are extremely rare.
