170 BRETON TUMULI. 



And in treating of modern savages, I shall hereafter have 

 occasion to notice other instances quite as extraordinary. 



The practice of burying in old tumuli, which continued 

 even clown to the times of Charlemagne,* has led to some 

 confusion, because objects of very different date are thus 

 liable to be described as coming from one grave ; yet, on the 

 other hand, it is very instructive, as there are several cases on 

 record, besides the one above mentioned, of interments cha- 

 racterized by bronze being found above, and being, therefore, 

 evidently subsequent to others, accompanied by stone only.-f- 



On the whole, however, though it is evident that the objects 

 most frequently buried with the dead would be those most 

 generally used by the living, and though the prevalence of 

 stone implements proves the important part played by stone 

 in ancient times, and goes far to justify the belief in a Stone 

 Age ; still, the evidence to be brought forward on this point 

 in the following chapters will, probably, to many minds seem 

 more satisfactory ; and, at any rate, we must admit that in 

 the present state of our knowledge, there are comparatively 

 few interments which we could, with confidence, refer to the 

 Neolithic Stone Age, however firmly we may believe that a 

 great many of them must belong to it. 



Mr. Bateman has proposed to range the pottery found in 

 ancient British tumuli under four different heads, namely, 

 1, Urns ; 2, Incense Cups ; 3, Food Vases ; 4, Drinking Cups. 

 The urns generally accompany interments by cremation, and 

 have either contained or been inverted over burnt human 

 bones. They are generally of large size, " from ten to sixteen 

 inches high, with a deep border, more or less decorated by 



* One of his regulations ran as 



follows: "Jubenius ut corpora f See, for instance, Von Sacken, 

 ChristianorumSaxonorumadcerne- Leitfaden zur Kunde des heidnis- 

 teria ecclesiae deferantur, et non ad chen Alterthmnes, p. 15. 

 tumulos paganorum." 



