176 SEPULCHRAL FEASTS. SACRIFICES. 



Whether this was the case in Northern Europe, though pro- 

 bable, is still uncertain. Some archaeologists believe the dog 

 to have been at that period the only animal domesticated ; 

 others, on the contrary, consider the cow, sheep, pig, and goat, 

 if not the horse, to have been at that early period domesticated 

 in the North. In the contents of British barrows, bones of 

 these animals have been frequently observed ; and it would 

 appear from the researches of Mr. Greenwell that most of 

 them belonged to domesticated animals.* 



Eemains of the horse are very rare in English barrows, 

 and I know no well authenticated case of their occurrence in 

 a long barrow. I have thought, therefore, that it might be of 

 interest to point out the class of graves in which bones or 

 teeth of horses were found. In Mr. Bateman's valuable works 

 there are, altogether, twenty-eight cases ; but of these, nine 

 were in tumuli which had been previously opened, and in 

 one case no body was found. Of the remaining eighteen, five 

 were tumuli containing iron, and seven were accompanied 

 with bronze. In one more case, that of the "LirTs," it is 

 doubtful whether the barrow had not been disturbed. Of the 

 remaining six tumuli, two contained beautiful drinking vessels, 

 of a very well marked type, certainly in use during the Bronze 

 Age, if not peculiar to it; and in both these instances, as well 

 as in a third, the interment was accompanied by burnt human 

 bones, suggestive of dreadful rites. Even, however, if these 

 cases cannot be referred to the Bronze Age, we still see that 

 out of the two hundred and ninety-seven interments only 

 sixty-three contained metal, or about twenty-one per cent. ; 

 while out of the eighteen cases of horses' remains, twelve, or 

 about sixty-six per cent., certainly belong to the metallic 

 period. This seems to "be primd facie evidence that the horse 

 was very rare, if not altogether unknown, in England during 

 the Stone Age. Both the horse and bull appear to have been 



* Greenwell. British Barrows. 



