Opmiinrj of a Rmiml Barruw, dc. 79 



burial monuments of chiefs of a prehistoric stone-age race of 

 Indians. 



Mounds and barrows are plentiful in our own country, and we 

 shall soon discuss the one which is the subject of our paper. It 

 would, however, be of advantage to briefly examine a few more 

 details as to forms and details of burials. In ordinary burials it 

 has been an almost universal custom to place with the body not 

 only the weapons and implements of the deceased, but also money 

 and food to assist it on its unknown journey, and the means of 

 making fire in order to procure light in the dark path before 

 it. There is still a survival in a modified form of such 

 ancient customs. Dolls have often been found in the graves 

 of Koman children, and it is not an uncommon practice in our 

 own day to bury with our dead some object of interest to the 

 departed one. 



The chiefs of sea-going tribes, such as the Vikings, were, as we 

 know, buried in their canoes with all its and their equipments, a 

 gigantic mound being erected over the whole. Canoe-burial is 

 known not only in Scandinavia, but in America. Sometimes, 

 again, the dead chief, clad in his best and most warlike costume, 

 was placed upon the back of his living horse, and the mound was 

 slowly reared until it buried the living and the dead together. 

 The slaughter of slaves and even of the relatives and wives of 

 dead chiefs is a practice well known, and dates from very early 

 times. The Suttee as even now practised in India, and the 

 horrible customs of the West Coast of Africa, are survivals of 

 this dreadful accompaniment of burial. Of course the object of 

 such slaughter is the belief that the spirits of those slain will 

 accompany the spirit of the dead chief in the unknown regions 

 beyond the grave. 



The positions and conditions in which the bodies of the 

 dead were deposited in their last resting place varied as much 

 as did the modes of burial, if indeed not more so. In some 

 instances the body was buried in a standing position, in others 

 it was doubled up into a crouching position ; in a few instances 

 the body has been found lying on its face, whilst reposing on 

 its side was much more frequent. The usual position, how- 

 ever, over a very wide range of time and area, is to place the 

 body on its back. And then we come to its position in regard to 

 the points of the compass. In very many instances little or 

 no notice seems to have been taken respecting this, whilst in 

 others we find savage races placing their dead in some position 

 as regards the rising or setting sun ; the Indians of Nebraska 

 always bury with the head towards the east. Again, there are 

 various theories as to the position of such monumental stones, 

 as those of Stonehenge, for example ; but it is very doubtful 

 whether there be any reason for such theories, as the positions 



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