404 THE ORIGIN OF THE SLAVS. 



than the Slavs. It can now be demonstrated that these were the 

 ancestors of the Veneti of the Adriatic, and that they penetrated even 

 as far as the Baltic littoral at a remote period. In the center and in 

 the north the}^ were the propagators of the rite of cremation. 



CREMATION PROPAGATED BY THE VENETI PROVES THEIR INFLUENCE AND AIDS IN 

 TRACING THEIR MIGRATIONS. 



The rite of cremation appears in the terramare of Emilia, and as 

 the presence of this custom must have a relation to the intrusion of 

 a foreign race, Sergi thinks that even at that time Illyrians — that is, 

 " proto- Aryans " (or our Yeneti) — had penetrated into Italy.'^ In 

 the northeast of Italy there are circular ramparts resembling those 

 of Bohemia, Istria, Dalmatia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. 



Cremation did not become general in Italy before the early iron 

 age, and perhaps coincides with the first Venetish invasion. If the 

 Italian civilization of that age is not to be attributed to the Etruscans 

 (as Sergi is inclined to believe) the Veneti were evidently its authors. 

 In any case, from the early iron age the Veneti had relations with 

 Italy and with the Etruscans, and the role in the civilization of 

 central Europe, hitherto attributed to the Etruscans, must be cred- 

 ited to them. They are the authors of the cinerary tombs of Glasinac 

 and Sanskimost, of the cemetery of Santa Lucia in Tolmino, and of 

 other Hallstadtian cemeteries. They are thus the originators and the 

 propagators of the Hallstadtian civilization. There Ave meet with 

 their name and with the practice of cremation and the products of 

 that Illyrian and north Italian civilization. 



A large number of amber beads from the Baltic Avas found at 

 Glasinac, while objects of glass, gold, and ivory are preserved at 

 Hallstadt, and beads of blue glass from the crematory tombs of 

 Bosnia were transported to the Baltic. This points to a strong 

 northward migration from Illyria and Pannonia. Plaving reached 

 the Danube it folloAved its course as far as the Lake of Constance, 

 entering it through the mountains of Salzburg, where Hallstadt is 

 located, and in part through Switzerland. North of the Danube 

 this movement ran at the same period, in part through Bohemia along 

 the Elbe and Oder, occupying Silesia, Lusatia, Posen, and the Vis- 

 tula, and finally the Baltic. 



In this extensive territory there settled in the course of the Hall- 

 stadtian period a jjopulation less warlike than the Gauls and the 

 Germans and more sedentary, its chief point of distinction being the 

 religious rite of burning all its dead. It used iron and bronze orna- 

 ments of the Hallstadtian type and also received the products of the 

 Mediterranean civilization, Avhile its cinerarv vases and urns and 



o Arii et Italici, 1898, p. 134. 



