EARLY MAN 



rim decorated with incised lines in a herring-bone pattern ; the decor- 

 ation in others is formed by the indentation of a twisted thong, which 

 was made in the clay when it was in a soft state ; this ornamentation 

 is sometimes carried on below the overlapping rim. These urns are 

 often found with a flat stone over the mouth. In other cases the urn 

 has been placed upside down. 



(2) Food vessels, which are supposed to be receptacles for offer- 

 ings of food, are of a more squat form than the cinerary urns and wider 

 at the mouth, but decorated in much the same way. 



(3) Drinking cups. These are of superior make and are usually 

 more decorated, the whole of the surface being covered with patterns, 

 in some cases extending to the bottom of the vessel. In shape these 

 drinking cups are globular in the lower part, gradually contracting 

 towards the centre and slightly expanding at the mouth. 



(4) Incense cups. This class of vessels is much smaller than any 

 of the three other classes. They range from i inch to about 3 inches 

 in height and measure from i inch to 4 inches in diameter, and are of 

 various shapes. 



In this age we meet with a singular change in the burial customs. 

 In Neolithic times the dead were buried together with their implements 

 and weapons of stone, often in large chambered tombs ; in the Bronze 

 age cremation made its appearance, though it did not entirely super- 

 sede the older mode of inhumation. The researches of Canon Greenwell 

 prove that the two modes were carried on simultaneously ; the reason 

 of this may be due to the older practice being retained by the descend- 

 ants of the Neolithic people, or to the fact that cremation was practised 

 upon the remains of the great, while the lower classes were simply 

 buried. Cremation was probably then, as it is now, a more expensive 

 process. As one writer remarks : ' At this day we speak of the ashes 

 of the great and the bones of the poor.' The tumuli or barrows that 

 were raised over the burying places in the Bronze age were of different 

 shape from those which covered the Neolithic dead. The latter were 

 long or oval in form, while the tumuli of the Bronze age were round 

 or ' bowl ' shaped ; but none of the tumuli of this age contained those 

 structures of stone which were prevalent in the Neolithic barrows, 

 except in some cases in the north of Scotland. 



The general life of the people of the Bronze age was more advanced 

 than that of the preceding period. Their pottery was superior and of 

 greater variety, their clothes were better, they were more efficient in 

 spinning and weaving, their weapons and implements show that they had 

 attained to a great skill in the process of casting, their personal orna- 

 ments were necklaces made of stone, bone, glass, jet or amber, and in 

 one case of gold beads. They had earrings of bronze. Their practice 

 of burying in barrows various articles, such as their weapons, often 

 accompanied by vessels supposed to be receptacles for food, is generally 

 considered a proof of their belief in a future life. They possessed 

 sickles of bronze with which they reaped their corn. 



141 



