ARCHAEOLOGY. (SPANISH AND FRENCH.) 



fact that it was suddenly destroyed at the mo~ 

 rnent of its highest prosperity, B. c. 510, coupled 

 with the soft alluvial character of the deposit, 

 like that of Olympia, with which it is buried, 

 encourages the hope that its treasures may be 

 found in a well-preserved condition. 



Spain and France. Ancient Sepulchres of 1'Argar 

 and Fnente Alamo. The MM. Siret, of Brussels, 

 in their books, " Les Premiers Ages du Metal 

 dans le Sud-est de FEspagne," describe some 

 thirty prehistoric stations, furnishing relics of 

 the ages of stone, copper, and bronze of which 

 about twelve thousand objects have been col- 

 lected. The sepultures present some very in- 

 teresting characteristics ; among them are ex- 



the woman was found a fillet of silver. Upon 

 the bones of the other skeleton lay a flat bronze 

 sword studded with rivets. Beautiful pieces of 

 pottery, which had been made without the aid 

 of the wheel, and footless vases, were deposited 

 in the tomb. In another instance, a silver dia- 

 dem, somewhat like the one just mentioned, 

 but complete, was found upon the head of the 

 skeleton. It was a simple fillet of metal, with 

 an appendage made of a thin plate of silver, 

 occupying a curious position which suggests 

 that some accident must have happened to dis- 

 turb it during or after burial. Ear-buckles to 

 a round shape, and beads of bone or stone, com- 

 pleted the list of ornaments found in this tomb. 



JAR DISCOVERED AT I/ARGAR, SPAIN. 



amples of inhumation in jars and in cists con- 

 structed of blocks (if stone. The arms, tools, and 

 vessels of the deceased were usually placed with 

 him in the tomb; if a man, his hatchet; if a 

 woman, her poignard and bodkin; and jewelry 

 with both sexes, but most abundantly with the 

 female. The jars containing the dead were de- 

 posited in a horizontal position with the mouth 

 closed by a stone. In the jar represented in 

 the figure, which was found at TArgar, were 

 found near the skull three spiral ear-pendants, 

 two of which are of bronze and three of cop- 

 per. Pieces of linen cloth were still adhering to 

 them ; a ring was upon one of the fingers of the 

 skeleton, and beside it lay a bodkin, indicating 

 its sex. At the station of Fuente Alamo, of the 

 same age as 1'Argar, the burial-places were 

 made of slabs of stone. One of them was 

 0'82 metre long, 0'55 m. broad, and 0'50 m. 

 deep, and contained the bodies of a man and a 

 woman. Among the debris under the skull of 



In another tomb was found a bracelet, weigh- 

 ing 114 grains, made of rolled golden wire. 



Roman Necropolis at Carmona. The existence 

 of a Roman necropolis at Carmona, near Se- 

 ville, has been known for several years. The 

 site is marked by mounds which have proved 

 to be tumuli of a prehistoric age. Around these 

 mounds the Romans had hewed small chambers 

 out of the rock to serve as family tombs. They 

 are from four to five yards square, and of the 

 height of a man. In the walls are small cavi- 

 ties or niches for the cinerary urns, each ot 

 which generally contains, besides the ashes of 

 the dead, a coin, a mirror, a lachrymnry, 

 needles, a stylus and tabula, and a signet-ring. 

 The walls are mostly painted in fresco or dis- 

 temper in the Pompeiian style, with represen- 

 tations of birds, dolphins, and wreaths of 

 flowers. Near the entrance of each tomb is 

 the crematorium, an oven, also hewed out of the 

 rock, on the sides of all of which signs of fire 



