12 INTRODUCTION. 



new one, and it is not unlikely that this, a sacred Pagan custom, 

 was remembered in Christian times, but was then associated with 

 what is irreligious, just as the practice of burning the dead, because 

 it was in use under the old system, was made illegal when 

 Christianity became the religion of the State. The passage occurs 

 where the priest, answering Laertes relative to the burial of 

 Ophelia, a suicide, and therefore unholy, says : 



' Her death was doubtful ; 



And, but that great command o'ersways the order, 

 She should in ground unsanctified have lodged 

 Till the last trump; for charitable prayers, 

 Shards, flints and pebbles should be thrown on her/ 



The bodies, both burnt and unburnt, are found buried in various 

 parts of the barrows. The central, which in case of no after disturb- 

 ance is the primary, burial, was usually made in a grave, sunk to a 

 greater or less depth in the chalk rock. This grave is either oval 

 or circular, and its shape and size were no doubt in some measure 

 regulated by the way in which the makers were able to work out 

 the chalk at that particular spot. It varies considerably in size, 

 and is found from under 3 ft. to above 10 ft. in diameter, and 

 from 1 ft. to 10 ft. in depth, below the original surface of the 

 ground. In some few instances the central and primary burial has 

 been made upon the surface level, and more unfrequently still 

 above it. 



The number of burials in a barrow is very uncertain, nor is 

 the size of the mound any criterion in that respect. A large barrow 

 may contain a single interment, a small one several. When more 

 bodies than one are found in the mound, they are placed at greater 

 or less distances from the centre, upon or beneath the natural 

 surface, or above it, at different levels. Some of these appear to 

 have been buried when the primary interment took place, whilst 

 others are evidently the bodies of persons interred at a time subse- 

 quent to that of the first erection of the barrow. These secondary 

 interments have been made either by placing the body on the 

 surface of an existing barrow, or on the surface of the ground just 

 beyond its limits, and then covering them by adding more material 

 to the mound ; or by making an excavation into it. Secondary 

 burials occur in all parts of a barrow, and the several levels at which 

 they have been met with seems to show that a mound has some- 

 times been increased in size on two or more occasions. They have 

 been made on all the sides of a barrow, but much more frequently 



