CHARCOAL IN GHAVES. 29 



This substance, which I have found to exist in every instance 

 since my attention was directed to the fact, not only in Yorkshire, 

 but in Northumberland and other places, I have little doubt would 

 be discovered connected with every interment of an unburnt body 

 if it was looked for. The frequency of its occurrence and the close 

 contact between it and the body make it very improbable that its 

 presence is accidental. It is true that charcoal is often met with 

 scattered throughout the greater part of a sepulchral mound, when 

 it may be supposed to represent the remains of fires on the surface 

 of the ground, and gathered up with the material of the barrow, 

 or to be the ashes of the fire at which the feast was cooked if such 

 took place, and indeed it is probable that in many cases it does 

 represent such remains. But another explanation of its occurrence 

 may be given, and one which makes it a part of the same burning 

 as that originating the charcoal found in the grave. It has been 

 shown that cremation, though not the most frequent mode of burial 

 upon the wolds, prevailed there to a considerable extent, being in 

 some parts of the district the more common practice. In other 

 localities in Yorkshire, and the same may be said of Britain in 

 general, it is by far the most usual custom. The application of 

 fire to the body was therefore one of the rites which was com- 

 monly practised in connection with burial. The extent t)f the 

 burning varied much, as might be expected, and as is found to 

 be the case in India at the present day. Sometimes the bones 

 were reduced almost to powder, at other times they are so little 

 consumed that each particular bone can be recognised, whilst in 

 some cases only a part of them has been acted upon by the fire, 

 other portions being in a perfectly uncalcined state 1 . It appears 



dans une couche de braise et meme sur des cendres.' La Normandie Souterraine, ed. 

 1855, p. 308. 



Charcoal has been frequently found in Christian graves, even of a comparatively late 

 date. Durandus explains its occurrence thus : ' Carbones in testimonium, quod terra 

 ilia ad communes usus amplius redigi non potest, plus enim durat carbo sub terra quam 

 aliud/ Rationale Divin. Offic. lib. vii. cap. 35. sect. 38. The same explanation is 

 given by Beleth in his Explicatio Divin. Offic. cap. 161. 



1 Cases have been met with in more than one country in Europe where parts of the 

 body only have been burnt, the remainder having never, apparently, been subjected to 

 the action of fire. M. Ph. Lalande says that he found, in a tumulus, Commune de 

 Saint-Cernin de 1'Arche [Correze], an unburnt body, associated with bronze armlets 

 (probably of the early iron age), where the head had been burnt, the bones of which 

 had been enclosed in an urn, placed where the head should have been. Materiaux 

 pour FHist. Prim, de 1'Homme, Sec. Ser., vol. ii. p. 407. In the cemetery at Hallstatt, 

 of the time of transition from bronze to iron, numerous instances were discovered where 

 parts of the body were burnt, whilst others were left unburnt ; nor does any rule seem 

 to apply there; sometimes the head is burnt, at other times the body had passed 



