112 INTRODUCTION. 



}s correct which regards them as the burial-places, not of the 

 mass of the people, but of those who occupied a position of 

 authority, of whatever nature that might be, amongst them. This 

 view appears to be most consistent with facts, for it cannot be 

 supposed for a moment that the whole population was buried 

 in the sepulchral mounds. Had that been the case, the barrows 

 would have been far more abundant than they are, even though 

 the time during which the practice was in use was very short. 

 But as it is evident that the period when burials in the barrows 

 took place was a lengthened one, it becomes still more certain 

 that only a very small part of the population received such a 

 distinction. These mounds must be regarded as the places of 

 sepulture of chiefs of tribes, clans, and families, or of other people 

 in authority claiming and being allowed a position of respect, 

 and of those who were nearly connected with them, as wives, 

 children, and personal dependants. Some of the barrows, indeed, 

 appear to have been in use over a lengthened period, and assume 

 somewhat of the character of a family bury ing-place. The mass 

 of the community were probably buried at no great depth beneath 

 the surface, and with no mound over them, or at all events a very 

 trifling one, to mark the spot. Nor is it likely that anything in 

 the shape of implement, ornament, or pottery was deposited with 

 them. Under these circumstances it is impossible to identify their 

 burying-places. Skeletons, however, have very frequently been 

 found in places where there was no visible mound or any appear- 

 ance to show that such had formerly existed, and these bodies may 

 very possibly represent the humbler members of the population. 

 In some instances large numbers of burials have been discovered 

 together, constituting what may be denominated as cemeteries, and 

 consisting both of burnt and unburnt bodies ; places like these may 

 be regarded perhaps as the common burial-place of the community, 

 the heads of which may have been interred in adjacent barrows 1 . 

 In many parts both of England and Scotland, where the land has 

 never been under cultivation, it is not uncommon to find large 

 numbers of small mounds in groups, which are usually accompanied 

 by one or more larger mounds ; in the latter, burials, frequently 



1 At Bimbury, in Dorsetshire, a large number of cinerary urns were discovered 

 without any apparent barrows overlying them, constituting in fact a cemetery ; the 

 same mode of interment was met with on Lancaster Moor ; at Garlands, near Carlisle ; 

 and at St. Andrews in Fifeshire; at all of which places many burnt bodies and a 

 number of urns were found. 



