ITALY AND ITS ISLANDS 



rate, a presumption that in all three islands we 

 have to deal with the same civilization if not the 

 same people. 



Such a presumption is not weakened by the 

 fact that in Sicily the usual form of tomb was the 

 rock-hewn sepulchre, which, as will be seen later, 

 is very often a concomitant of the megalithic 

 monument, and in many cases is proved to be 

 the work of the same people. In the early neo- 

 lithic period in Sicily, called by Orsi the Sicanian 

 Period, rock-hewn tombs seem not to have been 

 used. It is only at the beginning of the metal age 

 that they begin to appear. In this period, the 

 so-called First Siculan, the tomb-chamber was 

 almost always circular or elliptical, entered by 

 a small door or window in the face of the rock. 

 The dead were often seated round the wall of the 

 chamber, evidently engaged in a funerary feast, 

 as is clear from the great vase set in their midst 

 with small cups for ladling out the liquid. A 

 single tomb often contained many bodies, especi- 

 ally in cases where the banquet arrangement was 

 not observed ; one chamber held more than a hun- 

 dred skeletons, and it has been suggested that the 

 bodies were only laid in the tomb after the flesh 

 had been removed from the bones, either arti- 

 ficially or as the result of a temporary burial 

 elsewhere. Such a custom is not unknown in 

 other parts of the megalithic area. With these 

 bodies were found large quantities of painted 



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