ON THE INTERMENTS OF PRIMITIVE MAN. 



BY J. BARNARD DAVIS, M.D., F.R.S., F.A.S. 



IN the summer of 1871, a cairn was opened near to 

 Caldon Low, at which several members of the club were 

 present by the polite invitation of Mr. T. Redfern, of 

 Leek. Many human bones were met with during the 

 excavation, and pieces of charcoal, and also a few rude 

 flint chippings. When the bones were exhibited at the 

 next ordinary meeting of the club by Mr. Garner, the 

 following paper was read. Mr. Garner described the 

 peculiarites of the bones, pointed out to which sex they 

 belonged, and the forms of the fragmentary skulls. 



This cairn and its contents undoubtedly belong to what 

 has been designated the Round Barrow period, or the 

 Bronze age, although no remains of bronze were actually 

 met with. The finding of such implements must of course, 

 in many cases, depend upon circumstances of an entirely 

 accidental nature. 



j 



Numerous and very searching investigations have been 

 made during the present century into barrows, cairns, lows, 

 and other depositories in which the remains of man and 

 his works have been met with. The early inhabitants of 

 many countries the Ancient Britons, for example were 

 accustomed to dispose of the dead reverently, interring 

 them in these structures, and showing their participation 



