Heviews — T/ie Bcifeman Collection in the Sheffield Museum. 30 



first encountered. The skulls found in the barrows mainly belong 

 to the round-headed type, some of them being mesaticephalous, 

 representing the characters of the two types." (p. vi.) 



It is interesting to notice the "very great care and trouble 

 expended over the construction of many of the grave-mounds, 

 probably those in which were deposited chiefs of tribes or important 

 individuals of the community, for it is impossible that these huge 

 mounds, which sometimes contain only a single interment, and 

 never very many, could have been constructed for all the people 

 who died. It is these barrows or tumuli which furnish the evidence 

 of the customs, habits, and rites of these ancient people. 



" The chief characteristic of a Celtic place of burial is a large 

 mound, sometimes circular, in other cases oval, and more rarely 

 long-shaped, the latter being regarded as the most ancient. These 

 mounds dififer considerably in dimensions, from 20 to 200 feet in 

 diameter and from 1 to 24 feet in height. They were usually 

 placed in a conspicuous position on or near the summit of some 

 natural elevation of the land. The mounds of earth and stone are 

 called barrows, and are formed of materials from the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the situation in which they were placed. In 

 some cases a mound of stones or a cairn was erected over the 

 dead." (p. vii.) 



Burial by Cremation. — '• Where the bodies were cremated the 

 ashes were afterwards carefully collected together, tied up in some 

 fabric, and placed on the ground ; or they were covered by or put 

 into an urn, and frequently placed in a cist or in a cavity hewn in 

 the rock." 



Ordinarrj Interment. — "Inhumation was the more common mode 

 of burial, the body probably being wrapped in some skin or garment, 

 for although these have long since perished, pins, buttons, and other 

 articles found in barrows indicate that they were used as fastenings 

 for sepulchral clothing of some kind. Some barrows contain burnt 

 and unburnt bones, one body having been interred in the position in 

 which it died, while the others were burnt ; and it may be inferred 

 from these occurrences that the sacrifice of human life at the death 

 of a chief was practised amongst the ancient Britons, as is the custom 

 in recent times with many uncivilized races. The wife, children, or 

 slaves may thus have been immolated to keep the head of the family 

 company in a future world." (p. viii.) 



Objects found in Celtic Tumuli and Barroios. — "The contents of the 

 graves lead strongly to the supposition that belief in a future state 

 was held by these jirimitive people, provision evidently being made 

 for them to carry on their work and amusements. Besides the 

 cinerary urns, which were obviously intended to contain the cremated 

 bones, other vessels of three distinct types have been found with 

 interments, both of burnt and unburnt bodies. These are generally 

 known as food-vessels, drinkiug-cups, and incense-cups, though it 

 must not be inferred that they were strictly used for the purposes 

 implied in those names." (p. viii.) 



" Implements and weapons, both in stone and bronze, are 



