THE SAKLYN BURIALS. 103 



of Neolithic age, though the fauna and weapons found with them 

 are PalseoKthic. The first of these skeletons, found in 1873, lay 

 in the bent position, the knees being tucked up, and the head 

 dolichocephalic. The body had been dressed for burial and lay 

 as if in sleep. It had been painted and adorned with necklaces 

 of shells, while weapons were placed close to the hands. Troni 

 the quantity of hair found under the skeleton, it has been 

 concluded, that the body was wrapped in the skin of some wild 

 beast (probably a bear) when it was buried." 



Further to the east, on the Italian coast, we find the burial 

 places of Finale, which are truly Neolithic. The skeletons are 

 dolichocephalic and are all contracted like those of Harlyn, 

 while the well-known Neolithic trinkets, weapons, and earthern 

 vases were found with the skeletons. The island of Sardinia 

 is full of Neolithic remains, "Giants' graves," and shell 

 mounds, and among them dolichocephalic skeletons lie buried in 

 the contracted position. Similar sepulchres and skeletons occur 

 in the caves of Spain ; and in the shell-mounds in Portugal, 

 which have been considered to be some of the oldest relics of 

 the Neolithic era, we find the skeletons lying in the bent-up 

 position, and characterised, like those of Harlyn, by a skull truly 

 dolichocephalic. The ancient inhabitants of the Canary Islands, 

 known as Gruanches, were, when first visited by Europeans, in a 

 stone age, being ignorant of metals, and tilling the fields with 

 bullocks' horns. They are supposed to represent a primitive 

 dolichocephalic race which in the Neolithic period spread over 

 Northern Africa. They buried their dead in caverns in a sitting 

 posture, the body being placed with the knees drawn up to the 

 chin. All Northern Africa is full of megalithic remains, Algeria 

 containing more dolmens and menhirs than any other country in 

 the world. In these are numerous burials, nearly all of which 

 are characterised by the dolichocephalic head, and the contracted 

 position of the skeleton. It is curious that Herodotus states, 

 that in his time all the people of North Africa buried their dead 

 in an extended position, except the Nasamones who laid the bodies 

 in the graves in a sitting posture. These Nasamones, therefore, 

 may be considered as descendants of the Neolithic inhabitants of 



10. L' Antiguite de V Homme dans les Alpes Maritim.es, by E. Riviere. 



