MODE OF BURIAL. 



Bronze brooches are also very rarely found in the Bronze 

 age, and are common in that of Iron. The sword, again 

 belongs to a form which is regarded by Professor Nilsson as 

 being of late introduction. 



Finally, the mode of sepulture, though other similar cases 

 are on record, is, to say the least, very unusual - y in the age of 

 Iron, indeed, the corpse is generally extended, but in that of 

 Bronze the dead were, with few exceptions, burned, or buried 

 in a contracted attitude. In Denmark, cremation appears to 

 have been almost universal; in England I have taken out 

 the statistics of 100 cases of tombs containing objects of 

 bronze, 37 recorded by Mr. Bateman and 63 by Sir H. C. 

 Hoare ; and the following table shows the manner in which 

 the corpse had been treated. 



Contracted, Burnt. Extended. Uncertain. 



Bateman 15 10 5 7 



Hoare 4 49 2 8 



19 59 7 15 



We may consider, therefore, that during this period the 

 corpse was sometimes, though rarely, extended on its back, 

 that more frequently it was buried in a sitting or crouching 

 position, and in a small chamber formed by large stones, but 

 that the most usual practice was to burn the dead, and collect 

 the ashes and fragments of bones in, or under, an urn. 



The ancient funeral customs, however, will be more fullr 

 considered in a subsequent chapter. 



