90 



CHAMBERED 



dwelling of the dead. When a great man died, he was 

 placed on his favorite seat, food and drink were arranged 

 before him, his weapons were placed by his side, his house 

 was closed, and the door covered up ; sometimes, however, to 

 be opened again when his wife or children joined him in the 

 land of spirits. 



Many skulls have been obtained in Scandinavia, from 

 tumuli of this character ; they are round, with heavy, over- 

 hanging brows, and go far to justify the opinion entertained 

 by some archaeologists, that the pre-Celtic inhabitants of 

 Scandinavia, and, perhaps, of Europe generally, were of Tu- 

 ranian origin, akin to the modern Laplanders. The " cham- 

 bered " tumuli of Great Britain resemble, in many respects, 

 the Scandinavian " Ganggraben," and, like them, are con- 

 sidered by some archaeologists as the earliest in time; but 

 instead of the round, heavy-browed skulls found in the mega- 

 lithic Scandinavian tumuli, the occupants of the "chambered" 

 mounds in England (so far, at least, as we can judge from the 

 somewhat scanty evidence which we possess), are charac- 

 terised by very long and narrow skulls, which have received 

 from Dr. Wilson the name of " Kumbecephalic," or boat- 

 shaped skulls. Moreover (apart from the a priori improba- 

 bility of these great megalithic tumuli being in all cases 

 earlier than the smaller and simpler mounds), we must re- 

 member that in the great burial mound of New Grange, in 

 Ireland, the stones are decorated with figures very charac- 

 teristic of the Bronze age, and evidently engraved before the 

 stones were placed in their present position, as they are, in 

 some cases, overlapped by the neighbouring slabs. Those 

 who wish to see the present state of the question as to 

 these chambered tumuli, and the Kumbecephalic skulls, will 

 find it well stated by Dr. Wilson in the Pre-historic Annals 

 of Scotland;* but I agree with the able authors of the 

 * Second ed., vol. i. p. 249 



