100 DIFFICULTY OF DETERMINING THE PERIOD 



form implements, and ornaments of stone, bone, and amber, 

 we meet, suddenly, with a number and variety of splendid 

 weapons, implements, and jewels of bronze, and sometimes, 

 indeed, with jewels of gold;"* but also because the con- 

 struction of the tumuli themselves was different in the two 

 periods ; and the corpse, which, in the Stone age, was always 

 buried in a contracted posture, was in the Bronze age always 

 burnt. Subsequent investigations, however, have furnished 

 the Danish antiquaries rather with exceptions to, than con- 

 firmations of, this generalisation ; and, on the whole, it 

 must be admitted that we are not acquainted with any ex- 

 ternal differences by which the tumuli of the Stone, Bronze, 

 and Iron ages can with certainty be distinguished from one 

 another. The contents of the graves are, however, more in- 

 structive. Eventually, no doubt, the human remains them- 

 selves, and especially the skulls, will prove our best guides; but 

 at present we do not possess a sufficient number of trustworthy 

 descriptions or measurements, to justify us in drawing any 

 generalisation from them, excepting, perhaps, this, that the 

 skulls found with bronze in some cases closely resemble those 

 discovered in graves containing only stone implements ; from 

 which we may infer that, even if the use of bronze was intro- 

 duced by a new and more civilised race, the ancient inhabitants 

 were probably not altogether exterminated. The pottery does 

 not ut present help us much; that found in company with 

 bronze is coarse, ill-burnt, hand-made, and, in form, ornamen- 

 tation, and material, closely agrees with that which occurs in 

 graves containing stone implements only. We too often see 

 that tumuli are referred to the Stone age because they contain 

 one or two implements made of that material. This, how- 

 ever, is a very unsafe deduction. We know that stone was 

 extensively used throughout the Bronze age; and, indeed, 

 out of 37 tumuli in which Mr. Bateman found objects of 

 * Worsaae's Primeval Antiquities, p. 24. 



