102 



STATISTICS. 



the northern interments the reverse is the case; and, as 

 regards Wiltshire, if we are to regard cremation as a test of 

 the Bronze age, we must refer almost the whole of these 

 interments to that period. I confess that I, am somewhat 

 inclined to do so. No less than 270 tumuli cluster round 

 Stonehenge, and it seems most probable that the dead were 

 brought from a distance, to lie near the great temple. In 

 this case, the great majority of the tumuli belong, therefore, , 

 to one period, that, namely, at which the temple was held 

 sacred. Some few, indeed, may be referable to earlier or 

 later times, but as out of 152 of these interments, which were 

 examined by Sir R. C. Hoare, no less than 39 contained 

 objects of bronze, I am disposed to regard the whole group 

 as belonging to the Bronze period. Now in these 152 cases 

 the corpse was contracted in 4 only, and extended in 3. In 

 16 the disposition of the corpse was not ascertained, and in 

 no less than 129 it had been burnt. 



If we combine the observations of Sir R. C. Hoare and 

 Mr. Bateman, we shall obtain the following table : 



Thus, out of 37 graves containing iron weapons or imple- 

 ments, the corpse was certainly extended in 21 cases, and 

 probably so in several others; while out of no less than 

 527 cases in which iron was not present, the corpse was 

 extended only in 16, the proportion being at least 



