SHELL-MOUNDS. 197 



had been preceded by pines, and that the country was in- 

 habited even then. 



Again, the immense number of objects belonging to the 

 Bronze age which have been found in Denmark from time 

 to time, and the great number of burial places, appear to 

 justify the Danish Archaeologists in assigning to this period 

 a very great lapse of time. The same arguments apply with 

 even more strength to the remains of the Stone period, as a 

 country, the inhabitants of which live by hunting and fishing, 

 can never be thickly populated ; and, on the whole, the con- 

 clusion is forced upon us, that the country must have been 

 inhabited for a very long period, although none of the Danish 

 remains belong to a time as ancient as some of those which 

 have been found in other parts of Europe, and which will be 

 described in subsequent chapters. 



