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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



mill belonging to the period. Caldrons of clay have holes bored 

 in the upper part, by which the vessel was probably hung over 

 the fire for cooking. Vessels were decorated with straight lines. 

 A horn axe assigned to this period bears two engraved representa- 

 tions of animals. 



Except the pile-houses of the Swiss lakes, we know nothing of 

 the dwellings of the Stone age. Prof. Montelius thinks the con- 

 jecture is allowable that the people lived in tents made of hides, 

 or in hovels of wood, stones, and turf. Prof. Mlsson has traced 

 a resemblance in form between what are called the "passage- 

 graves " of Scandinavia and the homes of the arctic races in 

 America and Europe. That the Stone-age men had fixed dwell- 

 ing-places "appears from their often magnificent tombs, which 

 seem to point to the beginning of an organized society, and the 

 combined industry of a small community or of a whole tribe." 

 These tombs are described as "dolmens" (Fig. 7), "passage- 

 graves " (Fig. 8), and " stone cists " (Fig. 9). Of these, the dol- 

 mens were the earliest ; the passage-graves are a little later ; the 



Pig. 9.— Stone Cist neak Skottened. 



uncovered stone cists are later still ; and the cists covered with a 

 barrow belong to the time of transition between the Stone and 

 Bronze ages. 



" During the Stone age," says Prof. Montelius, " bodies were 

 always buried unburned, in a recumbent or sitting position. By 

 the side of the dead body was usually laid a weapon, a tool, or 

 some ornaments. We often find in graves of this period earthen- 

 ware vessels, now filled only with earth. The care bestowed upon 

 the last resting-place of the departed certainly betokens a belief 

 in a future life ; but the things placed by the side of the dead 

 seem to show that that life was believed to be merely a continua- 

 tion of the life on earth, with the same needs and the same pleas- 



