244 MORTIMER : OBSERVATIONS ON CONTENTS OF HOWE TUMULUS. 
been taken from each division of the mound under the blue clay- 
show that these animals were then numerous and used as food. As 
regards the human bones, two of which are the lower ends of the 
humerus belonging to adult persons, the larger is blackened in con- 
sequence of having been scorched, probably in cooking, show the 
sharply jagged fractures* similar to those observed on the splintered 
animal bones, with which they were associated. 
These human bones had been broken at the same time in a 
similar fresh condition, and might also have been the remains of 
feastings. Cannibalism has undoubtedly existed at one time or 
another all over the world, and probably this repulsive practice 
would long survive, especially at great funeral gatherings or other 
religious ceremonies. As before stated, very few bones were found in 
the large mass of rough chalk forming that portion of the mound 
above the bed of blue clay, with the exception of those met with in 
the disturbed portion at the apex of the barrow. These, as already 
mentioned, (p. 217) were detached and broken bones of the ox, the 
dog, and the horse, also a few human bones. The remains of the horse 
were not found below this disturbed portion of the mound. All 
these were evidently of a secondary character, belonging to an 
unknown but comparatively recent period ; probably they were 
Anglo-Saxon interments. These bones were not included in the 
collection submitted to Mr. Newton for determination. 
In conclusion it can only be stated that in spite of the devoted 
efforts of this ancient race to perpetuate the memory of their 
illustrious dead, how scanty is the record which reaches us, and 
how great are the blanks which still remain in our knowledge of 
their lives and their customs even after we have, by careful search, 
exhausted their burial mound of its evidence ! But the little we 
have been able to gather, and now place upon record, will, we trust, 
remain as in some degree a memorial, even though vague, of the 
savage customs and low culture under which this ancient race lived 
and struggled . 
* Bones which have been buried for a long time lose their gelatine, and 
consequently break short like the rotten decayed branch of a tree without 
showing any splintering. 
