469 
must conclude that this tribe brought the custom and mode 
of worship with them from the Continent, and established it 
in the island, and built a large number of the circles (which 
We are now studying as antiquities) for different purposes 
connected with their religion. As additional evidence in 
support of this conclusion, the excavations of a number of 
the barrows at Stonehenge, by Sir Richard Hoare, disclosed 
that the people who used iron were not buried amongst the 
dead in those mounds, although he found bronze in many of 
the tumuli. 
We are also made acquainted by Sir J. Lubbock with the 
fact that the Avebury circle and stone avenues are very roughly 
formed, and distinctly indicate that they were erected by a 
people who were not so far advanced in the art of masonry 
as those who built the sister circle of Stonehenge, and that 
they could not have possessed such good tools for chipping 
the stones into shape. The explanation of this variation in 
the skill of the builders of these two circles appears to be 
disclosed by the relics of the barrows, both in the immediate 
neighbourhood of these circles, as well as in the northern 
part of England. 
Sir Richard Hoare found a great many of the barrows on the 
Salisbury Plain without any trace of bronze in them, while 
he found 36 had bronze deposited with the remains ; but the 
custom of cremation was adopted in all ; and in the northern 
counties it has also been discovered that in one case the 
calcined remains of this class of burial were accompanied by 
bronze ; while in the other instance, though the cists were 
surrounded by circles of stones, there was no trace of bronze. 
Now, the use of metal was an acquired art, which no one will 
believe was ever lost after its discovery; and the absence of 
metal in the tumuli which are surrounded by circles of stones 
is positive evidence that the people who were buried in them 
preceded those who omitted this practice, but placed bronze 
