PRE-HISTORIC MAN. 
319 
Wiltshire and elsewhere. In one I opened in the North Riding, near 
EbberstoD, there were the remains of abont 14 bodies of all ages and 
of both sexes, and in several of these the state of the bones, broken 
and widely scattered in fragments, showed that a violent death had 
overtaken them, and that the flesh had been removed before the 
bones were interred. Is the conjecture a forced one which suggests 
that these fractured bones were the relics of persons slain at the 
funeral of the chief, and eaten by the guests ? " Cannibalism has not 
been so infrequent that we need wonder at such a feast." A mound 
at Willoughby-on-Wold contained similar broken bones. Over them 
had been heaped flints and chalk, and upon these wood had been 
placed, which was set fire to, and the bones were consumed by ignited 
lime ; after this, the material forming the baiTOw had been heaped. 
In other barrows the primary burial appears to have been that of a 
long-headed chieftain, whilst others have been buried in the same 
mounds with round heads. The latter appear to have been an inva- 
ding and conquering people. The ancient Briton who occupied this 
country when Caesar landed was a man of good stature, with an 
average height of 5 feet 8 inches, of powerful and symmetrical frame. 
The lines of the face must have been on the whole harsh and severe, 
for all the prominent features are strongly developed, and wanting 
in that softness of outline which adds so much to beauty of form ; 
the mouth was slightly protruberant; eyebrows rugged and projecting ; 
cheekbones high, and the nose prominent and well marked ; forehead 
broad, but low ; and the hinder part of the head remarkably broad. 
The breadth of the skull distinguishes it from that of the modern 
English head, which in the main is oval ; nor does it closely approxi- 
mate to that of the Irish, Scotch, or Welsh Celt, which is also oval, 
but somewhat different from the Teutonic. The teeth are usually 
well preserved, rarely showing any signs of decay, but in old skulls 
are much worn down. In one instance, near Pickering, hair was 
found in a barrow, of a light auburn colour and braided in plaits. A 
portion of woollen fabric made into garments occasionally occurs. 
In Craven, under a barrow, a cofhn made out of a split and hollowed 
oak tree was exhumed, in which the body had been enveloped from 
head to foot in a textile woollen fabric. It was in so fragmentary 
