495 
berland, under similar circumstances, observes , — “ The facts 
which the first barrow discloses suggest many questions, hard 
perhaps to solve, but worthy of solution, and are indeed of 
the highest interest. Why were some bodies buried unburnt, 
whilst others were consumed by fire? Were the burnt bodies 
those of slaves or wives, killed to be ready for the chief in 
the land of the departed ? What was the purpose of the 
small urn placed by the side of the corpse? Did it contain 
food for the use of the departed in the interval whilst he lay 
in the tomb ? The flint arrow-head or the bronze spear, laid 
beside the hunter and warrior, or enclosed in the urn among 
the calcined bones, speak of war and the chase in other 
worlds, or, as some think, they tell of a purpose accomplished 
with the owner’s death. But what mean the flint-flakes — 
mere shapeless chippings, — of which so many are found 
accompanying the old interments ? 
“It is probable that this custom of placing broken pot- 
sherds and flint-flakes in the tomb may have a religious 
significancy, which as yet we cannot explain. From the 
frequency of their occurrence, we cannot suppose them to 
have been accidentally deposited; and their being found 
associated with the dead is strong evidence of their being 
linked to some religious chord in the faith of these ancient 
people. A passage in Hamlet (act 5, scene 1) may have 
originated in a lingering remembrance of this custom, where 
the Priest, answering Laertes relative to the burial of 
Ophelia, says, — 
“ 4 Her death was doubtful ; 
And, but that great command o’ersways the order, 
She should in ground unsanctified have lodged 
Till the last trumpet ; for charitable prayers, 
Shards, flints, and pebbles should be thrown on her.’” 
From what I have previously stated, it would appear that 
three distinct interments had taken place in this tumulus, 
the most recent being that of the female — probably a Briton. 
