Page:Early Man in Britain and His Place in the Tertiary Period.djvu/316

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288
EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN.
[CHAP. VIII.

things might join the dead in the world of shadows. Some large and important chambered tombs, however,

Fig. 106.—Walker's Hill. Fig. 107.—Rodmarton. Fig. 108.—Rodmarton.
Leaf-shaped Arrow-heads from Chambered Long Barrows, 1/1.

which must have been made at considerable cost of labour, contain remarkably few implements, and this may be due to the custom of burying models, of some perishable material, of the valuables of the deceased. At the present day wooden models are sometimes placed in the hut of the dead by the Eskimos, and bank notes and imitation dollars, made of paper covered with silver foil, are burnt by the Chinese to enrich the spirit of the dead. In the Etruskan tombs jewels were placed, too thin and fragile to be serviceable to the living. If this practice were carried on in the Neolithic age, the models would have perished without leaving a trace behind. It must also be observed that the large size of a tomb may be due to its having been prepared by a great man for himself during his own lifetime, after the