others, had at no time been able to get in. It may be supposed that at each occasion of a burial the slab was removed for the moment, and replaced as soon as the ceremony was finished. The most rational explanation that can be offered of the presence of the remains of animals within the sepulchre is, that they nad been introduced as part of the funeral rites,—a proceeding of which analogous instances may be found in many of the sepulchres of primordial times.[1]
As regards the posture of the skeletons, and the direction in which they lay, I was imable to obtain any information from their discoverer, it is evident that the floor of the grotto was not wide enough to allow the bodies of seventeen individuals to be placed side by side in the extended posture, and that its height was insufficient to admit of their being heaped one upon another. But the semi- circular configuration of the sepulchre affords good ground for the supposition that the attitude given to the bodies was that which is well known to have been adopted in many of the sepulchres of primitive times; that is to say, with the body in a sitting or crouching posture, and bent downwards upon itself. This practice would not only economize the space occupied by each individual, but would also, according to some archæologists, realize the symbolic thought of restoring to the earth,—our common mother,—the body of the man who had ceased to live, in the same posture that it had before his birth, in the bosom of his individual mother.[2] It is for this reason, that in the figure of the cavern I have represented three skeletons in the crouching posture, warning the reader, at the same time, that the representation is altogether hypothetical.
Having noted these particulars respecting the circumstances connected with the first discovery of the sepulchre, I proceeded to the examination of the disturbed layer of loose earth remaining in it. The first strokes of the pickaxe disclosed a tooth and several human bones, after which was turned up an implement or weapon, made of Stag's or Reindeer's horn, in the form of a slender tapering spike, about 9 inches long, and carefully rounded. The lower extremity was about half-an-inch wide, and bevelled off on each side, as if intended to be fitted into a handle; the point was broken off and could not be recovered. Close to this were found half of a Horse's jawbone, some teeth of the Aurochs, the lower jaw of a Reindeer, and
- ↑ This kind of votive offering is remarked in the sepulchral monuments of the so-termed Druidical, or Celtic type, as well as in the more recent tumuli of Gaul, both before and after its subjugation by Rome. I have even been able to trace, in a sepulchre evidently not more ancient than the 10th century of our era, a continuation of this ancient custom of burying with the defunct his horse, arms, objects of affection, broken earthenware, trophies of the chase, and the bones of animals both wild and domesticated.
- ↑ This attitude of the body bent upon itself, has been noticed in most of the primordial sepultures of the north and centre of Europe, and it has been also observed in the foundations of Babylon. Diodorus Siculus informs us that it was practised by the Troglodytes, a pastoral people of Ethiopia. In more recent times it is seen in ose among various peoples in America, and some of the South Sea Islands.
