bronze, and gold or silver. The bodies were sometimes burned, but also frequently interred without cremation, sometimes seated on chairs with their horses by their sides.
There is also an idea that stone implements may have been used by the poorer classes, and also for sacred purposes, at a late period during the age of bronze. In confirmation of the latter hypothesis it may be stated, that the Jews still, in certain countries, use a stone knife for circumcision. Mr. Pulski also informs me, that in the barrows of Hungary, in nearly a dozen instances, a solitary stone celt has been found deposited with arms and weapons of bronze.
The mode in which the bodies were found at Lagore bears a considerable analogy to that described under the third period, regard being had to the different circumstances and localities which must have influenced the mode of sepulture; for certainly on a naked stony coast a different system would be followed, than in the midst of woods and morasses. Nearly in accordance with this theory, the Museum of Northern Antiquities at Copenhagen is divided into three different ages, thus defined by the Professor Worsaae in his learned works on this subject.
1. The age of stone. This was before the age of written records—all arms and implements were of stone. The men of this period evidently lived by hunting and fishing, like the South Sea islander. The cromlechs were their tombs. They were confined to the British Isles, Denmark, the coasts of the Baltic and German Ocean, Holland, Portugal, and the coasts of the Mediterranean. They appear never to have penetrated into the interior of the Continent, and had but slight acquaintance with the use of metals. Their ornaments are generally of bone or amber; bronze and gold have also been found, but never silver.
2. The age of bronze. At this time a new people colonised Europe. They appear to have been agricultural and civilised, and to have settled in the interior, as well as along the coast. During this period, the arms and cutting implements were of bronze (an alloy of copper and tin), and, in some instances, of pure copper. The ornaments were cast, for the most part, of bronze or gold; iron and silver were almost unknown.
3. Age of iron. Arms and weapons of iron: ornaments still continued to be of bronze and gold. Silver became more common.
