With reference to their contents and their general arrangements they entirely accord with the circular giant chambers; while as a natural consequence of their increased length, they contain a greater quantity of human remains. Meantime the manner in which the deceased were interred deserves peculiar attention, because by such means no unimportant light is thrown on the funeral customs which prevailed at the period. Thus along the sides of the stones forming the walls are found the bones of a number of bodies, which certainly cannot have been placed in the usual recumbent posture, for the space would not admit of it. On the contrary, the position of the remains seems to indicate that the bodies were placed in a compressed or sitting posture; by which means, the advantage of depositing many of them in a small space was obtained[1]. This is peculiarly evident in the single
- ↑ The accompanying engravings, derived from the communications of Mr. Lukis, afford remarkable illustrations of the prevalence of this custom.
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The first, from the Archæological Journal, vol. i. p. 146, represents the interior of a cromlech situate on the summit of a gentle hill standing in the plain of L'Ancresse, in the northern parts of Guernsey. The second woodcut, (from the Journal of the Archæological Association, vol. i. p. 27,) which is yet more strikingly corroborative of the accuracy of Mr. Worsaae's statement, exhibits the posture of two skeletons in a vertical kneeling position, discovered in 1844, in the chamber of the cromlech Du Tus, which is marked B in the
