Читать книгу Anatomy and Embalming - Charles Otto Dhonau - Страница 19

—Neolithic tribes in Britain buried either in caves or in chambered tombs, probably representing the huts of the living. Some of these barrows are very elaborate and massive; that of West Kennett is said to be 350 feet long. The dead were buried in the British tombs as they died, or in a contracted posture, probably due to their habit of sleeping in this position, and not at full length on a bed. Many cleft skulls are found in these tombs, suggesting human sacrifice, which as Caesar tells us, was prevalent among the Gauls. The bronze age usages were divided between burying and cremation. In burying, the contracted posture was followed. In cremation, the body was placed in a coffin made of the hollow trunk of an oak, split in two. In cremation, the ashes were collected in a funeral urn, twelve to eighteen inches high and were placed in a chamber. Articles of daily use were thrown into the fire.