from the condition of the bones found in long barrows, for, in many
instances, they are discovered in such a dislocated and broken state, that
there can be little doubt that the flesh was removed before burial. The
long barrow at Scamridge is a good example of this, for the remains of at
least fourteen bodies were laid in no order but with the component bones
broken, scattered, and lying in the most confused manner. Half a jaw was
lying on part of a thigh-bone and a piece of a skull among the bones of a
foot, while other parts of what appeared to belong to the same skull were
found some distance apart. Canon Greenwell, who describes this barrow with
great detail, also mentions that this disarrangement was not due to any
disturbance of the barrow after its erection, but, on the contrary, there
were most certain indications that the bones had been originally deposited
exactly as they were found. He also points out that this condition of
things is obviously inconsistent with the idea that the bodies had been
buried with the flesh still upon them, and goes on to say that "it
appeared to Dr Thurnam that there were in these broken and scattered
fragments of skulls and disconnected bones the relics of barbarous feasts,
held at the time of the interment, when slaves, captives, or even wives
were slain and eaten." But although this argument appeared to Canon
Greenwell to have some weight, he is inclined to think that the broken
condition of the bones may have been due to the pressure of the mound
above them after they had been partially burnt with the fires which were
lit at one end of the barrow and so arranged that the heat was drawn
through the interior.

As the centuries passed the Neolithic people progressed in many
directions. They improved their methods of making their weapons until they
were able to produce axe-heads so perfectly ground and polished and with
such a keen cutting edge that it would be impossible to make anything
better. These celts like the arrow-heads were always fitted into cleft