several axe-shaped pendants of polished stone, precisely similar to
those of Sardinia, Malta, and France. The most important cemeteries of
this period are those of Castelluccio, Melilli, and Monteracello. Near
this last site was also found a round hut based on a course of
orthostatic slabs of typically megalithic appearance.

In the full bronze age, called the Second Siculan Period, burial in
rock-tombs still remained the rule. The tomb-form had developed
considerably. The circular type was still usual, though beside it a
rectangular form was fast coming into favour. The main chamber often had
side-niches, and was usually preceded by a corridor which sometimes
passed through an antechamber. Occasionally we find an elaborate
open-air court outside the façade of the tomb, built very much after the
megalithic style. Large vertical surfaces of rock were carefully sought
after for tombs, and the almost inaccessible cliffs of Pantalica and
Cassibile are literally honeycombed with them. Where such surfaces of
rock were unobtainable a vertical shaft was sunk in the level rock and a
chamber was opened off the bottom of it. The tradition of the banquet of
the dead is still kept up, but the number of the skeletons in each tomb
steadily decreases. The sitting posture is still frequent, though
occasionally the body lies flat on one side with the legs slightly
contracted. Flint is now rare, but objects of bronze are plentiful. The
local painted pottery has almost entirely given place to simpler yet
better wares with occasional Mycenean importations.

It is impossible to decide whether this Sicilian civilization ought to
be included under the term megalithic. If, as seems probable, the idea
of megalithic building was brought to Europe by the immigration of a new
race it is possible that a branch of this race entered Sicily. In that
case I should prefer to think that they came not at the beginning of the