rnaments, with warriors, their weapons.
They buried the house with its owner, and the grave was literally
the dwelling of the dead. When a great man died he was placed on his
favorite seat, food and drink was arranged before him, his weapons
were placed by his side, his house was closed, and the door covered up,
sometimes, however, to be opened again when his wife or children joined
him in the land of spirits."

That they believed in a life beyond the grave is shown by the objects
they buried with the individuals. These are implements of various kinds,
flakes, arrow-heads, scrapers, celts, and pottery, doubtless intended
to be of service to the deceased. We know this to be a very common
proceeding amongst all barbarous people. In some cases it would appear
as if they realized that the material things themselves could be of no
service to the departed, but imagined that in some vague way the spirits
of things might be of service to the spirits of men, and so they would
purposely break the flints and throw the fragments into the grave.
Sometimes they may have buried only models of the objects they wished to
give to the dead, imagining that in this way the spirits of the objects
represented would accompany and be of service to the spirits of the
departed. To this day the Eskimos bury small models of boats, spears,
etc., rather than the objects themselves. The ancient Etruscans buried
jewelry, but made it so thin and fragile that it could not have been of
service to the living. In China this is carried still further, and paper
cuttings or drawings of horses, money, etc., are burned at the grave.

These remarks may explain the absence of remains so often noticed in
Neolithic burials in England. But other evidence can be given to show
this belief in future life. The mounds were of course often erected over
noted chiefs, and we are not without evidence that he was not allowed
to go unattended into the other world. It has been noted that often
skeletons have been met with having the skull, cleft, and in one case,
at least, all but one presented that appearance. It is but reasonable to
suppose that these skeletons were those of captives or slaves sacrificed
to be the attendants of the chief in the spirit world. Funeral feasts
were also held in honor of the dead. Thus we may gather from burial
mounds something of the religious belief of their occupants.

It is not improbable that ancestor worship, or the worship of the dead,
was