_Burial._--How the colonists of the lake-dwellings disposed of their dead is unknown. In Denmark, and many other places, the dead were buried in dolmens or tumuli. A dolmen is a monument consisting of several perpendicular stones covered with a great block or slab. When it is surrounded by circles of stone it takes the name _cromlech_. The dolmens occur also in Scandinavia, France, and Brittany. They were formerly considered to have been Druidical sacrificial altars. They were usually covered over with earth, and in them were buried from one to twenty persons, accompanied with their implements. When a person died, the tomb was reopened to receive the new occupant. At such a time fire was used for the purpose of purifying the atmosphere of the tomb. In Brittany, in the vicinity of the tombs, there were set up in the ground enormous blocks of stone, that have received the name of _menhirs_, the most noted of which is that at Carnac. When these dolmens remain in the state in which they were left, still covered with earth, they take the name of _tumuli_. Comparatively few of the tumuli belong to the neolithic. In these, large numbers of bodies have been found, and none of them in a natural position, but cramped up and their heads resting between the knees. Judging from the calcined bones, which are frequently met with at the tomb, it may be inferred that victims were offered during the funeral ceremonies, perchance a slave, or the widow. Lubbock is of opinion that when a woman died in giving birth to a child, or even while still suckling it, the child was interred alive with her.[76] This hypothesis is substantiated by the great number of cases in which the skeleton of a woman and child have been found together. In the ceremonies at the tomb, some read the belief in a future state of existence. The evidence, however, is no clearer than that in the previous epochs. Man undoubtedly had such a belief, but science does not reveal it. CHAPTER XII. BRONZE EPOCH. The Age of Bronze bears no direct relation to the antiquity of man, for it is largely embraced in written history. Although history does not record the events of the age of bronze in Western Europe, yet history covers the time which embraces the use of bronze. This epoch has more to do with the archæologist than the geologist. It is marked by the abundance of swords, spears, fish-hooks, sickles, knives, ornaments, and other articles made of bronze. The bronze implements are principally found in England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Denmark, Norway, Italy, and Switzerland. The lake-settlements of Switzerland known to belong to this epoch are: Geneva, ten settlements; Neuchatel, twenty-five settlements; Bienne, ten settlements; Morat, three settlements; and Sempach, two settlements. To these may be added some of the crannoges of Ireland; also many tumuli and mounds.