DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0037
INTRODUCTION xxxv
in the Bronze Age. It was not practised by the early folk-
waves of the Alpine race which, according to Mosso,1
began to arrive after copper came into use. The two
European Bronze Age burial customs, associated with
urns of the "food vessel" and "drinking cup" types,
have no connection with the practice of burning the dead.
The Archaeological Ages have not necessarily an ethnic
significance. Ripley is of opinion, however, that the
practice of cremation indicates a definite racial infusion,
but unfortunately it has destroyed the very evidence, of
which we are most in need, to solve the problem. It is
impossible to say whether the cremated dead were "broad
heads" or "long heads".
"Dr. Sophus M filler of Copenhagen is of opinion that
cremation was not practised long before the year iooo B.C.
though it appeared earlier in the south of Europe than in
the north. On both points Professor Ridgeway of Cam-
bridge agrees with him."2
The migration of the cremating people through Europe
was westward and southward and northward; they even
swept through the British Isles as far north as Orkney.
They are usually referred to by archaeologists as "Aryans";
some identify them with the mysterious Celts, whom the
French, however, prefer to associate, as we have said, with
the Alpine "broad heads" especially as this type bulks
among the Bretons and the hillmen of France. We must
be careful, however, to distinguish between the Aryans and
Celts of the philologists and archaeologists.
It may be that these invaders were not a race in the
proper sense, but a military confederacy which maintained
a religious organization formulated in some unknown area
where they existed for a time as a nation. The Normans
1 The Dawn of Mediterranean Civilization, A. Mosso, London Trans., 1910.
• British Museum Guide to the Antiquities of the Bronze Age, pp. 23, 24.
in the Bronze Age. It was not practised by the early folk-
waves of the Alpine race which, according to Mosso,1
began to arrive after copper came into use. The two
European Bronze Age burial customs, associated with
urns of the "food vessel" and "drinking cup" types,
have no connection with the practice of burning the dead.
The Archaeological Ages have not necessarily an ethnic
significance. Ripley is of opinion, however, that the
practice of cremation indicates a definite racial infusion,
but unfortunately it has destroyed the very evidence, of
which we are most in need, to solve the problem. It is
impossible to say whether the cremated dead were "broad
heads" or "long heads".
"Dr. Sophus M filler of Copenhagen is of opinion that
cremation was not practised long before the year iooo B.C.
though it appeared earlier in the south of Europe than in
the north. On both points Professor Ridgeway of Cam-
bridge agrees with him."2
The migration of the cremating people through Europe
was westward and southward and northward; they even
swept through the British Isles as far north as Orkney.
They are usually referred to by archaeologists as "Aryans";
some identify them with the mysterious Celts, whom the
French, however, prefer to associate, as we have said, with
the Alpine "broad heads" especially as this type bulks
among the Bretons and the hillmen of France. We must
be careful, however, to distinguish between the Aryans and
Celts of the philologists and archaeologists.
It may be that these invaders were not a race in the
proper sense, but a military confederacy which maintained
a religious organization formulated in some unknown area
where they existed for a time as a nation. The Normans
1 The Dawn of Mediterranean Civilization, A. Mosso, London Trans., 1910.
• British Museum Guide to the Antiquities of the Bronze Age, pp. 23, 24.