DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0038
xxxvi INDIAN MYTH AND LEGEND
who invaded these islands were Scandinavians1; they settled
in France, intermarried with the French, and found allies
among the Breton chiefs. It is possible that the cremating
people similarly formed military aristocracies when they
settled in Hindustan, Mitanni, and in certain other Euro-
pean areas. "Nothing is commoner in the history of
migratory peoples," says Professor Myres,2 " than to find
a very small leaven of energetic intruders ruling and or-
ganizing large native populations, without either learning
their subjects' language or imposing their own till consider-
ably later, if at all." The archaeological evidence in this
connection is of particular value. At a famous site near
Salzburg, in upper Austria, over a thousand Bronze Age
graves were discovered, just over half of which contained
unburnt burials. Both methods of interment were con-
temporary in this district, "but it was noticed that the
cremated burials were those of the wealthier class, or of
the dominant race."3 We find also that at Hallstatt "the
bodies of the wealthier class were reduced to ashes ".4 In
some districts the older people may have maintained their
supremacy. At Watsch and St. Margaret in Carniola " a
similar blending of the two rites was observed . . . the un-
burnt burials being the richer and more numerous ".6 The
descent of the Achaens into Greece occurred at a date
earlier than the rise of the great Hallstatt civilization.
According to Homeric evidence they burned their dead;
"though the body of Patroklos was cremated," however,
" the lords of Mycenae were interred unburnt in richly
furnished graves".6 In Britain the cremating people
mingled with their predecessors perhaps more intimately
1 Associated, some authorities urge, with Germans from the mouth of the Elbe.
' The Da-urn of History, J. L. Myres, p. 199.
8 British Museum Guide to the Antiquities of the Bronze Age, p. 98.
* British Museum Guide to the Antiquities of the Early Iron Age, p. 8.
*iiiJ.p.6. 'itid.f.S.
who invaded these islands were Scandinavians1; they settled
in France, intermarried with the French, and found allies
among the Breton chiefs. It is possible that the cremating
people similarly formed military aristocracies when they
settled in Hindustan, Mitanni, and in certain other Euro-
pean areas. "Nothing is commoner in the history of
migratory peoples," says Professor Myres,2 " than to find
a very small leaven of energetic intruders ruling and or-
ganizing large native populations, without either learning
their subjects' language or imposing their own till consider-
ably later, if at all." The archaeological evidence in this
connection is of particular value. At a famous site near
Salzburg, in upper Austria, over a thousand Bronze Age
graves were discovered, just over half of which contained
unburnt burials. Both methods of interment were con-
temporary in this district, "but it was noticed that the
cremated burials were those of the wealthier class, or of
the dominant race."3 We find also that at Hallstatt "the
bodies of the wealthier class were reduced to ashes ".4 In
some districts the older people may have maintained their
supremacy. At Watsch and St. Margaret in Carniola " a
similar blending of the two rites was observed . . . the un-
burnt burials being the richer and more numerous ".6 The
descent of the Achaens into Greece occurred at a date
earlier than the rise of the great Hallstatt civilization.
According to Homeric evidence they burned their dead;
"though the body of Patroklos was cremated," however,
" the lords of Mycenae were interred unburnt in richly
furnished graves".6 In Britain the cremating people
mingled with their predecessors perhaps more intimately
1 Associated, some authorities urge, with Germans from the mouth of the Elbe.
' The Da-urn of History, J. L. Myres, p. 199.
8 British Museum Guide to the Antiquities of the Bronze Age, p. 98.
* British Museum Guide to the Antiquities of the Early Iron Age, p. 8.
*iiiJ.p.6. 'itid.f.S.