Page:Palæolithic Man and Terramara Settlements in Europe.djvu/427

Rh human burials were also encountered, three of which had the bodies enclosed in cists made of large bricks. Indeed, some large tiles, apparently part of a sepulchre, were still to be seen protruding from a part of this layer. Near one of the unenclosed burials lay a terracotta lamp and a bone comb with a double row of teeth. Sunk into the upper part of the terramara beds was a primitive lime-kiln, "evidently," says Boni, "introduced into the cumulo marnoso at a later period than its formation" (B. 130, p. 13).

The great depth of this upper bed of mould, which exists in all the terremare, is very remarkable, and most puzzling to archaeologists. Boni thinks it was spread over the mound at some posterior time, either for agricultural purposes, or as hygienic precautions, or perhaps from motives of respect to the supposed sacred character of its contents.

All the rest of the section was terramara proper, whose contorted and wave-like beds could readily be distinguished. Sticking in the face of the section were innumerable fragments of black pottery, broken bones, and bits of charcoal. All the stuff, before being disposed of, was passed through riddles, and what remained was thrown aside as useless rubbish, the heaps of which could only be estimated by cartloads. The riddlings consisted almost entirely of broken pottery, among which were occasionally clay weights and more frequently spindle-whorls, together with the bones and horns of animals, many of which were converted into implements. Bronze objects were comparatively rare.

Part of a large earthen dyke which is supposed to have surrounded the entire mound was still left exposed on the north side. It measured from 20 to 30 feet in breadth at the base and 11½ feet in height. Boni, in his description of this dyke, states that a section which ought to be conical is not so, but more slanting on the outside; also, at the inner side, its contents are occasionally seen to overlap the terramara beds. From this and some other structural details he adduces evidence to show that the dyke had been subsequently added to by the terramaricoli during their occupation of the settlement. Bearing in mind what Pigorini had said about the