ANCIENT BRITONS

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 179, 17 April 1923, Page 7

ANCIENT BRITONS

EXPLORATIONS OF BURIAL PLACES

EVIDENCE OF REFINED TASTES

BY TELEGRAPH.—PKRS3 ABBOCIATIOM. —Copyright. London, April 14. Mr. F. G. Parsons, F.R.G.S., Professor of Anatomy at London University, in an article in “The Times,” outlines the results of explorations proceeding in ancient British burial places. He states that recent excavations have enabled thorough investigations. The opening of a new road near Margate exposed many rows of skeletons, evidently of persons buried fully clothed, with ornaments and weapons. “Many of the graves confirm the story of Tacitus that the pagan Eaxon wives slew themselves when the : r husbands died. The average height of the men was 5 feet 6 inches, compared with 5 feet 9 inches for the middle-class ; to-day. The average height of the women was 5 feet 4J- inches. The well-worn teeth showed that much of the food consisted o? grain. Apparently the ancients suffered terribly from rheumatism.

“The majority died before forty, and the proportion of adolescents burieu between the' ages of 15 and 20 years was verv great. The dead were normally buried with their feet towards the rising sun, generally on the southern slope of a hill. “The ornaments and precious stones found prove that they by no means were savages. They possessed the germs of refined taste. A knife was buried with every man, woman, and child, and with the men also were the spear and shield. In rare instances swords and battleaxes were found in the graves of the chiefs.” —“The Times.”