By taking a rapid survey of the objects found in the tombs of Hallstadt, we can form a somewhat accurate idea of the first outset of the iron age.
The first point which strikes us in this period, is the utter change which had taken place in the interment of the dead.
During the Stone Age, the dead were placed in small subterranean crypts, that is in dolmens or tumuli. During the Bronze Age it became to a great extent customary for men to burn the dead bodies of their friends.
This custom was destined to become more and more prevalent century after century, and during historic times it became universal among a great many nations.
In fact, in the tombs of Hallstadt, several little earthen vessels containing ashes may be seen. Sometimes only part of the body was burnt, so that a portion of a skeleton was found in these tombs, and near it the ashes of the parts which the fire had consumed.
The remains found in the tombs of Hallstadt are almost equally divided between these two modes of inhumation. About half of the tombs contain nothing but ashes; in the other half, corpses are laid extended, according to the custom which was most prevalent in the iron age. Lastly, as we have just stated, some of them contained skeletons which were partially burnt. Sometimes it was the head, sometimes the whole bust, or sometimes the lower limbs which were consumed, the ashes being deposited by the side of the intact portions of the skeleton. Fig. 238, which is designed from one of the illustrations in M. Ramsauer's manuscript work 'Les Tombes de Hallstadt,' in the Museum of Saint-Germain, represents a skeleton, part of which (the chest) has been consumed. The ashes are contained in small earthen vessels which are seen near the corpse.
Fig. 237.—Funeral Ceremonies during the Iron Epoch.