beauty of form and workmanship; but the jars are invariably of
earthenware, as water and wine keep better in such than in metal.

We must not forget that, among the countless mounds which have been
opened, only a very few are like that we just looked into. The general
run are much plainer, and the majority contain only one silent inmate.
It was not every one could afford the luxury of a wholesale slaughter
in his household. The chambers, too, are very different in size and
construction, and the furnishings vary quite as much in richness and
beauty.

Putting away the dead in mound-graves, besides being a universal custom,
was one which endured through a long series of centuries, since their
contents illustrate for us the Age of Bronze through all its gradations
and a goodly portion of the Age of Iron--_i.e._, the beginnings of the
age in which we live ourselves.

To decide which mound belongs to a later and which to an earlier period
is easy, from the variety and quality of the articles, which bear
witness to the degree of culture of the builders, though it is of course
difficult even to give a guess in figures at just _how_ long ago, at
least, the earlier mounds were built.

These are all times which knew not of writing. Therefore we have no
history of them; for history is made up of two elements: things that
happen, and writers who record them. So when we speak of "historic
times," we mean the times since writing came into general use. All that
went before we class as "prehistoric" times, _i.e._, times of which we
can have no history. It is clear, then, that if, of two countries, one
knows writing and uses it to register what happens to it, while the