le-whorl. These have been discovered very often. They were made
sometimes of stone and at other times of pottery and bone. The threads
were made of flax, and the combs which were used for pushing the threads
of the warp into the weft show that it was woven into linen on some kind
of a loom. Several figures of the loom have been given, but we have no
certainty of their correctness.<31>

Illustrations of Spindle-whorl and Weaver's Comb.-------

Let us now see if we can gather anything as to the religious belief
of Neolithic man. On this point we can at best only indulge in vague
conjectures. Yet some light seems thrown on this difficult subject by
examination of the burial mounds. This introduces us to a subject of
much interest which, in our hurried review, we can but glance at.

Scattered over Europe are found numbers of mysterious monuments of
the past. Some of them we have mentioned already as the embankments
surrounding ancient villages. But aside from these are other monuments,
such as burial mounds, rude dolmens, and great standing stones,
sometimes arranged in circles, sometimes in rows, and sometimes standing
singly. Many of these remains may be of a far later date than the
Neolithic Age, still it is extremely difficult to draw a dividing line
between the monuments of different ages.

Illustration of Chambered Burial Mound, Denmark.----

Illustration of Dolmen, England.--------------------

Burial mounds are found everywhere, many in Europe going back to the
Neolithic Age, though some are of a very recent construction. The
Egyptian Pyramids are burial mounds on the grandest scale. The first cut
represents a Danish Tumulus, or burial mound, of this Age. The openings
lead to the center of the mound, where they connect with chambers in
which the bodies were formerly placed. There are, of course, various
modifications of this tumulus. Often the gallery was omitted, a rude
chamber was erected, and a mound reared over it. Sometimes, indeed, no
chamber was made, but simply a mound placed over the body.

Illustration of Dolmen, France.------------

Illustration of Dolmen, once Covered with Earth.-----

There have been found in England a great many stones arranged as in the
preceding cut, though generally not built with such regularity as is
there represented. They are named Dolmens, a word meaning stone tables.
They were more generally made of rough stones, rudely arranged. This cut
represents one fo