Therefore they dematerialized the body, and often the things used
by the body during life, by the action of fire. On the other hand,
those who buried their dead believed that the spirit of the dead
man dwelt in some fashion in the tomb, or at least hovered around
the body, waiting, perhaps, for a reincarnation, and capable of
using the weapons, the utensils, and the foods of its former life.
Therefore the body was carefully interred, sometimes even embalmed,
and its weapons and foods, or at all events simulacra of these,
were laid beside it.
The distinction between the two lines of thought is clear and strong;
but it does not necessarily presuppose an absolute distinction of
race. It is not improbable that towards the end of the Mycenaean
period, to which in any case the connection with the Homeric poems
would belong, cremation was beginning to supersede the older practice
of interment. In late Mycenaean graves at Salamis evidences of cremation
are found, and at Mouliana, in Crete, there are instances of uncremated
bones being found along with bronze swords on one side of a tomb,
while on the other were found an iron sword and cremated bones
in a cinerary urn. The distinction, then, is not necessarily one
of race, but of custom, gradually changing, perhaps within a
comparatively short period.
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