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diff --git a/15590.txt b/15590.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..58a58bb --- /dev/null +++ b/15590.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4915 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Rough Stone Monuments and Their Builders, by T. Eric Peet + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Rough Stone Monuments and Their Builders + +Author: T. Eric Peet + +Release Date: April 8, 2005 [EBook #15590] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROUGH STONE MONUMENTS AND *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Peter Barozzi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +[Illustration: STONEHENGE FROM THE SOUTH-EAST] + + + + + ROUGH STONE + MONUMENTS + AND THEIR + BUILDERS + + + BY + + T. ERIC PEET + + FORMERLY SCHOLAR OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD; + LATELY CRAVEN FELLOW IN THE UNIVERSITY + OF OXFORD AND PELHAM STUDENT AT + THE BRITISH SCHOOL OF ROME + + + + + HARPER & BROTHERS + LONDON AND NEW YORK + 45 ALBEMARLE STREET, W. + 1912 + + + + _Published October, 1912_. + + + + + PREFACE + +The aim of this volume is to enable those who are interested in +Stonehenge and other great stone monuments of England to learn something +of the similar buildings which exist in different parts of the world, of +the men who constructed them, and of the great archaeological system of +which they form a part. It is hoped that to the archaeologist it may be +useful as a complete though brief sketch of our present knowledge of the +megalithic monuments, and as a short treatment of the problems which +arise in connection with them. + +To British readers it is unnecessary to give any justification for the +comparatively full treatment accorded to the monuments of Great Britain +and Ireland. Malta and Sardinia may perhaps seem to occupy more than +their due share of space, but the usurpation is justified by the +magnificence and the intrinsic interest of their megalithic buildings. +Being of singularly complicated types and remarkably well preserved they +naturally tell us much more of their builders than do the simpler +monuments of other larger and now more important countries. In these two +islands, moreover, research has in the last few years been extremely +active, and it is felt that the accounts here given of them will contain +some material new even to the archaeologist. + +In order to assist those readers who may wish to follow out the subject +in greater detail a short bibliography has been added to the book. + +For the figures and photographs with which this volume is illustrated I +have to thank many archaeological societies and individual scholars. +Plate III and part of Plate II I owe to the kindness of Dr. Zammit, +Director of the Museum of Valletta, while the other part of Plate II is +from a photograph kindly lent to me by Dr. Ashby. I have to thank the +Society of Antiquaries for Figures 1 and 3, the Reale Accademia dei +Lincei for Figures 17 and 20, and the Societe prehistorique de France, +through Dr. Marcel Baudouin, for Figure 10. I am indebted to the Royal +Irish Academy for Figure 8, to the Committee of the British School of +Rome for Figure 18, and to Dr. Albert Mayr and the Akademie der +Wissenschaften in Munich for the plan of Mnaidra. Professors Montelius, +Siret and Cartailhac I have to thank not only for permission to +reproduce illustrations from their works, but also for their kind +interest in my volume. Figure 19 I owe to my friend Dr. Randall MacIver. +The frontispiece and Plate I are fine photographs by Messrs. The +Graphotone Co., Ltd. + +In conclusion, I must not forget to thank Canon F.F. Grensted for much +help with regard to the astronomical problems connected with Stonehenge. + + T. ERIC PEET. + +LIVERPOOL, + _August 10th,_ 1912. + + + + + CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. INTRODUCTION 1 + + II. STONEHENGE AND OTHER GREAT STONE + MONUMENTS IN ENGLAND AND WALES 15 + + III. MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS IN SCOTLAND + AND IRELAND 34 + + IV. THE SCANDINAVIAN MEGALITHIC AREA 52 + + V. FRANCE, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 59 + + VI. ITALY AND ITS ISLANDS 76 + + VII. AFRICA, MALTA, AND THE SMALLER. + MEDITERRANEAN ISLANDS 90 + + VIII. THE DOLMENS OF ASIA 114 + + IX. THE BUILDERS OF THE MEGALITHIC + MONUMENTS, THEIR HABITS, CUSTOMS, + RELIGION, ETC 123 + + X. WHO WERE THE BUILDERS, AND WHENCE + DID THEY COME? 143 + + BIBLIOGRAPHY 159 + + INDEX 167 + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + PLATES + + Stonehenge from the south-east _Frontispiece_ + + FACING PAGE + I. Stonehenge from the south-west 17 + II. Mnaidra, doorway of Room H. The _Nuraghe_ of + Madrone in Sardinia 82 +III. Temple of Mnaidra, Malta. Apse of chief room 100 + +FIGURE PAGE + 1. Plan of Stonehenge 16 + 2. Avebury and Kennet Avenue 23 + 3. Plans of English Long Barrows 31 + 4. Horned tumulus, Caithness 39 + 5. Plans of three dolmen-types 40 + 6. Type-plan of simple corridor-tomb 42 + 7. Type-plan of wedge-shaped tomb 44 + 8. Corridor-tomb at New Grange, Ireland 47 + 9. Corridor-tomb at Ottagarden, Sweden 53 + 10. Plan of La Pierre aux Fees, Oise, France 61 + 11. Chambered mound at Fontenay-le-Marmion, Normandy 63 + 12. Plan of La Grotte des Fees, Arles, France 65 + 13. The so-called dolmen-deity, Petit Morin, France 66 + 14. Plan of corridor-tomb at Los Millares, Spain 69 + 15. Section and plan of a _talayot_, Majorca 72 + 16. Section and plan of the _nau_ d'Es Tudons 73 + 17. Elevation, section and plan of a Sardinian _nuraghe_ 83 + 18. Plan of Giant's Tomb at Muraguada, Sardinia 87 + 19. Plan of stone circle at the Senam, Algeria 94 + 20. Plan of the Sese Grande, Pantelleria 97 + 21. Plan of the Sanctuary of Mnaidra, Malta 99 + 22. Dolmen with holed stone at Ala Safat 115 + + + + + + ROUGH STONE MONUMENTS + + CHAPTER I + + INTRODUCTION + + +To the south of Salisbury Plain, about two miles west of the small +country town of Amesbury, lies the great stone circle of Stonehenge. For +centuries it has been an object of wonder and admiration, and even +to-day it is one of the sights of our country. Perhaps, however, few of +those who have heard of Stonehenge or even of those who have visited it +are aware that it is but a unit in a vast crowd of megalithic monuments +which, in space, extends from the west of Europe to India, and, in time, +covers possibly more than a thousand years. + +What exactly is a megalithic monument? Strictly speaking, it is a +building made of very large stones. This definition would, of course, +include numbers of buildings of the present day and of the medieval and +classical periods, while many of the Egyptian pyramids and temples would +at once suggest themselves as excellent examples of this type of +building. The archaeologist, however, uses the term in a much more +limited sense. He confines it to a series of tombs and buildings +constructed in Western Asia, in North Africa, and in certain parts of +Europe, towards the end of the neolithic period and during part of the +copper and bronze ages which followed it. The structures are usually, +though not quite invariably, made of large blocks of unworked or +slightly worked stone, and they conform to certain definite types. The +best known of these types are as follows: Firstly, the menhir, which is +a tall, rough pillar of stone with its base fixed into the earth. +Secondly, the trilithon, which consists of a pair of tall stones set at +a short distance apart supporting a third stone laid across the top. +Thirdly, the dolmen, which is a single slab of stone supported by +several others arranged in such a way as to enclose a space or chamber +beneath it. Some English writers apply the term cromlech to such a +structure, quite incorrectly. Both menhir and dolmen are Breton words, +these two types of megalithic monument being particularly frequent in +Brittany. Menhir is derived from the Breton _men_, a stone, and _hir_, +long; similarly dolmen is from _dol_, a table, and _men_, a stone. Some +archaeologists also apply the word dolmen to rectangular chambers roofed +with more than one slab. We have carefully avoided this practice, always +classing such chambers as corridor-tombs of an elementary type. +Fourthly, we have the corridor-tomb (_Ganggrab_), which usually consists +of a chamber entered by a gallery or corridor. In cases where the +chamber is no wider than, and hence indistinguishable from the corridor, +the tomb becomes a long rectangular gallery, and answers to the French +_allee couverte_ in the strict sense. Fifthly, we come to the +_alignement_, in which a series of menhirs is arranged in open lines on +some definite system. We shall find a famous example of this at Morbihan +in Brittany. Sixthly, there is the cromlech (from _crom_, curve, and +_lec'h_, a stone), which consists of a number of menhirs arranged to +enclose a space, circular, elliptical or, in rare cases, rectangular. + +These are the chief types of megalithic monument, but there are others +which, though clearly belonging to the same class of structure, show +special forms and are more complicated. They are in many cases +developments of one or more of the simple types, and will be treated +specially in their proper places. Such monuments are the _nuraghi_ of +Sardinia and the 'temples' of Malta and Gozo. + +Finally, the rock-hewn sepulchre is often classed with the megalithic +monuments, and it is therefore frequently mentioned in the following +pages. This is justified by the fact that it generally occurs in +connection with megalithic structures. The exact relation in which it +stands to them will be fully discussed in the last chapter. + + +We have now to consider what may be called the architectural methods of +the megalithic builders, for although in dealing with such primitive +monuments it would perhaps be exaggeration to speak of a style, yet +there were certain principles which were as carefully and as invariably +observed as were in later days those of the Doric or the Gothic styles +in the countries where they took root. + +The first and most important principle, that on which the whole of the +megalithic construction may be said to be based, is the use of the +orthostatic block, i.e. the block set up on its edge. It is clear that +in this way each block or slab is made to provide the maximum of wall +area at the expense of the thickness of the wall. Naturally, in +districts where the rock is of a slabby nature blocks of a more or less +uniform thickness lay ready to the builders' hand, and the appearance of +the structure was much more finished than it would be in places where +the rock had a less regular fracture or where shapeless boulders had to +be relied on. The orthostatic slabs were often deeply sunk into the +ground where this consisted of earth or soft rock; of the latter case +there are good examples at Stonehenge, where the rock is a soft chalk. +When the ground had an uneven surface of hard rock, the slabs were set +upright on it and small stones wedged in beneath them to make them stand +firm. Occasionally, as at Mnaidra and Hagiar Kim, a course of horizontal +blocks set at the foot of the uprights served to keep them more securely +in position. With the upright block technique went hand in hand the +roofing of narrow spaces by means of horizontal slabs laid across the +top of the uprights. + +The second principle of megalithic architecture was the use of more or +less coursed masonry set without mortar, each block lying on its side +and not on its edge. It is quite possible that this principle is less +ancient in origin than that of the orthostatic slab, for it usually +occurs in structures of a more advanced type. Thus in simple and +primitive types of building such as the dolmen it is most rare to find +dry masonry, but in the advanced corridor-tombs of Ireland, the Giants' +Graves and _nuraghi_ of Sardinia, and in the 'temples' of Malta this +technique is largely used, often in combination with the upright slab +system. Indeed, this combination is quite typical of the best megalithic +work: a series of uprights is first set in position, and over this are +laid several horizontal courses of rather smaller stones. We must note +that the dry masonry which we are describing is still strictly +megalithic, as the blocks used are never small and often of enormous +size. + +Buildings in which this system is used are occasionally roofed with +slabs, but more often corbelling is employed. At a certain height each +succeeding course in the wall begins to project inwards over the last, +so that the walls, as it were, lean together and finally meet to form a +false barrel-vault or a false dome, according as the structure is +rectangular or round. Occasionally, when the building was wide, it was +impossible to corbel the walls sufficiently to make them meet. In this +case they were corbelled as far as possible and the open space still +left was covered with long flat slabs. + +It has often been commented on as a matter of wonder that a people +living in the stone age, or at the best possessing a few simple tools of +metal, should have been able to move and place in position such enormous +blocks of stone. With modern cranes and traction engines all would be +simple, but it might have been thought that in the stone age such +building would be impossible. Thus, for instance, in the 'temple' of +Hagiar Kim in Malta, there is one block of stone which measures 21 feet +by 9, and must weigh many tons. In reality there is little that is +marvellous in the moving and setting up of these blocks, for the tools +needed are ready to the hand of every savage; but there is something to +wonder at and to admire in the patience displayed and in the +organization necessary to carry out such vast pieces of labour. Great, +indeed, must have been the power of the cult which could combine the +force of hundreds and even thousands of individuals for long periods of +time in the construction of the great megalithic temples. Perhaps slave +labour played a part in the work, but in any case it is clear that we +are in the presence of strongly organized governments backed by a +powerful religion which required the building of temples for the gods +and vast tombs for the dead. + +Let us consider for a moment what was the procedure in building a simple +megalithic monument. It was fourfold, for it involved the finding and +possibly the quarrying of the stones, the moving of them to the desired +spot, the erection of the uprights in their places, and the placing of +the cover-slab or slabs on top of them. + +With regard to the first step it is probable that in most cases the +place chosen for a tomb or cemetery was one in which numbers of great +stones lay on the surface ready to hand. By this means labour was +greatly economized. On the other hand, there are certainly cases where +the stones were brought long distances in order to be used. Thus, in +Charente in France there is at La Perotte a block weighing nearly 40 +tons which must have travelled over 18 miles. We have no evidence as to +whether stones were ever actually quarried. If they were, the means used +must have been the stone axe, fire, and water. It was not usual in the +older and simpler dolmens to dress the stones in any way, though in the +later and more complicated structures well-worked blocks were often +used. + +The required stones having been found it was now necessary to move them +to the spot. This could be done in two ways. The first and simpler is +that which we see pictured on Egyptian monuments, such as the tomb of +Tahutihotep at El Bersheh. A rough road of beams is laid in the required +direction, and wooden rollers are placed under the stone on this road. +Large numbers of men or oxen then drag the stone along by means of ropes +attached to it. Other labourers assist the work from behind with levers, +and replace the rollers in front of the stone as fast as they pass out +behind. Those who have seen the modern Arabs in excavation work move +huge blocks with wooden levers and palm-leaf rope will realize that for +the building of the dolmens little was needed except numbers and time. + +The other method of moving the stones is as follows: a gentle slope of +hard earth covered with wet clay is built with its higher extremity +close beside the block to be moved. As many men as there is room for +stand on each side of the block, and with levers resting on beams or +stones as fulcra, raise the stone vertically as far as possible. Other +men then fill up the space beneath it with earth and stones. The process +is next repeated with higher fulcra, until the stone is level with the +top of the clay slope, on to which it is then slipped. With a little +help it now slides down the inclined plane to the bottom. Here a fresh +slope is built, and the whole procedure is gone through again. The +method can even be used on a slight uphill gradient. It requires less +dragging and more vertical raising than the other, and would thus be +more useful where oxen were unobtainable. + +When the stones were once on the spot it is not hard to imagine how they +were set upright with levers and ropes. The placing of the cover-slab +was, however, a more complicated matter. The method employed was +probably to build a slope of earth leading up from one side to the +already erected uprights and almost covering them. Up this the slab +could be moved by means of rollers, ropes, and levers, until it was in +position over the uprights. The slope could then be removed. If the +dolmen was to be partly or wholly covered with a mound, as some +certainly were, it would not even be necessary to remove the slope. + +Roughly speaking, the extension of megalithic monuments is from Spain to +Japan and from Sweden to Algeria. These are naturally merely limits, and +it must not be supposed that the regions which lie between them all +contain megalithic monuments. More exactly, we find them in Asia, in +Japan, Corea, India, Persia, Syria, and Palestine. In Africa we have +them along the whole of the north coast, from Tripoli to Morocco; inland +they are not recorded, except for one possible example in Egypt and +several in the Soudan. In Europe the distribution of dolmens and other +megalithic monuments is wide. They occur in the Caucasus and the Crimea, +and quite lately examples have been recorded in Bulgaria. There are none +in Greece, and only a few in Italy, in the extreme south-east corner. +The islands, however, which lie around and to the south of Italy afford +many examples: Corsica, Sardinia, Malta, Gozo, Pantelleria, and +Lampedusa are strongholds of the megalithic civilization, and it is +possible that Sicily should be included in the list. Moving westward we +find innumerable examples in the Spanish Peninsula and in France. To the +north we find them frequent in the British Isles, Sweden, Denmark, and +North Germany; they are rarer in Holland and Belgium. Two examples have +been reported from Switzerland. + +It is only to be expected that these great megalithic monuments of a +prehistoric age should excite the wonder and stimulate the imagination +of those who see them. In all countries and at all times they have been +centres of story and legend, and even at the present day many strange +beliefs concerning them are to be found among the peasantry who live +around them. Salomon Reinach has written a remarkable essay on this +question, and the following examples are mainly drawn from the +collection he has there made. The names given to the monuments often +show clearly the ideas with which they are associated in the minds of +the peasants. Thus the Penrith circle is locally known as "Meg and her +Daughters," a dolmen in Berkshire is called "Wayland the Smith's Cave," +while in one of the Orkney Isles is a menhir named "Odin's Stone." In +France many are connected with Gargantua, whose name, the origin of +which is doubtful, stands clearly for a giant. Thus we find a rock +called the "Chair of Gargantua," a menhir called "Gargantua's Little +Finger," and an _allee couverte_ called "Gargantua's Tomb." Names +indicating connections with fairies, virgins, witches, dwarfs, devils, +saints, druids, and even historical persons are frequent. Dolmens are +often "houses of dwarfs," a name perhaps suggested or at least helped by +the small holes cut in some of them; they are "huts" or "caves of +fairies," they are "kitchens" or "forges of the devil," while menhirs +are called his arrows, and cromlechs his cauldrons. In France we have +stones of various saints, while in England many monuments are connected +with King Arthur. A dolmen in Wales is his quoit; the circle at Penrith +is his round table, and that of Caermarthen is his park. Both in England +and France we find stones and altars "of the druids"; in the Pyrenees, +in Spain, and in Africa there are "graves of the Gentiles" or "tombs of +idolaters"; in Arles (France) the _allees couvertes_ are called +"prisons" or "shops of the Saracens," and the dolmens of the Eastern +Pyrenees are locally known as "huts of the Moors." Dolmens in India are +often "stones of the monkeys," and in France there are "wolves' altars," +"wolves' houses," and "wolves' tables." + +Passing now to more definite beliefs connected with megalithic +monuments, we may notice that from quite early times they have been--as +indeed they often are still--regarded with fear and respect, and even +worshipped. In certain parts of France peasants are afraid to shelter +under the dolmens, and never think of approaching them by night. In +early Christian days there must have been a cult of the menhir, for the +councils of Arles (A.D. 452), of Tours (A.D. 567), and of Nantes (A.D. +658) all condemn the cult of trees, springs, and _stones_. In A.D. 789 +Charlemagne attempted to suppress stone-worship, and to destroy the +stones themselves. In Spain, where, as in France, megalithic monuments +are common, the councils of Toledo in A.D. 681 and 682 condemned the +"Worshippers of Stones." Moreover there are many cases in which a +monument itself bears traces of having been the centre of a cult in +early or medieval times. The best example is perhaps the dolmen of +Saint-Germain-sur-Vienne, which was transformed into a chapel about the +twelfth century. Similar transformations have been made in Spain. In +many cases, too, crosses have been placed or engraved on menhirs in +order to "Christianize" them. + +Remarkable powers and virtues have been attributed to many of the +monuments. One of the dolmens of Finistere is said to cure rheumatism in +anyone who rubs against the loftiest of its stones, and another heals +fever patients who sleep under it. Stones with holes pierced in them are +believed to be peculiarly effective, and it suffices to pass the +diseased limb or, when possible, the invalid himself through the hole. + +Oaths sworn in or near a megalithic monument have a peculiar sanctity. +In Scotland as late as the year A.D. 1438 "John off Erwyne and Will +Bernardson swor on the Hirdmane Stein before oure Lorde ye Erie off +Orknay and the gentiless off the cuntre." + +Many of the monuments are endowed by the credulous with life. The menhir +du Champ Dolent sinks an inch every hundred years. Others say that a +piece of it is eaten by the moon each night, and that when it is +completely devoured the Last Judgment will take place. The stones of +Carnac bathe in the sea once a year, and many of those of the Perigord +leap three times each day at noon. + +We have already remarked on the connection of the monuments with dwarfs, +giants, and mythical personages. There is an excellent example in our +own country in Berkshire. Here when a horse has cast a shoe the rider +must leave it in front of the dolmen called "The Cave of Wayland the +Smith," placing at the same time a coin on the cover-stone. He must then +retire for a suitable period, after which he returns to find the horse +shod and the money gone. + + + + + CHAPTER II + + STONEHENGE AND OTHER GREAT STONE + MONUMENTS IN ENGLAND AND WALES + + +Stonehenge, the most famous of our English megalithic monuments, has +excited the attention of the historian and the legend-lover since early +times. According to some of the medieval historians it was erected by +Aurelius Ambrosius to the memory of a number of British chiefs whom +Hengist and his Saxons treacherously murdered in A.D. 462. Others add +that Ambrosius himself was buried there. Giraldus Cambrensis, who wrote +in the twelfth century, mingles these accounts with myth. He says, +"There was in Ireland, in ancient times, a pile of stones worthy of +admiration called the Giants' Dance, because giants from the remotest +part of Africa brought them to Ireland, and in the plains of Kildare, +not far from the castle of Naas, miraculously set them up.... These +stones (according to the British history) Aurelius Ambrosius, King of +the Britons, procured Merlin by supernatural means to bring from Ireland +to Britain." + +From the present ruined state of Stonehenge it is not possible to state +with certainty what was the original arrangement, but it is probable +that it was approximately as follows (see frontispiece): + +[Illustration: FIG. 1. Plan of Stonehenge in 1901. (After +_Archaeologia_.) The dotted stones are of porphyritic diabase.] + +There was an outer circle of about thirty worked upright stones of +square section (Fig. I). On each pair of these rested a horizontal +block, but only five now remain in position. These 'lintels' probably +formed a continuous architrave (Pl. I). The diameter of this outer +circle is about 97-1/2 feet, inner measurement. The stones used are +sarsens or blocks of sandstone, such as are to be found lying about in +many parts of the district round Stonehenge. + +[Illustration: Plate I. STONEHENGE FROM THE SOUTH-WEST + Photo Graphotone Co. To face p. 17] + +Well within this circle stood the five huge trilithons (_a-e_), arranged +in the form of a horseshoe with its open side to the north-east. Each +trilithon, as the name implies, consists of three stones, two of which +are uprights, the third being laid horizontally across the top. The +height of the trilithons varies from 16 to 21-1/2 feet, the lowest being +the two that stand at the open end of the horseshoe, and the highest +that which is at the apex. Here again all the stones are sarsens and all +are carefully worked. On the top end of each upright of the trilithons +is an accurately cut tenon which dovetails into two mortices cut one at +each end of the lower surface of the horizontal block. Each upright of +the outer circle had a double tenon, and the lintels, besides being +morticed to take these tenons, were also dovetailed each into its two +neighbours. + +Within the horseshoe and close up to it stand the famous blue-stones, +now twelve in number, but originally perhaps more. These stones are not +so high as the trilithons, the tallest reaching only 7-1/2 feet. They +are nearly all of porphyritic diabase. It has often been asserted that +these blue-stones must have been brought to Stonehenge from a distance, +as they do not occur anywhere in the district. Some have suggested that +they came from Wales or Cornwall, or even by sea from Ireland. Now, the +recent excavations have shown that the blue-stones were brought to +Stonehenge in a rough state, and that all the trimming was done on the +spot where they were erected. It seems unlikely that if they had been +brought from a distance the rough trimming should not have been done on +the spot where they were found, in order to decrease their weight for +transport. It is therefore possible that the stones were erratic blocks +found near Stonehenge. + +Within the horseshoe, and near its apex, lies the famous "Altar Stone" +(A), a block measuring about 16 feet by 4. Between the horseshoe and the +outer circle another circle of diabase stones is sometimes said to have +existed, but very little of it now remains. + +The whole building is surrounded by a rampart of earth several feet +high, forming a circle about 300 feet in diameter. An avenue still 1200 +feet in length, bordered by two walls of earth, leads up to the rampart +from the north-east. On the axis of this avenue and nearly at its +extremity stands the upright stone known as the Friar's Heel. + +In 1901, in the course of repairing the central trilithon, careful +excavations were carried out over a small area at Stonehenge. More than +a hundred stone implements were found, of which the majority were flint +axes, probably used for dressing the softer of the sandstone blocks, and +also for excavating the chalk into which the uprights were set. About +thirty hammer-stones suitable for holding in the hand were found. These +were doubtless used for dressing the surface of the blocks. Most +remarkable of all were the 'mauls,' large boulders weighing from 36 to +64 pounds, used for smashing blocks and also for removing large chips +from the surfaces. Several antlers of deer were found, one of which had +been worn down by use as a pickaxe. + +These excavations made it clear that the blue-stones had been shaped on +the spot, whereas the sarsens had been roughly prepared at the place +where they were found, and only finished off on the spot where they were +erected. + + +What is the date of the erection of Stonehenge? The finding of so many +implements of flint in the excavations of 1901 shows that the structure +belongs to a period when flint was still largely used. The occurrence of +a stain of oxide of copper on a worked block of stone at a depth of 7 +feet does not necessarily prove that the stones were erected in the +bronze age, for the stain may have been caused by the disintegration of +malachite and not of metallic copper. At the same time, we must not +infer from the frequency of the flint implements that metal was unknown, +for flint continued to be used far on into the early metal age. +Moreover, flint tools when worn out were simply thrown aside on the +spot, while those of metal were carefully set apart for sharpening or +re-casting, and are thus seldom found in large numbers in an excavation. +We have, therefore, no means of accurately determining the date of +Stonehenge; all that can be said is that the occurrence of flint in such +large quantities points either to the neolithic age or to a +comparatively early date in the copper or bronze period. It is unlikely +that stone tools would play such a considerable role in the late bronze +or the iron age. + +At the same time it must not be forgotten that Sir Arthur Evans has +spoken in favour of a date in the first half of the third century B.C. +He believes that the great circles are religious monuments which in form +developed out of the round barrows, and that Stonehenge is therefore +much later than some at least of the round barrows around it. That it is +earlier than others is clear from the occurrence in some of them of +chips from the sarsen stones. He therefore places its building late in +the round barrow period, and sees confirmation of this in the fact that +the round barrows which surround the monument are not grouped in regular +fashion around it, as they should have been had they been later in +date. + +Many attempts have been made to date the monuments by means of +astronomy. All these start from the assumption that it was erected in +connection with the worship of the sun, or at least in order to take +certain observations with regard to the sun. Sir Norman Lockyer noticed +that the avenue at Stonehenge pointed approximately to the spot where +the sun rises at the midsummer solstice, and therefore thought that +Stonehenge was erected to observe this midsummer rising. If he could +find the exact direction of the avenue he would know where the sun rose +at midsummer in the year when the circle was built. From this he could +easily fix the date, for, owing to the precession of the equinoxes, the +point of the midsummer rising is continually altering, and the position +for any year being known the date of that year can be found +astronomically. But how was the precise direction of this very irregular +avenue to be fixed? The line from the altar stone to the Friar's Heel, +which is popularly supposed to point to the midsummer rising, has +certainly never done so in the last ten thousand years, and therefore +could not be used as the direction of the avenue. Eventually Sir Norman +decided to use a line from the centre of the circle to a modern +benchmark on Sidbury Hill, eight miles north-east of Stonehenge. On this +line the sun rose in 1680 B.C. with a possible error of two hundred +years each way: this Sir Norman takes to be the date of Stonehenge. + +Sir Norman's reasoning has been severely handled by his +fellow-astronomer Mr. Hinks, who points out that the direction chosen +for the avenue is purely arbitrary, since Sidbury Hill has no connection +with Stonehenge at all. Moreover, Sir Norman determines sunrise for +Stonehenge as being the instant when the edge of the sun's disk first +appears, while in his attempts to date the Egyptian temple of Karnak he +defined it as the moment when the sun's centre reached the horizon. We +cannot say which alternative the builders would have chosen, and +therefore we cannot determine the date of building. + +Sir Norman Lockyer has since modified his views. He now argues that the +trilithons and outer circle are later additions to an earlier temple to +which the blue-stones belong. This earlier temple was made to observe +"primarily but not exclusively the May year," while the later temple +"represented a change of cult, and was dedicated primarily to the +solstitial year." This view seems to be disproved by the excavations of +1901, which made it clear that the trilithons were erected before and +not after the blue-stones. + +Nothing is more likely than that the builders of the megaliths had some +knowledge of the movements of the sun in connection with the seasons, +and that their priests or wise men determined for them, by observing the +sun, the times of sowing, reaping, etc., as they do among many savage +tribes at the present day. They may have been worshippers of the sun, +and their temples may have contained 'observation lines' for determining +certain of his movements. But the attempt to date the monuments from +such lines involves so many assumptions and is affected by so many +disturbing elements that it can never have a serious value for the +archaeologist. The uncertainty is even greater in the case of temples +supposed to be oriented by some star, for in this case there is almost +always a choice of two or more bright stars, giving the most divergent +results. + +[Illustration: FIG. 2. Avebury and the Kennet Avenue. + (After Sir R. Colt Hoare.)] + +Next in importance to Stonehenge comes the huge but now almost destroyed +circle of Avebury (Fig. 2). Its area is five times as great as that of +St. Peter's in Rome, and a quarter of a million people could stand +within it. It consists in the first place of a rampart of earth roughly +circular in form and with a diameter of about 1200 feet. Within this is +a ditch, and close on the inner edge of this was a circle of about a +hundred upright stones. Within this circle were two pairs of concentric +circles with their centres slightly east of the north-and-south diameter +of the great circle. The diameters of the outer circles of these two +pairs are 350 and 325 feet respectively. In the centre of the northern +pair was a cover-slab supported by three uprights, and in the centre of +the southern a single menhir. All the stones used are sarsens, such as +are strewn everywhere over the district. + +An avenue flanked by two rows of stones ran in a south-easterly +direction from the rampart towards the village of Kennet for a distance +of about 1430 yards in a straight line. + +At a distance of 1200 yards due south from Avebury Circle stands the +famous artificial mound called Silbury Hill. It is 552 feet in diameter, +130 in height, and has a flat top 102 feet across. A pit was driven down +into its centre in 1777, and in 1849 a trench was cut into it from the +south side to the centre, but neither gave any result. It is quite +possible that there are burials in the mound, whether in megalithic +chambers or not. + +South-west of Avebury is Hakpen Hill, where there once stood two +concentric ellipses of stones. A straight avenue is said to have run +from these in a north-westerly direction. Whether these three monuments +near Avebury have any connection with one another and, if so, what this +connection is, is unknown. + + +There are many other circles in England, but we have only space to +mention briefly some of the more important. At Rollright, in +Oxfordshire, there is a circle 100 feet in diameter with a tall menhir +50 yards to the north-east. Derbyshire possesses a famous monument, that +of Arbor Low, where a circle is surrounded by a rampart and ditch, while +that of Stanton Drew in Somerset consists of a great circle A and two +smaller circles B and C. The line joining the centres of B and A passes +through a menhir called Hauptville's Quoit away to the north-east, while +that which joins the centres of C and A cuts a group of three menhirs +called The Cove, lying to the south-west. + +In Cumberland there are several circles. One of these, 330 feet in +diameter with an outstanding menhir, is known as "Long Meg and her +Daughters." Another, the Mayborough Circle, is of much the same size, +but consists of a tall monolith in the centre of a rampart formed +entirely of rather small water-worn stones. A similar circle not far +from this is known as King Arthur's Round Table; here, however, there is +no monolith. Near Keswick there is a finely preserved circle, and at +Shap there seems to have existed a large circle with an avenue of stones +running for over a mile to the north. + +Cornwall possesses a number of fine monuments. The most celebrated is +the Dance Maen Circle, which is 76 feet in diameter and has two +monoliths to the north-east, out of sight of the circle, but stated to +be in a straight line with its centre. Local tradition calls the circle +"The Merry Maidens," and has it that the stones are girls turned into +stones for dancing on Sunday: the two monoliths are called the Pipers. +The three circles known as the Hurlers lie close together with their +centres nearly in a straight line in the direction N.N.E. by S.S.W. At +Boscawen-un, near Penzance, is a circle called the Nine Maidens, and two +circles near Tregeseal have the same name. Another well-known circle in +Cornwall is called the Stripple Stones: the circle stands on a platform +of earth surrounded by a ditch, outside which is a rampart. In the +centre is a menhir 12 feet in height. + +At Merivale, in Somersetshire, there are the remains of a small circle, +to the north of which lie two almost parallel double lines of menhirs, +running about E.N.E. by W.S.W., the more southerly of the two lines +overlapping the other at both extremities. + + +With what purpose were these great circles erected? We have already +mentioned the curious belief of Geoffrey of Monmouth with regard to +Stonehenge, and we may pass on to more modern theories. James I was +once taken to see Stonehenge when on a visit to the Earl of Pembroke at +Wilton. He was so interested that he ordered his architect Inigo Jones +to enquire into its date and purpose. The architect's conclusion was +that it was a Roman temple "dedicated to the god Caelus and built after +the Tuscan order." + +Many years later Dr. Stukeley started a theory which has not entirely +been abandoned at the present day. For him Stonehenge and other stone +circles were temples of the druids. This was in itself by no means a +ridiculous theory, but Stukeley went further than this. Relying on a +quaint story in Pliny wherein the druids of Gaul are said to use as a +charm a certain magic egg manufactured by snakes, he imagined that the +druids were serpent-worshippers, and essayed to see serpents even in the +forms of their temples. Thus in the Avebury group the circle on Hakpen +Hill was for him the head of a snake and its avenue part of the body. +The Avebury circles were coils in the body, which was completed by the +addition of imaginary stones and avenues. He also attempted with even +less success to see the form of a serpent in other British circle +groups. + +The druids, as we gather from the rather scanty references in Caesar and +other Roman authors, were priests of the Celts in Gaul. Suetonius +further speaks of druids in Anglesey, and tradition has it that in Wales +and Ireland there were druids in pre-Christian times. But that druids +ever existed in England or in a tithe of the places in which megalithic +circles and other monuments occur is unlikely. At the same time, it is +not impossible that some of the circles of Ireland, Wales, and France +were afterwards used by the druids as suitable places for meeting and +preaching. + +Fergusson in his great work _Rude Stone Monuments_ held a remarkable +view as to the purpose of the British stone circles. He believed that +they were partly Roman in date, and that some of them at least marked +the scene of battles fought by King Arthur against the Saxons. Thus, for +example, he says with regard to Avebury, "I feel it will come eventually +to be acknowledged that those who fell in Arthur's twelfth and greatest +battle were buried in the ring at Avebury, and that those who survived +raised these stones and the mound of Silbury in the vain hope that they +would convey to their latest posterity the memory of their prowess." It +is hardly necessary to take this view seriously nowadays. Stonehenge, +which Fergusson attributes to the same late era, has been proved by +excavation to be prehistoric in origin, and with it naturally go the +rest of the megalithic circles of England, except where there is any +certain proof to the contrary. + +The most probable theory is that the circles are religious monuments of +some kind. What the nature of the worship carried on in them was it is +quite impossible to determine. It may be that some at least were built +near the graves of deified heroes to whose worship they were +consecrated. On the other hand, it is possible that they were temples +dedicated to the sun or to others of the heavenly bodies. Whether they +served for the taking of astronomical observations or not is a question +which cannot be decided with certainty, though the frequency with which +menhirs occur in directions roughly north-east of the circles is +considered by some as a sign of connection with the watching of solar +phenomena. + + +Dolmens of simple type are not common in England, though they occur with +comparative frequency in Wales, where the best known are the so-called +Arthur's Quoit near Swansea, the dolmen of Pentre Ifan in Pembrokeshire, +and that of Plas Newydd on the Menai Strait: in Anglesey they are quite +common. In England we have numerous examples in Cornwall, especially +west of Falmouth, among which are Chun Quoit and Lanyon Quoit. There are +dolmens at Chagford and Drewsteignton in Devonshire, and there is one +near the Rollright Circle in Oxfordshire. + +Many of the so-called cromlechs of England are not true dolmens, but the +remains of tombs of more complicated types. Thus the famous Kit's Coty +House in Kent was certainly not a dolmen, though it is now impossible to +say what its form was. Wayland the Smith's Cave was probably a +three-chambered corridor-tomb covered with a mound. The famous +Men-an-tol in Cornwall may well be all that is left of a chamber-tomb of +some kind. It is a slab about 3-1/2 feet square, in which is a hole +1-1/2 feet in diameter. There are other stones standing or lying around +it. It is known to the peasants as the Crickstone, for it was said to +cure sufferers from rickets or crick in the back if they passed nine +times through the hole in a direction against the sun. The Isle of Man +possesses a fine sepulchral monument on Meayll Hill. It consist of six +T-shaped chamber-tombs arranged in a circle with entrances to the north +and south. There is also a corridor-tomb, known as King Orry's Grave, at +Laxey, and another with a semicircular facade at Maughold. + + +Among the megalithic monuments of our islands the chambered barrows hold +an important place. It is well known that in the neolithic period the +dead in certain parts of England were buried under mounds of not +circular but elongated shape. These graves are commonest in Wiltshire +and the surrounding counties of Dorsetshire, Somersetshire, and +Gloucestershire. A few exist in other counties. Some contain no chamber, +while others contain a structure of the megalithic type. It is with +these latter that we have here to deal. Chambered long barrows are most +frequent in Wiltshire, though they do occur in other counties, as, for +example, Buckinghamshire, where the famous Cave of Wayland the Smith is +certainly the remains of a barrow of this kind. In Derbyshire and +Staffordshire a type of chambered mound does occur, but it seems +uncertain from the description given whether it is round or elongated. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3. (_a_)--Barrow at Stoney Littleton, Somersetshire. + (_b_)--Barrow at Rodmarton, Gloucestershire. + (_c_)--Chambers of barrow at Uley, Gloucestershire. + (After Thurnam, _Archaeologia,_ XLII.)] + +Turning first to the Wiltshire and Gloucestershire group of barrows we +find that they are usually from 120 to 200 feet in length and from 30 to +60 in breadth. In some cases there is a wall of dry stone-masonry around +the foot of the mound and outside this a ditch. The megalithic chambers +within the mound are of three types. In the first there is a central +gallery entering the mound at its thicker end and leading to a chamber +or series of chambers (Fig. 3, _a_ and _c_). Where this gallery enters +the mound there is a cusp-shaped break in the outline of the mound as +marked by the dry walling, and the entrance is closed by a stone block. +The chambers are formed of large slabs set up on edge. Occasionally +there are spaces between successive slabs, and these are filled up with +dry masonry. The roof is made either by laying large slabs across the +tops of the sides or by corbelling with smaller slabs as at Stoney +Littleton. + +In the second type of chambered barrow there is no central corridor, but +chambers are built in opposite pairs on the outside edge of the mound +and opening outwards (Fig. 3, _b_). The two best known examples of this +are the tumuli of Avening and of Rodmarton. + +In the third type of barrow there is no chamber connected with the +outside, but its place is taken by several dolmens--so small as to be +mere cists--within the mound. + +The burials in these barrows seem to have been without exception +inhumations. The body was placed in the crouched position, either +sitting up or reclining. In an untouched chamber at Rodmarton were found +as many as thirteen bodies, and in the eastern chamber at Charlton's +Abbott there were twelve. With the bodies lay pottery, vases, and +implements of flint and bone. + + + + + CHAPTER III + + MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS IN SCOTLAND AND IRELAND + + +The stone circles of Scotland have been divided into three types--the +Western Scottish, consisting of a rather irregular ring or pair of +concentric rings; the Inverness type, in which a chamber entered by a +straight passage is covered by a round tumulus with a retaining wall of +stone, the whole being surrounded by a regular stone circle; and the +Aberdeen type, which is similar to the last, but has a 'recumbent' stone +between two of the uprights of its outer circle. + +The first type occurs in the southern counties, in the islands of the +west and north coasts, and also extends into Argyll and Perthshire. The +most famous example is the Callernish Circle in the Isle of Lewis. The +circle is formed by thirteen stones from 12 to 15 feet high, and its +centre is marked by an upright 17 feet high. From the circle extends a +line of four stones to the east and another to the west. To the south +runs a line of five uprights and several fallen stones, and to the +N.N.E. runs a double line, forming as it were an avenue with nine +stones on one side and ten on the other, but having no entrance to the +circle. Inside the circle, between the central stone and the east side +of the ring, is what is described as a cruciform grave with three cells +under a low tumulus. In this tomb were found fragments of human bone +apparently burnt. It has been suggested that the tomb is not part of the +original structure, but was added later. + +The native tradition about this circle as repeated by Martin in 1700 was +that it was a druidical place of worship, and that the chief druid stood +near the central stone to address the assembled people. This tradition +seems to have now disappeared. + +In the island of Arran, between Brodick and Lamlash, is a damaged circle +21 feet in diameter. At a distance of 60 feet from its circumference in +a direction 35 deg. east of south is a stone 4 feet high. In the centre of +the circle was found a cist cut in the underlying rock containing bluish +earth and pieces of bone. Above were an implement and some fragments of +flint. + +On the other side of the island there were still in 1860 remains of +eight circles, five of sandstone and three of granite, quite close to +one another. The diameter of the largest was 63 feet, and the highest +stone reached 18 feet. One of them was a double ring. In four of them +were found cists containing pottery, flint arrow-heads, a piece of a +bronze pin, and some fragments of bone. Others appear to contain no +cists. + +In the other islands of the west coast few circles seem to remain; there +are, however, one at Kirkabrost in Skye, and another at Kingarth in +Bute. + +At Stromness in Orkney is the famous circle called the Ring of Brogar. +It originally consisted of sixty stones forming a circle 340 feet in +diameter, outside which was a ditch 29 feet wide. In a direction 60 deg. +east of south from the centre, and at a distance of 63 chains, is a +standing stone called the Watchstone, 18 feet high, and 42 or 43 chains +further on in the same line is a second stone, the Barnstone, 15 feet +high. To the left of this line are two stones apparently placed at +random, and to the right are the few remaining blocks of the Ring of +Stenness, somewhere to the north of which was the celebrated pierced +block called the "Stone of Odin," destroyed early in the last century. +At a distance of 42 or 43 chains to the north-east of the Barnstone lies +the tumulus of Maeshowe. This tumulus conceals a long gallery leading +into a rectangular chamber. The walls of this latter are built of +horizontal courses of stones, except at the corners, where there are +tall, vertically-placed slabs. The chamber has three niches or recesses, +one on each of its closed sides. The roof is formed by corbelling the +walls and finishing off with slabs laid across. If one sits within the +chamber and looks in a direct line along the passage one sees the +Barnstone. + +A series of measurements and alignments have been taken to connect the +Maeshowe tumulus with the Ring of Brogar. Thus we have already seen that +the distance from the Barnstone to the Watchstone is the same as from +the Barnstone to the tumulus. Moreover, the Watchstone is equidistant +from the ring and from the tumulus. Again, a line from the Barnstone to +the tumulus passes through the point of the midsummer sunrise and also, +on the other horizon, through the point of the setting sun ten days +before the winter solstice; the line from the Watchstone to the Brogar +Ring marks the setting of the sun at the Beltane festival in May and its +rising ten days before the winter solstice, while the line from Maeshowe +to the Watchstone is in the line of the equinoctial rising and setting. +These alignments are the work of Mr. Magnus Spence; readers must choose +what importance they will assign to them. + +The Inverness type of circle is entirely different from that of which we +have been speaking. The finest examples were at Clava, seven miles from +Inverness, where fifty years ago there were eight still in existence. +One of these is still partly preserved. It consists of a circle 100 feet +in diameter consisting of twelve stones. Within this is a cairn of +stones with a circular retaining wall of stone blocks 2 or 3 feet high. +The cairn originally covered a circular stone chamber 12-1/2 feet in +diameter entered by a straight passage on its south-west side. In other +words, the Inverness monuments are simply chamber-tombs covered with a +cairn and surrounded by a circle. + +Around Aberdeen we find the third type of circle. It consists of a +cist-tomb covered by a low mound, often with a retaining wall of small +blocks, but there is no entrance passage leading into the cist. Outside +the whole is a circle of large upright blocks with this peculiarity, +that between the two highest--generally to the south or slightly east of +south--lies a long block on its side, occupying the whole interval +between them. The uprights nearest this 'recumbent' block are the +tallest in the circle, and the size of the rest decreases towards the +north. Of thirty circles known near Aberdeen twenty-six still possess +the 'recumbent' stone, and in others it may originally have existed. + + +Passing now to monuments of more definitely sepulchral type we find that +the dolmen is not frequent in Scotland, though several are known in the +lowlands and in part of Argyllshire. + +To the long barrows of England answer in part at least the chambered +cairns of Caithness and the Orkneys. The best known type is a long +rectangular horned cairn (Fig. 4), of which there are two fine examples +near Yarhouse. The largest is 240 feet in length. The chamber is +circular, and roofed partly by corbelling and partly by a large slab. In +the cairn of Get we have a shorter and wider example of the horned type. +Another type is circular or elliptical. In a cairn of this sort at +Canister an iron knife was found. On the Holm of Papa-Westra in the +Orkneys there is an elliptical cairn of this kind containing a long +rectangular chamber running along its major axis with seven small +circular niches opening off it. The entrance passage lies on the minor +axis of the barrow. + +[Illustration: FIG. 4. Horned tumulus at Garrywhin, Caithness. + (After Montelius.)] + +The megalithic monuments of Ireland are extremely numerous, and are +found in almost every part of the country. They offer a particular +interest from the fact that though they are of few different types they +display all the stages by which the more complex were developed from the +more simple. It must be remembered that most if not all the monuments we +shall describe were originally covered by mounds of earth, though in +most cases these have disappeared. + +The simple dolmen is found in almost all parts of the country. Its +single cover-slab is supported by a varying number of uprights, +sometimes as few as three, oftener four or more. It is of great +importance to notice the fact that here in Ireland, as elsewhere in the +megalithic area, e.g. Sardinia, we have the round and rectangular +dolmens in juxtaposition (Fig. 5, _a_ and _c_). + +[Illustration: FIG. 5. Type-plans of _(a)_ the round dolmen; + _(b)_ the dolmen with portico; + _(c)_ the rectangular dolmen.] + +Occasionally one of the end-blocks of the dolmen instead of just +closing up the space between the two nearest side-blocks is pushed back +between them so as to form with them a small three-sided portico outside +the chamber, but still under the shelter of the cover-slab (Fig. 5, +_b_). A good example of this exists at Gaulstown, Waterford, where a +table-stone weighing 6 tons rests on six uprights, three of which form +the little portico just described. The famous dolmen of Carrickglass, +Sligo, is a still more developed example of this type. Here the chamber +is an accurate rectangle, and the portico is formed by adding two +side-slabs outside one of the end-slabs, but still under the cover. This +last is a remarkable block of limestone weighing about 70 tons. This +form of tomb is without doubt a link between the simple dolmen and the +corridor-tomb. The portico was at first built under the slab by pushing +an end-stone inwards. Then external side-stones formed the portico, +though still under the slab. The next move was to construct the portico +outside the slab. The portico then needed a roof, and the addition of a +second cover to provide it completed the transition to the simpler +corridor-tomb. In many cases the Irish simple dolmens were surrounded by +a circle of upright stones. At Carrowmore, Sligo, there seems to have +been a veritable cemetery of dolmen-tombs, each of which has one or more +circles around it, the outermost being 120 feet in diameter. The tombs +in these Carrowmore circles were not always simple dolmens, but often +corridor-tombs of more or less complicated types. Their excavation has +not given very definite results. In many cases human bones have been +found in considerable quantities, sometimes in a calcined condition; but +there is no real evidence to show that cremation was the burial rite +practised. The calcination of human bones may well have been caused by +the lighting of fires in the tomb, either at some funeral ceremony, or +in even later days, when the place was used as a shelter for peasants. A +few poor flints were found and a little pottery, together with many +bones of animals and some pins and borers of bone. The most important +find made, however, was a small conical button made of bone with two +holes pierced in its flat side and meeting in the middle. It is a type +which occurs in Europe only at the period of transition from the age of +stone to that of bronze, and usually in connection with megalithic +monuments. + +[Illustration: FIG. 6. Type-plan of the simple rectangular corridor-tomb + or _allee couverte_.] + +We pass on now to consider the simplest form of corridor-tomb, that in +which there are several cover-slabs, but no separate chamber (Fig. 6). +These tombs occur in most parts of Ireland. At Carrick-a-Dhirra, County +Waterford, there is a perfect example of the most simple type. The tomb +is exactly rectangular and lies east and west, with a length of 19 feet +and a breadth of 7-1/2. At each end is a single upright, and each long +side consists of seven. The chamber thus formed is roofed by five slabs. +The whole was surrounded by a circle of about twenty-six stones, and no +doubt the chamber was originally covered by a mound. In a somewhat +similar example at Coolback, Fermanagh, the remains of the elliptical +cairn are still visible. + +But in most cases the plan of the corridor-tomb is complicated by a kind +of outer lining of blocks which was added to it. Most of the monuments +are so damaged that it is difficult to see what the exact form of this +lining was. Whether it merely consisted of a line of upright blocks +close around the sides of the chamber or whether these supported some +further structure which covered up the whole chamber it is difficult to +say. In some cases the roof-slab actually covers the outer line of +blocks, and here it seems certain that this outer line served simply to +reinforce the chamber walls, the space between being filled with earth +or rubble. However, at Labbamologa, County Cork, is a tomb called Leaba +Callighe, in which this was certainly not the case. The length of the +whole monument is about 42 feet. The slabs cover the inner walls of the +chamber, but not the outer lining: this last forms a kind of outer shell +to the whole monument. It is shaped roughly like a ship, and runs to a +point at the east end, thus representing the bow. The west end is +damaged, but may have been pointed like the east. The whole reminds one +very forcibly of the _naus_ of the Balearic Isles and the Giants' Graves +of Sardinia. Occasionally the corridor-tomb has a kind of portico at its +west end. + +[Illustration: FIG. 7. Type-plan of wedge-shaped tomb. The roof slabs + are two or more in number.] + +In Munster the corridor-tomb takes a peculiar form (Fig. 7). It lies +roughly east and west, and its two long sides are placed at a slight +angle to one another in such a way that the west end is broader than the +east. In a good example of this at Keamcorravooly, County Cork, there +are two large capstones and the walls consist of double rows of slabs, +the outer being still beneath the cover-slabs. On the upper surface of +the covers are several small cup-shaped hollows, some of which at least +have been produced artificially. + +These wedge-shaped structures are of remarkable interest, for exactly +the same broadening of the west end is found in Scandinavia, in the +_Huenenbetter_ of Holland, in the corridor-tombs of Portugal, and in the +dolmens of the Deccan in India. + +In some Irish tombs the corridor leads to a well-defined chamber. In a +curious tomb at Carrickard, Sligo, the chamber was rectangular and lay +across the end of the corridor in such a way as to form a T. The whole +seems to have been covered with an oval mound. In another at Highwood in +the same county a long corridor joins two small circular chambers, the +total length being 44 feet. The corridor was once divided into four +sections by cross-slabs. The cairn which covered this tomb was +triangular in form. + +In the county of Meath, in the parish of Lough Crew, is a remarkable +series of stone cairns extending for three miles along the +Slieve-na-Callighe Hills. These cairns conceal chamber-tombs. The cairns +themselves are roughly circular, and the largest have a circle of +upright blocks round the base. The chambers are built of upright slabs +and are roofed by corbelling. Cairn H covered a corridor leading to a +chamber and opening off on each side into a side-chamber, the whole +group thus being cruciform. In these chambers were found human remains +and objects of flint, bone, earthenware, amber, glass, bronze, and iron. +Cairn L had a central corridor from which opened off seven chambers in a +very irregular fashion. Cairn T consisted of a corridor leading to a +fine octagonal chamber with small chambers off it on three sides. + +The chief interest of these tombs lies in the remarkable designs +engraved on some of the stones of the passages and chambers. They are +fairly deeply cut with a rather sharp implement, probably a metal +chisel. They are arranged in the most arbitrary way on the stones and +are often crowded together in masses. There is no attempt to depict +scenes of any kind, nor is there, indeed, any example of animal life. In +fact, the designs seem to be purely ornamental. The most frequent +elements of design are cup-shaped hollows, concentric circles or ovals, +star-shaped figures, circles with emanating rays, spirals, chevrons, +reticulated figures, parallel straight or curved lines. There seems to +be no clue as to the meaning of these designs. They may have been merely +ornamental, though this is hardly likely. + +At New Grange, near Drogheda, there is a similar series of tumuli, one +of which has become famous (Fig. 8). It consists of a huge mound of +stones 280 feet in diameter surrounded by a circle of upright blocks. +Access to the corridor is gained from the south-east side. This corridor +leads to a chamber with three divisions, so that corridor and chambers +together form a cross with a long shaft. The walls are formed of rough +slabs set upright. In the passage the roof is of slabs laid right +across, but the roof of the chamber is formed by corbelling. On the +floor of each division of the chamber was found a stone basin. + +[Illustration: Figure 8. Corridor-tomb at New Grange, Ireland (Coffey, + _Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy_, 1892.)] + +Around the edge of the mound runs an enclosure wall of stones lying on +the ground edge to edge. A few of these are sculptured. The finest is a +great stone which lies in front of the entrance and shows a +well-arranged design of spirals and lozenges. There are also engravings +on one of the stones of the chambers. These designs are in general more +skilful than those of Lough Crew. They consist mainly of chevrons, +lozenges, spirals, and triangles. + + +The monuments we have so far described are all tombs. Ireland also +possesses several stone circles. The largest are situated round Lough +Gur, 10 or 12 miles south of Limerick. There was at one time a fine +circle west of Lough Gur at Rockbarton, but it is now destroyed. On the +eastern edge of the lough is a double concentric ring of stones, the +diameter of the inner circle being about 100 feet. The rings are 6 feet +apart, and the space between them is filled up with earth. In 1869 an +excavation was made within the circle and revealed some human remains, +mostly those of children from six to eight years old. + +Further north is a remarkable group of monuments known as the +Carrigalla circles. The first is a plain circle (L) 33 or 34 feet in +diameter, composed of twenty-eight stones. The space within them is +filled up with earth to form a raised platform. At a distance of 75 feet +are two concentric circles, diameters 155 and 184 feet respectively, +made of stones 5 or 6 feet high. The space between the two circles is +filled with earth. Within these is a third concentric circle about 48 +feet in diameter made of stones of the same size. This group of three +concentric circles we will call M. The line joining the centres of L and +M runs in a direction of 29 deg. or 30 deg. west of north and passes through a +stone (N) 8 feet high standing on the top of a ridge 2500 feet away. +There are two other stones more to the west (O and P) in such a position +that the line joining them (41 deg. west of north) passes through the centre +of M, from which they are distant 860 and 1450 feet respectively. +Further, a line through the centre of L and a great standing stone (Q) +2480 feet from it in a direction 10 deg. east of south passes through the +highest point in the district, 1615 feet away and 492 feet in height. + +Mr. Lewis compares this group of monuments with that of Stanton Drew in +Somersetshire. In both a line joining the centre of two circles passes +through a single stone in a northerly direction, and there is in both a +fixed line from the centre of the larger circle. Captain Boyle +Somerville, R.N., finds that the line 29 deg. or 30 deg. west of north would +mark the setting of Capella in B.C. 1600, or Arcturus 500 B.C.; he adds +that the direction 41 deg. west of north would suit Capella in 2500 B.C. or +Castor in 2000 B.C. + +On the west side of Lough Gur is another group of monuments. There is in +the first place a circle 55 feet in diameter. On a line 35 deg. east of +north from this is a stone 10 feet high, and the same line produced +strikes a prominent hill-top. Somewhere to the south-west of this +circle, perhaps with its centre in the line just described, lay a second +circle between 150 and 170 feet in diameter, destroyed in 1870. Three +other stones mentioned by early writers as being near the circles have +now disappeared. The direction 35 deg. east of north is the same as that of +the King-stone with regard to the Rollright Circle in Oxfordshire. This +line, allowing a height of 3 deg. for the horizon, would, according to Sir +Norman Lockyer, have struck the rising points of Capella in 1700 B.C. +and Arcturus in 500 B.C. + +To the south of the destroyed circle is another about 150 to 155 feet in +diameter, with stones of over 5 feet in height set close together. Earth +is piled up outside them to form a bank 30 feet wide. There is an +entrance 3 feet wide in a direction 59 deg. east of north from the centre of +the circle. There is said to have been at one time a cromlech 100 feet +wide due south of the circle and connected with it by a paved way. Sir +Norman Lockyer thinks that the position of the doorway is connected with +observation of the sun's rising in May. Moreover, the tallest stone of +the circle, 9 feet high, is 30 deg. east of north from the centre, a +direction which according to him points to the rising of Capella in 1950 +B.C. and Arcturus in 280 B.C. + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + THE SCANDINAVIAN MEGALITHIC AREA + + +In Scandinavia megalithic monuments abound. They have been studied with +unusual care from quite an early date in the history of archaeology, and +classified in the order of their development. The earliest type appears +to be the simple dolmen with either four or five sides and a very rough +cover-slab. This and the upper part of the sides remained uncovered by +the mound of earth which was always heaped round the tomb. In later +times the dolmen became more regularly rectangular in shape, and only +its roof-block appeared above the mound. Contemporary with this later +form of dolmen were several other types of tomb. One was simply the +earlier dolmen with one side open and in front of it a sort of portico +or elementary corridor formed by two upright slabs with no roofing (cf. +the Irish type, Fig. 5, _b_). This quickly developed into the true +corridor-tomb, which had at first a small round chamber with one or two +cover-slabs, a short corridor, and a round or rectangular mound. Later +types have an oval chamber (Fig. 9) with from one to four cover-slabs or +a rectangular chamber with a long corridor and a circular mound. +Finally we reach a type where thin slabs are used in the construction, +and the mound completely covers the cap-stones: here the corridor leads +out from one of the short ends of the rectangular chamber. + +The earliest of these types in point of view of development, the true +dolmen, is common both in Denmark and in South Sweden; only one example +exists in Norway. In Sweden it is never found far from the sea-coast. + +[Illustration: FIG. 9. Corridor-tomb, Ottagarden, Sweden. + (Montelius, _Orient und Europa_.)] + +The corridor-tomb is also frequent in Denmark and Sweden, though it is +unknown in Norway. In Sweden it is, like all megalithic monuments, +confined to the south of the country. Of the early transition type with +elementary corridor there are fine examples at Herrestrup in Denmark and +Torebo in Sweden. A tomb at Sjoebol in Sweden where the corridor, +consisting of only two uprights, is covered in with two roof-slabs +instead of being left open, shows very clearly the transition to the +corridor-tomb proper, in which the entrance passage consists of at least +four uprights, two on each side. Of this there are numerous fine +examples. A tomb of this type at Broholm in Denmark has a roughly +circular chamber separated from the corridor by a kind of +threshold-stone. Another at Tyfta in Sweden is remarkable for its +curious construction, the uprights being set rather apart from one +another and the spaces between filled up with dry masonry of small +stones. Possibly there were not sufficient large blocks at hand to +construct a tomb of the required size. + +The still later type consisting of a rectangular chamber with a long +corridor leading out of one of its long sides often attains to very +imposing dimensions. In Westgothland, a province of Sweden, there are +fine examples with walls of limestone and often roofs of granite visible +above the surface of the mound. The largest of these tombs is that of +Karleby near Falkoeping. In another at Axevalla Heath were found nineteen +bodies seated round the wall of the chamber, each in a separate small +cist of stone slabs. The position of the bodies in the Scandinavian +graves is rather variable, both the outstretched and the contracted +posture being used. It is usual to find many bodies in the same tomb, +often as many as twenty or thirty: in that of Borreby on the island of +Seeland were found seventy skeletons, all of children of from two to +eighteen years of age. + +In Denmark these rectangular tombs occasionally have one or more small +round niches. In 1837 a large tomb was excavated at Lundhoej on Juetland, +which had a circular niche opposite to the entrance. The niche had a +threshold-stone, and the two uprights of the main chamber which lay on +either side of this had been crudely engraved with designs, among which +were a man, an animal, and a circle with a pair of diameters marked. +Little was found in the chamber, and only some bones and a pot in the +niche. + +In Denmark often occur mounds which contain two or more tombs, usually +of the same form, each with its separate entrance passage. At the +entrance of the chamber there is sometimes a well-worked framework into +which fitted a door of stone or wood. + +The late type in which the corridor leads out of one of the narrow ends +of the chamber is represented in both Sweden and Denmark. From this may +be derived the rather unusual types in which the corridor has become +indistinguishable from the chamber or forms a sort of antechamber to it. +An example of the former type at Knyttkaerr in Sweden is wider at one end +than at the other, and has an outer coating of stone slabs. It resembles +very closely the wedge-shaped tombs of Munster (cf. Fig. 7): + +In Germany megalithic monuments are not infrequent, but they are +practically confined to the northern part of the country. They extend as +far east as Koenigsberg and as far west as the borders of Holland. They +are very frequent in Holstein, Mecklenburg, and Hanover. There are even +examples in Prussian Saxony, but in South Germany they cease entirely. +Keller in one edition of his _Lake Dwellings_ figures two supposed +dolmens north of Lake Pfaeffikon in Switzerland, but we have no details +with regard to them. + +The true dolmen is extremely rare in Germany, and only occurs in small +groups in particular localities. The corridor-tomb with a distinct +chamber is also very exceptional, especially east of the Elbe. The most +usual type of megalithic tomb is that known as the _Huenenbett_ or +_Riesenbett_. The latter name means Giants' Bed, and it seems probable +that the former should be similarly translated, despite the suggested +connection with the Huns, for a word _Huenen_ has been in use in North +Germany for several centuries with the meaning of giants. A _Huenenbett_ +consists of a rectangular (rarely oval or round) hill of earth covering +a megalithic tomb. This is a simple elongated rectangle in shape, made +of upright blocks and roofed with two or more cover-slabs. The great +_Huenenbett_ or Grewismuehlen in Mecklenburg has a mound measuring 150 +feet by 36 with a height of 5 feet. On the edge of the mound are +arranged forty-eight tall upright blocks of stone. + +The _Huenenbetter_ of the Altmark are among the best known and explored. +Here the corridors are usually about 20 feet long, though in rare cases +they reach a length of 40 feet. Each is filled with clean sand up to +two-thirds of its height, and on this lie the bodies and their funeral +deposit. The bodies must have been laid flat, though not necessarily in +an extended position, as there was not room above the sand for them to +have been seated upright. Various implements of flint have been found in +the tombs together with stone hammers and vases of pottery. There is no +certain instance of the finding of metal. + + +A book printed by John Picardt at Amsterdam in 1660 contains quaint +pictures of giants and dwarfs engaged in the building of a megalithic +monument which is clearly a _Huenenbett_. According to tradition the +giants, after employing the labour of the dwarfs, proceeded to devour +them. _Huenenbetter_ similar to those shown in Picardt's illustrations +are still to be seen in Holland, but only in the north, where over fifty +are known. They are of elongated rectangular form, built of upright +blocks, and roofed with from two to ten cover-slabs. They all widen +slightly towards the west end. The most perfect example still remaining +is that of Tinaarloo, and the largest is that of Borger, which contains +forty-five blocks, of which ten are cap-stones. Several _Huenenbetter_ +have been excavated. In them are found pottery vases, flint celts, axes +and hammers of grey granite, basalt, and jade. + +Belgium possesses several true dolmens, of which the best known is that +called La Pierre du Diable on the right bank of the Meuse. Near Luettich +are two simple corridor-tombs, each with a round hole in one of the +end-slabs and a small portico outside it. + + + + + CHAPTER V + + FRANCE, SPAIN, AND PORTUGAL + + +France contains large numbers of megalithic monuments. Of dolmens and +corridor-tombs no less than 4458 have been recorded. In the east and +south-east they are rare, but they abound over a wide strip running from +the Breton coasts of the English Channel to the Mediterranean shores of +Herault and Card. In 1901 Mortillef counted 6192 menhirs, including +those which formed parts of _alignements_ and cromlechs. Several of +these attain to a great size. That to Locmariaquer (Morbihan), now +unfortunately fallen and broken, measured over 60 feet in height, being +thus not much shorter than the Egyptian obelisk which stands in the +Place de la Concorde in Paris. + +Passing now to combinations of menhirs in groups, we must first mention +the remarkable _alignements_ of Brittany, of which the most famous are +those of Carnac. They run east and west over a distance of 3300 yards, +but the line is broken at two points in such a way that the whole forms +three groups. The most westerly, that of Menec, consists of eleven lines +of menhirs and a cromlech, the total number of stones standing being +1169, the tallest of which is 13 feet in height. The central group, that +of Kermario, consists of 982 stones arranged in ten straight lines, +while the most easterly, that of Kerlescan, is formed by 579 menhirs, 39 +of which form a rectangular enclosure. + +There are other _alignements_ in Brittany, of which the most important +is that of Erdeven, comprising 1129 stones arranged in ten lines. +Outside Brittany _alignements_ are unusual, but a fine example, now +ruined, is said to have existed at Saint Pantaleon north of Autun. In +the fields around it are found large quantities of polished stone axes +with knives, scrapers, and arrow-heads of flint. + +We have already noticed the cromlechs which form part of the +_alignements_ of Brittany. There are other examples in France. At +Er-Lanic are two circles touching one another, the lower of which is +covered by the sea even at low tide. Excavations carried out within the +circles brought to light rough pottery and axes of polished stone. Two +fine circles at Can de Ceyrac (Gard) have diameters of about 100 yards, +and are formed of stones about 3 feet high. Each has a short entrance +avenue which narrows as it approaches the circle, and in the centre of +each rises a trilithon of rough stones. + +Of the definitely sepulchral monuments the dolmen is common in all +parts of the French megalithic area. It will suffice to mention the +magnificent example known as the Table des Marchands at Locmariaquer. +Perhaps the most typical structure in France is the corridor-tomb in +which the chamber is indistinguishable from the passage, and the whole +forms a long rectangular area. This is the _allee couverte_ in the +narrower sense. In the department of Oise occurs a special type of this +in which one of the end-slabs has a hole pierced in its centre and is +preceded by a small portico consisting of two uprights supporting a +roof-slab (Fig 10). A remarkable example in Brittany known as Les +Pierres Plates turns at a sharp angle in the middle, and is thus +elbow-shaped. + +[Illustration: FIG. 10. _Allee couverte_, called La Pierre aux Fees, + Oise, France. (_Compte rendu du Congres Prehistorique + de France_.)] + +In the north of France the _allee_ is often merely cut out in the +surface of the ground and has no roof at all. It is sometimes paved +with slabs and divided into two partitions by an upright with a hole in +its centre. Tombs of this kind often contain from forty to eighty +skeletons, some of which are in the contracted position. The skulls are +in some cases trepanned, i.e. small round pieces of the bone have been +cut out of them; such pieces are sometimes found separate in the graves. +No objects of metal occur in these North French tombs. + +There are many fine examples in Brittany of the corridor-tomb with +distinct chamber. The best known lies on the island of Gavr'inis +(Morbihan). It is covered by a tumulus nearly 200 feet in diameter. The +circular chamber, 6 feet in height, is roofed by a huge block measuring +13 feet by 10. The corridor which leads out to the edge of the mound is +40 feet in length. Twenty-two of the upright blocks used in this tomb +are almost entirely covered with engraved designs. These are massed +together with very little order, the main object having been apparently +to cover the whole surface of the stone with ornament. The designs +consist of spirals, concentric circles and semicircles, chevrons, rows +of strokes, and triangles, and bear a considerable resemblance to those +of Lough Crew and New Grange in Ireland. + +Another tomb in the same district, that of Mane-er-Hroeck, was intact +when discovered in 1863. It contained within its chamber a hoard of 101 +axes of fibrolite and jadeite, 50 pebbles of a kind of turquoise known +as _callais_, pieces of pottery, flints, and a peculiarly fine celt of +jadeite together with a flat ring-shaped club-head of the same stone. +The tomb was concealed by a huge oval mound more than 100 yards in +length. The famous Mont S. Michel is an artificial mound containing a +central megalithic chamber and several smaller cists, some of which held +cremated bodies. + +[Illustration: FIG. 11. Chambered mound at Fontenay-le-Marmion, + Normandy. (After Montelius, _Orient und Europa_.)] + +A very remarkable mound in Calvados (Fig. 11) was found to contain no +less than twelve circular corbelled chambers, each with a separate +entrance passage. The megalithic tombs of Brittany all belong to the +late neolithic period, and contain tools and arrow-heads of flint, small +ornaments of gold, _callais_, and pottery which includes among its forms +the bell-shaped cup. + +In Central and South France the _allees couvertes_ are mostly of a +semi-subterranean type, i.e. they are cut in the ground and merely +roofed with slabs of stone. The most famous is that of the Grotte des +Fees near Arles (Fig. 12), in which a passage (_a_) with a staircase at +one end and two niches (_b b_) in its sides leads into a narrow +rectangular chamber (_c_). The total length is nearly 80 feet. Another +tomb of the same type, La Grotte du Castellet, contained over a hundred +skeletons, together with thirty-three flint arrow or spear-heads, one of +which was stuck fast in a human vertebra, a bell-shaped cup, axes of +polished stone, beads and pendants of various materials, 114 pieces of +_callais_, and a small plaque of gold. + +On the plateau of Ger near the town of Dax are large numbers of mounds, +some of which contain cremated bodies in urns and others megalithic +tombs. Bertrand saw in this a cemetery of two different peoples living +side by side. But it has since been shown that the cremation mounds +belong to a much later period than those which contain megalithic +graves. In these last the skeletons were found seated around the walls +of the chamber accompanied by objects of flint and other stone, beads of +_callais_, and small gold ornaments. + +[Illustration: FIG. 12. Plan and section of La Grotte des Fees, Arles, + France (_Materiaux pour l'histoire de l'homme_, 1873).] + +[Illustration: FIG. 13. The so-called dolmen-deity, from the tombs of + the Petit Morin. (After de Baye.)] + +France has also its rock-hewn tombs, for in the valley of the +Petit-Morin is a series of such graves. A trench leads down to the +entrance, which is closed by a slab. The chamber itself is completely +underground. In the shallower tombs were either two rows of bodies with +a passage between or separate layers parted by slabs or strata of sand. +In the deeper were seldom more than eight bodies, in the extended or +contracted position, with tools and weapons of flint, pots, and beads +of amber and of _callais_. On the walls were rough sculptures of human +figures (Fig. 13), to which we shall have to return later. + +The Channel Islands possess megalithic monuments not unlike those of +Brittany. They are corridor-tombs covered with a mound and often +surrounded by a circle of stones. Within the chamber, which is usually +round, lies, under a layer of shells, a mass of mingled human and animal +bones. The bodies had been buried in the sitting position, and with them +lay objects of stone and bone, but none of metal. + + +The Spanish Peninsula abounds in megalithic monuments. With the +exception of a few menhirs, whose purpose is uncertain, all are +sepulchral. Dolmens and corridor-tombs are numerous in many parts, +especially in the north-east provinces, in Galicia, in Andalusia, and, +above all, in Portugal. There is a fine dolmen in the Vall Gorguina in +North-East Spain. The cover-slab, measuring 10 feet by 8, is supported +by seven rough uprights with considerable spaces between them. In the +same region is a ruined dolmen surrounded by a circle nearly 90 feet in +circumference, consisting of seven large stones, some of which appear to +be partly worked. Circles are also found round dolmens in Andalusia. +Portugal abounds in fine dolmens both of the round and rectangular +types. At Fonte Coberta on the Douro stands a magnificent dolmen known +locally as the Moors' House. In the name of the field, Fonte Coberta, +there is doubtless an allusion to the belief that the dolmens conceal +springs of water, a belief also held in parts of Ireland. + +At Eguilaz in the Basque provinces is a fine corridor-tomb, in which a +passage 20 feet long, roofed with flat slabs, leads to a rectangular +chamber 13 feet by 15 with an immense cover-slab nearly 20 feet in +length: the whole was covered with a mound of earth. The chamber +contained human bones and "lanceheads of stone and bronze." A famous +tomb of a similar type exists at Marcella in Algarve. The chamber is a +fine circle of upright slabs. It is paved with stones, and part of its +area is divided into two or perhaps three rectangular compartments. A +couple of orthostatic slabs form a sort of neck joining the circle to +the passage, which narrows as it leads away from the circle, and was +probably divided into two sections by a doorway whose side-posts still +remain. + +In South-East Spain the brothers Siret have found corridor-tombs in +which the chamber is cut in the rock surface and roofed with slabs; the +entrance passage becomes a slope or a staircase. Here we have a parallel +to the Giants' Graves of Sardinia, which are built usually of stone +blocks on the surface, but occasionally are cut in the solid rock. +Other tombs in the same district show the common megalithic construction +consisting of a base course of upright slabs surmounted by several +courses of horizontal masonry (Fig. 14). The chamber is usually round, +and may have two or more niches in its circumference. It is roofed by +the successive overlapping or corbelling of the upper courses. The vault +thus formed is further supported by a pillar of wood or stone set in +the centre of the chamber. On the walls of some of the chambers there +are traces of rough painting in red. The whole tomb is covered with a +circular mound. In the best known example at Los Millares there are +remains of a semicircular facade in front of the entrance, as in many +other megalithic monuments. + +[Illustration: FIG. 14. Corridor-tomb at Los Millares, Spain. + (After Siret.)] + +The finest, however, of all the Spanish monuments is the corridor-tomb +of Antequera in Andalusia. It consists of a short passage leading into a +long rectangular chamber roofed with four slabs. Within it on its axial +line are three stone pillars placed directly under the three +meeting-points of the four slabs, but quite unnecessary for their +support. The whole tomb is covered with a low mound of earth. In the +great upright slab which forms the inner end of the chamber is a +circular hole rather above the centre. + +It is not the plan of this tomb, but the size, that compels the +admiration of the beholder. He stands, as it were, within a vast cave +lighted only from its narrow end, the roof far above his head. The rough +surface of the blocks lends colour to the feeling that this is the work +of Nature and not of man. Here, even if not in Stonehenge, he will pause +to marvel at the patient energy of the men of old who put together such +colossal masses of stone. + +Among the corridor-tombs of Spain must be mentioned a wedge-shaped type +which bears a close resemblance to those of Munster in Ireland (cf. +Fig. 7). In Alemtejo, south of Cape de Sines, are several of these, +usually about 6 feet in length, with a slight portico at one end. + +A further point of similarity with the Irish monuments is seen in the +corridor-tombs of Monte Abrahao in Portugal, where the chamber walls +seem to have been reinforced by an outer lining of slabs. Remains of +eighty human bodies were found in this tomb, together with objects of +stone and bone, including a small conical button similar to that of +Carrowmore in Ireland. + +The Spanish Peninsula also possesses rock-hewn tombs. At Palmella, near +Lisbon, is a circular example about 12 feet in diameter preceded by a +bell-shaped passage which slopes slightly downwards. Another circular +chamber in the same group has a much longer passage, which bulges out +into two small rounded antechambers. These tombs have been excavated and +yielded some pottery vases, together with objects of copper and beads of +a peculiar precious stone called _callais_. All the finds made in the +megalithic remains of Spain and Portugal point to the period of +transition from the age of stone to that of metal. + +The Balearic Islands contain remarkable megalithic monuments. Those +known as the _talayots_ are towers having a circular or rarely a square +base and sloping slightly inwards as they rise. The largest is 50 feet +in diameter. The stones, which are rather large and occasionally +trimmed, are laid flat, not on edge. A doorway just large enough to be +entered with comfort leads through the thickness of the wall into a +round chamber roofed by corbelling, with the assistance sometimes of one +or more pillars. From analogy with the _nuraghi_ of Sardinia, which they +resemble rather closely, it seems probable that the _talayots_ are +fortified dwellings, perhaps only used in time of danger (Fig. 15). + +[Illustration: Fig. 15. Section and plan of the Talayot of Sa Aquila, + Majorca. (After Cartailhac.)] + +[Illustration: Fig. 16. Nau d'Es Tudons, plan and section. + (After Cartailhac.)] + +The _naus_ or _navetas_ are so named from their resemblance to ships. +The construction is similar to that of the _talayots_. The outer wall +has a considerable batter. The famous Nau d'Es Tudons is about 36 feet +in length. The facade is slightly concave. A low door (_a_) gives access +through a narrow slab-roofed passage (_b_) to a long rectangular chamber +(_c_), the method of whose roofing is uncertain. All the _naus_ are +built with their facades to the south or south-east, with the exception +of that of Benigaus Nou, the inner end of which is cut in the rock, +while the outer part is built up of blocks as usual. The abnormal +orientation was here clearly determined by the desire to make use of the +face of rock in the construction. The _naus_ seem to have been tombs, as +human remains have been found in them. + +Rock-tombs also occur in the islands. The most remarkable are those of +S. Vincent in Majorca. One of these has a kind of open antechamber cut +in the rock, and is exactly similar in plan to the Grotte des Fees in +France (cf. Fig. 12). + +Prehistoric villages surrounded by great stone walls can still be traced +in the Balearic Isles. The houses were of two types, built either above +ground or below. The first are square or rectangular with rounded +corners, the base course occasionally consisting of orthostatic slabs. +The subterranean dwellings are faced with stone and roofed with flat +slabs supported by columns. In each village was one building of a +different type. It stood above ground and was semicircular in plan. In +its centre stood a horizontal slab laid across the top of an upright, +forming a T-shaped structure which helped to support the roof-slabs, but +which may also have had some religious significance. The stones which +composed it were always carefully worked, and the lower was let into a +socket on the under side of the upper. + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + ITALY AND ITS ISLANDS + + +Italy cannot be called a country of megalithic monuments. In the centre +and north they do not occur, the supposed examples mentioned by Dennis +in his _Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria_ having been proved +non-existent by the Italian Ministry of Education. It is only in the +extreme south-west that megalithic structures appear. They are dolmens +of ordinary type, except that in some cases the walls are formed not of +upright slabs, but of stones roughly superposed one upon another. On the +farm of the Grassi, near Lecce, are what appear to be two small dolmens +at a distance of only 4 feet apart; they are perhaps parts of a single +corridor-tomb. In the neighbourhood of Tarentum there is a dolmen-tomb +approached by a short passage, and at Bisceglie, near Ruvo, there is an +even finer example, the discovery of which is one of the most important +events which have occurred in Italian prehistoric archaeology during the +last few years. The tomb is a simple rectangular corridor 36 feet in +length, lying east and west. Only one cover-slab, that at the west end, +remains, and the exact disposition of the rest of the tomb is +uncertain. In one of the side uprights which supports this slab is a +circular hole, which, however, seems to be the work of Nature, though +its presence may have led to the choice of the stone. The tomb was +carefully excavated, and the remains of several skeletons were found, +one of which lay in the contracted position on the right side. Three of +the skulls were observed by an expert to be dolichocephalic, but their +fragile condition prevented the taking of actual measurements. Burnt +bones of animals, fragments of pottery, a terra-cotta bead, and a stone +pendant were also found, together with flint knives and a fragment of +obsidian. + +These discoveries show that the heel of Italy fell under the influence +which caused the spread of the megalithic monuments, whatever that +influence may have been. The same influence may also have been +responsible for the bronze age rock-hewn tombs of Matera in the +Basilicata, each of which is surrounded by a circle of fairly large +stones. + +Geographical considerations would lead one to suppose that the same +conditions existed in Sicily, and it is possible that this was the case. +Yet it is an affirmation which must be made with great reserve. +Megalithic monuments in the ordinary sense of the term are unknown in +Sicily. There are, however, four tombs in the south-east of the island +which show some affinity to megalithic work. Two of these were found by +Orsi at Monteracello. They were rectangular chambers built of squared +slabs of limestone set on edge. At one end of the finer of the two was a +small opening or window cut in the upright slab. This same grave +contained a skeleton lying on the right side with the legs slightly +contracted. These two tombs can hardly be described as dolmens; they +seem to have had no cover-slabs, and the blocks, which were small, were +let into the earth, scarcely appearing above the surface. Taken by +themselves the Monteracello tombs would hardly prove the presence of the +megalithic civilization in Sicily. However, in the valley called Cava +Lazzaro there is a rock-hewn tomb where the vertical face of the rock in +which the tomb is cut has been shaped into a curved facade, a very usual +feature of megalithic architecture. This is ornamented on each side of +the entrance of the tomb with four pilasters cut in relief in the solid +rock, each pair being connected by a semicircular arch also in relief. +On the pilasters is incised a pattern of circles and V-shaped signs. A +somewhat similar arrangement of pilasters is seen in two rock-tombs at +Cava Lavinaro in the same district. This work forcibly recalls the work +of the megalithic builders in the hypogeum of Halsaflieni in Malta (see +Chap. VII), and on the facades of the Giants' Tombs in Sardinia (see +below). It affords, at any rate, a presumption that in all three +islands we have to deal with the same civilization if not the same +people. + +Such a presumption is not weakened by the fact that in Sicily the usual +form of tomb was the rock-hewn sepulchre, which, as will be seen later, +is very often a concomitant of the megalithic monument, and in many +cases is proved to be the work of the same people. In the early +neolithic period in Sicily, called by Orsi the Sicanian Period, +rock-hewn tombs seem not to have been used. It is only at the beginning +of the metal age that they begin to appear. In this period, the +so-called First Siculan, the tomb-chamber was almost always circular or +elliptical, entered by a small door or window in the face of the rock. +The dead were often seated round the wall of the chamber, evidently +engaged in a funerary feast, as is clear from the great vase set in +their midst with small cups for ladling out the liquid. A single tomb +often contained many bodies, especially in cases where the banquet +arrangement was not observed; one chamber held more than a hundred +skeletons, and it has been suggested that the bodies were only laid in +the tomb after the flesh had been removed from the bones, either +artificially or as the result of a temporary burial elsewhere. Such a +custom is not unknown in other parts of the megalithic area. With these +bodies were found large quantities of painted pottery, a few implements +of copper and many of flint. Among the ornaments which the dead +carried--for they seem to have been buried in complete costume--were +several axe-shaped pendants of polished stone, precisely similar to +those of Sardinia, Malta, and France. The most important cemeteries of +this period are those of Castelluccio, Melilli, and Monteracello. Near +this last site was also found a round hut based on a course of +orthostatic slabs of typically megalithic appearance. + +In the full bronze age, called the Second Siculan Period, burial in +rock-tombs still remained the rule. The tomb-form had developed +considerably. The circular type was still usual, though beside it a +rectangular form was fast coming into favour. The main chamber often had +side-niches, and was usually preceded by a corridor which sometimes +passed through an antechamber. Occasionally we find an elaborate +open-air court outside the facade of the tomb, built very much after the +megalithic style. Large vertical surfaces of rock were carefully sought +after for tombs, and the almost inaccessible cliffs of Pantalica and +Cassibile are literally honeycombed with them. Where such surfaces of +rock were unobtainable a vertical shaft was sunk in the level rock and a +chamber was opened off the bottom of it. The tradition of the banquet of +the dead is still kept up, but the number of the skeletons in each tomb +steadily decreases. The sitting posture is still frequent, though +occasionally the body lies flat on one side with the legs slightly +contracted. Flint is now rare, but objects of bronze are plentiful. The +local painted pottery has almost entirely given place to simpler yet +better wares with occasional Mycenean importations. + +It is impossible to decide whether this Sicilian civilization ought to +be included under the term megalithic. If, as seems probable, the idea +of megalithic building was brought to Europe by the immigration of a new +race it is possible that a branch of this race entered Sicily. In that +case I should prefer to think that they came not at the beginning of the +First Siculan Period as we know it, but rather earlier. Certain vases +found with neolithic burials in a cave at Villafrati and elsewhere in +Sicily resemble the pottery usually found in megalithic tombs; one of +them is in fact a bell-shaped cup, a form typical of megalithic pottery. +It is thus possible that an immigration of megalithic people into Sicily +took place during the stone age, definitely later than the period of the +earliest neolithic remains on the island, but earlier than that of such +sites as the Castelluccio cemetery. This, however, is and will perhaps +remain a mere conjecture, though it is quite possible that there are in +the interior of Sicily dolmens which have not yet come to the notice of +the archaeologist; in this connection it is worth while to remember that +up to five years ago the existence of dolmens in both Sardinia and Malta +passed unnoticed. + + +If the inclusion of Sicily in the megalithic area is doubtful there is +fortunately no question about the island of Sardinia. Here we have one +of the chief strongholds of the megalithic civilization, where the +architecture displays its greatest variety and flexibility. The simplest +manifestation of megalithic building, the dolmen, was up till lately +thought to be absent from Sardinia, but the researches of the last few +years have brought to light several examples, of which the best known +are those of Birori, where the chamber is approximately circular in +plan. + +The monuments, however, for which Sardinia is most famous are the +_nuraghi._ A _nuraghe_ is a tower-like structure of truncated conical +form, built of large stones laid in comparatively regular courses (Pl. +II, Fig. 2). The stones are often artificially squared, and set with a +clay mortar. The plan and arrangement of a simple _nuraghe_ are usually +as follows (Fig. 17): The diameter of the building is generally under 30 +feet. A door of barely comfortable height even for an average man and +surmounted by a single lintel-block gives access to a narrow passage cut +through the thickness of the wall. In this passage are, to the right, a +small niche (_c_) just large enough to hold a man, and, on the left, +a winding staircase in the wall (_d_) leading to an upper storey. The +passage itself leads into the chamber (_a_), which is circular, often +with two or three side-niches (_b b_), and roofed by corbelling, i.e. by +making each of the upper courses of stones in its wall project inwards +over the last. The upper chamber, which is rarely preserved, is similar +in form to the lower. + +[Illustration: Plate II Fig. 1. MNAIDRA, DOORWAY OF ROOM H] + +[Illustration: Plate II Fig. 2. THE NURAGHE OF MADRONE IN SARDINIA + To face p. 82] + +[Illustration: Fig. 17. Elevation, section and plan of a _nuraghe_. + (Pinza, _Monumenti Antichi_.)] + +Considerable speculation has been indulged in concerning the purpose of +the _nuraghi_. For many years they were regarded as tombs, a view which +was first combated by Nissardi at the International Congress in Rome in +1903. Further exploration since that time has placed it beyond all doubt +that the _nuraghi_ were fortified dwellings. The form of the building +itself is almost conclusive. The lowness of the door would at once put +an enemy at a disadvantage in attempting to enter; it is significant +that in the _nuraghe_ of Su Cadalanu, where the doorway was over 6 feet +in height, its breadth was so much reduced that it was necessary to +enter sideways. Arrangements were made for the closing of the entrance +from inside by a heavy slab of stone, often fitted into grooves. The +niche on the right of the passage clearly served to hold a man, who +would command the passage itself and the staircase to the upper floor; +he would, moreover, be able to attack the undefended flank of an enemy +entering with his shield on his left arm. To the same effort at +impregnability we may safely ascribe the fact that the staircase leading +to the upper room did not begin on the floor-level of the passage, but +was reached through a hole high up in the wall. Many of the _nuraghi_ +are surrounded by elaborate fortifications consisting of walls, towers, +and bastions, sometimes built at the same time as the dwelling itself, +sometimes added later. Those of Aiga, Losa, and s'Aspru are among the +most famous of this type. All the _nuraghi_ stand in commanding +situations overlooking large tracts of country, and the more important a +position is from the strategical point of view the stronger will be the +_nuraghe_ which defends it. All are situated close to streams and +springs of good water, and some, as for instance that of Abbameiga, are +actually built over a natural spring. At Nossiu is a building which can +only be described as a fortress. It consists of a rhomboidal enclosure +with _nuraghe_-like towers at its corners and four narrow gateways in +its walls. It is surrounded by the ruins of a village of stone huts. +There cannot be the least doubt that in time of danger the inhabitants +drove their cattle into the fortified enclosure, entered it themselves, +and then closed the gates. + +Each _nuraghe_ formed the centre of a group of stone huts. Mackenzie has +described such a village at Serucci, where the circular plan of the +huts was still visible. The walls in one case stood high enough to +show, from the corbelling of their upper courses, that the huts were +roofed in the same fashion as the _nuraghi_ themselves. Another village, +that which surrounds the _nuraghe_ of Su Chiai, was protected by a wall +of huge stones. + +It is thus clear that the _nuraghi_ were the fortified centres of the +various villages of Sardinia. Probably each formed the residence of the +local chieftain; that they were actually inhabited is clear from the +remains of everyday life found in them, and from the polish which +continual use has set on the side-walls of some of the staircases. In +general appearance and design the _nuraghi_ recall the modern _truddhi_, +hundreds of which dot the surface of Apulia and help to beguile the +tedium of the railway journey from Brindisi to Foggia. The _truddhi_, +however, are built in steps or terraces and have no upper chamber. + +Who were the foes against whom such elaborate preparations for defence +were made? Two alternatives are possible. Either Sardinia was a +continual prey to some piratical Mediterranean people, or she was +divided against herself through the rivalry of the local chieftains. + +The second explanation is perhaps the more probable. Mackenzie seems to +adopt it, and fancies that in the growth of the largest _nuraghi_ we may +trace the rise to power of some of these local dynasts at the expense of +their neighbours. He suggests that the existence of the fortified +enclosure of Nossiu, where there is no sign of a true _nuraghe_, may +mean that there were certain communities which succeeded in maintaining +their independence in the face of these powerful rulers. But here, as he +himself is the first to admit, we are in the realm of pure conjecture. + +[Illustration: Fig. 18. Giant's Tomb at Muraguada, Sardinia. (Mackenzie, +_Papers of the British School of Rome_, V.)] + +It is now established that in the Giants' Tombs of Sardinia we are to +see the graves of the inhabitants of the _nuraghe_ villages. Every +Giant's Tomb lies close to such a village, and almost every village has +its Giants' Tombs, one or more in number according to its size. A +Giant's Tomb consists of a long rectangular chamber of upright slabs +roofed by corbelled masonry (Fig. 18). The slab which closes one end of +the tomb is of great size, and consists of a lower rectangular half with +a small hole at the base and an upper part shaped like a rounded gable. +There is a raised border to the whole slab, and a similar band in relief +marks out the two halves. This front slab forms the centre-piece in a +curved facade of upright slabs. The chamber is covered with a coating of +ashlar masonry, which is shaped into an apsidal form at the end opposite +to the facade. Occasionally more than 50 feet in length, the Giants' +Tombs served as graves for whole families, or even for whole villages. +Mackenzie has shown that the form is derived from the simple dolmen, and +has pointed out several of the intermediate stages. + +The inhabitants of Sardinia in the megalithic period also buried their +dead in rock-hewn sepulchres, of which there are numerous examples at +Anghelu Ruju. The contents of these graves make it clear that they are +the work of the same people as the Giants' Graves. Were further proof +needed it could be afforded by a grave at Molafa, where a Giant's Grave +with its facade and gabled slab has been faithfully imitated in the +solid rock. There is a similar tomb at St. George. Two natural caves in +Cape Sant' Elia on the south of the island contain burials of this same +period. + +The neighbouring island of Corsica also contains important megalithic +remains. They consist of thirteen dolmens, forty-one menhirs, two +_alignements_, and a cromlech. They fall geographically into two groups, +one in the extreme north and the other in the extreme south of the +island. + +The stones used are chiefly granite and gneiss. The dolmens, which are +of carefully chosen flat blocks showing no trace of work, are all +rectangular in plan, and usually consist of four side-walls and a +cover-slab. The finest of all, however, the dolmen of Fontanaccia, has +seven blocks supporting the cover, one at each short end, three in one +of the long sides, and two in the other. None of the dolmens are covered +by mounds. + +Of the _alignements_, that of Caouria seems to consist, in part at +least, of two parallel lines of menhirs, the rest of the plan being +uncertain. There are still thirty-two blocks, of which six have fallen. +The other _alignement_, that of Rinaiou, consists of seven menhirs set +in a straight line. The cromlech is circular and stands on Cape Corse. + +On the small island of Pianosa, near Elba, are several rock-hewn tombs +of the aeneolithic period which ought perhaps to be classed with the +megalithic monuments of Sardinia and Corsica. + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + AFRICA, MALTA, AND THE SMALLER + MEDITERRANEAN ISLANDS + + +North Africa is a great stronghold of the megalithic civilization, +indeed it is thought by some that it is the area in which megalithic +building originated. Morocco, Tunis, Algeria, and Tripoli all abound in +dolmens and other monuments. Even in the Nile Valley they occur, for +what looks like a dolmen surrounded by a circle was discovered by de +Morgan in the desert near Edfu, and Wilson and Felkin describe a number +of simple dolmens which exist near Lado in the Sudan. Tripoli remains as +yet comparatively unexplored. The traveller Barth speaks of stone +circles near Mourzouk and near the town of Tripoli. The great trilithons +(_senams_) with holes pierced in their uprights and 'altar tables' at +their base, which Barth, followed by Cooper in his _Hill of the Graces_, +described as megalithic monuments, have been shown to be nothing more +than olive-presses, the 'altar tables' being the slabs over which the +oil ran off as it descended. True dolmens do, however, occur in Tripoli, +and Cooper figures a fine monument at Messa in the Cyrenaica, which +appears to consist of a single straight line of tall uprights with a +continuous entablature of blocks similar to that of the outer circle at +Stonehenge. + +Algeria has been far more completely explored, and possesses a +remarkable number of megalithic monuments. Many of the finest are +situated near the town of Constantine. Thus at Bou Nouara there is a +hill about a mile in length which is a regular necropolis of +dolmen-tombs. Each grave consists of a dolmen within a circle of stones. +The blocks are all natural and completely unworked. The circle consists +of a wall of stone blocks so built as to neutralize the slope of the +hill and to form a level platform for the dolmen. Thus on the lower side +there are three courses of carefully laid stones rising to about five +feet, while on the upper side there is only one course. The diameter of +the circles varies from 22 to 33 feet. In the centre of the circle lies +the dolmen with its single long cover-slab. This usually rests on two +entire side-slabs, the ends being filled up either with entire slabs or +with masonry of small stones. In rare cases the side-slabs are replaced +by masonry walls. The average size of the cover-slab is 6-1/2 by 5 feet. +The dolmen itself is, of course, built directly on to the platform, and +the space between it and the circle is filled up with rough stones. The +orientation of the dolmens varied considerably, but the cover-slab was +never placed in such a way that its length ran up the hill-slope, +probably because in moving the slab into place this would have been an +awkward position. + +Another equally fine site is that of Bou Merzoug, near Oulad Rahmoun, +about an hour's railway journey from Constantine. The place is naturally +adapted for a settlement as there is a spring of water there. This +spring was later utilized by the Romans to provide water for the city of +Cirta. The dolmen-graves lie in great numbers on the hill at the foot of +which the spring rises, and extend down into the valley. Each dolmen +lies in the centre of a stone circle. This last is in some cases formed +by very large slabs set on edge, but more often by two or three courses +of rough oblong blocks. Many of the graves are badly damaged. One of the +finest had an outer circle about 27 feet in diameter, and an inner +circle 14 feet in diameter. Between these two a third circle, much more +irregular and of small stones, could just be distinguished. But in most +cases it was impossible to make out clearly more than the one outer +circle and the dolmen within it. The dolmen itself consisted of a large +slab resting on walls formed of several large blocks, the spaces between +which were filled up with smaller stones. None of the stones used were +worked. The dolmens were not oriented according to any fixed system. M. +Feraud states that the separate graves were united together by open +corridors formed by double or triple rows of large stones, but no traces +of such a system could be found by the later visitors to the site, +Messrs. MacIver and Wilkin. + +Fortunately we have some record of what these graves contained, for +thirteen were opened by Mr. Christy and M. Feraud. One contained a human +skeleton in good condition, buried in the contracted position with the +knees to chin and arms crossed. With this were two whole vases, +fragments of others, and pieces of cedar wood. At the feet of the +skeleton were two human heads, and as the graves would not have +accommodated more than one whole body M. Feraud suggests that these +belong to decapitated victims. Another grave contained, in addition to +human bones, those of a horse, together with three objects of copper, +viz. a ring, an earring, and a buckle. In another were found the teeth +and bones of a horse and an iron bit. + +An entirely different type of monument is found near Msila, south-west +of Algiers. Here is a long low hill called the Senam, covered with large +numbers of stone circles. These consist of large slabs of natural +limestone set up on edge and not very closely fitted. The height of the +slabs varies from 2 to 3 feet, and the diameters of the three still +perfect circles are 23-1/2, 26-3/4, and 34-1/3 feet respectively. At a +point roughly south-east there is a break in the circumference, filled +by a rectangular niche (Fig. 19) consisting of three large slabs, and +varying in width from 2 ft. 6 in. to 6 feet. There is a possibility that +the niches were originally roofed, but the evidence on this point is far +from conclusive. The interior of the circle is filled with blocks of +stone, apparently heaped up without any definite plan. There seems to be +no clue as to the meaning of these circles, as none have as yet been +explored. MacIver and Wilkin are probably right in classing them as +graves. + +[Illustration: FIG 19. Stone circle at the Senam, Algeria. + (After MacIver and Wilkin).] + +The most famous, however, of the Algerian sites is unquestionably that +of Roknia. Here the tombs lie on the side of a steep hill. They consist +of dolmens often surrounded by stone circles from 25 to 33 feet in +diameter. The cover-slabs of the dolmens usually rest on single +uprights, and never on built walls. Several of the graves excavated +contained more than one body, one yielding as many as seven. It is +remarkable that three of the skulls showed wounds, the dead having been +apparently killed in battle. Several vases have been found and a few +pieces of bronze. + +We have seen that in some of the tombs of Bou Merzoug objects of iron +were found. This makes it clear that some at least of the Algerian tombs +belong to the iron age, i.e. that they are probably later than 1000 +B.C., but beyond this we cannot go. The medal of Faustina sometimes +quoted as evidence for a very late date proves nothing, as it is not +stated to have been found in a tomb. There is no evidence to show how +far back the graves go. It may be that, as MacIver and Wilkin suggest, +the parts of the cemeteries excavated chance to be the latest. At Bou +Merzoug the excavators worked chiefly among the graves on the plain and +at the bottom of the hill. The more closely crowded graves which lie on +the hill itself may well be older than these. In fact, all that may be +said of the Algerian graves is that some are of the iron age, while +others may be and probably are earlier. + + +In Tunis the dolmen is not uncommon, and several groups or cemeteries +have been reported. Near Ellez occurs a type of corridor-tomb in which +three dolmen-like chambers lie on either side of a central passage, and +a seventh at the end opposite to the entrance. The whole is constructed +of upright slabs of stone, and is surrounded by a circle formed in the +same way. + +Morocco, too, has its dolmens, especially in the district of Kabylia, +while near Tangier there is a stone circle. + +Off the north coast of Africa, and thus on the highway which leads from +Africa to Europe, lie the Italian islands of Lampedusa and Linosa. The +latter is volcanic in origin, and its surface presents no opportunity +for the building of megalithic monuments. Lampedusa, on the other hand, +consists of limestone, which lies about in great blocks on its surface. +On the slopes of the south coast there are several remains of megalithic +construction, but they are too damaged to show much of their original +form. However, on the north side of the island there are megalithic huts +in a very fair state of preservation. They are oval in form and have in +many cases a base course of orthostatic slabs. + +Some miles to the north of Linosa lies the much larger volcanic island +of Pantelleria, also a possession of Italy. Here megalithic remains both +of dwellings and of tombs have been found. On the plateau of the Mursia +are the remains of rectangular huts made of rough blocks of stone. These +huts seemed to have formed a village, which was surrounded by a wall for +purposes of defence. In the huts were found implements of obsidian and +flat stones used for grinding. + +[Illustration: FIG. 20. Plan of the Sese Grande, Pantelleria. + (Orsi, _Monumenti Antichi_, IX.)] + +The tombs of the people who inhabited this village are, unlike the +houses, circular or elliptical in form. They are locally known as +_sesi._ The smaller are of truncated conical shape, the circular chamber +being entered by a low door and having a corbelled roof. In one of the +_sesi_ a skeleton was found buried in the contracted position. The +finest of the tombs, known as the Sese Grande, elliptical in form (Fig. +20), has a major diameter of more than 60 feet, and rises in ridges, +being domed at the top. It contains not one chamber, but twelve, each of +which has a separate entrance from the outside of the _sese._ To judge +by the remains found in the _sesi_ they belong entirely to the neolithic +period. + + +The island of Malta as seen to-day is an almost treeless, though not +unfertile, stretch of rock, with a harbour on the north coast which must +always make the place a necessary possession to the first sea power of +Europe. Much of its soil is of comparatively modern creation, and four +thousand years ago the island may well have had a forbidding aspect. +This is perhaps the reason why the first great inroads of neolithic man +into the Mediterranean left it quite untouched, although it lay directly +in the path of tribes immigrating into Europe from Africa. The earliest +neolithic remains of Italy, Crete, and the AEgean seem to have no +parallel in Malta, and the first inhabitants of whom we find traces in +the island were builders of megalithic monuments. Small as Malta is it +contains some of the grandest and most important structures of this kind +ever erected. The two greatest of these, the so-called "Phoenician +temples" of Hagiar Kim and Mnaidra, were constructed on opposite sides +of one of the southern valleys, each within sight of the other and of +the little rocky island of Filfla. + +[Illustration: FIG. 21. Plan of the megalithic sanctuary of Mnaidra, + Malta. (After Albert Mayr's plan.)] + +The temple of Mnaidra is the simpler of the two in plan (Fig. 21). It +consists of two halves, the more northerly of which was almost certainly +built later than the other. Each half consists of two elliptical +chambers set one behind the other. The south half is the better +preserved. It has a concave facade of large orthostatic slabs with +horizontal blocks set in front of them to keep them in position. In the +centre of this opens a short paved passage formed of fine upright slabs +of stone, one of which is 13 feet in height. The first elliptical +chamber (_E_) into which this passage leads us has a length of 45 feet. +Its walls (Pl. III) consist of roughly squared orthostatic slabs over 6 +feet in height, above which are several courses of horizontal blocks +which carry the walls in places up to a height of nearly 14 feet. This +combination of vertical and horizontal masonry is typical of all the +Maltese temples. To the left of the entrance is a rectangular niche in +the wall containing one of the remarkable trilithons (_a_) which form so +striking a feature of Mnaidra and Hagiar Kim. It consists of a +horizontal slab of stone nearly 10 feet in length, supported at its ends +by two vertical slabs about 5 feet high. To the right of the entrance is +a window-like opening (_b_, behind the seated figure in Pl. III) in one +of the slabs of the wall, preceded by two steps and giving access to +an irregular triangular space (_F_). In the north-west angle of this +triangle is fixed a trilithon table (_c_) of the usual type, 32 inches +high; at a like height above the table is fixed another horizontal slab +which serves as a roof to the corner. The south corner of the triangle +is shut off by a vertical slab, in which is cut a window 29 inches by +17. Through this is seen a shrine (?) consisting of a box (_d_) made of +five well-cut slabs of stone, the front being open. The aperture by +which _F_ is entered was evidently intended to be closed with a slab of +stone from the inside of _F_, for it was rebated on that side, and there +are holes to be used in securing the slab. When the entrance was thus +blocked _F_ still communicated with _E_ by means of a small rectangular +window 16 inches by 12 in one of the adjacent slabs (visible in Pl. +III). + +[Illustration: PLATE III TEMPLE OF MNAIDRA, MALTA. APSE OF CHIEF ROOM + To face p. 100] + +Returning to the area _E_ we find in the south-west wall an elaborate +doorway (Pl. II, Fig. I, p. 82) leading to a rectangular room _H_. The +doorway consists of two tall pillars with a great lintel laid across the +top. The space between the pillars is closed by a fixed vertical slab in +which is a window-like aperture similar to that which gives access to +Room _F_. All the stones in this doorway are ornamented with pit-marks. +The rectangular room _H_ has niches in its walls to the north, south, +and west. Each niche is formed by a pair of uprights with a block laid +across the top. The west niche is occupied by a horizontal table or +slab (_e_) supported at its centre by a stone pillar 39 inches in +height, of circular section narrowing in the centre (visible through the +doorway in Pl. II, Fig. I). The southern niche contains an ordinary +trilithon table (_f_): the northern niche is damaged, but apparently +held a table like that of the western. + +The area _I_ consists of only half an ellipse, the southern half being +replaced by the area _H_, which we have already described. It has a +rectangular niche to the west containing a fine trilithon with a +cover-slab nearly 10 feet long. + +The whole of the southern half of the Mnaidra temple is surrounded by a +wall of huge rough blocks of stone, presenting a great contrast to the +dressed slabs of which the inner walls are formed. They are placed +alternately with their broad faces and their narrow edges outwards. The +roughness of this enclosure wall gives the structure a remarkably wild +and craggy appearance from a distance. The northern half of Mnaidra is +clearly a later addition. + +There is no doubt as to the way in which the areas were roofed. In the +apse-like ends of the elliptical rooms the horizontal courses are +corbelled, i.e. each course projects slightly forward over the last. +Thus the space narrows as the walls rise, until the aperture is small +enough to be roofed by great slabs laid across. The corbelling of the +apse is just perceptible in Pl. III. Whether the roofing of the Mnaidra +temple was ever complete it is impossible to say: in any case the system +we have described could only be applied to the apsidal portions of the +areas, and their centres must either have been open to the sky or roofed +quite simply with slabs. + + +In the still more famous temple of Hagiar Kim we have a complicated +building, in which the original plan has been much altered and enlarged. +The main portion doubtless consisted originally of a curved facade and a +pair of elliptical areas, the inner of which has been fitted with a +second entrance to the north-west and completely remodelled at its +south-west end. Four elliptical chambers, one of which is at a much +higher level than the rest of the building, have been added. Here, too, +as at Mnaidra, we find niches containing trilithon tables. In the first +elliptical area, in which the apsidal ends are divided from the central +space by means of walls of vertical slabs, a remarkable group of objects +was found. In front of a well-cut vertical block stood what must be an +altar, cut in one piece of stone. It is square in section except for the +top, which is circular. On the four vertical edges are pilasters in +relief, and in the front between these is cut in relief what looks like +a plant growing out of a pot or box. To the left of the altar and the +vertical slab behind were an upright stone with two hanging spirals cut +on it in relief, and at its foot a horizontal slab. Both the altar and +the carved stone are covered with small pit-marks. + +In the outside wall of the building, quite unconnected with the +interior, is a niche partly restored on old foundations, in which stands +a rough stone pillar 6-1/2 feet high. In front of this pillar is a +vertical slab nearly 3 feet high, narrowing towards the base, and +covered with pit-markings. This pillar can hardly be anything but a +baetyl, or sacred stone. + +The temple called the Gigantia, on the island of Gozo, is no less +remarkable than the two which we have already described; in one place +its wall is preserved up to a height of over 20 feet. The plan is +similar to that of Mnaidra, though here the two halves seem to have been +built at one and the same time. Several of the blocks show a design of +spirals in relief, while on others there are the usual pit-markings. +Another bears a figure of a fish or serpent. At the foot of one of the +trilithons was found a baetyl 51 inches in height, now in the museum at +Valletta. + +That these three buildings were sanctuaries of some kind seems almost +certain from their form and arrangement. We do not, however, know what +was the exact nature of the worship carried on in them, though there can +be no doubt that the stone tables supported by single pillars and the +trilithons found in the niches played an important part in the ritual. +Sir Arthur Evans in his famous article _Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult_ +has suggested that in Malta we have a cult similar to that seen in the +Mycenaean world. This latter was an aneiconic worship developed out of +the cult of the dead; in it the deity or hero was represented by a +baetyl, i.e. a tree or pillar sometimes standing free, sometimes placed +in a 'dolmen-like' cell or shrine, in which latter case the pillar often +served to support the roof of the shrine. In Malta Sir Arthur Evans sees +signs of a baetyl-worship very similar to this. Thus at Hagiar Kim we +have a pillar still standing free in a niche, and another pillar, which, +to judge from its shape, must have stood free, was found in the +Gigantia. On the other hand, at Mnaidra we have pillars which support +slabs in a cell or shrine, and at Cordin several small pillars were +found which must originally have served a similar purpose. + +There can hardly be any doubt that Sir Arthur Evans is right in seeing +in the Maltese temples signs of a baetylic worship. But is he right in +his further assertion that the cult was a cult of the dead? Albert Mayr +assumes that he is, and endeavours to show that the 'dolmen-like' cells +in the niches are not altars, but stereotyped representations of the +dolmen-tombs of the heroes worshipped. He thinks that the slabs which +cover them are too large for altar-tables, and that the niches in which +they stand are too narrow and inaccessible to have been the scene of +sacrificial rites. Neither of these arguments has much force, nor is it +easy to see how the cells are derived from dolmens. The fact is that the +word 'dolmen-like,' which has become current coin in archaeological +phraseology, is a question-begging epithet. The Maltese cells are not +like dolmens at all, they are either trilithons or tables resting on a +pillar. They are always open to the front, and instead of the rough +unhewn block which should cover a dolmen they are roofed with a +well-squared slab. If the pillar which supports the slab is, like the +free-standing pillars, a baetyl, the slab is probably a mere roof to +cover and protect it; if not, the slab is almost certainly a table. + +At the same time, although we may not accept the hypothesis that the +cell is derived from a dolmen, Sir Arthur Evans may still be right in +supposing the worship to have originated in a cult of the dead. But he +was almost certainly wrong, as recent excavation has shown, in supposing +that the cells were the actual burial place of the deified heroes. + +A number of statuettes were found at Hagiar Kim, two of which are of +pottery and the rest of limestone. One figure represents a woman +standing, but in the rest she is seated on a rather low stool with her +feet tucked under her. There is no sign of clothing, except on one +figure which shows a long shirt and a plain bodice with very low neck. +All these statuettes are characterized by what is known as steatopygy, +that is, the over-development of the fat which lies on and behind the +hips and thighs. + +Steatopygous figures have been found in many places, viz. France, Malta, +Crete, the Cyclades, Greece, Thessaly, Servia, Transylvania, Poland, +Egypt, and the Italian colony of Eritrea on the Red Sea. The French +examples are from caves of the palaeolithic period; the rest mainly +belong to the neolithic and bronze ages. Various reasons have been given +for the abnormal appearance of these figures. In the first place it has +been suggested that they represent women of a steatopygous type, like +the modern Bushwomen, and that this race was in early days widely +diffused in the Mediterranean and in South Europe. Another hypothesis is +that they represent not a truly steatopygous type of women, but only an +abnormally fat type. A third suggestion is that they portray the +generative aspect of nature in the form of a pregnant goddess. + +Naturally there are considerable local differences in the shapes of the +figures from the various countries we have enumerated, and it may be +that no single hypothesis will explain them all. + +There are other megalithic buildings in Malta besides the three which +we have discussed, but none of them call for more than passing mention. +On the heights of Cordin or Corradino, overlooking the Grand Harbour of +Valletta, there are no less than three groups, all of which have been +lately excavated. In all three we see signs of the typical arrangement +of elliptical areas one behind another, and in the finest of the three +the curved facade and the paved court which lies before it are still +preserved. + +It was for a long time believed that there were no dolmens in Malta. +Professor Tagliaferro has been able to upset this belief by discovering +two, one near Musta and the other near Siggewi. It is hardly credible +that these are the only two dolmens which ever existed in Malta. More +will no doubt yet be found, especially in the wild north-west corner of +the isle. + + +The megalithic builders of Malta did not confine their achievements to +structures above ground, they could also work with equal facility below. +In the village of Casal Paula, which lies about a mile from the head of +the Grand Harbour of Valletta, is a wonderful complex of subterranean +chambers known as the Hypogeum of Halsaflieni, which may justly be +considered as one of the wonders of the world. + +The chambers, which seem to follow no definite plan, are excavated in +the soft limestone and arranged in two storeys connected by a staircase, +part of which still remains in place. The finest rooms are in the upper +storey. The largest is circular, and contains in its walls a series of +false doors and windows. It is in this room that the remarkable nature +of the work in the hypogeum is most apparent. On entering it one sees at +once that the intention of the original excavator was to produce in +solid rock underground a copy of a megalithic structure above ground. +Thus the walls curve slightly inwards towards the top as do those of the +apses of Mnaidra and Hagiar Kim, and the ceiling is cut to represent a +roof of great blocks laid across from wall to wall with a space left +open in the centre where the width would be too great for the length of +the stones. The treatment of the doors and windows recalls at once that +of the temples above ground. The mason was not content, when he needed a +door, to cut a rectangular opening in the rock; he must represent in +high relief the monolithic side-posts and lintel which were the great +features of the megalithic 'temples' of Malta. Nor has he failed in his +intention, for, as one moves from room to room in the hypogeum, one +certainly has the feeling of being in a building constructed of separate +blocks and not merely cut in the solid rock. No description can do +justice to the grace of the curves and the flow of the line in the +circular chamber and in the passage beyond it, and we have here the +work of an architect who felt the aesthetic effect of every line he +traced. + +Behind the circular chamber and across the passage just referred to lies +a small room which, rightly or wrongly, has been called the 'Holy of +Holies,' the idea being that it formed a kind of inner sanctuary to the +chamber. It contains a rough shelf cut in the wall, and in the centre of +this a shallow circular pit. It has been suggested that this pit was +made to hold the base of the cult-object, whether it was a baetyl or an +idol. This, however, is a mere conjecture. In the passage just outside +the door of this room are two small circular pits about 6 inches in +diameter and the same distance apart. They connect with one another +below, and are closed with tightly fitting limestone plugs. In one of +them was found a cow's horn. Their purpose is unknown, but similar pairs +of pits occur elsewhere at Halsaflieni. + +In two of the largest chambers in the hypogeum the roof and walls are +still decorated with designs in red paint. The patterns consist of +graceful combinations of curved lines and spirals. Many other rooms, +including the circular chamber, were originally painted with designs in +red, which have now almost wholly disappeared. + +Many of the chambers are extremely small, too small for an adult even to +stand upright in them, and their entrances are merely windows, perhaps +a foot square and well above the ground. + +What then was the purpose of this wonderful complex of rooms? Before +attempting to answer this question we must consider what has been found +in them. When the museum authorities first took over the hypogeum +practically all the chambers were filled to within a short distance of +their roofs with a mass of reddish soil, which proved to contain the +remains of thousands of human skeletons. In other words, Halsaflieni was +used as a burial place, though this may not have been its original +purpose. The bones lay for the most part in disorder, and so thickly +that in a space of about 4 cubic yards lay the remains of no less than +120 individuals. One skeleton, however, was found intact, lying on the +right side in the crouched position, i.e. with arms and knees bent up. + +With the bones were found enormous quantities of pottery and other +objects, buried with the dead as provision for the next world. The +pottery is rough in comparison with the fine painted wares of Crete, but +it is extremely varied in its decoration. One particularly fine bowl +shows a series of animals which have been identified by Professor +Tagliaferro as the long-horned buffalo, an animal which once existed on +the northern coasts of Africa. Ornaments of all kinds were common, and +include beads, pendants, and conical buttons of stone and shell. The +most remarkable of all are a large number of model celts made of +jadeite and other hard stones. These are of the same shape as the stone +axes used by neolithic man, but they are far too small ever to have been +used, and they must therefore have been models hung round the neck as +amulets. Each is provided with a small hole for this purpose. The +popularity of the axe-amulet makes it probable that the axe had some +religious significance. + +Finally Halsaflieni has yielded several steatopygous figurines. Some of +these resemble those of Hagiar Kim, but two are of rather different +type. Each of these represents a female lying on a rather low couch. In +the better preserved of the two she lies on her right side, her head on +a small uncomfortable-looking pillow. The upper part of her body is +naked, but from the waist downwards she is clad in a flounced skirt +which reaches to the ankles. The other figurine is very similar, but the +woman here is face downwards on the couch. + +The bodies themselves were so damaged with damp that only ten skulls +could be saved whole. These, however, afford very valuable +anthropological evidence. They have been carefully measured by Dr. +Zammit, and they prove to belong to a long-headed (dolichocephalic) type +usual among the neolithic races of the Mediterranean. + +We have still to discuss the purpose of this great complex of +underground chambers and passages. It is quite clear that its eventual +fate was to be used as a burial place for thousands of individuals, but +it is far from certain that this was the purpose for which it was built. +The existence of the central chamber, with its careful work and +laborious imitation of an open-air 'temple,' is against this +interpretation. It has therefore been suggested that the hypogeum was +meant for a burial place, and that the central chamber was the chapel or +sanctuary in which the funeral rites were performed, after which the +body was buried in one of the smaller rooms. This, however, does not +explain the presence of burials in the chapel itself, and it is far more +likely that it was only after Halsaflieni had ceased to be used for its +original purpose that it was seized upon as a convenient place for +burial. + +The question of the date of the Maltese megalithic buildings is a +difficult one. It is true that no metal has been found in them, and that +we can therefore speak of them as belonging to the neolithic age. But +the neolithic age of Malta need not be parallel in date with that of +Crete for example. It is extremely probable that Malta lay outside the +main currents of civilization, and that flint continued to be used there +long after copper had been adopted by her more fortunate neighbours. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + THE DOLMENS OF ASIA + + +In the south-east of Europe lie three groups of dolmens which are no +doubt in origin more closely connected with those of Asia than with +those of the rest of Europe. The first group lies in Bulgaria, where no +less than sixty dolmens have been found north of Adrianople. The second +consists of a few dolmens which still remain in the Crimea, and the +third lies in the Caucasus in two divisions, one to the south-east and +the other to the south-west of the town of Ekaterinodar. These last are +made of slabby rock, and thus have a finished appearance. A dolmen near +Tzarskaya has a small semicircular hole at the bottom of one of its +end-slabs, while another in the valley of Pehada has sides consisting of +single blocks, placed so as to slant inwards considerably, and a +circular hole in the centre of the slab which closes one of its ends. + +In Asia megalithic monuments are not infrequent. We first find them in +Syria, they have been reported from Persia, and in Central and South +India they exist in large numbers. Corridor-tombs occur in Japan, but +they are late in date, and there is no evidence to show whether they +are connected with those of India or not. + +Syria is comparatively rich in megalithic monuments, but it is +remarkable that almost all of them lie to the east of the Jordan. Thus +while there are hundreds of dolmens in the country of Pera and in Ammon +and Moab, very few have been found in Galilee, and only one in Judaea, +despite careful search. There is, however, a circle of stones west of +Tiberias, and an enclosure of menhirs between Tyre and Sidon. According +to Perrot and Chipiez some of the Moabite monuments are very similar in +type to the Giants' Tombs of Sardinia. Others are simple dolmens. In a +good example at Ala Safat (Fig. 22) the floor of the tomb is formed by a +single flat slab of stone. The great cover-slab rests on two long +blocks, one on either side, placed on edge. The narrow ends are closed +up with smaller slabs, one of which, that which faces north, has a small +hole pierced in it. A similar closure slab with a hole is also found in +certain rock-tombs quite close to this dolmen. Apparently none of these +dolmens have been systematically excavated, and nothing is known of +their date. + +[Illustration: FIG. 22. Dolmen with holed stone at Ala Safat. (After de +Luynes.)] + +Menhirs, too, are not wanting in Syria. Perrot and Chipiez figure an +example from Gebel-Mousa in Moab which is quite unworked, except for a +shallow furrow across the centre of the face. In many cases the menhir +is surrounded by one or more rows of stones. Thus at Der Ghuzaleh a +menhir about 3 feet in height is set in the centre of what when complete +must have been a rectangle. In other cases the enclosure was elliptical +or circular in form. In an example at Minieh the menhir stands in the +centre of a double (in part triple) circle of stones, on which abuts an +elliptical enclosure. In some cases the circle has no proper entrance, +in others it has a door consisting of a large slab resting on two +others. The largest of the circles attains a diameter of 600 feet, and +has a double line of stones. + +Within these circles and near them are found large numbers of monuments +consisting each of a large flat slab resting on two others. On the +upper surface of the top slab are often seen a number of basin-shaped +holes, sometimes connected by furrows. Many of the slabs are slightly +slanting, and it has been suggested that the series of holes and furrows +was intended for the pouring a libation of some kind. In a monument of +this type at Amman the cover-slab slopes considerably; the upper part of +its surface is a network of small channels converging on a hole 11 +inches deep about the centre of the slab. Here, again, no excavations +have been carried out, and we do not even know what was the purpose of +these structures. It is, however, probable that these trilithons were +not, like the dolmens, tombs, but served some religious purpose, +possibly connected with the worship of the menhirs. + +In the Jaulan, where the rock consists of a slabby type of basalt, there +are many dolmens of fine appearance. They often lie east and west, and +are often broader at the west end. Many are surrounded by a double +circle of stones. In one of them two copper rings were found. At Ain +Dakkar more than 160 dolmen-tombs are visible from a single spot. They +are built on circular terraces of earth and stones about 3 feet high. +The Arabs call them Graves of the Children of Israel. Most of them lie +east and west, and are broader at the west. In the eastern slab there is +often a hole about 2 feet in diameter. Near Tsil are several +corridor-tombs of simple type. Each consists of a long rectangular +chamber with only one cover-slab, that being at the west end. In a +well-known example of this type at Kosseir there is a hole in one of the +two uprights which support the cover. + +These examples will serve to show the importance and variety of the +Syrian monuments. They present analogies with those of many parts of the +megalithic area, and we therefore await anxiously the publication of +Mackenzie's promised article on his own explorations in this district. + + +The central and southern parts of India afford numerous examples of +dolmens. They are to be found in almost all parts of Lower India from +the Nerbudda River to Cape Comorin. In the Nilgiri hills there are stone +circles and dolmens, and numbers of dolmens are said to exist in the +Neermul jungle in Central India. In the collectorate of Bellary dolmens +and other monuments to the number of 2129 have been recorded. Others +occur in the principality of Sorapoor and near Vellore in the Madras +presidency. These latter appear to be of two types, either with three +supports only or with four supports, one of which is pierced with a +circular hole. Of the 2200 dolmens known in the Deccan, half are of this +pierced type. They are known to the natives as "dwarfs' houses." One +only had a pair of uprights outside the pierced stone, thus forming a +sort of portico to the dolmen. Near Chittore in North Arcot there is +said to be a square mile of ground covered with these monuments. In them +were found human remains in sarcophagi, and fragments of black pottery. +Several of the Indian dolmens are said to have contained objects of +iron. Occasionally the dolmen is surrounded by a double circle of stones +or covered with a cairn. The Deccan, in addition to its numerous +dolmens, possesses also megalithic monuments of another type. They +consist each of two rows, each of thirteen unworked stones set as close +together as possible, in front of which is a row of three stones, each +about 4 feet high, not let into the ground. The planted stones were +whitewashed, and each was marked with a large spot of red paint with +black in the centre. These stones seem to have been in use in modern +times. Colonel Forbes Leslie thinks that a cock had been sacrificed on +one of the three stones which lie in front of the double row, but there +seems to be no certain evidence for this. It is, however, very probable +that these _alignements_ had some religious signification, and the same +is no doubt true of certain small circles of small stones, also found in +the Deccan. + +The modern inhabitants of the Khasi Hills in India still make use of +megalithic monuments. They set up a group of an odd number of menhirs, +3, 5, 7, 9, or 11, and in front of these two structures of dolmen form. +These are raised in honour of some important member of the tribe who has +died, and whose spirit is thought to have done some good to the tribe. +If the benefits continue it is usual to increase the number of menhirs. + +The earliest burials in Japan are marked by simple mounds of earth. It +was not until the beginning of the iron age that megalithic tombs came +into use. The true dolmen is not found in Japan, and all the known +graves are corridor-tombs covered with a mound. They are of four types. +First, we have a simple corridor with no separate chamber; secondly, a +corridor broadening out at one side near the end; thirdly, a true +chamber with a corridor of access; and fourthly, a type in which the +corridor is preceded by an antechamber. All four types occur in rough +unworked stone, roofed with huge slabs, but a few examples of the third +type are made of well-cut and dressed blocks. The mounds are usually +conical, though some are of a complex form shortly to be described. Some +of these contain stone sarcophagi. The bodies were never cremated, but +the bones are so damaged that it is impossible to say what the most +usual position was. Objects of bronze and iron together with pottery and +ornaments were found in the tombs. + +The more important tombs are of a more complicated type. They seem to +have contained the remains of emperors and their families. They consist +each of a circular mound, to which is added on one side another mound of +trapezoidal form. The megalithic tomb-chamber or the sarcophagus which +sometimes replaces it lies in the circular part of the mound. The total +axial length of the basis of the whole mound is in a typical case--that +of Nara (Yamato)--674 feet, the diameter of the round end being 420 +feet. The mounds have in most cases terraced sides, and are surrounded +by a moat. In early times it seems to have been the custom to slay or +bury alive the servants of the emperor on his mound, but this was given +up about the beginning of the Christian era. + +These imperial double mounds seem to begin about two centuries before +the Christian era, and to continue for five or six centuries after it. +Many of them can be definitely assigned to their owners, and others are +attributed by tradition. Thus a rather small mound at the foot of Mount +Unebi (Yamato) is considered to be the burial place of the Emperor +Jimmu, the founder of the Imperial dynasty, and annual ceremonies are +performed before it. + +The Japanese Emperors are still buried in terraced mounds, and in the +group of huge stone blocks which have been placed on the mound of the +Emperor Komei, who died in 1866, we may be tempted to see a survival of +the ancient megalithic chamber. + +These early corridor-tombs are evidently not the work of the Ainu, the +aborigines of Japan, but of the Japanese invaders who conquered them. +These latter do not seem to have brought the idea of megalithic building +with them, as their earlier tombs are simple mounds. As no dolmen has +yet been found in Japan we cannot at present derive the corridor-tomb +there from it. It is, however, worthy of mention that true dolmens occur +as near as Corea, though none have been reported from China. + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + THE BUILDERS OF THE MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS, + THEIR HABITS, CUSTOMS, RELIGION, ETC. + + +With regard to the date of the megalithic monuments it only remains to +sum up the evidence given in the previous chapters. It may be said that +in Europe they never belong to the beginning of the neolithic age, but +either to its end or to the period which followed it, i.e. to the age of +copper and bronze. The majority date from the dawn of this latter +period, though some of the chambered cairns of Ireland seem to belong to +the iron age. Outside Europe there are certainly megalithic tombs which +are late. In North Africa, for example, we know that the erection of +dolmens continued into the early iron age; many of the Indian tombs are +clearly late, and the corridor-tombs of Japan can be safely attributed +in part at least to the Christian era. + +With what purpose were the megalithic monuments erected? The most simple +example, the menhir or upright stone, may have served many purposes. In +discussing the temples of Malta we saw reason for believing that the +megalithic peoples were in the habit of worshipping great stones as +such. Other stones, not actually worshipped, may mark the scene of some +great event. Jacob commemorated a dream by setting up the stone which +had served him as a pillow, and Samuel, victorious over the Philistines, +set up twelve stones, and called the place "Stones of Deliverance." +Others again perhaps stood in a spot devoted to some particular national +or religious ceremony. Thus the Angami of the present day in Assam set +up stones in commemoration of their village feasts. It seems clear from +the excavations that the menhirs do not mark the place of burials, +though they may in some cases have been raised in honour of the dead. + +The question of the purpose of stone circles has already been dealt with +in connection with those of Great Britain. _Alignements_ are more +difficult to explain, for, from their form, they cannot have served as +temples in the sense of meeting-places for worship. Yet they must surely +have been connected with religion in some way or other. Possibly they +were not constructed once and for all, but the stones were added +gradually, each marking some event or the performance of some periodic +ceremony, or even the death of some great chief. The so-called +"Canaanite High Place" recently found at Gezer consists of a line of +ten menhirs running north and south, together with a large block in +which was a socket for an idol or other object of worship. Several +bodies of children found near it have suggested that the monument was a +place of sacrifice. + +Other megalithic structures can be definitely classed as dwellings or +tombs, as we have seen in our separate treatment of them. It is not +improbable that, if we are right in considering the dolmen as the most +primitive form of megalithic monument, megalithic architecture was +funerary in origin. Yet, as we find it in its great diffusion, it +provides homes for the living as well as for the dead. In their original +home, perhaps in Africa, the megalithic race may have lived in huts of +wattle or skins, but after their migration the need of protection in a +hostile country and the exigencies of a colder climate may have forced +them to employ stone for their dwellings. In any case, in megalithic +architecture as seen in Europe the tomb and the dwelling types are +considerably intermixed, and may have reacted on one another. This, +however, does not justify the assertion so often made that the +megalithic tomb was a conscious imitation of the hut. It is true that +some peoples make the home of their dead to resemble that of the living. +Among certain tribes of Greenland it is usual to leave the dead man +seated in his hut by way of burial. But such a conception does not exist +among all peoples, and to say that the dolmen is an imitation in stone +of a hut is the purest conjecture. Still more improbable is Montelius's +idea that the corridor-tomb imitates a dwelling. It is true that the +Eskimos have a type of hut which is entered by a low passage often 30 +feet in length, but for one who believes as Montelius does that the +corridor-tomb is southern or eastern in origin such a derivation is +impossible, for this type of house is essentially northern, its aim +being to exclude the icy winds. In the south it would be intolerably +close, and its low passage besides serving no purpose would be +inconvenient. + +There is really no reason to derive either the dolmen or the +corridor-tomb from dwellings at all. Granted the use of huge stones, +both are purely natural forms, and the presence of the corridor in the +latter is dictated by necessity. The problem was how to cover a large +tomb-chamber with a mound and to leave it still accessible for later +interments, and the obvious solution was to add a covered passage +leading out to the edge of the mound. + +A remarkable feature of the megalithic tombs is the occurrence in many +of them of a small round or rectangular hole in one of the walls, +usually an end-wall, more rarely a partition-wall between two chambers. +Occasionally the hole was formed by placing side by side two upright +blocks each with a semicircular notch in its edge. Tombs with a holed +block or blocks occur in England, instances being the barrows of Avening +and Rodmarton, King Orry's Grave in the Isle of Man, Lanyon Quoit in +Cornwall, and Plas Newydd in Wales, which has two holes. There are also +examples in Ireland, France, Belgium, Central Germany, and Scandinavia, +where they are common. Passing further afield we find holes in the +Giants' Graves of Sardinia, and in Syria, the Caucasus, and India, where +half the dolmens in the Deccan are of this type. The holes are usually +too small to allow of the passage of a human body. It has been suggested +that they served as an outlet for the soul of the deceased, or in some +cases as a means of passing in food to him. + +Attention has been frequently drawn to curious round pits so often found +on the stones of dolmens and usually known as cup-markings. They vary in +diameter from about two to four inches, and are occasionally connected +by a series of narrow grooves in the stone. They vary considerably in +number, sometimes there are few, sometimes many. They occur nearly +always on the upper surface of the cover-slab, very rarely on its under +surface or on the side-walls. + +Some have attempted to show that these pits are purely natural and not +artificial. It has been suggested, for instance, that they are simply +the casts of a species of fossil sea-urchin which has weathered out +from the surface of the stone. This explanation may be true in some +cases, but it will not serve in all, for the 'cups' are sometimes +arranged in such regular order that their artificial origin is palpable. +These markings are found on dolmens and corridor-tombs in Palestine, +North Africa, Corsica, France, Germany, Scandinavia, and Great Britain. +In Wales there is a fine example of a dolmen with pits at Clynnog Fawr, +while in Cornwall we may instance the monument called "The Three +Brothers of Grugith" near Meneage. + +There is no clue to the purpose of these pits. Some have thought that +they were made to hold the blood of sacrifice which was poured over the +slab, and from some such idea may have arisen some of the legends of +human victims which still cling round the dolmens. Others have opposed +to this the fact that the pits sometimes occur on vertical walls or +under the cover-slabs, and have preferred to see in them some totemistic +signification or some expression of star-worship. It is possible that we +have to deal with a complex and not a simple phenomenon, and that the +pits were not all made to serve a single purpose. Those which cover some +of the finest stones at Mnaidra and Hagiar Kim are certainly meant to be +ornamental, though there may be in them a reminiscence of some religious +tradition. In any case, it is worth while to remember that cup-markings +also occur on natural rocks and boulders in Switzerland, Scandinavia, +Great Britain (where there is a good example near Ilkley in Yorkshire), +near Como in Italy, and in Germany, Russia, and India. + + +Of the builders of the megalithic monuments themselves we cannot expect +to know very much, especially while their origin remains veiled in +obscurity. Yet there are a few facts which stand out clearly. We even +know something about their appearance, for the skulls found in the +megalithic tombs have in many cases been subjected to careful +examination and measurement. Into the detail of these measurements we +cannot enter here; suffice it to say that the most important of them are +the maximum length of the skull from front to back and its maximum +breadth, both measures, of course, being taken in a straight line with a +pair of callipers, and not round the contour of the skull. If we now +divide the maximum breadth by the maximum length and multiply the result +by 100 we get what is known as the cephalic index of the skull. Thus if +a skull has a length of 180 millimetres and a breadth of 135, its +cephalic index is 135/180 X 100, i.e. 75. It is clear that in a roundish +type of head the breadth will be greater in proportion to the length +than in a narrow elliptical type. Thus in a broad head the cephalic +index is high, while in a narrow head it is low. The former is called +brachycephalic (short-headed), and the latter dolichocephalic +(long-headed). + +This index is now accepted by most anthropologists as a useful criterion +of race, though, of course, there are other characteristics which must +often be taken into account, such as the height and breadth of the face, +the cubic capacity of the skull and its general contour. At any rate, if +we can show that the skulls of the megalithic tombs conform to a single +type in respect of their index we shall have a presumption, though not a +certainty, that they belong to a single race. + +For Africa the evidence consists in a group of twenty skulls from +dolmen-tombs giving cephalic indices which range from 70.5 to 84.4. The +average index is 75.27, and the majority of the indices lay within a few +units of that number. Ten skulls from Halsaflieni in Malta have cephalic +indices running from 66 to 75.1, the average being 71.84. Of a series of +44 skulls from the rock-tombs of the Petit Morin in France, 12 had an +index of over 80, 22 were between 75 and 80, and 10 were below 75. But +in the dolmens of Lozere distinctly broad skulls were frequent. A series +of British neolithic skulls, mostly from barrows, ran from 67 to 77. + +The builders of the megalithic monuments thus belonged in the main to a +fairly dolichocephalic race or races, for the large majority of the +skulls measured are of a long-headed type. There are, however, in +various localities, especially in France, occasional anomalous types of +skull which are distinctly brachycephalic, and show that contamination +of some kind was taking or had taken place. + + +Of the state of civilization to which the builders of the megalithic +monuments had attained, and of the social condition in which they lived, +there is something to be gathered. It is clear in the first place from +the evidence of the Maltese buildings that they were a pastoral people +who domesticated the ox, the sheep, the pig, and the goat, upon whose +flesh they partly lived. Shellfish also formed a part of their diet, and +the shells when emptied of their contents were occasionally pierced to +be used as pendants or to form necklaces or bracelets. + +Whether these people were agricultural is a question more difficult to +answer. It is true that flat stones have been found, on which some kind +of cereal was ground up with the aid of round pebbles, but the grain for +which these primitive mills were used may have been wild and not +cultivated. No grain of any kind has been found in the Maltese +settlements. + +The megalithic race do not seem to have been great traders. This is +remarkably exemplified in Malta, where there is not a trace of +connection with the wonderful civilization which must have been +flourishing so near at hand in Crete and the AEgean at the time when the +megalithic temples were built. The island seems to have been entirely +self-sufficing, except for the importation of obsidian, probably from +the neighbouring island of Linosa. Of copper, which wide trade would +have introduced, there is no sign. + +Some writers, however, have argued the existence of extensive +trade-relations from the occurrence of a peculiar kind of turquoise +called _callais_ in some of the megalithic monuments of France and +Portugal. The rarity of this stone has inclined some archaeologists to +attribute it to a single source, while some have gone so far as to +consider it eastern in origin. For the last theory there is no evidence +whatsoever. No natural deposit of _callais_ is known, but it is highly +probable that the sources of the megalithic examples lay in France or +Portugal. + +It would of course be foolish to suppose that the megalithic people +received none of the products of other countries, especially at a time +when the discovery of copper was giving a great impetus to trade. No +doubt they enjoyed the benefits of that kind of slow filtering trade +which a primitive tribe, even if it had wished, could hardly have +avoided, but they were not a great trading nation as were the Cretans of +the Middle and Late Minoan Periods, or the Egyptians of the XIIth and +XVIIIth Dynasties. We know nothing of their political conditions, of the +groups into which they were divided, or the centres from which they were +governed. That there were strong centres of government is, however, +clear from the very existence of such huge monuments, many of which must +have required the combined and organized labour of large armies of +workers, in the gathering of which the state was doubtless strongly +backed by religion. + +We have seen that the megalithic peoples frequently dwelt in huts of +great stones. Yet in the majority of cases their huts must have been, +like those of most primitive races, of perishable material, such as +wood, wattle, skins, turf, and clay. As for their form there was +probably a continual conflict between the round and the rectangular +plan, just as there was in the stone examples. Which form prevailed in +any particular district was probably determined almost by accident. Thus +in Sardinia the round type was mostly kept for the huts and _nuraghi_, +while the rectangular was reserved for the dolmens and Giants' Graves. +Even here the confusion between the two types is shown by the fact that +near Birori there are two dolmens with a round plan. Again, in +Pantelleria the huts of the Mursia are rectangular, while the _sesi_, +which are tombs, are roughly circular. It is therefore probable that the +round and rectangular types of building were both in use among the +megalithic people before they spread over Europe. + +Within their huts these people led a life of the simplest description. +Their weapons and tools, though occasionally of copper, were for the +most part of stone. Flint was the most usual material. In Scandinavia it +was often polished, but elsewhere it was merely flaked. The implements +made from it were of simple types, knives, borers, scrapers, lanceheads, +and more rarely arrowheads. Many of these were quite roughly made, no +more flaking being done than was absolutely necessary to produce the +essential form, and the work being, when possible, confined to one face +of the flint. + +In the Mediterranean obsidian, a volcanic rock, occasionally took the +place of flint, especially in Sardinia and Pantelleria. Axes or celts +were often made of flint in Scandinavia and North Germany, but elsewhere +other stones, such as jade, jadeite, and diorite were commonly used. + +We can only guess at the way in which the megalithic people were +clothed. No doubt the skins of the animals they domesticated and of +those they hunted provided them with some form of covering, at any rate +in countries where it was needed. Possibly they spun wool or flax into a +thread, for at Halsaflieni two objects were found which look like +spindle-whorls, and others occur on sites which are almost certainly to +be attributed to the megalithic people. There is, however, nothing to +show that they wove the thread into stuffs. + +The love of personal decoration was highly developed among them, and all +branches of nature were called upon to minister to their desire for +ornament. Shells, pierced and strung separately or in masses, were +perhaps their favourite adornment, but close on these follow beads and +pendants of almost every conceivable substance, bone, horn, stone, clay, +nuts, beans, copper, and occasionally gold. + +One small object assumes a great importance on account of its wide +distribution. This is the conical button with two converging holes in +its base to pass the thread through. This little object, which may have +served exactly the purpose of the modern button, occurs in several parts +of the megalithic area. There are examples in Malta made of stone and +shell. Elsewhere it is most usually of bone. It occurs in Sardinia, in +France, in the rock-tombs of Gard, and in the corridor and rock-tombs of +Lozere and Ardeche, in Portugal in the _allee couverte_ of Monte +Abrahao, in Bohuslaen (Sweden), and at Carrowmore in Ireland. Outside the +megalithic area it has been found in two of the Swiss lake-dwellings and +in Italy. + +The pottery of the megalithic people was of a simple type. It was all +made by hand, the potter's wheel being still unknown to the makers. +Pottery with painted designs does not occur outside Sicily, except for +a few poor and late examples in Malta. The best vases were of fairly +purified clay, moderately well fired, and having a polished surface, +usually of a darkish colour. On this surface were often incised +ornamental designs, varying both in type and in the skill with which +they were engraved. As a rule the schemes were rectilinear, more rarely +they were carried out in curves. Sardinia furnishes some fine examples +of rectilinear work, while the best of the curved designs are found in +Malta, where elaborate conventional and even naturalistic patterns are +traced out with wonderful freedom and steadiness of hand. + +The pottery of the megalithic area is not all alike; it would be +surprising if it were. Even supposing that the invaders brought with +them a single definite style of pottery-making this would rapidly become +modified by local conditions and by the already existing pottery +industry of the country, often, no doubt, superior to that of the +new-comers. Nevertheless, there are a few points of similarity between +the pottery of various parts of the megalithic area. The most remarkable +example is the bell-shaped cup, which occurs in Denmark, England, +France, Spain, Sardinia, and possibly Malta (the specimen is too broken +for certainty). Outside the area it is found in Bohemia, Hungary, and +North Italy. Here, as in the case of the conical button, we cannot argue +that the form was actually introduced by the megalithic race, though +there is a certain possibility in favour of such a hypothesis. + + +That the megalithic people possessed a religion of some kind will hardly +be doubted. Their careful observance of the rites due to the dead, and +their construction of buildings which can hardly have been anything but +places of worship, is a strong testimony to this. We have seen that in +the Maltese temples the worship of baetyls or pillars of stone seems to +have been carried on. Several stone objects which can scarcely have been +anything but baetyls were found in the megalithic structures of Los +Millares in Spain, but none are known elsewhere in the megalithic area. + +There is some reason for thinking that among the megalithic race there +existed a cult of the axe. In France, for instance, the sculptured +rock-tombs of the valley of the Petit Morin show, some a human figure, +some an axe, and some a combination of the two. This same juxtaposition +of the two also occurs on a slab which closed the top of a corbelled +chamber at Collorgues in Gard. A simple _allee couverte_ at Goehlitzsch +in Saxony has on one of its blocks an axe and handle engraved and +coloured red. There are further examples in the _allee couverte_ of +Gavr'inis and the dolmen called La Table des Marchands at Locmariaquer. + +These sculptured axes call to mind at once the numerous axe-shaped +pendants of fine polished stone (jade, jadeite, etc.) found in Malta, +Sicily, Sardinia, and France, and apparently used as amulets. The +excavation of Crete has brought to light a remarkable worship of the +double axe, and it has been argued with great probability that one of +the early boat signs figured on the pre-dynastic painted vases of Egypt +is a double axe, and that this was a cult object. It seems very probable +that in the megalithic area, or at least in part of it, there was a +somewhat similar worship, the object of cult, however, being not a +double but a single axe, usually represented as fitted with a handle. It +need not be assumed that the axe itself was worshipped, though this is +not impossible; it is more likely that it was an attribute of some god +or goddess. + +Among the rock-hewn tombs of the valley of the Petit Morin in the +department of Marne, France, were seven which contained engravings on +one of the walls. Several of these represent human figures (Fig. 13). +The eyes are not marked, but the hair and nose are clear. In some the +breasts are shown, in others they are omitted. On each figure is +represented what appears to be a collar or necklace. Similar figures +occur on the slabs of some of the _allees couvertes_ of Seine et Oise, +and on certain blocks found in and near megalithic burials in the South +of France. Moreover, in the departments of Aveyron, Tarn, and Herault +have been found what are known as menhir-statues, upright pillars of +stone roughly shaped into human semblance at the top; they are of two +types, the one clearly female and the other with no breasts, but always +with a collar or baldric. + +It has been argued that these figures represent a deity or deities of +the megalithic people. Dechelette, comparing what are apparently tattoo +marks on a menhir-statue at Saint Sermin (Aveyron) with similar marks on +a figure cut on a schist plaque at Idanha a Nova (Portugal) and on a +marble idol from the island of Seriphos in the AEgean, seems inclined to +argue that in France and Portugal we have the same deity as in the +AEgean. This seems rather a hazardous conjecture, for we know that many +primitive peoples practised tattooing, and, moreover, it is not certain +that the French figures represent deities at all. It is quite as likely, +if not more so, that they represent the deceased, and take the place of +a grave-stone: this would account for the occurrence of both male and +female types. This was almost certainly the purpose of six stones that +remain of a line that ran parallel to a now destroyed tomb at Tamuli +(Sardinia). Three have breasts as if to distinguish the sex of three of +those buried in the tomb. We must not therefore assume that any of the +French figures represents a 'dolmen-deity.' + +The method of burial observed in the megalithic tombs is almost +universally inhumation. Cremation seems to occur only in France, but +there it is beyond all doubt. The known examples are found in the +departments of Finistere, Marne, and Aisne, and in the neighbourhood of +Paris. In Finistere out of 92 megalithic burials examined 61 were +cremations, 26 were inhumations, and 5 were uncertain. It is extremely +curious that this small portion of France should be the only part of the +megalithic area where cremation was practised. It is generally held that +cremation was brought into Europe by the broad-headed 'Alpine' people, +who seem to have invaded the centre of the continent at some period in +the neolithic age. It is possible that in parts of France a mixture took +place between the megalithic builders and the Alpine race. Intermarriage +would no doubt lead to confusion in many cases between the two rites. + +In all other cases the builders of the megalithic monuments buried their +dead unburned. Often the body was lying stretched out on its back, or +was set in a sitting position against the side of the tomb; but most +frequently it was placed in what is known as the contracted position, +laid on one side, generally the left, with the knees bent and drawn up +towards the chin, the arms bent at the elbow, and the hands placed close +to the face. Many explanations of this position have been suggested. +Some see in it a natural posture of repose, some an attempt to crowd the +body into as small a space as possible. Some have suggested that the +corpse was tightly bound up with cords in order that the spirit might +not escape and do harm to the living. Perhaps the most widely approved +theory is that which considers this position to be embryonic, i.e. the +position of the embryo previous to birth. None of these explanations is +entirely convincing, but no better one has been put forward up to the +present. + +This custom, it must be noted, was not limited to the megalithic +peoples. It was the invariable practice of the pre-dynastic Egyptians +and has been found further east in Persia. It occurs in the neolithic +period in Crete and the AEgean, in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and other +parts of Europe, and it is one of the facts which go to show that the +builders of the megaliths were ethnologically connected, however +remotely, with their predecessors in Europe. + +At Halsaflieni, in Malta, we have perhaps examples of the curious custom +of secondary interment; the body is buried temporarily in some suitable +place, and after the flesh has left the bones the latter are collected +and thrown together into a common ossuary. That the bones at Halsaflieni +were placed there when free from flesh is probable from the closeness +with which they were packed together (see p. 111). There are also +possible examples in Sicily (see p. 79). The custom was not unknown in +neolithic days, especially in Crete. It is still occasionally practised +on the island and on the Greek mainland, where, after the dead have lain +a few years in hallowed soil, their bones are dug up, roughly cleaned, +and deposited in caves. + + + + + CHAPTER X + + WHO WERE THE BUILDERS, AND WHENCE DID THEY COME? + + +Modern discussion of the origin of the megalithic monuments may be said +to date from Bertrand's publication of the French examples in 1864. In +this work Bertrand upheld the thesis that "the dolmens and _allees +couvertes_ are sepulchres; and their origin seems up to the present to +be northern." In 1865 appeared Bonstetten's famous _Essai sur les +dolmens_, in which he maintained that the dolmens were constructed by +one and the same people spreading over Europe from north to south. At +this time the dolmens of North Africa were still unstudied. In 1867 +followed an important paper by Bertrand. In 1872 two events of +importance to the subject occurred, the publication of Fergusson's _Rude +Stone Monuments in All Countries_, and the discussion raised at the +Brussels Congress by General Faidherbe's paper on the dolmens of +Algeria. Faidherbe maintained the thesis that dolmens, whether in Europe +or Africa, were the work of a single people moving southward from the +Baltic Sea. + +The question thus raised has been keenly debated since. At the +Stockholm Congress in 1874 de Mortillet advanced the theory that +megalithic monuments in different districts were due to different +peoples, and that what spread was the custom of building such structures +and not the builders themselves. This theory has been accepted by most +archaeologists, including Montelius, Salomon Reinach, Sophus Mueller, +Hoernes, and Dechelette. But while the rest believe the influences which +produced the megalithic monuments to have spread from east to west, i.e. +from Asia to Europe, Salomon Reinach holds the contrary view, which he +has supported in a remarkable paper called _Le Mirage Oriental_, +published in 1893. + +The questions we have to discuss are, therefore, as follows: Are all the +megalithic monuments due to a single race or to several? If to a single +race, whence did that race come and in what direction did it move? If to +several, did the idea of building megalithic structures arise among the +several races independently, or did it spread from one to another? + +We shall consider first the theory that the idea of megalithic building +was evolved among several races independently, i.e. that it was a phase +of culture through which they separately passed. + +On the whole, this idea has not found favour among archaeologists. The +use of stone for building might have arisen in many places +independently. But megalithic architecture is something much more than +this. It is the use of great stones in certain definite and particular +ways. We have already examined what may be called the style of +megalithic architecture and found that the same features are noticeable +in all countries where these buildings occur. In each case we see a type +of construction based on the use of large orthostatic slabs, sometimes +surmounted by courses of horizontal masonry, with either a roof of +horizontal slabs or a corbelled vault. Associated with this we +frequently find the hewing of underground chambers in the rock. In +almost all countries where megalithic structures occur certain fixed +types prevail; the dolmen is the most general of these, and it is clear +that many of the other forms are simply developments of this. The +occurrence of structures with a hole in one of the walls and of blocks +with 'cup-markings' is usual over the whole of the megalithic area. +There are even more remarkable resemblances in detail between structures +in widely separated countries. Thus the Giants' Tombs of Sardinia all +have a concave facade which forms a kind of semicircular court in front +of the entrance to the tomb. This feature is seen also in the temples of +Malta, in the tomb of Los Millares in Spain, in the _naus_ of the +Balearic Isles (where, however, the curve is slight), in the Giant's +Grave of Annaclochmullin and the chambered cairn of Newbliss in Ireland, +in the tomb of Cashtal-yn-Ard in the Isle of Man, in the barrow of West +Tump in Gloucestershire, and in the horned cairns of the north of +Scotland. These parallels are due to something more than coincidence; in +fact, it is clear that megalithic building is a widespread and +homogeneous system, which, despite local differences, always preserves +certain common features pointing to a single origin. It is thus +difficult to accept the suggestion that it is merely a phase through +which many races have passed. The phases which occur in many races alike +are always those which are natural and necessary in the development of a +people, such as the phase of using copper. But there is nothing either +natural or necessary in the use of huge unwieldy blocks of stone where +much smaller ones would have sufficed. + +There are further objections to this theory in the distribution of the +megalithic buildings both in space and time. In space they occupy a very +remarkable position along a vast sea-board which includes the +Mediterranean coast of Africa and the Atlantic coast of Europe. In other +words, they lie entirely along a natural sea route. It is more than +accident that the many places in which, according to this theory, the +megalithic phase independently arose all lie in most natural sea +connection with each other, while not one is in the interior of Europe. + +In time the vast majority of the megalithic monuments of Europe seem to +begin near the end of the neolithic period and cover the copper age, +the later forms continuing occasionally into that of bronze. Here again +it is curious that megalithic building, if merely an independent phase +in many countries, should arise in so many at about the same time, and +with no apparent reason. Had it been the use of _worked_ stones that +arose, and had this followed the appearance of copper tools, the +advocates of this theory would have had a stronger case, but there seems +to be no reason why huge unworked stones should _simultaneously_ begin +to be employed for tombs in many different countries unless this use +spread from a single source. + +For these reasons it is impossible to consider megalithic building as a +mere phase through which many nations passed, and it must therefore have +been a system originating with one race, and spreading far and wide, +owing either to trade influence or migration. But can we determine +which? + +Great movements of races by sea were not by any means unusual in +primitive days, in fact, the sea has always been less of an obstacle to +early man than the land with its deserts, mountains, and unfordable +rivers. There is nothing inherently impossible or even improbable in the +suggestion that a great immigration brought the megalithic monuments +from Sweden to India or vice versa. History is full of instances of such +migrations. According to the most widely accepted modern theory the +whole or at least the greater part of the neolithic population of Europe +moved in from some part of Africa at the opening of the neolithic age. +In medieval history we have the example of the Arabs, who in their +movement covered a considerable portion of the very megalithic area +which we are discussing. + +On the other hand, many find it preferable to suppose that over this +same distance there extended a vast trade route or a series of trade +routes, along which travelled the influences which account for the +presence of precisely similar dolmens in Denmark, Spain, and the +Caucasus. Yet although much has been written about neolithic trade +routes little has been proved, and the fact that early man occasionally +crossed large tracts of land and sea in the great movements of migration +does not show that he also did so by way of trade, nor does it prove the +existence of such steady and extensive commercial relations as such a +theory of the megalithic monuments would seem to require. Immigration is +often forced on a race. Change of climate or the diverting of the course +of a great river may make their country unfit for habitation, or they +may be expelled by a stronger race. In either case they must migrate, +and we know from history that they often covered long distances in their +attempt to follow the line of least resistance. Thus there is nothing a +priori improbable in the idea that the megalithic monuments were built +by a single invading race. + +There are other considerations which support such a theory. It will be +readily admitted that the commonest and most widely distributed form of +the megalithic monument is the dolmen. Both this and its obvious +derivatives, the Giant's Grave, the _allee couverte_, and others, are +known to have been tombs, while other types of structure, such as the +Maltese temple, the menhir, and the cromlech, almost certainly had a +religious purpose. It is difficult to believe that these types of +building, so closely connected with religion and burial, were introduced +into all these regions simply by the influence of trade relations. +Religious customs and the burial rites connected with them are perhaps +the most precious possession of a primitive people, and they are those +in which they most oppose and resent change of any kind, even when it +only involves detail and not principle. Thus it is almost incredible +that the people, for instance, of Spain, because they were told by +traders that the people of North Africa buried in dolmens, gave up, even +in isolated instances, their habit of interment in trench graves in +favour of burial in dolmens. It is still more impossible to believe that +this unnatural event happened in one country after another. It is true +that the use of metal was spread by means of commerce, but here there +was something to be gained by adopting the new discovery, and there was +no sacrifice of religious custom or principle. An exchange of products +between one country and another is not unnatural, but a traffic in +burial customs is unthinkable. + +Perhaps, however, it was not the form of the dolmen which was brought by +commerce, but simply the art of architecture in general, and this was +adapted to burial purposes. To this there are serious objections. In the +first place it does not explain why exactly the same types of building +(e.g. the dolmen), showing so many similarities of peculiar detail, +occur in countries so far apart; and in the second place, if what was +carried by trade was the art of building alone, why should the learners +go out of their way to use huge stones when smaller ones would have +suited their purpose equally well? That the megalithic builders knew how +to employ smaller stones we know from their work; that they preferred to +use large ones for certain purposes was not due to ignorance or chance, +it was because the large stone as such had some particular meaning and +association for them. We cannot definitely say that large stones were +themselves actually worshipped, but there can be no possible doubt that +for some reason or other they were regarded as peculiarly fit to be used +in sanctified places such as the tombs of the dead. It is impossible +that the men who possessed the skill to lay the horizontal upper courses +of the Hagiar Kim temple should have taken the trouble to haul to the +spot and use vast blocks over 20 feet in length where far smaller ones +would have been more convenient, unless they had some deep-seated +prejudice in favour of great stones. + +Such are the main difficulties involved by the influence theory. On the +other hand, objections have been urged against the idea that the +monuments were all built by one and the same race. Thus Dr. Montelius in +his excellent _Orient und Europa_ says, "In Europe at this time dwelt +Aryans, but the Syrians and Sudanese cannot be Aryans," the inference +being, of course, that the European dolmens were built by a different +race from that which built those of Syria and the Sudan. Unfortunately, +however, the major premise is not completely true, for though it is true +that Aryans did live in Europe at this time, there were also people in +Europe who were not Aryans, and it is precisely among them that +megalithic buildings occur. + +The French archaeologist Dechelette also condemns the idea of a single +race. "Anthropological observations," he says, "have long since ruined +this adventurous hypothesis." He does not tell us what these +observations are, but we presume that he refers to the occurrence of +varying skull types among the people buried in the megalithic tombs. +Nothing is more natural than that some variation should occur. We are +dealing with a race which made enormous journeys, and thus became +contaminated by the various other races with which it came in contact. +It may even have been a mixed race to start with. Thus even if we found +skulls of very different types in the dolmens this would not in the +least disprove the idea that dolmen building was introduced into various +countries by one and the same race. It would be simply a case of the +common anthropological fact that a race immigrating into an already +inhabited country becomes to some extent modified by intermarriage with +the earlier inhabitants. The measurements given in the last chapter +would seem to show that despite local variation there is an underlying +homogeneity in the skulls of the megalithic people. + +It thus seems that the most probable theory of the origin of the +megalithic monuments is that this style of building was brought to the +various countries in which we find it by a single race in an immense +migration or series of migrations. It is significant that this theory +has been accepted by Dr. Duncan Mackenzie, who is perhaps the first +authority on the megalithic structures of the Mediterranean basin. + + +One question still remains to be discussed. From what direction did +megalithic architecture come, and what was its original home? This is +clearly a point which is not altogether dependent on the means by which +this architecture was diffused. Montelius speaks in favour of an Asiatic +origin. He considers that caves, and tombs accessible from above, i.e. +simple pits dug in the earth, were native in Europe, while tombs reached +from the side, such as dolmens and corridor-tombs, were introduced into +Europe from the east. Salomon Reinach, arguing mainly from the early +appearance of the objects found in the tombs of Scandinavia and the +rarity of the simpler types of monument, such as the dolmen, in Germany +and South Europe, suggests that megalithic monuments first appeared in +North Europe and spread southwards. Mackenzie is more inclined to +believe in an African origin. If he is right it may be that some +climatic change, possibly the decrease of rainfall in what is now the +Sahara desert, caused a migration from Africa to Europe very similar to +that which many believe to have given to Europe its early neolithic +population. The megalithic people may even have been a branch of the +same vast race as the neolithic: this would explain the fact that both +inhumed their dead in the contracted position. + +It is probable that the problem will never be solved. The only way to +attempt a solution would be to show that in some part of the megalithic +area the structures were definitely earlier than in any other, and that +as we move away from that part in any direction they become later and +later. Such a means of solution is not hopeful, for the earliest form +of structure, the dolmen, occurs in all parts of the area, and if we +attempt to date by objects we are met by the difficulty that a dolmen in +one place which contained copper might be earlier than one in another +place which contained none, copper having been known in the former place +earlier than in the latter. + + +It still remains to consider the question of the origin of the rock-hewn +sepulchre and its relation to the megalithic monument. The rock-tomb +occurs in Egypt, Phoenicia, Rhodes, Cyprus, Crete, South Italy, Sicily, +Sardinia, Malta, Pianosa, the Iberian Peninsula, the Balearic Isles, and +France. In all these places there are examples which are certainly +early, i.e. belong to the neolithic or early metal age, with the +exception of Malta and perhaps Rhodes and Phoenicia. Two types are +common, the chamber cut in the vertical face of rock and thus entered +from the side, sometimes by a horizontal passage, and the chamber cut +underground and entered from a vertical or sloping shaft placed not +directly over the chamber, but immediately to one side of it. It is +unlikely that these two types have a separate origin, for they are +clearly determined by geological reasons. A piece of country where +vertical cliffs or faces of rock abounded was suited to the first type, +while the other alone was possible when the ground consisted of a flat +horizontal surface of rock. We frequently find the two side by side and +containing identically the same type of remains. In South-East Sicily we +have the horizontal entrance in the tombs of the rocky gorge of +Pantalica, while the vertical shaft is the rule in the tombs of the +Plemmirio, only a few miles distant. + +Two curious facts are noticeable with regard to the distribution of the +rock-hewn tombs. In the first place they are all in the vicinity of the +Mediterranean, and in the second some occur in the megalithic area, +while others do not. The examples of Egypt, Cyprus, and Crete show that +this type of tomb flourished in the Eastern Mediterranean. Was it from +here that the type was introduced into the megalithic area, or did the +megalithic people bring with them a tradition of building rock-tombs +totally distinct from that which is represented by the tombs of Egypt, +Cyprus, and Crete? + +The question is difficult to answer. One thing alone is clear, that in +certain places, such as Malta and Sardinia, the megalithic people were +not averse to reproducing in the solid rock the forms which they more +usually erected with large stones above ground. The finest instance of +this is the Halsaflieni hypogeum in Malta, where the solid rock is hewn +out with infinite care to imitate the form and even the details of +surface building. + +Similarly we have seen that both in Sardinia and in France the same +forms of tomb were rendered in great stones or in solid rock almost +indifferently. + +There can therefore be no doubt that the hewing out of rock was +practised by the megalithic people, and that they were no mean exponents +of the art. We have no proof that they brought this art along with them +from their original centre of dispersion, though if they did it is +curious that they did not carry it into other countries where they +penetrated besides those of the Mediterranean. It may be that early +rock-tombs will yet be found in North Africa, but it seems improbable +that, had they existed in the British Isles, in North Germany, or in +Scandinavia, not a single example should have been found. + +On the other hand, if the megalithic people did not bring the idea of +the rock-tomb with them we must suppose either that it evolved among +them after their migration, or that they adopted it from the Eastern +Mediterranean. The last supposition is particularly unlikely, as it +would involve the modification of a burial custom by foreign influence. + +We have, in fact, no evidence on which to judge the question. Perhaps it +is least unreasonable to suppose that the idea of the rock-tomb was +brought into the megalithic area by the same people who introduced the +megalithic monuments, and did not result from contact with the Eastern +Mediterranean. Similarly we ought perhaps to disclaim any direct +connection between the corridor-tombs of the megalithic area and the +great _tholoi_ of Crete and the Greek mainland. At first sight there is +a considerable similarity between them. The Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae +with its corbelled circular chamber and long rectangular corridor seems +very little removed, except in size and finish, from the tombs of Gavr' +Inis and Lough Crew. Yet there are vital points of difference. The two +last are tombs built partly with upright slabs on the surface of the +ground, entered by horizontal corridors, and covered with mounds. The +Treasury of Atreus is simply an elaborated rock-tomb cut underground +with a sloping shaft; as the ground consisted only of loose soil a +coating of stone was a necessity, and hence the resemblance to a +megalithic monument. + + + + + BIBLIOGRAPHY + + OF THE MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS + + + GENERAL + +Fergusson, _Rude Stone Monuments in all Countries_ (London 1872). +Bonstetten, _Essai sur les dolmens_ (Geneva 1865). +Mortillet, _Compte rendu du congres d'archeologie + prehistorique_, Stockholm, 1874, pp. 267 ff. +Reinach, _Le mirage oriental_, in _L'Anthropologie_, 1893, pp. 557 ff. +Montelius, _Orient und Europa_. +Borlase, _The Dolmens of Ireland_, Vols. II and III. +Reinach, _Terminologie des monuments megalithiques + in Revue archeologique_, 3^{e} ser., XXII, 1893. +Westropp, _Prehistoric Phases_ (London 1872). + + + ENGLAND AND WALES + +Fergusson, _op. cit._ +_Recent Excavations at Stonehenge, Archaeologia_, LVIII, pp. 37 ff. +Flinders Petrie, _Stonehenge: Plans, Descriptions, and + Theories_ (London 1880). +Windle, _Remains of the Prehistoric Age in England._ +James, Sir Henry, _Plans and Photos of Stonehenge and of Turnsuchan + in the Island of Lewis_ (Southampton 1867). +Evans, Sir A., _Archaeological Review_, II, 1889, pp. 313 ff. +Lockyer, Sir N., _Nature_, November 21st, 1901. +Hinks, _XIXth Century_, June, 1903, pp. 1002 ff. +Lockyer, Sir N., _Nature_, LXXI, 1904-5, pp. 297 ff., + 345 ff., 367 ff., 391 ff., 535 ff. +Lewis, A. A., _Stone Circles in Britain, Archaeological + Journal_, XLIX, pp. 136 ff. +Thurnam, _Ancient British Barrows, Archaeologia_, + XLII, pp. 161 ff., XLIII, pp. 285 ff. +Lewis, A. A., _Prehistoric Remains in Cornwall, Journal of the + Anthrop. Inst.,_ XXV, 1895, and XXXV, 1905. +Kermode and Herdman, _Illustrated Notes on Manks + Antiquities_ (Liverpool 1904). + + + SCOTLAND + +Wilson, _The Archaeological and Prehistoric Annals of Scotland._ +Forbes Leslie, _Early Races of Scotland._ +Spence, Magnus, _Standing Stones and Maeshowe of Stenness._ + + + IRELAND + +Borlase, _Dolmens of Ireland._ +Lewis, A. A., _Some Stone Circles in Ireland_, in + _Journal Anthrop. Inst.,_ XXXIX, pp. 517 ff. + + + SWEDEN + +Montelius, _Orient und Europa._ +Montelius, _Kulturgeschichte Schwedens._ +Montelius, _Dolmens en France et en Suede_ (Le Mans 1907). +Montelius, Graf fran stenaldern, upptaeckt vid + Oeringe i Ekeby socken, 1907. +Nilsson, _Das Steinalter, oder die Ureinwohner des + Scandinavischen Nordens_ (Hamburg 1865). + + + DENMARK + +Montelius, _Orient und Europa._ +Sophus Mueller, _L'Europe prehistorique._ +Sophus Mueller, _Nordische Alterthumskunde._ + + + HOLLAND + +_Archaeological Journal_, 1870, pp. 53 ff. +_Journal Anthrop. Inst._, VI, 1876, p. 158. +_Compte rendu du congres d'arch. prehist._, Stockholm, 1874. + + + BELGIUM + +Engelhardt, _Om stendysser og deres geografiske udbredelse_, + in _Aarboeger f. nord. Oldkynd._, 1870, pp. 177 ff. + + + GERMANY + +Krause und Schoetensack in _Zeitschrift fuer Ethnologie_, + 1893 (Altmark only). +Morlot, _L'archeologie du Meclenbourg_ (Zurich 1868). +von Estorff, _Heidnische Altertuemer der Gegend von + Aelzen_ (Hanover 1846). + + + SWITZERLAND + +Keller, _Pfahlbauten_, 3 Bericht (Zurich, 1860), p. 101; + Pl. XI, Figs. 8 and 9. + + + FRANCE + +Cartailhac, _La France prehistorique._ +Bertrand in _Revue archeologique_, 1864 (List of monuments). +Bertrand, _Archeologie celtique et gauloise_, 2nd edit., 1889. +Dechelette, _Manuel d'archeologie prehistorique celtique + et gallo-romaine_, Vol. I. +Lewis, _Alignements at Autun_ in _Journal Anthrop. + Inst._, XXXVIII, 1908, pp. 380 ff. +Lewis, _On some dolmens of peculiar form, op. cit._, + XL, 1910, pp. 336 ff. +de Baye, _L'archeologie prehistorique_ (Petit-Morin tombs). +Reinach, S., _La Sculpture en Europe_ (Angers 1896. + Figures of the 'dolmen deity'). + + + SPAIN + +Cartailhac, _Ages prehistorique de l'Espagne_. +Cartailhac, _Monuments primitifs des iles baleares_. +Bezzenberger in _Zeitschrift fuer Ethnologie_, XXXIX, + 1907, pp. 567 ff. + + + ITALY + +_Bullettino di Paletnologia Italiana_, XXV, pp. 178 ff. +Nicolucci, _Brevi note sui monumenti megalitici di + Terra d'Otranto_, 1893. +_Bull. Paletn. Ital._, XXXVII, pp. 6 ff. +Mosso and Samarelli, _Il dolmen di Bisceglie_, in _Bull. + Paletn. Ital._, XXXVI, pp. 26 ff. and 86 ff. + + + SICILY + +Orsi in _Bull. Paletn. Ital._, XXIV, pp. 202-3 (Monteracello). +Orsi in _Ausonia_, 1907, pp. 1 ff. (Cava Lazzaro). +Orsi in _Notizie degli Scavi_, 1905, p. 432, Fig. 18 (Cava Lavinaro). + + + SARDINIA + +La Marmora, _Voyage en Sardaigne_. +Pinza in _Monumenti Antichi_, Vol. VIII. +Nissardi in _Atti del Congresso Internazionale_, Roma, + 1903, sezione preistorica. +Nissardi and Taramelli in _Mon. Ant._, Vol. XVII. +Taramelli in _Memnon_, Band II, Mai, 1908, pp. 1-35. +Prechac in _Melanges d'archeologie et d'histoire_, XXVIII. +Mackenzie in _Ausonia_, III, 1908, pp. 18 ff. +Mackenzie in _Memnon_, Vol. II, fasc. 3. +Mackenzie in _Papers of the British School of Rome_, V, pp. 89 ff. +Taramelli, _Notizie degli Scavi_, 1904, pp. 301 ff. (Anghelu Ruju). +Colini in _Bullettino di Paletnologia Italiana_, XXIV, pp. 252 ff. + + + CORSICA + +_Nouvelles archives des missions scientifiques_, Vol. III, +1892, pp. 49 ff. + + + PIANOSA +_Bullettino di Paletn. Ital._, XXIV, pp. 281 ff. + + + MALTA + +Mayr, A., _Die vorgeschichtlichen Denkmaeler von Malta_. +Mayr, A., _Die Insel Malta_. +Zammit, _First Report on the Halsaflieni Hypogeum_. +Tagliaferro, _The Prehistoric Pottery found in the + Hypogeum at Halsaflieni_, in _Annals of Archaeology + and Anthropology_, Vol. III, pp. 1 ff. +Zammit and Peet, _Report on the small objects found + at Halsaflieni_ (Valletta, in the Press). +Magri, _Ruins of a Megalithic Temple at Xeuchia, Gozo_. +Ashby, T., and others, _Report on Excavations at + Corradino, Mnaidra, and Hagiar Kim_, appearing + in Vol. VI of _Papers of the British School of Rome_. +Peet, _Contributions to the Study of the Prehistoric + Period in Malta, Papers of the British School of + Rome_, V, pp. 141 ff. +Tagliaferro, _Prehistoric Burials in a Cave at Burmeghez_, + in Man, 1911, pp. 147 ff. + + + NORTH AFRICA + +Faidherbe in _Compte rendu du congres d'archeologie + prehistorique_, Bruxelles, 1872, pp. 406 ff. +Flower in _Transactions of the International Congress +of Prehistoric Archaeology_, Norwich, 1868, pp. 194 ff. +MacIver and Wilkin, _Libyan Notes_. + + + MOROCCO + +_Materiaux pour l'histoire de l'homme_, V, p. 342; + VIII, p. 57; XX, p. 112. + + + TUNIS + +Cartailhac in _L'Anthropologie_, 1903, pp. 620 ff. +Carton in _L'Anthropologie_, 1891, pp. 1 ff. +_Materiaux pour l'histoire de l'homme_, XXI, Pl. VI; + XXII, pp. 373 and 416. + + + EGYPT AND THE SUDAN + +Wilson and Felkin, _Uganda and the Egyptian Sudan_, + Vol. II, p. 123. +de Morgan, _Recherches sur l'origine de l'Egypte_, p. 239, Fig. 398. + + + PANTELLERIA + +Orsi in _Monumenti Antichi_, IX, pp. 449 ff. + + + LAMPEDUSA + +Ashby in _Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology_, Vol. IV. + + + BULGARIA + +_Mittheilungen der anthropologischen Gesellschaft in + Wien_, 1888, pp. 285 ff. +_L'Anthropologie_, 1890, p. 110. + + + CRIMEA + +Borlase, _Dolmens of Ireland_, III, p. 722. + + + CAUCASUS AND CRIMEA + +Chantre, _Recherches anthropologiques dans le Caucase_, + Vol. I, pp. 50 ff. +Chantre in _Verhandlungen der Berliner Anthropologischen + Gesellschaft_, 1882, p. 344. +_Materiaux pour l'histoire de l'homme_, 1885, pp. 545 ff. +Borlase, _Dolmens of Ireland_, III, p. 722. + + + SYRIA AND PALESTINE + +_Palestine Exploration Fund, Quarterly Reports_ for + 1882; _Annual_, 1911, pp. 1 ff. +Conder, _Heth and Moab_, pp. 190, 293. +Perrot and Chipiez, IV, pp. 341, 378-9. + + + PERSIA + +de Morgan in _Revue mensuelle de l'Ecole d'anthropologie + de Paris_, 1902, p. 187. +de Morgan, _La delegation en Perse_, 1902. +de Morgan, _L'histoire d'Elam_, Paris, 1902. + + + INDIA + +_Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy_, XXIV, 1865. +Westropp, _Prehistoric Phases_. + + + COREA + +_Journal Anthrop. Inst._, XXIV, p. 330. + + + JAPAN + +Gowland in _Archaeologia_, LV, pp. 439 ff. +Gowland in _Journal Anthrop. Inst._, 1907, pp. 10 ff. + + + + + INDEX + +Abbameiga, 85 +Aberdeen, circles near, 38 +Adrianople, 114 +Africa, 90-6 +Aiga, 85 +Ain Dakkar, 117 +Ainu, the, 122 +Ala Safat, 116 +Alemtejo, 71 +Algeria, 91-5 +_Alignements_, 3, 59-60, 89, + 119-20, 124, 154-7 +_Allees couvertes_, 3, 61, 64 +Altar Stone at Stonehenge, 18 +Altmark, 57 +Amman, 117 +Ammon, 115 +Anghelu Ruju, 88 +Anglesey, 27, 29 +Annaclochmullin, 145 +Antequera, 70 +Arbor Low, 25 +Arcturus, 50, 51 +Arles, 64 +Arles, Council of, 12 +Arran, circles on, 35-6 +Arthur, King, 11, 25 +Arthur's Quoit, 29 +Asia, 114-22 +Atreus, Treasury of, 157 +Aurelius Ambrosius, 15 +Avebury, 23-4, 27-8 +Avening, 33, 127 +Axe, cult of, 137-8 +Axe-shaped pendants, 80, 112 +Axevalla Heath, 54 + + +Baetyls, 104, 105-6, 137 +Balearic Isles, 71-5 +Barnstone, the, 36-7 +Barrows, long, 30-3 +Barth, 90 +Belgium, 58 +Bellary, 118 +Bell-shaped cup, 64, 81, 136 +Beltane festival, 37 +Benigaus Nou, 74 +Bertrand, 64, 143 +Birori, 82, 133 +Bisceglie, 76 +Bonstetten, 143 +Borreby, 54-5 +Boscawen-un, 26 +Bou Merzoug, 92 +Bou Nouara, 91 +Boyle Somerville, Captain, 50 +Brittany, 59-60 +Brogar, Ring of, 36-7 +Broholm, 54 +Bulgaria, 114 +Button, conical, 42, 71, 111, 135 + + +Caesar, 27 +Cairns, horned, 38-9 +Caithness, cairns of, 38-9 +_Callais_, 63, 64, 66, 67, 71, 132 +Callernish Circle, 34 +Calvados, 64 +Camster, 39 +Can de Ceyrac, 60 +Caouria, 89 +Capella, 50, 51 +Carnac, 13, 59-60 +Carrick-a-Dhirra, 43 +Carrickard, 45 +Carrickglass, 41 +Carrigalla, 49 +Carrowmore, 41-2 +Cashtal-yn-Ard, 145 +Cassibile, 80 +Castelluccio, 80, 81 +Castor, 50 +Caucasus, 114 +Cava Lavinaro, 78 +Cava Lazzaro, 78 +Cave burial, 81, 88 +Chagford, 29 +Champ Dolent, menhir of, 13 +Channel Isles, 67 +Charlemagne, 12 +Charlton's Abbott, 33 +China, 122 +Chittore, 119 +Chun Quoit, 29 +Circles, stone, 15-28, 34-8, 48-51, + 60, 96, 115 +Cirta, 92 +Clava, 37 +Clynnog Fawr, 128 +Collorgues, 137 +Constantine, 91 +Contracted burials, 33, 54, 62, 77, 80, + 81, 93, 97, 111, 140-1, 153 +Coolback, 43 +Corbelled roofs, 6, 32, 45, 48, + 69, 73, 84, 86, 87, 102-3 +Cordin, 105, 108 +Corea, 122 +Cornwall, dolmens in, 29 + monuments of, 26 +Corridor-tombs, 3, 43-8, 52-5, 56-8, + 62-4, 67-71, 76-7, 96, 118, 120-2 +Corse, Cape, 89 +Corsica, 88-9 +Coursed masonry, use of, 5, 73, 82 +Cove, the, 25 +Cremation, 35, 42, 66, 140 +Crete, 113, 132, 142, 155, 157 +Crickstone, the, 30 +Crimea, 114 +Cromlechs, 3 +Cumberland, monuments of, 25 +Cup-markings, 117, 127-8 +Cyprus, 155 +Cyrenaica, 91 + + +Dance Maen Circle, 26 +Date of megaliths, 123 +Dax, 64 +Deccan, 118-9 +Dechelette, 139, 151 +de Morgan, 90 +Denmark, 53-5 +Dennis, 76 +Der Ghuzaleh, 116 +Dolmens, 2, 29, 40-1, 52-3, 56, 58, 61, 67-8, + 82, 89, 90, 91-6, 108, 114-9 +Drawings on stones, 46, 48, 55, 62, 110 +Drewsteignton, 29 +Druids, 11, 27-8 + + +Edfu, 90 +Eguilaz, 68 +Egypt, 155 +Ellez, 96 +England, monuments of, 15-33 +Erdeven, 60 +Er-Lanic, 60 +Eskimos, 126 +Es Tudons, _nau_ of, 73-4 +Evans, Sir Arthur, 20, 105 + + +Facades, curved, 78, 145-6 +Faidherbe, General, 143 +Faustina, medal of, 95 +Feraud, M., 92-3 +Fergusson, 28, 143 +Fibrolite, 63 +Finistere, dolmens of, 13 +Fontanaccia, 89 +Fonte Coberta, 68 +Forbes Leslie, Colonel, 119 +France, 59-67 +Friar's Heel, 18, 21 + + +Galilee, 115 +Gargantua, 11 +Gaulstown, 41 +Gavr'inis, 62, 137 +Gebel Mousa, 116 +Geoffrey of Monmouth, 26 +Ger, 64 +Germany, 56-7 +Get, 39 +Gezer, 124 +Giant's Bed, 56 +Giant's Tombs, 87-8 +Gigantia, 104 + +Giraldus Cambrensis, 15 +Goehlitzsch, 137 +Gozo, Is., 104 +Greenland, 125 +Grewismuehlen, 56 +Grotte des Fees, 64, 74 +Grotte du Castellet, 64 + + +Hagiar Kim, 6, 103-4 +Hakpen Hill, 24, 27 +Halsaflieni, 108-13, 130 +Hauptville's Quoit, 25 +Hengist, 15 +Herrestrup, 53 +Highwood, 45 +Hinks, Mr., 22 +Hirdmane Stone, 13 +Holed tombs, 77, 114, 116, 117, 126-7 +Holland, 57-8 +Horned cairns, 146 +_Huenenbetter_, 45, 56-8 +Hurlers, the, 26 + + +Idanha a Nova, 139 +India, 118-20 +Inigo Jones, 27 +Inverness, circles in, 37-8 +Ireland, monuments of, 40-51 +Iron, 39, 46, 93, 119 +Italy, 76-7 + + +Jadeite, 63 +James I, 27 +Japan, 120-2 +Jaulan, 117 +Jimmu, 121 +Judaea, 115 + + +Karleby, 54 +Karnak (Egypt), 22 +Keamcorravooly, 44 +Keller, 56 +Kennet Avenue, 24 +Kerlescan, 60 +Kermario, 60 +Keswick Circle, 25 +Khasi Hills, 119 +Kingarth, circle at, 36 +Kirkabrost, circle at, 36 +Kit's Coty House, 29 +Knyttkaerr, 55 +Komei, 121 +Kosseir, 118 + + +Labbamologa, 43 +Lado, 90 +Lampedusa, Isle of, 96 +Lanyon Quoit, 29, 127 +La Perotte, 7 +Leaba Callighe, 43 +Lecce, 76 +Lewis, Isle of, 34 +Linosa, Isle of, 96, 132 +Lockyer, Sir Norman, 21-2, 51 +Long Meg and her daughters, 25 +Losa, 85 +Los Millares, 70, 137, 145 +Lough Crew, 45, 48, 62 +Lough Gur, 48-51 +Lozere, 130 +Lundhoej, 55 +Luettich, 58 + + +MacIver, D.R., 93-4 +Mackenzie, Duncan, 85, 152, 153 +Maeshowe, 36-7 +Malta, 98-113 +Man, Isle of, 30 +Mane-er-Hroeck, 62-3 +Marcella, 68 +Matera, 77 +Maughold, 30 +Mayborough Circle, 25 +Mayr, Albert, 105 +Meayll Hill, 30 +Melilli, 80 +Men-an-tol, 30 +Menec, 59 +Menhirs, 2, 29, 59, 115-6, 123-4 + cult of, 12, 123-4 +Merivale, circle at, 26 +Merlin, 15 +Merry Maidens, the, 26 +Messa, 90 +Minieh, 116 +Mnaidra, 100-3 +Moab, 115-7 +Molafa, 88 +Monte Abrahao, 71 +Montelius, O., 126, 151, 153 +Monteracello, 78 +Morocco, 96 +Mortillet, de, 59, 144 +Mourzouk, 90 +Msila, 93 +Munster, tombs of, 44 +Mursia, 97 +Musta, 108 +Mycenean vases, 81 + + +Naas, 15 +Nantes, Council of, 12 +Nara, 121 +_Naus_, 73-4, 145 +_Navetas_, see _Naus_ +Neermul jungle, 118 +Newbliss, 145 +New Grange, 46, 62 +Nile valley, 90 +Nilgiri Hills, 118 +Nine Maidens, the, 26 +Nissardi, 84 +Norway, 53 +Nossiu, 85, 87 +_Nuraghi_, 82-7 + + +Obsidian, 77, 134 +Odin's Stone, 11, 36 +Orkney Isles, cairns of, 38-9 +Orry's Grave, 30, 127 +Orsi, Paolo, 78, 79 +Orthostatic slabs, use of, 4, 69, 74, + 80, 96, 100 + + +Palmella, 71 +Pantalica, 80, 155 +Pantelleria, Isle of, 96-8 +Papa-Westra, 39 +Pehada, 114 +Penrith Circle, 11 +Pentre Ifan, 29 +Pera, 115 +Perigord, 13 +Persia, 114 +Petit Morin, 66-7, 130 +Pfaeffikon, Lake, 56 +Phoenicia, 154 +Pianosa, 89 +Picardt, John, 57 +Pierre du Diable, La, 58 +Pierres Plates, Les, 61 +Piper, the, 26 +Plas Newydd, 29, 127 +Plemmirio, 155 +Pliny, 27 +Portico-dolmens, 40-1, 52, 119 +Portugal, 67 +Pottery, 135-6 + + +Reinach, Salomon, 144 +Religion, megalithic, 105-6, 137-9 +Rhodes, 154 +Rinaiou, 89 +Rock-tombs, 3, 66-7, 71, 74, 79-81, 88 +Rockbarton, 48 +Rodmarton, 33, 127 +Roknia, 94 +Rollright Circle, 25, 29, 50 + + +Saint George, 88 +Saint-Germain-sur-Vienne, 12 +Saint Michel, Mont, 63 +Saint Pantaleon, 60 +Saint Sermin, 139 +Saint Vincent, 74 +Sant' Elia, Cape, 88 +Sardinia, 82-8 +S'Aspru, 85 +Scandinavia, 52-5 +Scotland, monuments of, 34-9 +Sculptures, 67, 138 +Secondary burial, 79, 141-2 +Senam, the, 93-4 +Seriphos, 139 +Serucci, 85 +_Sesi_, the, 97-8 +Shap, circle at, 23 +Sicily, 77-82 +Sidbury Hill, 21 +Sidon, 115 +Siggewi, 108 +Silbury Hill, 24, 28 +Siret, Messieurs, 68 +Sjoebol, 53 +Skulls, 77, 112, 129-31 +Sorapoor, 118 +Spain, 67-71 +Spence, Magnus, 37 +Stanton Drew, 25, 49 +Star-worship, 23, 50-1, 128 +Steatopygous figures, 107, 112 +Stenness, Ring of, 36 +Stonehenge, 15-23 +Stoney-Littleton, 32 +Stripple Stones, the, 26 +Stromness, circle at, 36 +Stukeley, Dr., 27 +Su Cadalanu, 84 +Sudan, 90 +Suetonius, 27 +Sun-worship, 21-3, 28-9, 37, 51 +Sweden, 52-5 +Switzerland, 56 +Syria, 115-8 + + +Table des Marchands, La, 16, 137 +Tagliaferro, Professor, 108, 111 +Tahutihotep, tomb of, 8 +_Talayots_, 71-3 +Tamuli, 139 +Tangier, 96 +Tarentum, 76 +Tattooing, 139 +"Three Brothers of Grugith," the, 128 +Tiberias, 115 +Tinaarloo, 57 +Toledo, Council of, 12 +Torebo, 53 +Tours, Council of, 12 +Trade relations, 131-3 +Tregeseal, circles near, 26 +Trepanned skulls, 62 +Trilithons, 2, 17, 90, 100-1, 103-4, 117 +Tripoli, 90-1 +_Truddhi_, 86 +Tsil, 117-8 +Tunis, 95-6 +Tyfta, 54 +Tyre, 115 +Tzarskaya, 114 + + +Unebi, Mt., 121 + + +Vail Gorguina, 67 +Vellore, 118 +Villafrati, 81 +Villages, megalithic, 74, 85-6, 97 + + +Wales, monuments of, 29 +Watchstone, the, 36-7 +Wayland the Smith's Cave, 11, 14, 30, 32 +Wedge-shaped tomb, 44-5, 55, 70-1, 117 +Westgothland, 54 +West Tump, 146 + + +Yarhouse, 39 + + +Zammit, Dr. T., 112 + + + + + WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD. + PRINTERS, PLYMOUTH + + + + + ------------------------------------------------ + | | + | HARPER'S LIBRARY OF LIVING THOUGHT | + | | + | _Foolscap 8vo, gilt tops, decorative covers, | + | richly gilt backs | + | | + | Per Volume: Cloth 2s. 6d. net, Leather | + | 3s. 6d. net._ | + |-----------------------------------------------| + | | + | By Prof. ARTHUR KEITH, M.D. | + |(Hunterian Professor Royal College of Surgeons)| + | | + | ANCIENT TYPES OF MAN | + | | + | _Illustrated_ | + | | + | | + | From discoveries of ancient human remains | + | made within the last half-century, | + | anthropologists are now able to place in | + | order changes that have taken place in the | + | posture, gait, height, and to some extent | + | the habits of man during a period of at | + | least a half-million years. Prof. Keith, who | + | is one of the foremost investigators in this | + | field, tells the story of the various forms | + | which the body of the man has assumed, in a | + | lucid and attractive way. | + | | + | "The kind of book that only a master of his | + | subject could write. It must interest every | + | thinking person."--_British Medical | + | Journal._ | + | | + ------------------------------------------------- + + + + + ----------------------------------------------- + | | + | Harper's Library of Living Thought | + | | + |-----------------------------------------------| + | | + | By Prof W.M. FLINDERS PETRIE | + | | + | PERSONAL RELIGION IN EGYPT | + | BEFORE CHRISTIANITY | + | | + | | + | "The author gauges what ideas were already | + | part of the religious thought in the first | + | century, and what were the terms and ideas | + | in Christianity which were new to mankind. | + | The current literature of the time was as | + | naturally taken for granted by Christians as | + | were the books of the Old Testament which | + | were familiar to them. The separation of the | + | new ideas in the teaching of Christ and of | + | the Apostles from the general terms of | + | religion at the time, is the only road to | + | understanding what Christianity meant to | + | those who actually heard the teaching." | + | | + | _Notts Guardian._ | + | | + | "A suggestive and thought-provoking book, a | + | real contribution to the study of | + | comparative religion." | + | | + | _Methodist Recorder._ | + | | + | | + ----------------------------------------------- + + + + + ----------------------------------------------- + | | + | Harper's Library of Living Thought | + | | + |-----------------------------------------------| + | | + | By Prof. ERNEST A. GARDNER | + | | + | RELIGION AND ART IN ANCIENT GREECE | + | | + | | + | "Anything from such an authority on Greek | + | art is welcome. This subject in the hands of | + | Professor Gardner becomes a profoundly | + | interesting study in the philosophy of | + | religion. He has dealt with the religion of | + | Greece as it affected the art of sculpture, | + | and with the reaction of that art upon the | + | ideals and aspirations of the people and its | + | influence upon the popular and the educated | + | conceptions of the gods. It is well worth | + | the trouble to study the religious art of | + | such a people, and this is an epitome of the | + | subject such as readers can get nowhere | + | else." | + | | + | _Scotsman._ | + | | + ------------------------------------------------- + + + + + ----------------------------------------------- + | | + | Harper's Library of Living Thought | + | | + |-----------------------------------------------| + | | + | By Prof. W.M. FLINDERS PETRIE | + | | + | THE REVOLUTIONS OF CIVILISATION | + | | + | _Illustrated_ | + | | + | | + | In the light of history--so enormously | + | extended in recent years--the author surveys | + | the waxing and waning of civilisation as | + | evidenced in sculpture, painting, | + | literature, mechanics, and wealth. In | + | tracing the various forces at work in this | + | fluctuation he arrives at most significant | + | conclusions, notably in connection with race | + | mixture and forms of government. | + | | + | "We know nothing that exhibits in so brief a | + | compass the extraordinary vicissitudes of | + | human progress and retrogression since the | + | dawn of history."--_Birmingham Post._ | + | | + ------------------------------------------------- + + + + + ------------------------------------------------ + | | + | Harper's Library of Living Thought | + | | + |-----------------------------------------------| + | | + | By CHARLES H. HAWES, M.A., and | + | HARRIET B. HAWES, M.A., L.H.D. | + | | + | CRETE, THE FORERUNNER OF GREECE | + | | + | _Map, Plans, etc._ | + | | + | | + | "The wondrous story of a great civilisation | + | which flourished before Abraham was born, | + | and left behind a memory of itself in the | + | Arts of Ancient Greece and in the traditions | + | of a golden age and a 'Lost | + | Atlantis.'"--_Evening Standard._ | + | | + | "We have now the material for forming a very | + | fair conception of the fruitful contribution | + | made by Crete to Grecian and European | + | civilisation. What was long accounted | + | fable--statements of Herodotus and | + | Thucydides--have been turned into | + | established fact. The book supplies material | + | for forming judgments on some of the most | + | interesting and still highly debated | + | problems of early Greek history." | + | _Glasgow Herald._ | + | | + ------------------------------------------------- + + + + + + ------------------------------------------------- + | | + | Harper's Library of Living Thought | + | | + |-----------------------------------------------| + | | + | By Prof. G. ELLIOT SMITH | + | | + | THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS | + | | + | _Illustrated_ | + | | + | | + | An account of the Egyptians of the | + | unrecorded past as revealed by the | + | investigations of the anthropologist. The | + | author traces to their source the various | + | streams of alien immigrants which made their | + | way into the Nile valley, and correlates his | + | facts with the great racial movements in the | + | neighbouring continents. He shows how the | + | Egyptians inaugurated a higher | + | civilisation--particularly in bringing the | + | Stone Age to a close and introducing the use | + | of metals. | + | | + | "This is a brilliant little book, | + | illuminating the whole subject of the | + | history of the human race since man assumed | + | his proper shape."--_Manchester Guardian._ | + | | + ------------------------------------------------- + + + + + + ----------------------------------------------- + | | + | Harper's Library of Living Thought | + | | + |-----------------------------------------------| + | | + | Algernon Charles Swinburne | + | THREE PLAYS OF SHAKESPEARE | + | | + | Leo Tolstoy | + | THE TEACHING OF JESUS | + | | + | Prof. W.M. Flinders Petrie | + | PERSONAL RELIGION IN EGYPT BEFORE | + | CHRISTIANITY | + | | + | Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S. | + | THE ETHER OF SPACE. Illustrated | + | | + | Prof. William Wrede | + | (University of Breslau) | + | THE ORIGIN OF THE NEW TESTAMENT | + | | + | Prof. C.H. Becker | + | (Colonial Institute, Hamburg) | + | CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM | + | | + | Prof. Svante Arrhenius | + | (Nobel Institute, Stockholm) | + | THE LIFE OF THE UNIVERSE. | + | 2 vols. Illustrated | + | | + | Prof. Arnold Meyer (University of Zurich) | + | JESUS OR PAUL? | + | | + | Prof. D.A. Bertholet (University of Basle) | + | THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS | + | | + | Prof. Reinhold Seeberg | + | (University of Berlin) | + | REVELATION AND INSPIRATION | + | | + | Prof. Johannes Weiss | + | (University of Heidelberg) | + | PAUL AND JESUS | + | | + | Prof. Rudolph Eucken (University of Jena) | + | CHRISTIANITY AND THE NEW IDEALISM | + | | + | Prof. P. Vinogradoff (Oxford University) | + | ROMAN LAW IN MEDIAEVAL EUROPE | + | | + | Sir William Crookes, O.M., F.R.S., LL.D. | + | DIAMONDS. Illustrated | + | | + | _PLEASE WRITE FOR PROSPECTUS | + | AND ANNOUNCEMENTS_ | + ------------------------------------------------- + + + + + ----------------------------------------------- + | | + | Harper's Library of Living Thought | + | | + |-----------------------------------------------| + | | + | C.H. Hawes, M.A., and | + | Harriet Boyd Hawes, M.A. | + | CRETE THE FORERUNNER OF GREECE. Maps, etc. | + | | + | Sir William A. Tilden, F.R.S. | + | THE ELEMENTS: Speculations as to their | + | Nature and Origin. Illustrated | + | | + | Prof. Ernest A. Gardner | + | (University of London) | + | RELIGION AND ART IN ANCIENT GREECE | + | | + | Prof. F.W. Mott, F.R.S., M.D. | + | THE BRAIN AND THE VOICE IN SPEECH AND | + | SONG. Illustrated | + | | + | Prof. G. Elliott Smith | + | (University of Manchester) | + | THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, and their | + | Influence upon the Civilisation | + | of Europe. Illustrated | + | | + | Prof. Frederick Czapek | + | (University of Prague) | + | CHEMICAL PHENOMENA IN LIFE | + | | + | Prof. W.M. Flinders Petrie | + | THE REVOLUTIONS OF CIVILISATION. | + | Copiously Illustrated | + | | + | The Very Rev. the Hon. W.H. Fremantle, D.D. | + | (Dean of Ripon) | + | NATURAL CHRISTIANITY | + | | + | Prof. A.W. Bickerton | + | THE BIRTH OF WORLDS AND SYSTEMS. | + | Illustrated. | + | Preface by Prof. E. RUTHERFORD, F.R.S. | + | | + | Prof. Arthur Keith, M.D. | + | ANCIENT TYPES OF MAN. Illustrated | + | | + | Sir William Ramsay, F.R.S. | + | ELEMENTS AND ELECTRONS. Diagrams | + | | + | Arthur Holmes, B.Sc. | + | THE AGE OF THE EARTH. Illustrated | + | | + | T. Eric Peet, M.A. | + | ROUGH STONE MONUMENTS AND | + | THEIR BUILDERS. Illustrated | + | | + |-----------------------------------------------| + | | + | :: HARPER AND BROTHERS :: | + | 45 Albemarle St: London, W. | + | Franklin Sq. New York | + | | + ------------------------------------------------- + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rough Stone Monuments and Their +Builders, by T. Eric Peet + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROUGH STONE MONUMENTS AND *** + +***** This file should be named 15590.txt or 15590.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/5/9/15590/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Peter Barozzi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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