180 DESIRABILITY OF PRESERVING MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS. 



sufficient number shall have been examined, we shall know 

 much more than we do yet about the social and domestic life 

 of those early ages ; we shall know whether during the Stone 

 Age they had domestic animals in the North, as would appear 

 to have been the case in Switzerland ; we shall know in part 

 what kind of clothes they wore, and by the remains found 

 with female skeletons we shall even be able to ascertain, in 

 some measure, the position occupied by woman with reference 

 to man. 



If, however, we are to acquire all the information that can 

 be derived from the burial mounds, it must be done quickly. 

 Every year many are destroyed, and Abury itself, the grandest 

 of megalithic monuments, was sacrificed for a paltry profit of 

 a few pounds. 



Moreover, as population increases, and land grows more 

 valuable, these ancient monuments become more and more 

 liable to mutilation and destruction. Since the first edition 

 of this Work was published, an Act of Parliament has been 

 passed for their protection, and an Inspector has been appointed. 

 This is so far satisfactory. Unfortunately, however, the powers 

 given under the Act are far from sufficient. I have suggested 

 that we might justly insist on the preservation of these 

 National monuments, and that if their owners do not care to 

 preserve them, the Nation should have the option of purchase 

 at a fair price. It is surely not only our right, but our duty, 

 to protect them. These monuments are National heirlooms ; 

 they do not belong to any one generation. They were erected 

 by our forefathers, and we are bound to preserve them for those 

 who will come after us. 



