THE EARLIEST WRITING IN FRANCE. 543 



they are distributed around, and sometimes they are isolated. 

 Among them we remark the frequent repetition of some forms in 

 groups or singly, which suggest the thought of signs with a deter- 

 mined sense. Upon a large support of the dolmen of the Petit-Mont 

 at Arzan (Morbihan) there are at the lower left hand three crosses, 

 a sign of frequent occurrence on the megalithic carvings. Above 

 these are two very wide open U's. Seidler sees in these signs letters 

 of the Libyan alphabet, the cross corresponding to C, and the other 

 sign to M. Some persons have further thought they could distin- 

 guish an Egyptian letter in the cross. Taking a more general view 

 of the question, Letourneau * has tried to prove that the sculptures 

 on the megaliths are inscriptions, and the engraved signs correspond 

 to letters of the ancient alphabets, most probably Semitic. Adrien 

 de Mortillet answered that the thought of writing involved arrange- 

 ment, and no arrangement could be predicated of the signs. 



A short time afterward, Adrien de Mortillet, in a paper on the 

 Figures sculptured on the Megalithic Monuments of France, proved 

 that the figures are more or less rude designs representing a well- 

 determined series of objects. Thus the U's, with branches very 

 widely separated, represent boats, and are emblems of migrations by 

 sea ; the crosses are shipmasters' staffs, or insignia of chiefs similar in 

 character to bishops' crosses. The polished hatchet is frequently 

 figured, and often with a handle, and is the emblem of labor, or, 

 more probably, of combat. The scutcheons, which are also frequent, 

 are bucklers, or military symbols. They are usually adorned on the 

 inner side with a variety of symbolical figures variously grouped, 

 which evidently served as the owner's coat of arms, and are the most 

 ancient known specimens of the kind, going back to the stone age, or 

 at least to the transition age from stone to bronze. After that time 

 the custom of putting their owners' arms upon bucklers spread 

 widely. It lasted till the end of the middle ages. The painted vases 

 of classical antiquity furnish numerous and very curious examples of 

 such marks. The interpretation of the megalithic sculptures may 

 furnish probable if not certain details concerning an epoch which is 

 very little known to us. Thus, the scutcheon of the dolmen des 

 Marchands, containing four series of crosses, one above the other, 

 and each series divided into two parts, fifty-six crosses in all, may 

 have been the arms of a chief of a powerful confederation having 

 fifty-six less important chiefs under his orders. The supposition is 

 confirmed by the dimensions of the monument and a large handled 

 hatchet engraved under the tablet between two other crosses. 



Near the dolmen des Marchands, and not far from the sea, is 



* Ch. Letourneau. Alphabet Forms in Megalithic Inscriptions. Bulletin of the So- 

 ciety of Anthropology, 1893. 



