MONUMENTS OF THE STONE AND BRONZE AGES. 629 



5. Dolmens, signifying ' table stones/ consisting of a number of 

 menhirs called supports, placed close together to form a rectangle, open 

 at one end and covered by one or more table stones. 



6. Covered passages, two lines of parallel menhirs or supports cov- 

 ered by table stones. 



7. Stone cists, composed of flat stones forming small closed cham- 

 bers in the nature of stone coffins. 



8. Tumuli, artificial mounds of earth called in England ' barrows/ 

 either oblong or round. 



9. Galgals, artificial mounds formed of small stones. 



The single standing stone or menhir is probably the oldest form 



Menhir, Avebury Circle, Wiltshire. 



of all these monuments. Very rude peoples would soon naturally 

 employ it for purposes of designation — to mark the grave of a chief 

 or a spot become in some way sacred or important. Then a slab was 

 placed across two or more uprights when an interment took place, and 

 we have the beginning of the dolmen, which later developed into a 

 more or less elaborate chamber, with or without vestibule or covered 

 passage leading to it or auxiliary chambers connected with it; and 

 finally the Avhole became covered with a mound of earth or small stones, 

 and may have been surmounted by a menhir. 



It has been said that the complete megalithic monument consisted 

 of a stone chamber or dolmen covered with a mound, and the whole 



