100 SOME ANCIEKT BEITISH REMAINS. 



by the storms of ages as to be hardly noticeable, and only 4 

 or 5 3^ards across. As to the shape, the Dartmoor examples 

 are all "round"; there are none of the "long" type. On 

 Salisbury Plain both kinds are found. Generally they are 

 placed in situations commanding a very wide expanse of 

 country, at or near the summits of the hills and downs, or 

 upon the verge of steep slopes, and thus often form very 

 -prominent landmarks. 



(14) Mining-heaps at a distance often resemble tumuli ; 

 but they are more often situated in the hollows and depres- 

 sions of the hill-sides than at or near the summits. There 

 are, of course, always pits and excavations associated with 

 these heaps. Many such mining remains are of mediaeval 

 and modern date ; but some, at least, are very ancient ; and 

 we know that tin was, perhaps, the most important article 

 of export from western Britain in pre-Roman times. 



(15) Menhirs, or Monoliths, are pillars or elongated 

 slabs of stone fixed erect in the ground. The finest specimen 

 now on Dartmoor stands 11 feet high above the surface; 

 but formerly, before the accumulation of peaty soil around 

 it, the height must have been 13| feet above the more solid 

 ground in which its base is imbedded. 



(IG) Stone Weapons and Tools form another group of 

 remains, which need now be only mentioned. 



As to the original uses of these varied monuments of the 

 past, there is no doubt whatever that kistvaens, barrows, 

 cairns, and tumulus-rings are sepulchral remains; that 

 beehive-huts, hut-circles, village enclosures, hut-clusters, 

 and camps are remains of human habitations ; that the as- 

 sociations of mining-heaps, of trackways, and of weapons 

 and tools are obvious ; that tracklines and boundary-banks 

 were largely due to the attempts to clear the ground near 



