ROUGH STONE MONUMENTS 



examples of this type of building. The archaeo- 

 logist, 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 con- 

 sists 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 par- 

 ticularly frequent in Brittany. Menhir is derived 

 from the Breton men, a stone, and Mr, long ; 

 similarly dolmen is from dot, 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- 



