INTRODUCTION 



tombs of an elementary type. Fourthly, we have 

 the corridor-tomb (Ganggrab), which usually 

 consists of a chamber entered by a gallery or 

 corridor. In cases where the chamber is no wider 

 than, and hence indistinguishable from the 

 corridor, the tomb becomes a long rectangular 

 gallery, and answers to the French allee couverte 

 in the strict sense. Fifthly, we come to the 

 alignement, in which a series of menhirs is arranged 

 in open lines on some definite system. We shall 

 find a famous example of this at Morbihan in 

 Brittany. Sixthly, there is the cromlech (from 

 crom, curve, and lec'h, a stone), which consists 

 of a number of menhirs arranged to enclose a 

 space, circular, elliptical or, in rare cases, rect- 

 angular. 



These are the chief types of megalithic monu- 

 ment, but there are others which, though clearly 

 belonging to the same class of structure, show 

 special forms and are more complicated. They 

 are in many cases developments of one or more 

 of the simple types, and will be treated specially 

 in their proper places. Such monuments are the 

 nuraghi of Sardinia and the ' temples ' of Malta 

 and Gozo. 



Finally, the rock-hewn sepulchre is often classed 

 with the megalithic monuments, and it is therefore 

 frequently mentioned in the following pages. 

 This is justified by the fact that it generally 

 occurs in connection with megalithic structures. 



