INTRODUCTION 



pieces of labour. Great, indeed, must have been 

 the power of the cult which could combine the 

 force of hundreds and even thousands of indi- 

 viduals for long periods of time in the construction 

 of the great megalithic temples. Perhaps slave 

 labour played a part in the work, but in any case 

 it is clear that we are in the presence of strongly 

 organized governments backed by a powerful 

 religion which required the building of temples for 

 the gods and vast tombs for the dead. 



Let us consider for a moment what was the 

 procedure in building a simple megalithic monu- 

 ment. It was fourfold, for it involved the finding 

 and possibly the quarrying of the stones, the 

 moving of them to the desired spot, the erection 

 of the uprights in their places, and the placing of 

 the cover-slab or slabs on top of them. 



With regard to the first step it is probable that 

 in most cases the place chosen for a tomb or 

 cemetery was one in which numbers of great 

 stones lay on the surface ready to hand. By this 

 means labour was greatly economized. On the 

 other hand, there are certainly cases where the 

 stones were brought long distances in order to 

 be used. Thus, in Charente in France there is at 

 La Perotte a block weighing nearly 40 tons which 

 must have travelled over 18 miles. We have no 

 evidence as to whether stones were ever actually 

 quarried. If they were, the means used must 

 have been the stone axe, fire, and water. It was 



