ROUGH STONE MONUMENTS 



Palestine. In Africa we have them along the 

 whole of the north coast, from Tripoli to Morocco ; 

 inland they are not recorded, except for one 

 possible example in Egypt and several in the 

 Soudan. In Europe the distribution of dolmens 

 and other megalithic monuments is wide. They 

 occur in the Caucasus and the Crimea, and quite 

 lately examples have been recorded in Bulgaria. 

 There are none in Greece, and only a few in Italy, 

 in the extreme south-east corner. The islands, 

 however, which lie around and to the south of 

 Italy afford many examples : Corsica, Sardinia, 

 Malta, Gozo, Pantelleria, and Lampedusa are 

 strongholds of the megalithic civilization, and it 

 is possible that Sicily should be included in the 

 list. Moving westward we find innumerable 

 examples in the Spanish Peninsula and in France. 

 To the north we find them frequent in the British 

 Isles, Sweden, Denmark, and North Germany ; 

 they are rarer in Holland and Belgium. Two 

 examples have been reported from Switzerland. 



It is only to be expected that these great 

 megalithic monuments of a prehistoric age should 

 excite the wonder and stimulate the imagination 

 of those who see them. In all countries and at all 

 times they have been centres of story and legend, 

 and even at the present day many strange beliefs 

 concerning them are to be found among the 

 peasantry who live around them. Salomon 



IO 



