FRANCE, SPAIN, AND PORTUGAL 



position, with tools and weapons of flint, pots, 

 and beads of amber and of callai's. On the walls 

 were rough sculptures of human figures (Fig. 13), 

 to which we shall have to return later. 



The Channel Islands possess megalithic monu- 

 ments not unlike those of Brittany. They are 

 corridor-tombs covered with a mound and often 

 surrounded by a circle of stones. Within the 

 chamber, which is usually round, lies, under a 

 layer of shells, a mass of mingled human and 

 animal bones. The bodies had been buried in 

 the sitting position, and with them lay objects 

 of stone and bone, but none of metal. 



The Spanish Peninsula abounds in megalithic 

 monuments. With the exception of a few menhirs, 

 whose purpose is uncertain, all are sepulchral. 

 Dolmens and corridor-tombs are numerous in 

 many parts, especially in the north-east provinces, 

 in Galicia, in Andalusia, and, above all, in Portu- 

 gal. There is a fine dolmen in the Vail Gorguina 

 in North-East Spain. The cover-slab, measuring 

 10 feet by 8, is supported by seven rough uprights 

 with considerable spaces between them. In the 

 same region is a ruined dolmen surrounded by 

 a circle nearly 90 feet in circumference, consisting 

 of seven large stones, some of which appear to 

 be partly worked. Circles are also found round 

 dolmens in Andalusia. Portugal abounds in fine 

 dolmens both of the round and rectangular types. 



67 



