ROUGH STONE MONUMENTS 



was never placed in such a way that its length ran 

 up the hill-slope, probably because in moving the 

 slab into place this would have been an awkward 

 position. 



Another equally fine site is that of Bou Merzoug, 

 near Oulad Rahmoun, about an hour's railway 

 journey from Constantine. The place is naturally 

 adapted for a settlement as there is a spring of 

 water there. This spring was later utilized by the 

 Romans to provide water for the city of Cirta. 

 The dolmen-graves lie in great numbers on the 

 hill at the foot of which the spring rises, and 

 extend down into the valley. Each dolmen lies 

 in the centre of a stone circle. This last is in 

 some cases formed by very large slabs set on edge, 

 but more often by two or three courses of rough 

 oblong blocks. Many of the graves are badly 

 damaged. One of the finest had an outer circle 

 about 27 feet in diameter, and an inner circle 

 14 feet in diameter. Between these two a third 

 circle, much more irregular and of small stones, 

 could just be distinguished. But in most cases 

 it was impossible to make out clearly more than 

 the one outer circle and the dolmen within it. 

 The dolmen itself consisted of a large slab resting 

 on walls formed of several large blocks, the spaces 

 between which were filled up with smaller stones. 

 None of the stones used were worked. The dol- 

 mens were not oriented according to any fixed 

 system. M. Feraud states that the separate 



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