CHAPTER VIII 

 THE DOLMENS OF ASIA 



IN the south-east of Europe lie three groups 

 of dolmens which are no doubt in origin 

 more closelv connected with those of Asia than 

 with those of the rest of Europe. The first group 

 lies in Bulgaria, where no less than sixty dolmens 

 have been found north of Adrianople. The 

 second consists of a few dolmens which still 

 remain in the Crimea, and the third lies in the 

 Caucasus in two divisions, one to the south-east 

 and the other to the south-west of the town of 

 Ekaterinodar. These last are made of slabby 

 rock, and thus have a finished appearance. A 

 dolmen near Tzarskaya has a small semicircular 

 hole at the bottom of one of its end-slabs, while 

 another in the valley of Pehada has sides con- 

 sisting of single blocks, placed so as to slant in- 

 wards considerably, and a circular hole in the 

 centre of the slab which closes one of its ends. 



In Asia megalithic monuments are not infre- 

 quent. We first find them in Syria, they have 

 been reported from Persia, and in Central and 

 South India they exist in large numbers. Corridor- 

 tombs occur in Japan, but they are late in date, 



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