THE BUILDERS 



of ten menhirs running north and south, together 

 with a large block in which was a socket for an 

 idol or other object of worship. Several bodies 

 of children found near it have suggested that the 

 monument was a place of sacrifice. 



Other megalithic structures can be definitely 

 classed as dwellings or tombs, as we have seen 

 in our separate treatment of them. It is not 

 improbable that, if we are right in considering 

 the dolmen as the most primitive form of mega- 

 lithic monument, megalithic architecture was 

 funerary in origin. Yet, as we find it in its great 

 diffusion, it provides homes for the living as well 

 as for the dead. In their original home, perhaps in 

 Africa, the megalithic race may have lived in huts 

 of wattle or skins, but after their migration the 

 need of protection in a hostile country and the 

 exigencies of a colder climate may have forced 

 them to employ stone for their dwellings. In any 

 case, in megalithic architecture as seen in Europe 

 the tomb and the dwelling types are considerably 

 intermixed, and may have reacted on one another. 

 This, however, does not justify the assertion so 

 often made that the megalithic tomb was a 

 conscious imitation of the hut. It is true that 

 some peoples make the home of their dead to 

 resemble that of the living. Among certain 

 tribes of Greenland it is usual to leave the dead 

 man seated in his hut by way of burial. But such 

 a conception does not exist among all peoples, 



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