THE BUILDERS 



and XVIIIth Dynasties. We know nothing of 

 their political conditions, of the groups into which 

 they were divided, or the centres from which they 

 were governed. That there were strong centres 

 of government is, however, clear from the very 

 existence of such huge monuments, many of which 

 must have required the combined and organized 

 labour of large armies of workers, in the gathering 

 of which the state was doubtless strongly backed 

 by religion. 



We have seen that the megalithic peoples 

 frequently dwelt in huts of great stones. Yet in 

 the majority of cases their huts must have been, 

 like those of most primitive races, of perishable 

 material, such as wood, wattle, skins, turf, and 

 clay. As for their form there was probably a 

 continual conflict between the round and the 

 rectangular plan, just as there was in the stone 

 examples. Which form prevailed in any particu- 

 lar district was probably determined almost by 

 accident. Thus in Sardinia the round type was 

 mostly kept for the huts and nuraghi, while the 

 rectangular was reserved for the dolmens and 

 Giants' Graves. Even here the confusion between 

 the two types is shown by the fact that near 

 Birori there are two dolmens with a round plan. 

 Again, in Pantelleria the huts of the Mursia are 

 rectangular, while the sesi, which are tombs, are 

 roughly circular. It is therefore probable that 

 the round and rectangular types of building were 



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