WHO WERE THE BUILDERS? 



means by which this architecture was diffused. 

 Montelius speaks in favour of an Asiatic origin. 

 He considers that caves, and tombs accessible 

 from above, i.e. simple pits dug in the earth, were 

 native in Europe, while tombs reached from the 

 side, such as dolmens and corridor-tombs, were 

 introduced into Europe from the east. Salomon 

 Reinach, arguing mainly from the early appearance 

 of the objects found in the tombs of Scandinavia 

 and the rarity of the simpler types of monument, 

 such as the dolmen, in Germany and South 

 Europe, suggests that megalithic monuments first 

 appeared in North Europe and spread southwards. 

 Mackenzie is more inclined to believe in an African 

 origin. If he is right it may be that some climatic 

 change, possibly the decrease of rainfall in what 

 is now the Sahara desert, caused a migration 

 from Africa to Europe very similar to that which 

 many believe to have given to Europe its early 

 neolithic population. The megalithic people may 

 even have been a branch of the same vast race 

 as the neolithic : this would explain the fact that 

 both inhumed their dead in the contracted position. 

 It is probable that the problem will never be 

 solved. The only way to attempt a solution 

 would be to show that in some part of the mega- 

 lithic area the structures were definitely earlier 

 than in any other, and that as we move away from 

 that part in any direction they become later and 

 later. Such a means of solution is not hopeful, 



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