NO. 6 GREAT STONE MONUMENTS FEWKES II 



lead us to refer these monoliths to a center of distribution, situated on 

 the shore of the eastern Mediterranean, but this law can not account 

 for the presence of similar monoliths of the New World or in eastern 

 Asia or southern Africa. 



Some of the dolmens now above ground were formerly buried and 

 were superficially indicated by mounds or barrows. 1 But perhaps the 

 religious character of menhirs, cromlechs and dolmens is best indi- 

 cated by those buried in mounds : 



The great Lanyon dolmen in Cornwall was uncovered about one hundred 

 years ago by a fanner who supposed it to be a mere heap of earth which he 

 thought might be usefully applied to farming purposes. By degrees, as the 

 earth was carted away, the great stones began to appear and when operations 

 were completed and all the soil had been cleared away the dolmen, much as 

 it now exists, was disclosed containing in its interior a heap of broken urns and 

 human bones. 



The relation of megalith and mound is shown in the accompanying 

 views (figs. 5, 6) of New Grange, Ireland, from a work on Irish 

 antiquities by Vallancey, published near the close of the 18th century. 



The geographical distribution of megalithic remains is almost 

 parallel with that of stone buildings, which in turn are identical with 

 caves, natural and artificial. 



Mr. Baring Gould 2 describes and figures buried dolmens in south 

 France upon which churches were constructed, the chamber of the 

 dolmen serving as the crypt of the church, a perpetuation of the sacred 

 character of a building used for religious purposes in prehistoric 

 times before the introduction of Christianity. This fact is in evidence 



1 Some of the dolmens may have always been aerial or never covered with 

 soil forming a mound ; others apparently were formerly buried, appearing on 

 the surface as a barrow or mound. 



2 Cliff Castles and Cave Dwellings of Europe, London, 191 1. According to 

 Mr. Baring Gould (pp. 190-192) there is situated near Plouaret, in Cotes-du- 

 Nord, a prehistoric dolmen under a tumulus on which is a chapel, the crypt of 

 which is the subterranean chamber of the dolmen. The prehistoric monument 

 in this example consists of two capstones of granite resting on vertical up- 

 rights. He likewise describes from Cangas-de-Ones near Oviedo, in north- 

 west Spain, a chapel on top of a mound covering a dolmen. From the chamber 

 of the dolmen that serves as the crypt to the church prehistoric copper and stone 

 objects have been taken, the country people regarding the cavity of the dolmen 

 as a saint's tomb, soil from which is regarded by them as possessing medicinal 

 virtues. The cover or capstone of a dolmen near S. Germain-sur-Vienne is 

 supported on pillars made in the 12th century, the original supports having 

 been removed. It served as a cover of an altar made of stone and a chapel 

 now destroyed was built about it — a transmission of the sacred use of the 

 dolmen as an altar into Christian worship. 



