166 COMPARATIVE ARCHOLOGY. 
stone has been used to commemorate various events, such as 
the crowning of a king, or to mark the site of a battle, grave, 
or boundary, the use of alignments is still a matter of conjec- 
ture. The dolmens, chambered cairns, and orthostatic stone 
circles, are now believed to be exclusively associated with 
memorials of the dead. These monuments are distributed in 
sporadic groups along the shores of the Baltic, throughout 
the British Isles, France, the Iberian peninsula, and the 
littoral border of the Mediterranean; but none are found in 
Central Europe east of Saxony. This irregularity in their 
geographical distribution has given rise to the theory that 
they were erected by a wandering race called ‘‘ the people of 
the Dolmens,’’ but of the whence or whether of these peri- 
patetic people we have no knowledge. 
In support of the theory that the dolmens were used as 
altars for the sacrifice of human beings by the Druids, the so- 
called priests of the Celts, there is no evidence. That the 
smoothest and flattest surfaces of the cap-stones are always 
facing the interior of the chamber and that cup-marks or 
other markings, when present, are invariably on their under 
side, may be accepted as evidence against the sacrificial 
hypothesis. | Another debatable point is, whether the free 
standing dolmens were formerly covered up with earth or 
stones? Although many show no trace of having been thus 
covered up, there are archeologists who maintain that this 
was the original condition of all of them. This opinion 
derives some support from the fact that, throughout the whole 
area of their distribution, many are still to, be seen in all 
stages of denudation. 
NuraGHI.——The nuraghe in its simplest form consisted of 
a circular tower, about 30 feet in diameter at its base, but 
tapering upwards so as to assume the form of a truncated 
cone. It was built of roughly-hewn stones, without any 
cement, but sometimes clay was used in its inner interstices. 
The main entrance was placed to the south, and measured 
five or six feet in height, and only two feet in width. On the 
right of the entrance was a small guard-chamber, and on the 
left the opening to a winding stair, which led to the top or to 
an upper chamber, if the tower had a second or third storey. 
