CORNISH DOLMENS. 85 



speculation is hopelessly at sea. The dolmens have heen assigned 

 to every era, from the heginning- of the Neolithic age, down to ihe 

 8th century after Christ. Scmietimes we are told that they were 

 built hy one race ; and sometimes hy mant/ races, but it is 

 generally admitted that it is impossible to give a definite opinion, 

 and that the problem of the dolmens is insoluble.^ 



How is it that these results are so unsatisfactory ? I believe 

 it is owing to three great errors. 



The first is, that we have persistently endeavoured to 

 ascertain the age of the dolmens by digging in the earth beneath 

 them. Now, this soil has been constantly disturbed for thousands 

 of years. Men, foxes, badgers and rabbits, have dug into it 

 for ages, and have turned it over and over, so that modern coins 

 are found by the side of stone and metal tools. The soil imder 

 the dolmens often contains tools of stone, bronze, copper and 

 iron, in profusion ; and trinkets of gold, silver, glass and amber ; 

 and coins of all ages, from the times of the Romans down to 

 the present age. Let us take, as an illustration, the dolmens of 

 France, which contains more of these structures than any other 

 country in Europe. These dolmens are now used as sheep-pens 

 and cattle-houses, and are inhabited by shepherds, pedlars, 

 gypsies, and even money-coiners. Lunatics have been confined 

 in them,'' and in times of epidmnics, the}' have sheltered families. 

 During the Revolution they were hiding places for Royalists, and 

 refugees lived in them in the days of religious persecutions. In 

 the civil wars they were constantly used by the combatants, and 

 in earlier days, Roman soldiers and Celtic herdsmen camped in 

 them, and used them as burial places. They have been ran- 

 sacked for treasures by Romans, Northmen, and by recent 

 plunderers, and arclueologists with pick and spade have turned 

 over, again and again, the soil within them. What value for 

 finding the age of the dolmens can be attached to these diggings? 

 Clearly none at all. 



Skeletons of all forms and sizes have been found under the 

 dolmens, with skulls of all shajies. No wonder that some 

 anthropologists declare'' that there were several races of dolmen- 



4. See M. Joly's Afcm before Metals (3rd English edition), p. 159. 



5. La France Prehistorique, by E. Cartailhac, p. 307. 



6. M. de Quatrefages in Hommes Fossiks et Homines Sauvages, pp. 106, 107. 



