CORNISH DOLMENS, 91 



many are found in wc^storn*' and north-eastern India. ^^ Here 

 the dolmen-line ends. There are, however, isolated groups m 

 Circassia, the Crimea, and near Odessa. There are none in 

 Africa south of the Barbary States, and none in central or 

 northern Asia, nor are they found in eastern Europe. Nor do 

 any occur in North America, and in South America their 

 existence is douhtful. 



The first thing that we learn from a study of their distribution 

 is that the builders of them entered Europe from the south by 

 way of Spain and the Straits of Gibraltar, and not from Asia ; 

 for there are no dolmens in central or eastern Europe. Con- 

 sequently, they could not have been Celts, nor any other members 

 of the Indo-European or Aryan family, for we know that the 

 Aryans came from Central Asia, and entered Europe from the 

 east.*^ This conclusion is most important. 



In Europe most of the dolmens are found near the coasts, 

 and the3' become fewer as we proceed inland, until in central 

 Europ(; they cease altog-ether. The dolmen-builders, therefore, 

 loved the ocean, and had their principal settlements near its 

 coasts, and along its shores.^ France may seem to suj^ply an 

 objection to this idea, as many dolmens are found far inland, and 

 in the centre of the country. A glance at the map will, however, 

 show that the dolmen-builders had at the first two great settle- 

 ments in France, one in Brittany and the other near the head of 

 the Gulf of L}-ous. From these j)oints they extended their 

 monuments inland, until they met in central France, and thus 

 the French zone of dolmens, reaching right across the country, 

 was formed. 



Further, we learn that the builders of the dolmens must 

 have possessed vessels, and have been acquainted with the art of 

 navigation, because many dolmens are found on islands far out 

 in the middle of the sea. It is true that Ireland, which is full 



30. Norwich Report, p'p. 2^0-2^6. By Sir WiUiam Elliot. 



31. Tr(iiisactio>is of Alithropologiral /iisiituli', vols, i, pp. 122-140, and v, pp. 37- 

 41. Papers by Lieut. -Col. Godwin-Austen. 



32. This conclusion has been disputed by Penka and by Latham, but Professor 

 Keane maintains ^5/(i';//(';v!"i' Coiiipeiidiinii of Gcoi^raphy-Iiitrope, pp. 357, 358), that 

 the old idea is still correct. 



33. Such in the opinion of Col. Lane-Fox e.vpressed in l^iansactioiis of the 

 Ethnological Society, 1869, p. 62. 



