Macaltster, &c. — Bronze-Age. Cams on Oarrotvkecl. 'V21 



cement, and probably a metal clamp, would be necessary if haply this in- 

 teresting building be ever restored, as one likes to hope may some time 

 be the case. The accident, whatever it was, which broke the stone, was not 

 the same as the catastrophe that brought the roof down. For after the stone 

 had fallen, the ashes of a burnt human body were laid on the butt end of the 

 prostrate part. It is possible that the resting-place was chosen on account of 

 some special sanctity attaching to the stone ; for after much discussion we can 

 find no satisfactory alternative to regarding it as a religious emblem. This 

 being assumed, the question presents itself whether we may not have here 

 something more than a mere burial-place. May we not have some sort of 

 temple ? The grandiose scale of the architecture, the large entrance doorway, 

 the peculiar ground-plan, and, above all, the standing stone, all mark this earn 

 out conspicuously from the rest. 



At the foot of the stone, on the eastern side, is lying another, 1 foot broad, 

 9 inches thick, and 3 feet long. Bone debris in plenty lay under it. A third 

 stone, 2 feet 6 inches long, 6 inches thick, 9| inches broad at one end and 

 5| inches broad at the other, lies at the northern end of the south-western 

 grave- recess. The position of both these stones is marked in the plan. There 

 is no evidence that they ever stood upright, but that they had been placed 

 with intention where they were found seems undeniable. 



The last point to notice about this important earn is the use of the erratic 

 blocks of silicified sandstone which are frequent in the neighbourhood. Those 

 used in the buildings are shaped rather like cheeses, with convex sides and 

 flattened top and bottom. One such will be seen in the photograph, fig. 3 on 

 Plate XIII — the inner stone of the topmost course in the corner opposite that 

 in which the man is leaning. Here it is merely used as an ordinary building- 

 stone : but in another place the sandstone is used probably because it was 

 found by experiment that it was capable of bearing a heavier crushing strain 

 than was the limestone. This was on the jambs of the central doorway : on 

 the top of each was a sandstone block— indeed, on the eastern jamb there 

 were two, one on the other like the drums of a column. Evidently at these 

 two points, in the middle of the two long sides, the weight of the massive 

 roof was expected to be concentrated; and it increases our respect for the 

 mind that planned this fine building when we see that he had the discrimi- 

 nation to choose an especially hard stone for just this part of the structure. 

 The same foresight is displayed by the builder of the first of the two dolmen- 

 like structures, described below. 



G. — This cam is about the same size as B — 21 feet high and 68 feet to 

 70 feet in diameter at the base. There may be a kerb, but if so it is 

 completely concealed by the turf which has grown up round the margin of 



K.I.A PKOC, VOL. XXIX,, SECT. C, [45] 



