12 W. J. Perry — Megalithic Monuments 



It is on the basis of the theory that the presence of mega- 

 lithic monuments is determined by the presence in the place 

 of some desired substance that it is possible to account for the 

 group of megaliths in Kent, especially the dolmen of Kit's 

 Coty. This dolmen is situated close to a flint-producing 

 chalk-pit. 



The great concentration of remains along the margin of the 

 chalk, accompanied in many cases with cultivation-terraces on 

 which the people grow their food, helps to put the great 

 remains of Avebury and Stonehenge into their right setting. 

 Large flint workshops have been found at Avebury, the most 

 important megalithic monument of this country. An all 

 round the people must have been engaged in making the 

 every-day implements of flint that were scattered subsequently 

 all over the country, just as the oroducts of Birmingham find 

 their way broadcast.* 



The inquiry has now put us in possession of two cor- 

 relations between geological formations and megalithic monu- 

 ments. It has also brought up into prominence the every-day 

 arts and crafts which, as we know from our modern experience, 

 play so important a part in influencing the distribution of 

 population once a settlement is made in a country. I do not 

 pretend that the builders of megaliths came to this country 

 to settle in chalk regions. That probably happened after they 

 had become firmly established in the mining regions, and as 

 the result of their need for tools to carry on their various 

 industries, which would be of the form and of the materials 

 to which they were accustomed at home. 



The results already obtained enables us to inquire of other 



* It is interesting to note that another place noted for the great size and 

 number of its megaliths, the Orkney group, probably owes its megaliths to the 

 presence of flint. The boulder-clay or this group, I am informed by my friend, 

 Mr. Hopwood, of Manchester University, contains many flint nodules. Flint 

 is rare in Scotland, being confined apparently to the boulder-clay of the north- 

 east region. We know that flint flakes abound in the Orkneys (Evans, op. cit.). 

 The presence of important settlements in flint-producing regions, gives an idea 

 of the significance of this homely material in the study of human geography. 

 Sir William Boyd-Dawkins, in his " Early Man in Britain," says : " It is 

 obvious, from the existence of centres of mining and of manufacture, that the 

 Neolithic tribes of Britain had commercial intercourse with each other. The 

 implements were distributed over districts very far away from the places where 

 they were made " (p. 280). And again : " Stone axes were distributed over 

 areas far away from those in which the stone was found " (p. 290). 



