20 W. J. Perry — Megalithic Monuments 



As regards the whole of the Ordovician region, it is beyond 

 doubt that the future will afford more evidence with regard to 

 ancient mining. The matter has as yet hardly been given 

 any thought, but as up to the present the result of investiga- 

 tion has been still further to strengthen the position taken up 

 here, there is not much doubt that the few dolmens that are 

 not definitely linked to a mine or some other source of wealth 

 will in time receive their explanation. 



Let us now turn to the region characterised by non- 

 metalliferous rocks, the Silurian and Devonian. Scattered 

 throughout this large region are masses of metalliferous rocks, 

 particularly the carboniferous limestone, so closely associated 

 in Derbyshire with lead. In Denbigh and Flint there are 

 many mines in this formation, and the dolmens are close by. 

 Further to the south the Ordovician turns up again, and we 

 get a dolmen within a short distance of lead mines. Still 

 further to the south is an occurrence of igneous rocks, and a 

 stone circle close to a mine. Further to the south, again, 

 there is a dolmen near to igneous rocks, but not, so far as I 

 know, near to any mine. Then further to the south again 

 there is a stone circle close to a mine. In South Wales there 

 is a series of dolmens close to the carboniferous limestone 

 where there are traces of former lead mining. In the valley 

 of the Wye there are two dolmens apparently far away from 

 any possible source of metals, both of them close to the river 

 bank. This is a pearl river, for pearl-bearing mussels are 

 known near Hereford, fifteen miles or so down stream from 

 the dolmen. So it is possible that the dolmen-builders were 

 pearl-hunting up that river. Apparently there are pearl-rivers 

 all along the coast of South Wales, and that may account for 

 more than one of the dolmens that exist there. 



When we get out of regions that are known to be metalli- 

 ferous the distribution of megaliths becomes more diffuse, and 

 it is often difficult to assign a cause in any given case. The 

 existence of a single megalith may be due to an accidental 

 local circumstance. There could not have been in such a 

 place any strong incentive to settle, or else we should find 

 more than one dolmen or circle. The contrast between 

 Carnarvonshire and the centre of Wales is striking, and it 

 does not seem that any other explanation can be given for 

 the distribution of megaliths than that which is so strongly 

 suggested by the Holyhead evidence, namely, a knowledge 

 of metallurgy and mining on the part of the megalith-builders 

 and a consequent concentration on the mine-fields. At the 

 present moment we find most of the population on coal-fields, 



