
114 ARCHITECTURE. 
different graves, each of which had its gallery leading to a round space 
which had been the place of burial. There were no objects of metal found 
in the mounds, but a hatchet of stone, and a number of vases of black earth 
of peculiar form, and apparently made by hand alone without the assistance 
of a potter’s wheel, from which their extreme age may be inferred. In 
other mounds also, hatchets of flint have been found together with vases of 
burnt clay (some of them containing well preserved nuts and acorns), small 
cutting instruments of stone, spoons made of burnt clay or of shells, a dish 
exhibiting rude drawings, boars’ tusks, &c., but nowhere objects of metal. 
In the Orkney islands some remarkable mounds have been examined, 
and only in the Orkneys, have mounds been found that contained two 
tiers of tombs. 72g. 17 gives the section of such a mound containing 
five tombs irregularly distributed throughout the mound, and having no 
connexion with each other. The mounds of the Orkneys are the only ones 
in which objects of metal, combs, glass beads, armlets, arms, &c., have 
been found. 
The Gallic tombs of common people deserve especial mention in this 
place. They consist of an area inclosed by four upright stone slabs, never 
sunk more than three feet under the surface of the ground, and covered with 
a rough block. They are sometimes found by hundreds in a limited area, 
and such a spot is called Carneilloux (from carn, flesh chamber). They 
are met with frequently both ‘n Bretagne and in England. The remains 
found in the same are generally surrounded by similar objects with those 
found in the mounds, and indicate the Celtic period. The architect, Gau, 
author of a large work on Nubia, found in 1839 a Gallic mound in the 
neighborhood of Gisors, in the department of Eure, consisting of six rough 
stones, leaned against each other in pairs, and forming a kind of gable roof 
over six skeletons (fig. 18, right hand). 
8. Sacrep InctosurEs (Cromiecus). It is well known that the Greeks 
and Romans consecrated certain spots to the gods, setting them apart by 
inclosures. A similar custom is observed among the Celts, and according to 
Tacitus such places were held in such awe, that except the priest nobody 
dared enter them otherwise than with bound hands, this being considered 
as indicative of reverence to the Deity. 
These inclosures were of multifarious forms, often very irregular; the 
most important ones are circular, and termed Cromlechs. They are among 
the most interesting Druidical monuments. 
The inclosures were generally formed by earth walls, surrounded by a 
ditch. That of Kermurier (Morbihan) is of the shape of a horse-shoe, the 
opening closed by a straight line. One of the largest is near Begars (Cote 
du Nord). It forms an ellipse with a long axis of 3000 feet, running north 
and south. The semicircle at the northern end contains 12 huge stone 
blocks, 7 others lying along the axis. At the opposite extremity stands a 
men-hir, 25 feet high. 
The cromlechs, or Druidical circles, which sometimes have been called 
astronomical circles, but without any reason, are bounded by upright stones. 
In France they are of rarer occurrence than the dolmen and men-hirs, 
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