146 Danish Cromlechs and Burial Customs, fyc. 



France. Their contents are everywhere the same. Where they 

 have not previously been opened there occur skeletons with objects 

 of stone and amber; or one meets with stone implements and 

 fragments of vessels of clay, just as in Denmark. Thus in France 

 cromlechs of the stone-period, which contained skeletons and 

 implements of flint, have been found, not only on the western coast, 

 but also singly in the middle of the country, even in the southern 

 part itself, in the neighbourhood of the Pyrenees and of Marseilles." 1 



This passage perplexes me a good deal, for this reason, — that 

 when you read other parts of the work, you find that the Danish 

 cromlechs, as described by Mr. Worsaae, do not "completely accord 

 with the cromlechs" with which we are familiar in these Islands 

 and in France. This is his definition of Danish cromlechs of the 

 stone period. "These important and highly ancient memorials, 

 which are usually termed cromlechs in England, — are slightly ele- 

 vated mounds, surrounded bv a number of upright stones, on the top 

 of which are erected chambers formed of large stones placed one 

 upon the other," (p. 78.) " The term cromlech is here applied not 

 only to the stone chamber, but to the whole monument." (Ibid.) 



Accepting the term cromlech as applicable to the whole structure, 

 I should define a British cromlech to be " a Tumulus, enclosing 

 a chamber formed of large stones placed one upon the other, 

 surrounded by a circle of upright stones at the base of the 

 mound. This tumulus is of two kinds, Circular and Long." 2 Who 

 would ever venture to say that these two kinds of monuments do 

 "completely accord?" The stone chamber of the one is perched 

 upon the top of a mound, and the stones are exposed ; the other is 

 enclosed in a mound, and is either planted upon the level of the 

 surrounding earth, or raised a little above it. 3 If then Mr. Worsaae's 

 drawing and description are correct, and he is too distinguished an 

 antiquary for any one to doubt him, then I hold that these sepul- 

 chral monuments were constructed by peoples having a common 

 origin, but possessing at the time different ideas, and practising 



1 The words in italics are so marked by W. C. L. 



2 The same definition will apply to the French Dolmen omitting the sur- 

 rounding circle of stones, 1 See Plate. 



