EPOCH OF MEGALITHIC CONSTRUCTIONS AND KITCHEN-MIDDENS.
Megalithic are now inclined to refer to the commencement of the Neolithic Period certain structures of immense blocks of unhewn stones which occur abundantly in Western Europe. These are the menhirs (men, stone, and hie, high), single stones set up on end; the cromlechs (cram or crone, crooked or curved, and //cch, a stone), rows of such stones, either in parallel lines or arranged to enclose a circular space; and the dolmens (daul, a table, and men or moot, a stone), where a large flat stone is imposed on others to form a covered chamber.
These names are Celtic, and for a long time it was customary to call these erections Celtic or Druidic monuments, on the supposition that they were erected by the Celts or by their priests, the Druids. But it has been pointed out that these monuments are found in great numbers where the Celts did not penetrate, as in Spain, Portugal, Algiers, and Morocco. Hence it has been maintained, on seemingly good ground, that the Druids merely named and used them, but that their construction was due to sonic earlier people.
Menhirs, Cromlechs, and purpose of the menhirs or "bauta stones," as they are sometimes called, is not clear. They were not tombs, as no osseous remains are found associated with them. Probably they were intended as monuments and memorials in honor of the dead, or to record some important transaction. The parallel and circular rows of such stones known as cromlechs, of which an illustration is given on Plate 3 (fig. 4), were probably holy places of some kind, either civil or religious. The dolmens were undoubtedly burial-chambers; and in explanation of them we may say a few words on the early methods of disposing of the dead.
Disposal of the evidences have been discovered that there were tombs or burials before the epoch of which we are speaking. Palmo Ethic man probably cast the dead body into a stream or left it to be devoured by beasts. But the race that succeeded him appears to have paid extraordinary honors to the dead body.
Two modes of interment may be distinguished in the Neolithic Age— one beneath and the other above the earth's surface, though the use of the different modes was probably caused only by accidental circumstances or by local custom. Whether practical considerations or instinctive senti ment moved man to consign his dead to earth, the subterranean method of interment is certainly the earlier; the other method could have been sug gested only after he had become accustomed to erect memorials over the graves. The corpse was put into the ground, in either a lying or a squat ting position, and all the valuables it possessed in life were placed with it. Of this kind are the tombs of the burial-field of Hinkelstein and many others. Sometimes the walls of the vaults (t./. 3, fig. 5) were lined with stones or divided into larger recesses for several persons, so that an apparently systematic arrangement was formed. Large flagstones were placed over the vaults. The first monument consisted of a simple earth mound. To this class belong the dolmens, or giant chambers (fig. 6), which are often supplied with a stone passage running to the edge of the hill. The vaults were also erected above the ground, and for this purpose granite blocks were used. A number were placed around a square or circular space measuring from ten to twenty feet, and supported over it one or more flat roof-stones, generally of colossal dimensions. The floor was paved with sandstone or covered with flints; the inner sides of the recess were sometimes carefully smoothed, and the cracks between the blocks filled with small stones and plastered with clay. Many of these monuments are still found covered with soil; in others the stones project freely from the ground (figs. 1-3). Whether they also were once covered with mounds is uncertain. The corpses seem to have been seldom cre mated, though sometimes their ashes are found in urns.