The bronze age and the Celtic world - Universal History Library

IN
Chapter IV
THE PROSPECTORS
many parts of the world there are to be found monuments of rough, unhewn
stones, sometimes rudely shaped by hammering, which from the size of the stones
used have been termed megaUthic monuments.' These consist of burial chambers,
either a simple slab or capstone supported on four or more uprights, or a similar but
more complex chamber, approached by a stone-lined passage. Other monuments consist
of circles or alignments of standing stones, or single stones only set in an upright
position. There are many types ; some, like the dolmen or simplest burial chamber,
or the simple standing stone, are widely distributed, while others have a restricted
range. One type of elaborate temple is found only in Malta and in the adjacent island
of Gozo.^ Such monuments have these features in common :
the stones are large,
they have not been hewn with chisels or axes, and they are orthostatic or set on end.
Frequently associated with these megahthic monuments are other structures,
which are believed to belong to the same culture, though the association is not so
clearly established. Such are bee-hive huts, round towers, and dry walls with polygonal
masonry. These are often found in close association with the erections of larger
stones, but not infrequently where true megalithic structures are absent.^
An attempt has been made to show that the dolmen originated in Egypt, and
is closely connected with the mastaba, the tomb used throughout the earhest dynasties.*
Elsewhere I have endeavoured to show that there are reasons why we cannot attribute
the origin of these structures to the inhabitants of the Nile Valley, and that the
resemblances may better be explained by supposing that the idea of the former was
' Fergusson (1872) ; Borlase (1897) ; Peet (1912).
' Peet (191 2) 98-113 ; Ashby, etc. ; Magri (1906) ; Zammit (1910).
1 Peet (1912) 1-4 ; see also Giuffrida-Ruggeri (1916) 21, who quotes Patroni (1916).
4 Smith (1913).
48