Manners and Monuments of Prehistoric PeoplesNadaillac, Jean-François-Albert du Pouget, marquis de
History
Manners and Monuments of Prehistoric Peoples
Nadaillac, Jean-François-Albert du Pouget, marquis de
Archaeology; Prehistoric peoples
It has been well pointed out by Fergusson, in his “Rude Stone
Monuments,” that the megalithic architecture of the remote past is a
thing altogether apart; its special form indicating now the tendencies
of a race or group of races of mankind, now the particular degree of
civilization attained by a race at a certain period of its development.
A cursory view of these monuments as a whole would lead us to class
them all together as masses of rough, scarcely hewn stones piled up
without cement, and almost always without ornamentation. In studying
them one by one, however, we find, in spite of their undeniable family
likeness, if we may use such a term, that it is quite easy to snake out
certain differences, the result of the peculiar genius of the race by
whom they were erected, or of the nature of the materials the builders
had at their disposal. To take a case in point: Cromlechs are most
numerous in England, and dolmens in France, and in both these countries
we meet with a form of dolmen (Fig. 66) such as is rarely set up in
other districts; one of the extremities of the table resting on the
ground, and the other opt two supporting stones. In Scandinavia the
supports are erratic blocks, in India fragments of the rocks in the
neighborhood, in Algeria and the south of France buildings in courses
are often met with; in Brittany the monuments of Mané-er-H’roek and
Mané-Lud are paved with large stones. The ground from which rises the
dolmen of Caranda, near Fère in Tardenois (Aisne), is covered with
slabs, and the opening is closed with a flat stone resting on two
lintels. We cannot speak of Caranda without referring to the
discoveries and magnificent publications of M. F. Moreau, thanks to
whom the daily life of the Gauls, Gallo-Romans, and Merovingians is
brought vividly before us. To return, however to our monuments: As we
have seen, the crypt was in many cases divided into two or more
sepulchral chambers by walls made of stones. We find this arrangement
at Gavr’innis, at Gamat (Lot), at Alt-Sammit in Mecklenburg, in Wayland
Smith’s cave in Berkshire, and in a great many monuments in
Scandinavia. M. du Chatellier speaks of several megalithic monuments in
Finistère, including a central dolmen and several lateral chambers. The
chambered graves at Park Cwn in Wales, and at Uley in Gloucestershire,
contain side chambers, those of the former with a covered passage
between them, whilst in the latter the side chambers are grouped round
a central apartment. At New Grange, in Ireland, a passage more than
ninety-two feet long leads to a double chamber of cruciform shape, with
a roof of converging stones. Yet another fine example of a similar kind
is that of Maeshow in the Orkney Islands. The tomb of Vauréal
(Seine-et-Oise) contains three crypts of different sizes. The long
barrow of Moustoir-Carnac contained four separate chambers, the western
one of which is a dolmen of the kind known as _Grottes des Fées_, and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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