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
We are altogether in the dark as to the date or the use of the various
objects found in these tombs, and the coins bearing dates which are
often associated with them, do not seem to help us much, belonging as
they doubtless do to a much later period than the erection of the
monuments. We may, however, mention that near the surface of the mound
of Mané-er-H’roek eleven medals of Roman emperors from Tiberius to
Trajan were found; whilst under the tumulus of Rosmeur, on the Penmarch
Point (Finistère), were various Roman coins; at Bergous in Locmariaker,
at Mané-Rutual, and at other places in Brittany, coins of the earliest
Christian emperors; at Uley, in Gloucestershire, some coins of the time
of the sons of Constantine; at Mining-Low (Derbyshire), beneath a
kistvaen surrounded by a cromlech, some medals of Valentinianus; at
Galley-Low, with a magnificent gold necklace set with garnets, a coin
of Honorius, but as these last were found at the outer edge of the
mound there are doubts as to the time of their deposition; these doubts
were, however, to some extent set at rest by the finding of a coin of
Geta beneath the monument itself. We might multiply instances of
similar finds, but I will only mention one more, the discovery under
some Scotch barrows of silver necklaces and coins of the Caliphs of
Bagdad, bearing date from 88 887 to 945 A.D.
This last discovery confirms what I have already said, that the
introduction of the coins was of much later date than the erection of
the monument. Another fact adds weight to this decision. The most
ancient Gallic coins date from about three centuries before our era,
and the earliest British from a century earlier than that. How is it
that excavations have brought to light no specimens of either? The
Romans successively occupied all the countries of which we have just
spoken; the tombs themselves bear witness to their conquests; and it is
to the violation of the tombs, the displacements, and secondary
interments that we owe the introduction of coins, pottery, and bricks
that undoubtedly date from the Roman period, and were probably placed
beside their dead by the Roman legionaries.
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