Rough Stone Monuments and Their Builders — John Shaqi
Rough Stone Monuments and Their BuildersPeet, T. Eric (Thomas Eric)
History
Rough Stone Monuments and Their Builders
Peet, T. Eric (Thomas Eric)
Megalithic monuments; Prehistoric peoples
In the Jaulan, where the rock consists of a slabby type of basalt, there
are many dolmens of fine appearance. They often lie east and west, and
are often broader at the west end. Many are surrounded by a double
circle of stones. In one of them two copper rings were found. At Ain
Dakkar more than 160 dolmen-tombs are visible from a single spot. They
are built on circular terraces of earth and stones about 3 feet high.
The Arabs call them Graves of the Children of Israel. Most of them lie
east and west, and are broader at the west. In the eastern slab there is
often a hole about 2 feet in diameter. Near Tsil are several
corridor-tombs of simple type. Each consists of a long rectangular
chamber with only one cover-slab, that being at the west end. In a
well-known example of this type at Kosseir there is a hole in one of the
two uprights which support the cover.
These examples will serve to show the importance and variety of the
Syrian monuments. They present analogies with those of many parts of the
megalithic area, and we therefore await anxiously the publication of
Mackenzie's promised article on his own explorations in this district.
The central and southern parts of India afford numerous examples of
dolmens. They are to be found in almost all parts of Lower India from
the Nerbudda River to Cape Comorin. In the Nilgiri hills there are stone
circles and dolmens, and numbers of dolmens are said to exist in the
Neermul jungle in Central India. In the collectorate of Bellary dolmens
and other monuments to the number of 2129 have been recorded. Others
occur in the principality of Sorapoor and near Vellore in the Madras
presidency. These latter appear to be of two types, either with three
supports only or with four supports, one of which is pierced with a
circular hole. Of the 2200 dolmens known in the Deccan, half are of this
pierced type. They are known to the natives as "dwarfs' houses." One
only had a pair of uprights outside the pierced stone, thus forming a
sort of portico to the dolmen. Near Chittore in North Arcot there is
said to be a square mile of ground covered with these monuments. In them
were found human remains in sarcophagi, and fragments of black pottery.
Several of the Indian dolmens are said to have contained objects of
iron. Occasionally the dolmen is surrounded by a double circle of stones
or covered with a cairn. The Deccan, in addition to its numerous
dolmens, possesses also megalithic monuments of another type. They
consist each of two rows, each of thirteen unworked stones set as close
together as possible, in front of which is a row of three stones, each
about 4 feet high, not let into the ground. The planted stones were
whitewashed, and each was marked with a large spot of red paint with
black in the centre. These stones seem to have been in use in modern
times. Colonel Forbes Leslie thinks that a cock had been sacrificed on
one of the three stones which lie in front of the double row, but there
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