Rude Stone Monuments in All Countries: Their Age and UsesFergusson, James
History
Rude Stone Monuments in All Countries: Their Age and Uses
Fergusson, James
Megalithic monuments
In Cornwall the case is different. In the corner to the westward
of Falmouth there are at least twice as many as in all England. In
Wales, I think I could enumerate twice as many as in Cornwall; and
in Anglesea[185] there are certainly as many as in Cornwall, perhaps
more; and in the Isle of Man they are also numerous. It is difficult
to be precise, as the same monument is, sometimes at least, recorded
under two names; but it is not an exaggeration to say that from fifty
to sixty have been described, and most of them figured, as found in
the West country, and I should not be surprised if an industrious
statistician carried the number to 100, including, of course, many that
are now ruinous.
There are two points of view from which this geographical distribution
of English dolmens may be regarded. The first and most obvious would
be to consider that they were erected by the Britons after they were
driven into the mountain fastnesses of the West, first by the Romans,
and more completely afterwards by the Saxons. The other view would
be that they are the work of a different race, who, we have every
reason to believe, occupied the western country in the time of the
Romans. Tacitus is particularly explicit on this point. He divides
the inhabitants of the country into three classes. The red-haired
Caledonians, resembling the Germans and inhabiting the north; the
Silures, of dark complexion and curling hair, and whom he describes
as living in that part of the country which is opposite Spain, and
he suggests that the ancient Iberians crossed over and occupied
these regions; and he then adds: "Those nearest to Gaul are similar
to the inhabitants of that country."[186] There is so much in the
present aspect of the people of this country to confirm this general
classification that there seems very little reason for doubting its
general correctness; and as all these dolmens are found in the country
of the Silures it may be argued that they belong to them. If he had
joined the Aquitanians to Iberians he would probably have expressed
more completely the whole facts of the case as we now know them.
Admitting, however, this ethnographic view of the case to the fullest
possible extent--which I am prepared to do, it still leaves the
question of date wholly unsettled. It would be answered if we dared
to assume that the Silures were driven from the fertile parts of the
valley of the Severn, which we have reason to suppose they occupied
in Agricola's time, to the mountain fastnesses, and that it was then
only that they began to repeat in stone what previously they had only
erected in earth. If this could be established, we should get both an
ethnographical and a chronological determination of no small value; but
of this we shall be better able to form an opinion after discussing the
monuments of France.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account