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
The collection of monuments on the battle-field of Northern Moytura is
even more interesting than that on Moytura Cong, and almost justified
the assertion of Petrie "that, excepting the monuments at Carnac,
in Brittany, it is, even in its present state of ruin, the largest
assemblage of the kind hitherto discovered in the world."[207] They
have also this advantage, that the principal group, consisting of some
sixty or seventy monuments, are situated on an elevated table-land, and
in an area extending not more than a mile in one direction, and about
half a mile in another. The country, too, is much less stony than about
Cong, so that the monuments stand out better and have a more imposing
look. Petrie examined and described sixty-four monuments as situated in
or around this space, and came to the conclusion that originally there
could not have been less than 200.[208] My impression is that there
may have been 100, but hardly more, though, of course, this is only a
guess, and the destruction of them is going on so rapidly that he may
be right after all.
In the space above described almost every variety of Megalithic
art is to be found. There are stone cairns, with dolmens in their
interiors--dolmens standing alone, but which have been evidently always
exposed; dolmens with single circles; others with two or three circles
of stones around them; and circles without dolmens or anything else in
the centres. The only form we miss is the avenue. Nothing of the sort
can now, at least, be traced, nor does it seem that any of the circles
possessed such appendages.
[Illustration: 58. Battle-field of Northern Moytura.
Scale 6 inches to 1 mile.]
The annexed woodcut (No. 58) will explain the disposition of the
principal group. It is taken from the Ordnance Survey, and is perfectly
correct as far as it goes, but being only on the 6-inch scale, is
too small to show the form of the monuments.[209] In the centre is,
or rather was, a great cairn, called Listoghil. It is marked by
Petrie as No. 51, but having for years been used as a quarry for the
neighbourhood, it is now so mined that it is difficult to make out
either its plan or dimensions. Petrie says it is 150 feet in diameter;
I made it 120. It was surrounded by a circle of great stones, within
which was the cairn, originally, probably, 40 or 50 feet high. All this
has been removed to such an extent as to expose the kistvaen or dolmen
in its centre. Its cap stone is 10 feet square and 2 feet thick, and is
of limestone, as are its supports. All the other monuments are composed
of granite boulders. "Those who first opened it assert that they found
nothing within but burnt wood and human bones. The half-calcined bones
of horses and other animals were and are still found in this cairn in
great quantities" (Petrie, p. 250). In a note it is said that a large
spear-head of stone (flint?) was also found in this cairn.
[Illustration: 59. Sketch-plan of Circle 27, Northern Moytura.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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