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
remained, and followed their old customs in spite of its partial
occupation by the conquering Celts. We do not know at what period the
Celts first invaded Gaul, but there seems no reason for supposing that
it could not be very long before they first came in contact with the
Romans; and if we may judge from the rate of progress which they made
in subduing the rest of the country in historic times, their first
invasion could hardly have been a thousand years B.C. All the
tumuli in the east of France which have been dug into have yielded
implements of bronze and metal,[383] and if they belonged to the Celts,
this would fairly accord with the conclusions at which archæologists
have arrived from other sources with regard to the Bronze age. It is
not, however, worth while following up the question here; for unless
it could be proved that the dolmens either succeeded or preceded the
tumuli, it has no bearing on our argument. The fact of their occupying
different and distinct districts prevents any conclusion of the sort
being arrived at from geographical or external considerations. Their
contents, if compared, might afford some information, but up to the
present time this has not been done, and all we can at present assume
is that there were two contemporary civilizations, or barbarisms,
co-existing simultaneously on the soil of France. My impression is,
however, that the Celtic barrow-builders were earlier converts to
Christianity, and left off their heathenish mode of burial long before
the less easily converted dolmen-builders of the west ceased to erect
their Rude-Stone Monuments.
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