The New Stone Age in Northern EuropeTyler, John M. (John Mason)
History
The New Stone Age in Northern Europe
Tyler, John M. (John Mason)
Stone age -- Europe
Even these small chambers were intended for long use, and to contain
more than one body; some contain the remains of a dozen. The bones lie
in layers covered with flint chips, or in little heaps where they have
been collected to give room for new interments. Many of the smaller
chambers were too short to allow the body to lie fully extended; in some
it was evidently placed in a sitting posture leaning against the wall.
These smaller dolmens were surrounded by a heap of earth reaching nearly
to the top of the side stones, but not covering the roof, and hardly
deserving to be called a tumulus. The roof was usually composed of one
great stone, flat below but arching above and forming a sort of
monument. In one chamber this roof-stone is eleven feet long and three
feet thick. On each side of the doorway a stone is often set upright to
keep back the earth of the tumulus, and a covering stone may be laid
across them. Here we have a form intermediate between the small dolmen
without entrance-stones and the large chambers, which we shall consider
later.
The earthern tumulus may be round in outline or elliptical, forming the
long grave--the _Hunnenbett_ of popular German speech. The round tumuli
rarely exceed 40 feet in diameter. They were as a rule surrounded by a
circle of upright stones, now generally removed. The long tumuli are
rarely more than 5 or 6 feet high, and 20 to 30 feet wide. The length
varies greatly: usually between 50 and 100 feet, but infrequently from
100 to 200 feet; one is 500 feet long with over 100 of the marginal
stones still standing.
The chambers in the round and long tumuli in Denmark are very similar,
but in the long tumuli there are usually two or more dolmens, often
symmetrically located. In other cases it looks as if a tumulus had been
lengthened to cover chambers added later. A large amount of variety in
such details is not surprising. More rarely we find two or more small
tumuli side by side, each with one or two chambers. That those smaller
dolmens or chambers are the oldest is suggested not only by their
simplicity but even more by the pottery and implements contained in
them, though this is not invariably true, as the small dolmens continued
in use throughout the Neolithic period, in some regions far later. The
gifts which they contain are usually not numerous and often very scanty.
[Illustration: "CROUCHING BURIAL" (HOCKER-BESTATTUNG) ADLERBORG, NEAR
WORMS]
[Illustration: MENHIR, CARNAC, BRITTANY]
[Illustration: DOLMEN, HAGA, ISLAND OF BORUST]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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