Primitive Man Part 20

[19] See J. Evans, 'On the Manufacture of Stone Implements in Pre-historic Times,' in Trans. of the International Congress of Pre-historic Archaeology (Norwich, 1868), p. 191; and C. Rau, 'Drilling in Stone without Metal,' in Report of Smithsonian Inst.i.tution, 1868.

[20] 'Les Moulins Primitifs,' Nantes, 1869. Extract from the 'Bulletin de la Societe Archeologique de Nantes.'

[21] 'Tour du Monde,' p. 374, 1860.

[22] s.h.i.+rley's 'Account of the Territory of Farney.'

[23] J. Buchanan, 'British a.s.sociation Reports,' 1855; p. 80. Sir C.

Lyell, 'Antiquity of Man,' p. 48.

[24] 'Habitations Lacustres des Temps anciens et modernes,' pp. 119, 159, 166.

[25] 'Origine de la Navigation et de la Peche,' pp. 11-21. Paris, 1867.

CHAPTER III.

Tombs and Mode of Interment during the Polished-stone Epoch-- _Tumuli_ and other sepulchral Monuments formerly called _Celtic_--Labours of MM. Alexandre Bertrand and Bonstetten-- Funeral Customs.

Having in our previous chapters described and delineated both the weapons and instruments produced by the rudimentary manufacturing skill of man during the polished-stone epoch; having also introduced to notice the types of the human race during this period; we now have to speak of their tombs, their mode of interment, and all the facts connected with their funeral customs.

A fortunate and rather strange circ.u.mstance has both facilitated and given a degree of certainty to the information and ideas we are about to lay before our readers. The tombs of the men of the polished-stone epoch--their funeral monuments--have been thoroughly studied, described, and ransacked by archaeologists and antiquarians, who for many years past have made them the subject of a mult.i.tude of publications and learned dissertations. In fact, these tombs are nothing but the _dolmens_, or the so-called _Celtic_ and _Druidical_ monuments; but they by no means belong, as has always been thought, to any historical period, that is, to the times of the Celts, for they go back to a much more remote antiquity--the pre-historic period of the polished-stone age.

This explanatory _datum_ having been taken into account, we shall now study the _dolmens_ and other so-called _megalithic_ monuments--the grand relics of an epoch buried in the night of time; those colossal enigmas which impose upon our reason and excite to the very highest pitch the curiosity of men of science.

_Dolmens_ are monuments composed of a great block or slab of rock, more or less flat in their shape according to the country in which they are situate, placed horizontally on a certain number of stones which are reared up perpendicularly to serve as its supports.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 130.--Danish _Dolmen_.]

This kind of sepulchral chamber was usually covered by earth, which formed a hillock over it. But in the course of time this earth often disappeared, leaving nothing but the naked stones of the sepulchral monument.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 131.--_Dolmen_ at a.s.sier.]

These are the bare stones which have been taken for _stone altars_, being referred to the religious wors.h.i.+p of the Gauls. The supposed Druidical altars are, in fact, nothing but ruined _dolmens_. The purpose, therefore, for which they were elevated was not, as has always been stated, to serve as the scene of the sacrifices of a cruel religion; for, at the present day, it is completely proved that the _dolmens_ were the tombs of a pre-historic epoch.

These tombs were intended to receive several dead bodies. The corpses were placed in the chamber which was formed by the upper slab and the supports. Some of these chambers had two stages or stories, and then furnished a larger number of sepulchres.

Figs. 132 and 133 represent different _dolmens_ which still exist in France.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 132.--_Dolmen_ at Connere (Marne).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 133.--Vertical Section of the _Dolmen_ of Locmariaker, in Brittany. In the Museum of Saint-Germain.]

Some _dolmens_ are completely open to view, like that represented in fig. 132, nothing impeding a perfect sight of them; others, on the contrary, are covered with a hillock of earth, the dimensions of which vary according to the size of the monument itself.

This latter kind of _dolmen_ more specially a.s.sumes the nature of a _tumulus_; a designation which conveys the idea of some mound raised above the tomb.

Figs. 134 and 135 represent the _tumulus-dolmen_ existing at Gavr'inis (Oak Island), in Brittany, or, more exactly, in the department of Morbihan. It is the diminished sketch of an enormous model exhibited in the Museum of Saint-Germain. This model in relief has a portion cut off it which, by means of a cord and pulley, can be elevated or lowered at will, thus affording a view of the interior of the _dolmen_. It is composed of a single chamber, leading to which there is a long pa.s.sage.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 134.--_Tumulus-Dolmen_ at Gavr'inis (Morbihan).]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 135.--A portion of the _Dolmen_ of Gavr'inis.]

Were all these _dolmens_ originally covered by earth? This is a question which still remains unsolved. M. Alexandre Bertrand, Director of the Archaeological Museum of Saint-Germain, to whom we owe some very remarkable works on the primitive monuments of ancient Gaul, decides it in the affirmative; whilst M. de Bonstetten, a Swiss archaeologist of great merit, is of the contrary opinion. The matter, however, is of no very great importance in itself. It is, at all events, an unquestionable fact that certain _dolmens_ which are now uncovered were once buried; for they are noticed to stand in the centre of slightly raised mounds in which the supports are deeply buried. As we before stated, the action of time has destroyed the covering which the pre-historic peoples placed over their sepulchres in order to defend them from the injuries of time and the profanation of man. Thus, all that we now see is the bare stones of the sepulchral chambers--for so long a time supposed to be altars, and ascribed to the religious wors.h.i.+p of the Gauls.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 136.--General Form of a covered Pa.s.sage-Tomb.]

In considering, therefore, the _dolmens_ of Brittany, which have been so many times described by antiquarians and made to figure among the number of our historical monuments, we must renounce the idea of looking upon them as symbols of the religion of our ancestors. They can now only be regarded as sepulchral chambers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 137.--Pa.s.sage-Tomb at Bagneux, near Saumur.]

_Dolmens_ are very numerous in France; much more numerous, indeed, than is generally thought. It used to be the common idea that they existed only in Brittany, and those curious in such matters wondered at the supposed Druidical altars which were so plentifully distributed in this ancient province of France. But Brittany is far from possessing the exclusive privilege of these megalithic constructions. They are found in fifty-eight of the French departments, belonging, for the most part, to the regions of the south and south-west. The department of Finisterre contains 500 of them; Lot, 500; Morbihan, 250; Ardeche, 155; Aveyron, 125; Dordogne, 100; &c.[26]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 138.--Pa.s.sage-Tomb at Plouharnel (Morbihan).]

The authors who have written on the question we are now considering, especially Sir J. Lubbock in his work on 'Pre-historic Times,' and Nilsson, the Swedish archaeologist, have given a much too complicated aspect to their descriptions of the tombs of pre-historic ages, owing to their having multiplied the distinctions in this kind of monument. We should only perplex our readers by following these authors into all their divisions. We must, however, give some few details about them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 139.--Pa.s.sage-Tomb; the so-called _Table de Cesar_, at Locmariaker (Morbihan).]

Sir J. Lubbock gives the name of _pa.s.sage grave_, to that which the northern archaeologists call _Ganggraben_ (tomb with pa.s.sages); of these we have given four representations (figs. 136, 137, 138, 139), all selected from specimens in France. This name is applied to a pa.s.sage leading to a more s.p.a.cious chamber, round which the bodies are ranged.

The gallery, formed of enormous slabs of stone placed in succession one after the other, almost always points towards the same point of the compa.s.s; in the Scandinavian states, it generally has its opening facing the south or east, never the north.

The same author gives the name of _chambered tumuli_ (fig. 140) to tombs which are composed either of a single chamber or of a collection of large chambers, the roofs and walls of which are constructed with stones of immense size, which are again covered up by considerable ma.s.ses of earth. This kind of tomb is found most frequently in the countries of the north.

Fig. 140 represents, according to Sir J. Lubbock's work, a Danish _chambered tumulus_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 140.--A Danish _Tumulus_, or chambered Sepulchre.]

Before bringing to a close this description of megalithic monuments, we must say a few words as to _menhirs_ and _cromlechs_.

_Menhirs_ (fig. 141) are enormous blocks of rough stone which were set up in the ground in the vicinity of tombs. They were set up either separately, as represented in fig. 141, or in rows, that is, in a circle or in an avenue.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 141.--Usual shape of a _Menhir_.]

There is in Brittany an extremely curious array of stones of this kind; this is the range of _menhirs_ of Carnac (fig. 142). The stones are here distributed in eleven parallel lines, over a distance of 1100 yards, and, running along the sea-sh.o.r.e of Brittany, present a very strange appearance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 142.--The rows of _Menhirs_ at Carnac.]

When _menhirs_ are arranged in circles, either single or several together, they are called _cromlechs_. They are vast circuits of stones, generally arranged round a _dolmen_. The respect which was considered due to the dead appears to have converted these enclosures into places of pilgrimage, where, on certain days, public a.s.semblies were held.

These enclosures are sometimes circular, as in England, sometimes rectangular, as in Germany, and embrace one or more ranks.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 143.--_Dolmen_ with a Circuit of Stones (_Cromlech_), in the Province of Constantine.]

Fig. 143 represents a _dolmen_ with a circuit of stones, that is, a _cromlech_, which has been discovered in the province of Constantine; in fig. 144 we have a group of Danish _cromlechs_.