THE DOLMENS OF ASIA
In the south-east of Europe lie three groups of dolmens which are no
doubt in origin more closely connected with those of Asia than with
those of the rest of Europe. The first group lies in Bulgaria, where no
less than sixty dolmens have been found north of Adrianople. The second
consists of a few dolmens which still remain in the Crimea, and the
third lies in the Caucasus in two divisions, one to the south-east and
the other to the south-west of the town of Ekaterinodar. These last are
made of slabby rock, and thus have a finished appearance. A dolmen near
Tzarskaya has a small semicircular hole at the bottom of one of its
end-slabs, while another in the valley of Pehada has sides consisting of
single blocks, placed so as to slant inwards considerably, and a
circular hole in the centre of the slab which closes one of its ends.
In Asia megalithic monuments are not infrequent. We first find them in
Syria, they have been reported from Persia, and in Central and South
India they exist in large numbers. Corridor-tombs occur in Japan, but
they are late in date, and there is no evidence to show whether they
are connected with those of India or not.
Syria is comparatively rich in megalithic monuments, but it is
remarkable that almost all of them lie to the east of the Jordan. Thus
while there are hundreds of dolmens in the country of Pera and in Ammon
and Moab, very few have been found in Galilee, and only one in Judæa,
despite careful search. There is, however, a circle of stones west of
Tiberias, and an enclosure of menhirs between Tyre and Sidon. According
to Perrot and Chipiez some of the Moabite monuments are very similar in
type to the Giants' Tombs of Sardinia. Others are simple dolmens. In a
good example at Ala Safat (Fig. 22) the floor of the tomb is formed by a
single flat slab of stone. The great cover-slab rests on two long
blocks, one on either side, placed on edge. The narrow ends are closed
up with smaller slabs, one of which, that which faces north, has a small
hole pierced in it. A similar closure slab with a hole is also found in
certain rock-tombs quite close to this dolmen. Apparently none of these
dolmens have been systematically excavated, and nothing is known of
their date.
[Illustration: FIG. 22. Dolmen with holed stone at Ala Safat. (After de
Luynes.)]
Menhirs, too, are not wanting in Syria. Perrot and Chipiez figure an
example from Gebel-Mousa in Moab which is quite unworked, except for a
shallow furrow across the centre of the face. In many cases the menhir
is surrounded by one or more rows of stones. Thus at Der Ghuzaleh a
menhir about 3 feet in height is set in the centre of what when complete
must have been a rectangle. In other cases the enclosure was elliptical
or circular in form. In an example at Minieh the menhir stands in the
centre of a double (in part triple) circle of stones, on which abuts an
elliptical enclosure. In some cases the circle has no proper entrance,
in others it has a door consisting of a large slab resting on two
others. The largest of the circles attains a diameter of 600 feet, and
has a double line of stones.
Within these circles and near them are found large numbers of monuments
consisting each of a large flat slab resting on two others. On the
upper surface of the top slab are often seen a number of basin-shaped
holes, sometimes connected by furrows. Many of the slabs are slightly
slanting, and it has been suggested that the series of holes and furrows
was intended for the pouring a libation of some kind. In a monument of
this type at Ammân the cover-slab slopes considerably; the upper part of
its surface is a network of small channels converging on a hole 11
inches deep about the centre of the slab. Here, again, no excavations
have been carried out, and we do not even know what was the purpose of
these structures. It is, however, probable that these trilithons were
not, like the dolmens, tombs, but served some religious purpose,
possibly connected with the worship of the menhirs.
In the Jaulân, where the rock consists of a slabby type of basalt, there
are many dolmens of fine appearance. They often lie east and west, and
are often broader at the west end. Many are surrounded by a double
circle of stones. In one of them two copper rings were found. At Ain
Dakkar more than 160 dolmen-tombs are visible from a single spot. They
are built on circular terraces of earth and stones about 3 feet high.
The Arabs call them Graves of the Children of Israel. Most of them lie
east and west, and are broader at the west. In the eastern slab there is
often a hole about 2 feet in diameter. Near Tsîl are several
corridor-tombs of simple type. Each consists of a long rectangular
chamber with only one cover-slab, that being at the west end. In a
well-known example of this type at Kosseir there is a hole in one of the
two uprights which support the cover.
These examples will serve to show the importance and variety of the
Syrian monuments. They present analogies with those of many parts of the
megalithic area, and we therefore await anxiously the publication of
Mackenzie's promised article on his own explorations in this district.
The central and southern parts of India afford numerous examples of
dolmens. They are to be found in almost all parts of Lower India from
the Nerbudda River to Cape Comorin. In the Nilgiri hills there are stone
circles and dolmens, and numbers of dolmens are said to exist in the
Neermul jungle in Central India. In the collectorate of Bellary dolmens
and other monuments to the number of 2129 have been recorded. Others
occur in the principality of Sorapoor and near Vellore in the Madras
presidency. These latter appear to be of two types, either with three
supports only or with four supports, one of which is pierced with a
circular hole. Of the 2200 dolmens known in the Deccan, half are of this
pierced type. They are known to the natives as "dwarfs' houses." One
only had a pair of uprights outside the pierced stone, thus forming a
sort of portico to the dolmen. Near Chittore in North Arcot there is
said to be a square mile of ground covered with these monuments. In them
were found human remains in sarcophagi, and fragments of black pottery.
Several of the Indian dolmens are said to have contained objects of
iron. Occasionally the dolmen is surrounded by a double circle of stones
or covered with a cairn. The Deccan, in addition to its numerous
dolmens, possesses also megalithic monuments of another type. They
consist each of two rows, each of thirteen unworked stones set as close
together as possible, in front of which is a row of three stones, each
about 4 feet high, not let into the ground. The planted stones were
whitewashed, and each was marked with a large spot of red paint with
black in the centre. These stones seem to have been in use in modern
times. Colonel Forbes Leslie thinks that a cock had been sacrificed on
one of the three stones which lie in front of the double row, but there
seems to be no certain evidence for this. It is, however, very probable
that these _alignements_ had some religious signification, and the same
is no doubt true of certain small circles of small stones, also found in
the Deccan.
The modern inhabitants of the Khasi Hills in India still make use of
megalithic monuments. They set up a group of an odd number of menhirs,
3, 5, 7, 9, or 11, and in front of these two structures of dolmen form.
These are raised in honour of some important member of the tribe who has
died, and whose spirit is thought to have done some good to the tribe.
If the benefits continue it is usual to increase the number of menhirs.
The earliest burials in Japan are marked by simple mounds of earth. It
was not until the beginning of the iron age that megalithic tombs came
into use. The true dolmen is not found in Japan, and all the known
graves are corridor-tombs covered with a mound. They are of four types.
First, we have a simple corridor with no separate chamber; secondly, a
corridor broadening out at one side near the end; thirdly, a true
chamber with a corridor of access; and fourthly, a type in which the
corridor is preceded by an antechamber. All four types occur in rough
unworked stone, roofed with huge slabs, but a few examples of the third
type are made of well-cut and dressed blocks. The mounds are usually
conical, though some are of a complex form shortly to be described. Some
of these contain stone sarcophagi. The bodies were never cremated, but
the bones are so damaged that it is impossible to say what the most
usual position was. Objects of bronze and iron together with pottery and
ornaments were found in the tombs.
The more important tombs are of a more complicated type. They seem to
have contained the remains of emperors and their families. They consist
each of a circular mound, to which is added on one side another mound of
trapezoidal form. The megalithic tomb-chamber or the sarcophagus which
sometimes replaces it lies in the circular part of the mound. The total
axial length of the basis of the whole mound is in a typical case--that
of Nara (Yamato)--674 feet, the diameter of the round end being 420
feet. The mounds have in most cases terraced sides, and are surrounded
by a moat. In early times it seems to have been the custom to slay or
bury alive the servants of the emperor on his mound, but this was given
up about the beginning of the Christian era.
These imperial double mounds seem to begin about two centuries before
the Christian era, and to continue for five or six centuries after it.
Many of them can be definitely assigned to their owners, and others are
attributed by tradition. Thus a rather small mound at the foot of Mount
Unebi (Yamato) is considered to be the burial place of the Emperor
Jimmu, the founder of the Imperial dynasty, and annual ceremonies are
performed before it.
The Japanese Emperors are still buried in terraced mounds, and in the
group of huge stone blocks which have been placed on the mound of the
Emperor Komei, who died in 1866, we may be tempted to see a survival of
the ancient megalithic chamber.
These early corridor-tombs are evidently not the work of the Ainu, the
aborigines of Japan, but of the Japanese invaders who conquered them.
These latter do not seem to have brought the idea of megalithic building
with them, as their earlier tombs are simple mounds. As no dolmen has
yet been found in Japan we cannot at present derive the corridor-tomb
there from it. It is, however, worthy of mention that true dolmens occur
as near as Corea, though none have been reported from China.