ROUGH STONE |
| Photo | Graphotone Co. |
| Stonehenge from the South-east | |
| Frontispiece. | |
ROUGH STONE
MONUMENTS
AND THEIR
BUILDERS
BY
T. ERIC PEET
FORMERLY SCHOLAR OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD;
LATELY CRAVEN FELLOW IN THE UNIVERSITY
OF OXFORD AND PELHAM STUDENT AT
THE BRITISH SCHOOL OF ROME
HARPER & BROTHERS
LONDON AND NEW YORK
45 ALBEMARLE STREET, W.
1912
Published October, 1912.
PREFACE
The aim of this volume is to enable thosewho are interested in Stonehenge andother great stone monuments of England tolearn something of the similar buildings whichexist in different parts of the world, of the menwho constructed them, and of the great archæologicalsystem of which they form a part. It ishoped that to the archæologist it may be usefulas a complete though brief sketch of our presentknowledge of the megalithic monuments, and asa short treatment of the problems which arise inconnection with them.
To British readers it is unnecessary to give anyjustification for the comparatively full treatmentaccorded to the monuments of Great Britain andIreland. Malta and Sardinia may perhaps seemto occupy more than their due share of space,but the usurpation is justified by the magnificenceand the intrinsic interest of their megalithicbuildings. Being of singularly complicated typesand remarkably well preserved they naturallytell us much more of their builders than do thesimpler monuments of other larger and now moreimportant countries. In these two islands,moreover, research has in the last few years beenextremely active, and it is felt that the accountshere given of them will contain some materialnew even to the archæologist.
In order to assist those readers who may wishto follow out the subject in greater detail a shortbibliography has been added to the book.
For the figures and photographs with whichthis volume is illustrated I have to thank manyarchæological societies and individual scholars.Plate III and part of Plate II I owe to the kindnessof Dr. Zammit, Director of the Museum ofValletta, while the other part of Plate II is froma photograph kindly lent to me by Dr. Ashby.I have to thank the Society of Antiquaries forFigures 1 and 3, the Reale Accademia dei Linceifor Figures 17 and 20, and the Société préhistoriquede France, through Dr. Marcel Baudouin, forFigure 10. I am indebted to the Royal IrishAcademy for Figure 8, to the Committee of theBritish School of Rome for Figure 18, and to Dr.Albert Mayr and the Akademie der Wissenschaftenin Munich for the plan of Mnaidra. ProfessorsMonteli