commodities, though the custom of setting up such monuments survived in many regions into later periods, sometimes even to quite recent times.[1] Whatever be their origin, they have nearly always been looked upon with religious or superstitious awe by the dwellers in those regions where they abound, and have been, nay, are still, objects of worship to the religiously or superstitiously minded. To quote recent examples would be superfluous, and one must be content to refer to the pardons in Brittany, which are in many cases held in honour of such monuments, while in the past we need only cite the prohibitions against their worship pronounced by the Councils of Arles (452), Tours (567), Nantes (658), Toledo (681 and 692) and Rouen.[2]
Among regions in Western Europe where such monuments abound, none is richer than the Iberian peninsula, and here they are specially numerous near the western coast, and particularly in the northern part of that strip in the Province of Galicia. This is not to be wondered at, if the recent theories are correct, for in these parts tin has been found more plentifully than in almost any other part of the world, and is known to have been mined there in prehistoric times. Here then we may expect to find that the megalithic cult was at its best, and considering how remote from civilisation this corner of Europe has been, and still is, it is here that we might expect to find superstitions connected with these monuments surviving into recent times.
The Galician megaliths are of various kinds, and have been well described by Borlase;[3] it will be sufficient
- ↑ Elliot Smith (G.), The Migrations of Early Culture; Perry (W. G.), "The Relationship between the Geographical Distribution of Megalithic Monuments and Ancient Mines." in Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, lx. 1-36.
- ↑ Fergusson (J.), Rude Stone Monuments, p. 24.
- ↑ Borlase (W. C), The Dolmens of Ireland, 635-657.
