PREHISTORIC
PART 1
- Ch.IX
The megalithic monuments of Dacia
Menhirs, their character and destination
Another important
class of prehistoric monuments, which appear in various parts of
These monuments
consist of big, rough stones, cut or sculpted in a wholly primitive way, which
astonish us not because of their esthetic shape, but because of their
grandiosity.
The most archaic
type of these megalithic monuments consists of a single huge stone rock, thrust
vertically into the earth. These rough monoliths, so placed by the hands of
prehistoric man, are called in today archaeology menhirs or peulvans (De Mortillet, Musee prehistorique, pl
LIX) [1].
[1. The etymology of the word menhir according to Littre (Dictionnaire de la langue
francaise) is from Bas-Bret. men,
stone, hir, long. In the ancient
Breton language, as Legrand d’Aussy,
the first person who established a classification of the megalithic monuments,
the rough obelisks were called armenir
(Cartailhac, La
The shapes of the
menhirs are pyramidal, cylindrical, often with conical peaks. Or, in other
words, they are just simple columns of rough stone or primitive obelisks.
Opinions today are
divided regarding the original destination of these rough stone columns.
Some believe that
the so-called menhirs are just a kind of funerary
monuments, erected on the graves or cenotaphs of the deceased. Others, on
the contrary, based on the fact that at the foot of these monoliths has never
been discovered any trace of inhumation, assert that the menhirs constitute
only simple commemorative monuments, destined in a remote antiquity to
perpetuate the memory of a great event. Finally, a part of the archaeologists
of today generally consider them only as a symbol of a religious cult from
prehistoric epochs.
We will explain
here the primitive destination which these prehistoric monuments had, not on
the basis of medieval sources, as has been mainly the custom so far, but
exclusively by the religious character which these monoliths had in the most
remote times of Greek and Roman antiquity.
On the vast plain
of
During the war of
the Trojans with the Greeks, as Homer also tells us (Ibid. XVI, v.457.674), the
brave prince Sarpedon, ruler over
the wealthy Pelasgian population from Lycia,
falls in battle killed by Patroclus, and his body, by order of Jove, was carried
to Lycia, so that his brothers and relatives could celebrate his funerals and
erect a mound with a column (stele) on it, because this is the honor of the dead. Ulysses also,
according to the Odyssey (lib. XII,
v.13-14), erects in the island Aeaea a tumulus over the ashes and weapons of
the dead Elpenor, and on top of the tumulus he erects a column (stele).
It results that
even at the time of the Trojan war, stone columns appear as monuments erected
on the tumuli of the deceased, for their eternal honor.
Along the road from
Sparta to Arcadia, Pausanias tells
us (Descriptio Graeciae lib III, 20.9), could still be seen even in his time
seven columns or posts (chiones) fashioned in the archaic
style, or of rough stone, and these columns represented the simulacra of the
seven planets, the Sun, Moon, Saturn, Jove, Mars, Mercury and Venus.
Finally, the
primitive columns, or of rough stone, also appear in prehistoric antiquity as
commemorative monuments.
Hercules, the great hero of the Pelasgian world,
erects, as traditions tell, near the Gaditan ocean (TN – near Gades) two huge
stone columns, as monuments, intended to commemorate his expedition and his
great deeds (Diodorus Siculus, lib.
I. 24. 1;IV. 18.2).
In
So, according to
the moral customs of antiquity, the menhirs or rough stone columns served
various purposes. Some appear as primitive honorary monuments, raised on the
tumuli, or at the graves of the deceased. Others had a higher, religious
purpose. They represented in a rudimentary form, the images of some archaic
divinities, and formed therefore the object of a religious cult. And finally,
others appear only as simple commemorative monuments regarding expeditions,
illustrious war deeds, or great political and religious events. These stone
columns had at the same time a religious-economic purpose. They served as
“termini” or sacred stones, used to mark territorial limits and to indicate the
direction of the roads (Strabo,
Geogr. lib.IX. 1.6).
In prehistoric
antiquity the menhirs had everywhere the same sacred function as the cross had and has in the Christian
era, as a sign of worship, as sepulchral monument and as a holy object of
commemoration.
The use of menhirs
as funerary monuments also existed in the countries of
[2. In medieval historical documents
of
In some parts of
[3. From the village Radauti,
Dorohoi district, we are told: “It is known from our forefathers that on the
estate Miorcani, at the boundary with Radauti, were buried Dacians, Sasi or Lazi and that on those graves ….the
stones were big and unmarked”.
In the western parts of
In Serbia, the cemeteries which are
characterized by their ancient age and by huge boulders or stone slabs, are
called “the graves of the Latins or of
the Jidovs”, name under which the folk traditions of the southern Slavs
understand two generations of giant men, who were distinguished by their size
and physical strength, and by their large and heavy constructions (Kanitz, Donau-Bulgarien I. 51;III. 75).
The vast necropolis with menhirs from the village Balwan, situated north of Alexinati in
The megalithic
monuments called menhirs are usually isolated,
but sometimes they are placed in groups.
When these groups are in the shape of circles, they are called cromlechs, and when they are placed
more or less in straight lines, are called alignments
[4].
[4. The most remarkable alignments
in
To which race
belong in general the monuments called megalithic, has remained an open
question to this day.
For a long time
these enormous monuments of rough stone, and especially the dolmens, have been
considered, without any reason, as being made by the Celts or the Druids.
In fact the origin
of the megalithic monuments goes back to the first times of the Neolithic
epoch. A significant quantity of objects of polished stone was found in various
occasions, especially in dolmens, incontestable proof that the introduction of
this type of funerary monuments antedates the immigration of the Celts to
(Bertrand, Archeologie celtique et
gauloise: (TN) – “We cannot hesitate to declare that the dolmens are not Celtic, and that they conceal the remains of a
population about which history does not speak” (Fergusson, Les monuments megalitiques, p.XXVIII) [5].
[5. Dolmens. Another group of megalithic monuments bear in prehistoric
archaeology the name of dolmens
(Etymology according to Littre,
gael/tol, table, men, stone). The dolmens are funerary monuments and consist of a
huge stone slab or table placed horizontally on two or more big boulders,
thrust vertically in the ground. The size of the slabs and the boulders is
usually so enormous, and their transportation and lifting present such great
difficulties, that we are astonished today when we contemplate them, and we ask
ourselves how those primitive people could dispose of such efficacious
mechanical means, in order to move these gigantic masses of stone, to bring
them often from a big distance and to lift them on hills or mounds, in order to
place them at their destined place. Inside them, these dolmens contain one or
several stone rooms, in which were
laid the bodies, or the urns with the ashes of the deceased. They exist in a
more considerable number in France, Britain, Denmark, Sweden and north Germany.
Also it has been ascertained the existence of this type of monuments in Italy,
in the north-eastern parts of the Caucas, in Persia, India, Arabia, in the
northern regions of Africa and in Central America.
In Romania, the only dolmen about which we have some archaeological
notes is the construction of huge boulders, or the artificial cave from the
mountain Lespedea (TN – the Slab), from
the sources of Ialomita, about which Cesar
Boliac writes: “To give an idea to the archaeologists about the first
aspect of this cave, I recommend them the drawing “the Danish dolmen” and the circle of sepulchral stones, from the fine
work “Man before history” of Sir John Lubbock ….
In truth, one is facing here the building of a giant; in truth, man
must have been strong in his arms and back, to be able to grab, to lay, to
build, such a dwelling in such a place …Over big stones, a huge stone slab
forms a roof over two rooms, one of
15 feet long and 8 feet wide, with an entrance
and an opposite exit of 7 hands high
and 3 hands wide; large boulders as thresholds
and as steps to descend inside.
Entering this room through the west opening, on the right is a square stone block, surely an altar, 4 hands high and as many on each
side. On this altar there were ashes and pottery shards, mixed with a sort of
sand … This explains the name of this place, “Pesterea cu olele” (TN – the Cave with the pots) … I took some of
these shards, all blackish and whitened on the outside (characteristic Dacian pottery, although called Celtic by the antiquarians) … the
whitish substance on these pots is doubtless the exhaled lime from the ashes. I
have observed this in several occasions. Tradition says that there are old men
who have still seen many whole pots, there were some on three legs and of various sizes ….Pots … which have served
as urns …. Near this room and separated by a wall formed by a single stone
block, is another smaller room … without altar …” (Trompeta Carpatilor nr. 846,
1870).
In another article, C.Boliac confirms again the dolmenic
character of this artificial cave: “I have no doubt that the dolmen which I
found last year, with the name of Pesterea cu olele …. is not druido-celtic (Trompeta Carpatilor, nr. 939, 1871).
About another megalithic monument with the appearance of a dolmen, we
have received the following communication from the village Chiscani, Braila district: “In the mountains of Macin there are
three stones, two of which are thrust in the ground, and the third is placed in
between them, without touching the ground”].
Irish traditions connect the origin of megalithic monuments
to two prehistoric invasionary peoples. One of these races, the oldest, has in
Irish traditions the name Fri – Bolgi,
and they are shown as men of a normal height, with brown or dark hair.
This people, who
had hold for a while the ethnic and political rule over Ireland, was later
overrun by another race of peoples, the so-called Danians, who had a generally tall stature, blond hair and blue eyes
(Henri Martin, De l’origine des
monuments megalithiques, p.14).
The Danians,
according to Irish traditions, continued to use, like the Fri-Bolgi had done,
the megalithic monuments, up to the time when their domination over Ireland was
overturned by another invasionary people called Scots.
From the point of
view of prehistoric ethnology, the Fri-Bolgi, who, according to Irish
traditions have first introduced the megalithic funerary monuments in the
western countries of Europe, appear to have been only a migrated branch towards
west of the big Pelasgian people of the Hyperboreans,
settled in prehistoric times at the Lower Danube, and who in the monuments of
antique geography appear under the name of Pirobori
(Ptolemy,Geogr.lib.III.10.8– Piroboridava
near the river Hierasus, Siret).
The country of the
Hyperboreans from the north of the Lower Danube was renowned even during the
epoch of Pindar for its colossal monuments of rough stone.
And the second
prehistoric race, the so-called Danians,
mentioned by the Irish traditions, they appear to have been, in the great
ethnic movement of the ancient world, just some tribes of Danai (Danaoi), as Homer
calls the Greeks (Iliad, III. 33.464; IV. 232; VII.382; XIII. 680), who had
advanced westwards, on the migration routes of other Neolithic Pelasgian
tribes. These Danai, or Greeks, appear in the primitive times of European
history as the people who immediately follow the Pelasgians.
About the
immigration of the Danai in Pelasgian territories, there was preserved until
late a tradition in Ellada, which Eschyl
presents in his poem “Supplices”: Danaos (the representative of the Danai),
persecuted by his brother Aegyptos, emigrates from Lybia to the vast empire of
Pelasg, to ask for protection and a place to settle.
Even the ethnic
type of the Fri-Bolgi and Danians of the Irish traditions, wholly corresponds
to the physical and moral aspect of the ancient Pelasgians and the Danai.
Pelasgians appear
in the ancient monuments of Greek literature as a race of men with a darkish
color, or suntanned, robust and with a dominating character. Pelasg, the
founder of the empire of this race was, as the ancient poet Asius (cca 700bc) tells us, born from the black earth.
On the other hand,
the ancient Greeks, or Danai, are shown in the traditions of the Homeric epoch,
as men with a tall stature, blond hair and blue eyes.
Finally, the signs
and figures engraved on various megalithic monuments of the west, which consist
of spirals, serpentine lines, arched lines or semispherical, disks, wheels of
the sun and scattered points, which imitate the sky with the stars, present a
remarkable affinity with the system of ornamentation and the symbolic signs of
the eastern Pelasgians.
These mystical
characters from the funerary megalithic monuments of the west show us the
traces of Pelasgian religious inspiration, the cult of the sky, the sun and the
stars, and everywhere, a firm belief in a life beyond the grave, in the regions
of light or the superior world.
We also state here
that the colossal forms of these monuments tell us that they belong to a heroic
people with an enormous ambition to transmit to posterity the memory and glory
of the deceased.