![]() ![]() In some cases the builders chose to shape as capstones large boulders that had been moved to their resting place by glaciers. The builders clearly chose what seem to have been the largest and chunkiest stones they could find, many of which were shaped before they were put in place. One of the most-distinctive and extraordinary aspects of dolmen monuments is the massive size of the stones-particularly the capstone or capstones-used in their construction. For that reason, dolmens are often referred to as chambered tombs, and archaeologists believe those collections of bones to be ancestral remains. Moreover, it was not uncommon for many people to have been buried in those monuments and their bones to have been mixed together in a communal deposit. When many dolmen sites were excavated, archaeologists determined that the chambers were often used for the burial of the dead. Some are the size of small boxes, while others are tall and long enough for people to not only stand but also walk and move around inside them. The chambers of dolmens can vary in both shape and size. ![]() That collection of stones creates an enclosed chamber area. All consist of a large capstone or capstones supported by a number of smaller upright stones. There is considerable diversity in those monument types, but they nevertheless share a number of common characteristics. The Breton word dolmen was originally used to describe the wide variety of stone monuments or, “megaliths” (meaning large stones), being discovered across the world. Outside Europe, dolmens were built over a broad date range, and they continue to be constructed in some parts of the world-such as the island of Sumba, Indonesia-up to the present day. Sites in central and southern Europe were constructed at a similar date, but that corresponds to the middle or late Neolithic in those areas. The dolmens of northwest Europe were built in the early Neolithic Period (New Stone Age), which began in Brittany about 5000 bce and in Britain, Ireland and southern Scandinavia about 4000 bce.
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