Les Dolmens. Societes neolithiques, pratiques funeraires, 2d ed.

Les Dolmens. Societes neolithiques, pratiques funeraires, 2d ed. This book joins three recent French overviews of megalithic meg��a��lith?n.A very large stone used in various prehistoric architectures or monumental styles, notably in western Europe during the second millennium b.c. tombs,all written by specialists but designed to be accessible to the generalreader (Joussaume 1985; Mohen 1989; and Briard Briard(brēärd`), breed of muscular, wiry working dog whose origins may be traced back to 12th-century France. It stands from 22 to 27 in. (55.9–68.6 cm) high at the shoulder and weighs between 70 and 80 lb (31.8–36.3 kg). 1995). It is itself thesecond revised edition of a work first published in 1993, but which,along with so much French archaeological literature, received littlerecognition on this side of the Channel. That is a pity, for althoughbooks about megalithic tombs as a general phenomenon go against thetrend of current British Neolithic studies, Masset's account has awealth of new and exciting information to convey.Claude Masset has long been a leading authority on the alleescouvertes of the Paris basin As a modern administrative r��gion of France, it is known as the ?le de France As the territory at the political centre of the Kingdom of France, it is known as the ?le de France. As a hydrological basin, it is largely the basin of the River Seine. region (though Masset prefers the term'allee sepulcrale' since not all were 'couverte' bycapstones). His own excavations at La Chaussee-Tirancourt andMereaucourt have been exemplary exercises in detailed and thorough fieldinvestigation accompanied by ethnographically eth��nog��ra��phy?n.The branch of anthropology that deals with the scientific description of specific human cultures.eth��nog inspired interpretation.For whereas the famous and spectacular passage-graves of Brittany haveyielded virtually no human remains for reasons of soil acidity, thenumbers of individuals in the Paris basin allees sepulcrales reachregularly into the hundreds. La Chaussee-Tirancourt itself containedover 300 individuals. This naturally poses enormous challenges, but atthe same time offers huge potential for social, demographic and ritualinterpretation. It is from his research on these allees sepulcrales thatMasset has developed the ideas set out in the present book.If there is a criticism to be made, it is of geographical scope.Scattered through the pages are illustrations of megalithic tombs inmany different parts of western Europe Western EuropeThe countries of western Europe, especially those that are allied with the United States and Canada in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (established 1949 and usually known as NATO). , and the book certainly does notadvertise itself as restricted to France. But there is an undeniablyFrench focus. In chapter 4, for example, the author discusses theearliest types of monumental tombs and divides them into fourcategories, all of them wholly or partially French in distribution.Furthermore, even within France, there is relatively little coverage ofthe western regions. The section on megalithic art Megalithic art refers to the use of large stones as an artistic medium. Although some modern artists and sculptors make use of large stones in their work, the term is more generally used to describe art carved onto megaliths in prehistoric Europe. is less than fourpages long, and makes only brief reference to Brittany and none at allto the rich megalithic art of the Boyne Valley. The book isgeographically at its broadest in chapters 3 (reviewing types andclassifications of megalithic tombs) and 4 (reviewing their origins anddevelopment); it drifts steadily towards a north French focus inchapters 5, 6, 7 and still more so in chapters 8 & 9 which arealmost exclusively devoted to allees sepulcrales and analogous monumentsin northeast France and northern Germany Northern Germany is the geographic area in the north of Germany. The native German concept of northern Germany is called Norddeutschland. Northern German StatesNorddeutschland is the geographic area of five German states: Bremen Hamburg .But what must be seen as a criticism in one sense is undoubtedly thebook's greatest strength in another; for it is when he is dealingwith the material that he knows best that Masset offers us realinsights. Indeed, he defends his north French emphasis by specifyingwhat he considers the two essential requirements for understanding anycategory of monumental collective tomb: * first, that the nature of the geology must allow the preservationof skeletal remains; not only for the interpretation of burial rituals,but also for a proper understanding of the internal timber structureswhich so many of the tombs seem to have possessed, and which survive alltoo often only as voids between the bones; * and secondly, that the Neolithic funerary fu��ner��ar��y?adj.Of or suitable for a funeral or burial.[Latin fner monuments of the chosenregion must not be too prominent; for prominent sites have in most casesalready been rifled in antiquity or by early and less carefularchaeologists.These conditions rule out many of the classic regions of megalithictombs such as Brittany or Galicia (with acid soils), and many famous andspectacular examples which have been a focus of rather damaging interestsince at least the 19th century. It is a challenging view whichcertainly won't find favour with archaeologists who have spent muchof their professional careers studying monuments of just those kinds orin just those regions which Masset condemns. But its purpose is tohighlight just why the Paris basin tombs on which Masset has worked sopainstakingly are indeed so special. They are not prominent: indeed,many of them are sunk into the ground and have been entirely forgotten.Thus when they are rediscovered, they are found in the state in whichthe Neolithic communities left them. And the chalk and limestone subsoil subsoilLayer (stratum) of earth immediately below the surface soil, consisting predominantly of minerals and leached materials such as iron and aluminum compounds. Humus remains and clay accumulate in subsoil, but the teeming macroscopic and microscopic organisms that make of this region of France ensures that the skeletal remains they containare extremely well preserved.The most interesting parts of the book are those where Massetdescribes results of his own excavations and new findings at Paris basinsites. These allees sepulcrales belong to the Late Neolithic'culture' known as Seine-Oise-Marne, and fall within theperiod 3250-2000 BC. Masset shows in fascinating detail how meticulousexcavation and observation reveals the history of each site. At LaChaussee-Tirancourt, for example, there is evidence that the initiallayer of burials was systematically removed at some later stage, leavingonly a very few fiat bones which the cleaners missed. The tomb wascleaned so thoroughly (perhaps by vigorous sweeping) that even some ofthe calcite calcite(kăl`sīt), very widely distributed mineral, commonly white or colorless, but appearing in a great variety of colors owing to impurities. which had formed on the surface of the orthostats waschipped off; flakes were found in the thin layer of sediment which waslaid down to form the floor for a new burial deposit. One of theorthostats was extracted as part of the same process; its broken-offbase, left in situ In place. When something is "in situ," it is in its original location. , was covered by the new floor.Masset extends this line of thought when discussing the closure orwhat he calls 'condamnation' of many tombs. The French word isespecially appropriate for a process which seems often to have involvedsome element of destruction. At many allees sepulcrales it is clear thatthe original roofing (while the tomb was being used for burials)consisted not of megalithic slabs but merely of timber and thatch. Atthe end of use these timber superstructures were often burned, but theprocess could go much further than this. Once again Masset's ownexcavations provide some of the clearest evidence. At LaChaussee-Tirancourt, pits were dug around the base of the orthostats andfierce fires lit within them; the tops of the fire-fractured stones werethen knocked away and the whole monument was buried and hidden fromview. At other sites, such as Mereaucourt, the orthostats were pushedover or inwards, and the final act of closure was the addition ofcapstones; we can deduce this because the capstones are sometimes toosmall to have spanned the width of the chamber during its active lifewhen the orthostats were upright. As Masset emphasizes, these actionsshow how Neolithic communities did not simply abandon their monumentsand leave them to degrade naturally; the ruined state in which we seethem today is partly intended, and very different from the appearance ofthe monuments during their funerary use.Emphasis on high standards of excavation is a keynote of the book.Masset tells the remarkable tale of the two collective rock-cut tombs(hypogees) excavated at Les Mournouards in the course of the same year,1958. In the first, the excavators thought there was nothing to belearned from the apparent disorder of the bones and removed them using awater jet and a sieve; the second site had the good fortune to beexcavated by Andre Leroi-Gourhan, who in a careful and time-consumingoperation mapped the position of every bone. He was able to demonstratehow some came from bodies in process of decomposition, while others wereremains which had been pushed aside to make way for new interments, andsome bones from earlier burials had been carefully stacked in groups.Masset provides further evidence of the insight to be gained from suchdetailed work. He notes that at both La Chaussee-Tirancourt andMereaucourt, areas against one side wall of the tomb chamber were leftfree of burials. This feature is present in each of the burial layers atLa Chaussee-Tirancourt and leads Masset to suggest that a sacred object- perhaps an anthropomorphic Having the characteristics of a human being. For example, an anthropomorphic robot has a head, arms and legs. figurine - may have been placed here.Either it was of wood, and decayed without trace, or it was removedbefore the tomb was 'condemned'. Equally intriguing is therock-cut 'grotto' beyond the back-stone of LaChaussee-Tirancourt: accessible by a narrow opening in the rear cornerof the tomb, the fragile chalk floor of the passage leading to thegrotto shows no trace of human trampling. Was it only the spirits of thedead who visited the grotto via this passage?Enough has been said to illustrate the detail of Masset's ownwork and the insights it has provided. His focus on the alleessepulcrales which he knows so well is the source of a whole range of newideas and approaches. He places welcome emphasis on the newly discoveredand increasingly numerous timber burial chambers (in which BritishHaddenham finds a place alongside recent French examples such as LaCroix-Saint-Ouen). This concern with the variety of Neolithic collectivetombs is indeed one of Masset's strongest claims to our attentionin this volume, and makes his title 'Les Dolmens' still lessappropriate than it might otherwise have been. His assertion that'Each site excavated to an adequate standard is a sort of sounding(coup de sonde), sunk at random into a lost world whose diversityescapes us' will no doubt strike a chord with many Britisharchaeologists, where attention is increasingly switching to focus onthe individual site, even if we still need to recognize the broadercontext (e.g. Julian Thomas on Dyffryn Ardudwy; Thomas 1996: 137-40).For all these reasons and more, Masset's book deserves the widestreadership among Neolithic specialists on both sides of the Channel.CHRIS SCARRE Chris Scarre is a leading writer in the fields of archeology and ancient history. He took his MA and PhD degrees at Cambridge University. From 1984 to 1988 he was editor of the acclaimed Past Worlds: The Times Atlas and Archeology McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research is a research institute of the University of Cambridge in England. HistoryThe Institute was established in 1990 through a generous benefaction from the late Dr D. M. McDonald, a well-known and successful industrialist. CambridgeReferencesBRIARD, J. 1995. Les megalithes de l'Europe atlantique. Paris:Errance.JOUSSAUME, R. 1985. Des dolmens pour les morts. Paris: Hachette.MOHEN, J-P. 1989. Le monde n. 1. The world; a globe as an ensign of royalty.Le beau mondefashionable society. See Beau monde.Demi mondeSee Demimonde. des megalithes. Paris: Casterman.THOMAS, J. 1996. Time, culture and identity. London: Routledge.