Roughly speaking, the extension of megalithic monuments is from Spain to
Japan and from Sweden to Algeria. These are naturally merely limits, and
it must not be supposed that the regions which lie between them all
contain megalithic monuments. More exactly, we find them in Asia, in
Japan, Corea, India, Persia, Syria, and Palestine. In Africa we have
them along the whole of the north coast, from Tripoli to Morocco; inland
they are not recorded, except for one possible example in Egypt and
several in the Soudan. In Europe the distribution of dolmens and other
megalithic monuments is wide. They occur in the Caucasus and the Crimea,
and quite lately examples have been recorded in Bulgaria. There are none
in Greece, and only a few in Italy, in the extreme south-east corner.
The islands, however, which lie around and to the south of Italy afford
many examples: Corsica, Sardinia, Malta, Gozo, Pantelleria, and
Lampedusa are strongholds of the megalithic civilization, and it is
possible that Sicily should be included in the list. Moving westward we
find innumerable examples in the Spanish Peninsula and in France. To the
north we find them frequent in the British Isles, Sweden, Denmark, and
North Germany; they are rarer in Holland and Belgium. Two examples have
been reported from Switzerland.

It is only to be expected that these great megalithic monuments of a
prehistoric age should excite the wonder and stimulate the imagination
of those who see them. In all countries and at all times they have been
centres of story and legend, and even at the present day many strange
beliefs concerning them are to be found among the peasantry who live
around them. Salomon Reinach has written a remarkable essay on this
question, and the following examples are mainly drawn from the
collection he has there made. The names given to the monuments often
show clearly the ideas with which they are associated in the minds of