First Siculan Period as we know it, but rather earlier. Certain vases
found with neolithic burials in a cave at Villafrati and elsewhere in
Sicily resemble the pottery usually found in megalithic tombs; one of
them is in fact a bell-shaped cup, a form typical of megalithic pottery.
It is thus possible that an immigration of megalithic people into Sicily
took place during the stone age, definitely later than the period of the
earliest neolithic remains on the island, but earlier than that of such
sites as the Castelluccio cemetery. This, however, is and will perhaps
remain a mere conjecture, though it is quite possible that there are in
the interior of Sicily dolmens which have not yet come to the notice of
the archæologist; in this connection it is worth while to remember that
up to five years ago the existence of dolmens in both Sardinia and Malta
passed unnoticed.


If the inclusion of Sicily in the megalithic area is doubtful there is
fortunately no question about the island of Sardinia. Here we have one
of the chief strongholds of the megalithic civilization, where the
architecture displays its greatest variety and flexibility. The simplest
manifestation of megalithic building, the dolmen, was up till lately
thought to be absent from Sardinia, but the researches of the last few
years have brought to light several examples, of which the best known
are those of Birori, where the chamber is approximately circular in
plan.

The monuments, however, for which Sardinia is most famous are the
_nuraghi._ A _nuraghe_ is a tower-like structure of truncated conical
form, built of large stones laid in comparatively regular courses (Pl.
II, Fig. 2). The stones are often artificially squared, and set with a
clay mortar. The plan and arrangement of a simple _nuraghe_ are usually