island.

The stones used are chiefly granite and gneiss. The dolmens, which are
of carefully chosen flat blocks showing no trace of work, are all
rectangular in plan, and usually consist of four side-walls and a
cover-slab. The finest of all, however, the dolmen of Fontanaccia, has
seven blocks supporting the cover, one at each short end, three in one
of the long sides, and two in the other. None of the dolmens are covered
by mounds.

Of the _alignements_, that of Caouria seems to consist, in part at
least, of two parallel lines of menhirs, the rest of the plan being
uncertain. There are still thirty-two blocks, of which six have fallen.
The other _alignement_, that of Rinaiou, consists of seven menhirs set
in a straight line. The cromlech is circular and stands on Cape Corse.

On the small island of Pianosa, near Elba, are several rock-hewn tombs
of the æneolithic period which ought perhaps to be classed with the
megalithic monuments of Sardinia and Corsica.




CHAPTER VII

AFRICA, MALTA, AND THE SMALLER
MEDITERRANEAN ISLANDS


North Africa is a great stronghold of the megalithic civilization,