[Illustration: FIG 19. Stone circle at the Senâm, Algeria.
(After MacIver and Wilkin).]

The most famous, however, of the Algerian sites is unquestionably that
of Roknia. Here the tombs lie on the side of a steep hill. They consist
of dolmens often surrounded by stone circles from 25 to 33 feet in
diameter. The cover-slabs of the dolmens usually rest on single
uprights, and never on built walls. Several of the graves excavated
contained more than one body, one yielding as many as seven. It is
remarkable that three of the skulls showed wounds, the dead having been
apparently killed in battle. Several vases have been found and a few
pieces of bronze.

We have seen that in some of the tombs of Bou Merzoug objects of iron
were found. This makes it clear that some at least of the Algerian tombs
belong to the iron age, i.e. that they are probably later than 1000
B.C., but beyond this we cannot go. The medal of Faustina sometimes
quoted as evidence for a very late date proves nothing, as it is not
stated to have been found in a tomb. There is no evidence to show how
far back the graves go. It may be that, as MacIver and Wilkin suggest,
the parts of the cemeteries excavated chance to be the latest. At Bou
Merzoug the excavators worked chiefly among the graves on the plain and
at the bottom of the hill. The more closely crowded graves which lie on
the hill itself may well be older than these. In fact, all that may be
said of the Algerian graves is that some are of the iron age, while
others may be and probably are earlier.


In Tunis the dolmen is not uncommon, and several groups or cemeteries
have been reported. Near Ellez occurs a type of corridor-tomb in which