DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.67683#0031
NEOLITHIC AGE
ii
use o£ the potter’s wheel. In shape it is crude. But its decoration
frequently follows and thus strengthens the structural lines of the
object. The motifs used were concentric circles, broken zigzag,
spirals, all of which have been basic elements
of decoration through man’s entire career.
The spiral particularly (Fig. 14) we find not
only in a number of variations, but with a
surprisingly vigorous quality.
Fig. 14. Fragments
of Neolithic Pottery.
(Dechelette)
dolmen (Fig. 15),
BUILDING
With more settled conditions of life, result-
ing in the growth of communities and the rise
of trades and industries, monumental work
appears in the tombs of the chieftains. One
form of these tombs consisted of two or three
great stones with a covering slab which, be-
cause of its resemblance to a table, is called a
meaning table-stone. Single monoliths called menhirs, sometimes
seventy feet high, were set up, occasionally decorated with a
Fig. 15. Dolmen. Normandy.
crude relief, or arranged in long rows the purpose of which is not
clear. But the most pretentious consist of a circle of stones,
known as cromlechs, as Stonehenge (Fig. 16). This circle consists
of an outer ring of huge monoliths, capped with lintels, roughly
cut just as they came from the quarry and laid without mortar.
Inside this is a line of smaller stones; then a broken ring of five
pairs of huge monoliths, each with its lintel; and again an inner
broken circle of smaller stones, inside of which is a large slab
that may have served as an altar. In the arrangement there is
a feeling for order and symmetry, and a rhythm that is varied by
alternating the large and small concentric circles. Such a structure
ii
use o£ the potter’s wheel. In shape it is crude. But its decoration
frequently follows and thus strengthens the structural lines of the
object. The motifs used were concentric circles, broken zigzag,
spirals, all of which have been basic elements
of decoration through man’s entire career.
The spiral particularly (Fig. 14) we find not
only in a number of variations, but with a
surprisingly vigorous quality.
Fig. 14. Fragments
of Neolithic Pottery.
(Dechelette)
dolmen (Fig. 15),
BUILDING
With more settled conditions of life, result-
ing in the growth of communities and the rise
of trades and industries, monumental work
appears in the tombs of the chieftains. One
form of these tombs consisted of two or three
great stones with a covering slab which, be-
cause of its resemblance to a table, is called a
meaning table-stone. Single monoliths called menhirs, sometimes
seventy feet high, were set up, occasionally decorated with a
Fig. 15. Dolmen. Normandy.
crude relief, or arranged in long rows the purpose of which is not
clear. But the most pretentious consist of a circle of stones,
known as cromlechs, as Stonehenge (Fig. 16). This circle consists
of an outer ring of huge monoliths, capped with lintels, roughly
cut just as they came from the quarry and laid without mortar.
Inside this is a line of smaller stones; then a broken ring of five
pairs of huge monoliths, each with its lintel; and again an inner
broken circle of smaller stones, inside of which is a large slab
that may have served as an altar. In the arrangement there is
a feeling for order and symmetry, and a rhythm that is varied by
alternating the large and small concentric circles. Such a structure