CHAPTER IV

THE SCANDINAVIAN MEGALITHIC AREA

In Scandinavia megalithic monuments abound.  They have been studied with unusual care from quite an early date in the history of archaeology, and classified in the order of their development.  The earliest type appears to be the simple dolmen with either four or five sides and a very rough cover-slab.  This and the upper part of the sides remained uncovered by the mound of earth which was always heaped round the tomb.  In later times the dolmen became more regularly rectangular in shape, and only its roof-block appeared above the mound.  Contemporary with this later form of dolmen were several other types of tomb.  One was simply the earlier dolmen with one side open and in front of it a sort of portico or elementary corridor formed by two upright slabs with no roofing (cf. the Irish type, Fig. 5, b).  This quickly developed into the true corridor-tomb, which had at first a small round chamber with one or two cover-slabs, a short corridor, and a round or rectangular mound.  Later types have an oval chamber (Fig. 9) with from one to four cover-slabs or a rectangular chamber with a long corridor and a circular mound.  Finally we reach a type where thin slabs are used in the construction, and the mound completely covers the cap-stones:  here the corridor leads out from one of the short ends of the rectangular chamber.

The earliest of these types in point of view of development, the true dolmen, is common both in Denmark and in South Sweden; only one example exists in Norway.  In Sweden it is never found far from the sea-coast.

[Illustration:  FIG. 9.  Corridor-tomb, Ottagarden, Sweden. 
               (Montelius, Orient und Europa.)]

The corridor-tomb is also frequent in Denmark and Sweden, though it is unknown in Norway.  In Sweden it is, like all megalithic monuments, confined to the south of the country.  Of the early transition type with elementary corridor there are fine examples at Herrestrup in Denmark and Torebo in Sweden.  A tomb at Sjoebol in Sweden where the corridor, consisting of only two uprights, is covered in with two roof-slabs instead of being left open, shows very clearly the transition to the corridor-tomb proper, in which the entrance passage consists of at least four uprights, two on each side.  Of this there are numerous fine examples.  A tomb of this type at Broholm in Denmark has a roughly circular chamber separated from the corridor by a kind of threshold-stone.  Another at Tyfta in Sweden is remarkable for its curious construction, the uprights being set rather apart from one another and the spaces between filled up with dry masonry of small stones.  Possibly there were not sufficient large blocks at hand to construct a tomb of the required size.