approached by a short passage, and at Bisceglie, near Ruvo, there is an even finer example, the discovery of which is one of the most important events which have occurred in Italian prehistoric archaeology during the last few years.  The tomb is a simple rectangular corridor 36 feet in length, lying east and west.  Only one cover-slab, that at the west end, remains, and the exact disposition of the rest of the tomb is uncertain.  In one of the side uprights which supports this slab is a circular hole, which, however, seems to be the work of Nature, though its presence may have led to the choice of the stone.  The tomb was carefully excavated, and the remains of several skeletons were found, one of which lay in the contracted position on the right side.  Three of the skulls were observed by an expert to be dolichocephalic, but their fragile condition prevented the taking of actual measurements.  Burnt bones of animals, fragments of pottery, a terra-cotta bead, and a stone pendant were also found, together with flint knives and a fragment of obsidian.

These discoveries show that the heel of Italy fell under the influence which caused the spread of the megalithic monuments, whatever that influence may have been.  The same influence may also have been responsible for the bronze age rock-hewn tombs of Matera in the Basilicata, each of which is surrounded by a circle of fairly large stones.

Geographical considerations would lead one to suppose that the same conditions existed in Sicily, and it is possible that this was the case.  Yet it is an affirmation which must be made with great reserve.  Megalithic monuments in the ordinary sense of the term are unknown in Sicily.  There are, however, four tombs in the south-east of the island which show some affinity to megalithic work.  Two of these were found by Orsi at Monteracello.  They were rectangular chambers built of squared slabs of limestone set on edge.  At one end of the finer of the two was a small opening or window cut in the upright slab.  This same grave contained a skeleton lying on the right side with the legs slightly contracted.  These two tombs can hardly be described as dolmens; they seem to have had no cover-slabs, and the blocks, which were small, were let into the earth, scarcely appearing above the surface.  Taken by themselves the Monteracello tombs would hardly prove the presence of the megalithic civilization in Sicily.  However, in the valley called Cava Lazzaro there is a rock-hewn tomb where the vertical face of the rock in which the tomb is cut has been shaped into a curved facade, a very usual feature of megalithic architecture.  This is ornamented on each side of the entrance of the tomb with four pilasters cut in relief in the solid rock, each pair being connected by a semicircular arch also in relief.  On the pilasters is incised a pattern of circles and V-shaped signs.  A somewhat similar arrangement of pilasters is seen in two rock-tombs at Cava Lavinaro in the same district.  This work forcibly recalls the work of the megalithic builders in the hypogeum of Halsaflieni in Malta (see Chap.  VII), and on the facades of the Giants’ Tombs in Sardinia (see below).  It affords, at any rate, a presumption that in all three islands we have to deal with the same civilization if not the same people.