Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/72

 54 A History of Art in Sardinia and Judaea. II Fig. 41. — The Nao. Section through e, f. La Marmora. Atlas, Plate XXXIX. Sardinian sepulchres, consists in this : that the former are con- structed with massive, unhewn stones, whilst in the latter they are often square cut and put together with a certain degree of skill, care being had to diminish the space in the upper portion of the passage by making the stones to overlap. As in the niiragh chamber, so in these monuments, the low wall visible from outside has a deep inward incline, yielding one more proof in this simple and clear chain of evidence, that nûraghs and tombs were coeval and raised by the same people. 1 This wall deflection is seen in a monu- ment of Minorca, known as the " Nao," because of its real or fanciful resemblance to a ship, in which it is impossible not to recognize a tomb ; 2 shown in our plan (Fig. 39) ; lengthwise cut (Fig. 40) ; trans- verse cuts (Figs. 41 and 42) ; and perspec- tive view (Fig. 43). Like the giants' tombs, the general outlines consist of a low, narrow vault on the ground-floor; its only communication with the outer world was a small aperture, to which the dignified name of door must be refused. There are, however, differences in the distri- bution and inner details. Thus the Nao was formerly possessed of two vaulted storeys, but no stela or hémicycle, which may nevertheless have been there ; the former composed of stones, which have disappeared, whilst the stela has dwindled into a conical projection, indicated by dots in Fig. 44. It should be noted in this place, that even in Sardinia the stela is not always a monolith, but formed sometimes of two or three superimposed slabs. 3 Considered as a whole, therefore, there are reasons for acknowledging two distinct varieties of the same type in the sepulchral structures of Sardinia and the Baléares, the funda- mental characteristics of which had been fixed in the early home Fig. 42.— The Nao. Section through g, h. La Marmora. Atlas, Plate XXXIX. 1 La Marmora, Voyage en Sardaigne, Pt. II. p. 28. 2 Ibid. pp. 542, 543. Note. — I may perhaps be permitted to note that " menhirs " are long or standing stones ; " dolmens," stone tables or slabs ; and " cromlechs," circles formed of menhirs. — Editor. 8 La Marmora, Voyage en Sardaigne, Pt. II. pp. 25, 27.