Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/73

 Giants' Tombs, Cromlechs, or Dolmens. 55 common to both, before they settled in the western islands of the Mediterranean, when each group modified the primitive pattern, of which certain elements, discarded in one locality, were Fig. 43. — The Nao Nûragh. Perspective view. La Marmora. Atlas, Plate XXXIX. given prominence in another, resulting in variety of detail, whilst retaining the ruling principle. Within our knowledge the well-wrought, conical mile-stones (?) met with at the sides or fronting the giants' tombs, have not been found about the Nao, or in any sepulchral monument (Figs. 32 and 45). * But a relationship may be ..-—-. established between a tombal structure, of which the hémicycle alone remains, and some huge, unhewn stones, or " menhirs," fixed to the ground, bearing a faint re- semblance to a cone. 2 Have these mile- stones and standing monoliths any affinity with the cones of a religious character seen in Phoenician temples ? We cannot vouchsafe a categorical answer, save that the terra-cottas, bronzes, coins, etc., recovered in Sardinia, all suggest Phoenician influence; which the interesting monument, called Perda Lunga, " long stone," serves further to illustrate (Fig. 46). It consists of three rude, obelisk-shaped menhirs, of which the highest now lies 1 La Marmora, Voyage en Sardaigne, Pt. II. pp. 10-20, Plate III. 2 Ibid. p. 7, Plate II. fig. 3. Fig. 44. — The Nao Nuragh. stored elevation through c,