The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-07-11
QUAINT AND CURIOUS
STRUCTURES WITHOUT A RECORD
FOUND IN MANY LANDS.

| enis-hxtrnordinnry Caves, Towers and
SHARE In Knsiand--Mysteriss Noe LIKELY
- n Cleared Up.
Innumerable are the structures 10 which
this title applies, II IL be understood to
mean buildings Of which the record IL lost
Stone oircles, cyclopean walls, the Cloacse
OF Rome, the mounds" Of western Amer
ics and countless others are az pushing
- could be. We would limit the torn,
therefore, to elaborate edifices the mere
use or essign Of which is unintelligible.
Even then very few examples out Of .
multitude can be dealt with In our space.
The Noraghe Of Sardinia perhaps have
exeroised human IND 61duity upon q greater
scale for q longer time than any other
structures on earth. Greeks and Romans
specuiated over them and learned men of
All countries are speculating still. Aristo-
tle mentions them with admiration. So
does Pausanias. They are, In brief, towers
standing on an artificial mound, 30 to 90
feet high and 100 to 300 feet in circum-
ference at the base. Some which have a
lower platform are more than double this
Inter dimension. The material Is stone,
regularly worked with the hammer. They
show neither sculpture nor inscriptions
nor cement.
Some Of the blocks are Immense. A
very low entrance, but broad, leads by q
gentle incline into . passage of good
he ght, communicating by another very
low doorway with a domed chamber Is
to 20 feet In diameter and 20 to 25 feet
high. Small holes on either hand betray
the existence OF two or four cells, cut in
the thickness Of the wall several feet in
width and depth and height From this
dome spiral passage, rising steeply, takes
one to another just above, somewhat small
or, and ON again to the broken top Of the
Noraghe-for none IL entire.
What can We make Of buildings like
thesef More than 9, 600 have been count
cd. Some authorities argue that they were
tombs, some trophies Of victory, some fire
temples, some observatories, some even
houses. II IL easy to show that several Of
these explanations will not serve, but one
cannot possibly tell what forms Of build
ing religion may command. On that &C
count only It may be supposed that the
Noraghe were temples or giant affairs for
sacrinoe. Nothing has been found In
them. But other remains, not less puz-
ziing, are generally found close by, and
b IL rsmarked-nowhere else. These are
the "sopultre de In gigantis" (giants'
gravesl. Low walls Of rough stones in
close . parallelogram sometimes 40 feet
long and test broad paved with enor-
nous slabs.
They always lie northwest to southeast, at
the lattor angle being 'headstone, /" o sim
gle block not less than 10 feet high, often
Is. Behind this away from the grave
the walls aro prolonged 10 make tho seq
ment OF circle. Az the foot Of the head
stone IL . square aperture finely cut. OF
these extraordinary objects many hun
dreds remain. They represent prodigious
labor and no little skill in mechanics, |
but all that research or ingenuity has dis
covered II as yet that nobody was buried
In them.
We have variety Of puzzle buildings
In this country. The term may DO applied |
to the denes Of Esscx and Middlesex-per-
pendicular shafts sunk in the earth, with |
lateral chambers at the bottom. The most |
antiquarios have not yet shown |
who dug these extraordinary caves nor
what was their purpose. But 1t is evident
that they might serve either as granaries !
Dr. dwellings or places Of refuge in time of
trouble. All these theories have been ar
yued. Therefore the denes and other such
unexplained but not inexplicable myste-
'ies may be put aside-thc Martello towers
'or example. Things downright unac-
remain.
The most speculative only venture To
suggest that such or such may have been
ne object In building the raths of Kerry.
Hundreds Of these raths are still un-
ouched, hundreds have been explored and
hundreds at least destroyed. They are an
'arsntly mounds Of earth overgrown with
Irass, perhaps 80 feet high and go feet in
liarietcr. When the turf is removed. we
60 an outer wall Of stone enclrclinQ the
pace, supporting generally a roof of large
labs, but sometimes the substructure is
unk In the ground, when the slabs do not
ppear to form q roof, but pavement.
Somewhcre In this wall is the entrance.
narrow hole upon The level Of the earth.
through it-but mindful Of the
oisonous gases which accumulate under
uch conditions--we find that the inclosed
psoe Is interseoted by walls which split it
p into chambcr-not less than six--1O
!, ~ feet long and ~ to feet high.
hey al communicate with one another
holes just large enough for a man to
rawl through, but the archway is hewn
one exoellently fashioned Each chamber
as an outlet for ventilation In the sur
'unding wall. Sometimes there is rude
replace In that most distant from the en-.
'ance, though 1t remains 10 be discovered
. minor puszle--how the occupants es.
Aped sufocation when the fro was lit.
The hoor OF reth IL always dry, for a
,ot with natural drainage was chosen.
here's nothing more to be said about
'em. Ne tool nor bone has ever been
und, excepting objects evidently intro
aoed at modern date. What can be the
irpose Of these buildingsS They were
IT meant for hiding places, for the rath
ways stands conspicuous They were
= In the way Of forts, since the enemy
"a but to close the ventilators, and ali
Thin must stif1e. II they were dwellings, ]
o people who used them must surely
We been dwarfs, for the shortest men OF
iropsan race could not stand upright
erein. 1t has been suggested that they
re the cellars Of q small village or oom.
nnal house, built upon the roof, of per
'ahle materials, but In that stage Of civ. ]
sstion cellars are quite unnecessary. We
lss give IL up-for the present, at any
e.-London STANDARD.