Dolmen

Dolmen, type of prehistoric chamber consisting of two or more huge unhewn stone slabs, or megaliths, set edgewise in the earth and supporting a flat capstone that serves as a roof. Dolmens were sometimes covered with earth to form immense artificial hillocks or tumuli, but at times the covering of earth reached only the capstone. Many dolmens are surrounded by a circle of megaliths. Dolmens are believed to have been burial chambers. They are particularly numerous in Ireland and Wales and in the English counties of Devon and Cornwall; in north-west France, especially in Brittany; and in Spain. They are also found in northern Africa, in Syria, and in other countries ranging as far east as Japan.