The only instance in which it seems that the Bible is speaking of the same class of monuments as those we are concerned with is in the last chapter of Joshua, where it is said (verse 26), he "took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord," and said, "Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us." It is the more probable that this was really a great monolith, as it seems to be the stone mentioned in Judges ix. 6 as "the pillar of the plain," ... or "by the oak of the pillar which was in Shechem;" and if this is so, it must have been of considerable dimensions. It therefore alone, of all the stones mentioned in the Bible, seems to belong to the class of stones we are treating of; but even then its direct bearing on the subject is not clear. It by no means follows that because the Israelites in Joshua's time set up such a stone for such a purpose that either then or a thousand years afterwards the French or Scandinavians did the same thing with the same intention. It may be so, but both the time and locality seem too remote for us to rely on any supposed analogy.
As bearing indirectly on this subject, it is curious to observe that the rite of circumcision in these early days of Jewish history was performed with flint knives,[510] which, considering that bronze and iron were both familiarly known to the Israelites at that period, is a remarkable example of the persistence in an old fashion long after it might have been supposed it would have become obsolete. It is equally curious, if the Septuagint is to be depended upon, that they should have buried with Joshua in his grave those very flint implements (τὰς μαχαίραγς τὰς πετρίνας) with which the operation was performed. This cannot of course be quoted as the latest or even a late example of flint being buried in tombs, but it is interesting as explaining one reason for the practice. It is at least one instance in which flint was used long after metal was known, and one tomb in which stone implements were buried for other reasons than the people's ignorance of the use of metal.[511] If the Jews used flints for that purpose in Joshua's time, and so disposed of them after the death of their chief, the only wonder is that they do not do so at the present day.
To turn from these speculations, based on words, to the real facts of the case. We find that the first persons who observed dolmens in Syria were Captains Irby and Mangles. In their hurried journey from Es Salt, in 1817, to the fords of the Jordan, apparently in a straight line from Es Salt to Nablous, they observed a group of twenty-seven dolmens, very irregularly situated at the foot of the mountain. All those they observed were composed of two side-stones, from 8 to 10 feet long, supporting a cap-stone projecting considerably beyond the sides and ends. The chambers, however, were only 5 feet long internally—too short, consequently, for a body to be stretched out at full length. The contraction arose from the two transverse stones being placed considerably within the ends of the side-stones. One of these appears to have been solid, the other to have been pierced with what is called a door; but whether this was a hole in one stone, or a door formed by two jambs, is not clear.[512] No drawing or plan accompanies their description; but the arrangement will be easily understood when we come to examine those of Rajunkoloor, in India, [513] described farther on ([woodcut No. 206]).
191. Dolmens at Kafr er Wâl. From a sketch by Mrs. Roberton Blaine.
The only other reliable information I have is extracted for me from his note-books by my friend, Mr. D. R. Blaine. In travelling from Om Keis—Gadara—towards Gerash, at a place called Kafr er Wâl, not far from Tibné, they met with one considerable group, a portion of which is represented in the above woodcut (No. 191). The size of the stones varies considerably; generally, however, they are about 12 feet by 6 feet, and from 1 to 2 feet in thickness. One cap-stone was nearly 12 feet square, and the side-stones vary from 5 to 6 feet in height. On approaching Sûf, a great number of dolmens were observed on either side of the road for a distance of from three to four miles. Some of these seemed quite perfect, others were broken down; but the travellers had unfortunately no time to count or examine them with care.
This is a very meagre account of a great subject—so meagre, indeed, that it is impossible to found any argument upon it that will be worth anything; but it is interesting to observe that all the dolmens as yet noticed in Syria are situated in Gilead, the country of the Amorites, and of Og, king of Bashan. If it should prove eventually that there are none except in this district, it would give rise to several interesting ethnographical determinations. At present all we can feel confident about is that there are no dolmens west of the Jordan; but the Amorites were originally settled in Hebron,[514] and there are certainly no dolmens there. So unless they migrated eastward before the dolmen period, they can scarcely lay claim to them. Then these dolmens may belong to the Rephaim, the Emim, the Anakim, the Zuzim, and all those giant tribes that dwelt beyond Jordan at the time of Chedorlaomer, the dreaded king of Elam, who smote the kings of this district at the dawn of the Bible history of these regions. [515] The speculation is a tempting one, and if it should eventually be proved that they are confined to this one district, it will no doubt find favour in some quarters. There seems, however, nothing to support it beyond the fact that the people in the region beyond the Jordan seem all and always to have been of Hamite or Turanian blood, and therefore likely to adopt this mode of burial whenever it may have been introduced, in spite of the colonization of two tribes and a half of Israelites, who could do but little to leaven the mass. I am afraid that, like the theory which identified the Roman cities of the Hauran with the giant cities of Og, king of Bashan, and his tall contemporaries, this hypothesis will not bear examination. Every stone of these cities, it is now known, was placed where we now find it, after the time when Pompey extended Roman influence to these regions; and nothing would surprise me less than to find that these dolmens are even more modern. Before, however, we venture to speculate on such a subject, we must feel surer than we now do of their extent and their distribution, and know something of their contents. On both these subjects we are at present practically entirely ignorant.