Gerry asked
> John, are "tholoi" confined to (Aegean, Mycenaean) whereas "tolos"
are
> (Caucasus, Central Asia, Southern Russia). Don't forget, Piotr claims
> that "tolos" is a Polish word.
>
> And what of "dolmen" and "cromlech"? If these terms are NOT IE, then
> what could they possibly be?
It is not necessarily that dolmen and cromlech terms are not IE, but
they were built by people who were in all probability non IE. Dolmen
comes from the Breton tol = stone, men = table, Cromlech comes from the
Welsh meaning bent-stone
From
http://www.iversonsoftware.com/business/archaeology/Dolmen.htm
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 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 collectively called a cromlech.
Archaeologists believe that dolmens were burial chambers. They are
known to have served as altars, as on the island of Guernsey, where
they were used by the Druids in their religious rites. Dolmens are
particularly numerous in Ireland and Wales and in the English counties
of Devon and Cornwall; in northwest France, especially in Bretagne; and
in Spain. They are also found in northern Africa, in Syria, and in
other countries ranging as far east as Japan. Sometimes the mound
enclosing the dolmen was of great size, like that of Sidbury Hill,
Wiltshire, England, which was 52 m (170 ft) high and 96 m (316 ft)
along the slope.
Hope this helps
Regards
John