That the megalithic people possessed a religion of some kind will hardly
be doubted. Their careful observance of the rites due to the dead, and
their construction of buildings which can hardly have been anything but
places of worship, is a strong testimony to this. We have seen that in
the Maltese temples the worship of baetyls or pillars of stone seems to
have been carried on. Several stone objects which can scarcely have been
anything but baetyls were found in the megalithic structures of Los
Millares in Spain, but none are known elsewhere in the megalithic area.

There is some reason for thinking that among the megalithic race there
existed a cult of the axe. In France, for instance, the sculptured
rock-tombs of the valley of the Petit Morin show, some a human figure,
some an axe, and some a combination of the two. This same juxtaposition
of the two also occurs on a slab which closed the top of a corbelled
chamber at Collorgues in Gard. A simple _allee couverte_ at Goehlitzsch
in Saxony has on one of its blocks an axe and handle engraved and
coloured red. There are further examples in the _allee couverte_ of
Gavr'inis and the dolmen called La Table des Marchands at Locmariaquer.

These sculptured axes call to mind at once the numerous axe-shaped
pendants of fine polished stone (jade, jadeite, etc.) found in Malta,
Sicily, Sardinia, and France, and apparently used as amulets. The
excavation of Crete has brought to light a remarkable worship of the
double axe, and it has been argued with great probability that one of
the early boat signs figured on the pre-dynastic painted vases of Egypt
is a double axe, and that this was a cult object. It seems very probable
that in the megalithic area, or at least in part of it, there was a
somewhat similar worship, the object of cult, however, being not a
double but a single axe, usually represented as fitted with a handle. It
need not be assumed that the axe itself was worshipped, though this is
not impossible; it is more likely that it was an attribute of some god
or goddess.

Among the rock-hewn tombs of the valley of the Petit Morin in the
department of Marne, France, were seven which contained engravings on
one of the walls. Several of these represent human figures (Fig. 13).
The eyes are not marked, but the hair and nose are clear. In some the
breasts are shown, in others they are omitted. On each figure is
represented what appears to be a collar or necklace. Similar figure