Megalithic constructions: types and types

On the surface of the globe, with the exception of Australia, there are many mysterious and ancient buildings. Modern studies have shown that they were erected in the Neolithic, Eneolithic and Bronze Age. Previously it was believed that they all represent one common culture, but today more and more scientists are questioning this theory. So, by whom and why were such megalithic constructions created? Why do they have this or that form and what do they mean? Where can you see these monuments of ancient culture?

What is megaliths?

Before considering and studying megalithic structures, it is necessary to understand what elements they can consist of. Today it is considered to be the smallest unit of structures of this type of megalith. This term was officially introduced into scientific terminology in 1867, with the filing of the English specialist A. Herbert. The word "megalith" is Greek, translated into Russian means "big stone".

An exact and exhaustive definition of what such megaliths is, does not yet exist. Today, this term means ancient structures made of stone blocks, slabs or simple blocks of various sizes without the use of any cementing or binding compounds and solutions. The simplest kind of megalithic structures, consisting of only one block, are the menhirs.

Main features of megalithic structures

In different epochs, various nations erected huge structures of large stones, blocks and slabs. The temple in Baalbek and the Egyptian pyramids are also megaliths, they are simply not so called. Thus, megalithic constructions are various designs created by different ancient civilizations and consisting of large stones or slabs. However, all structures considered to be megaliths have a number of features that unite them:

1. All of them are made of stones, blocks and slabs of giant sizes, the weight of which can range from several tens of kilograms to hundreds of tons.

2. Ancient megalithic constructions were erected from strong and resistant to destruction of rocks: limestone, andesite, basalt, diorite and others.

3. During construction, cement was not used - neither in mortar for fixing, nor for making blocks.

4. In most of the buildings, the surface of the blocks from which they are made up is carefully processed, and the blocks themselves are tightly fitted to each other. Accuracy is such that between the two megalithic blocks of volcanic rocks you can not thrust the knife blade.

5. Quite often preserved fragments of megalithic structures later civilizations used as a foundation for their own buildings, which is clearly visible in the buildings on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

When were they created?

Most megalithic objects located in Great Britain, Ireland and other countries of Western Europe, date back to the V-IV millennium BC. E. The most ancient megalithic constructions located on the territory of our country date back to the IV-II millennium BC.

Types of megalithic structures

All the variety of megalithic buildings can be conditionally divided into two large groups:

• Funerary;
• Not funerary:
• Profane;
• Sacral.

If everything is more or less clear with funeral megaliths, then scientists are building hypotheses about the appointment of profane structures, such as various giant wall and road layouts, combat and residential towers. There is no accurate and reliable information about how the ancient people used sacred megalithic structures: menhirs, cromlechs and others.

What are they like?

The most common types of megaliths are:

• Menhirs - single, vertically installed stela stones up to 20 meters high;
• Cromlech - the union of several menhirs around the largest, forming a semicircle or circle;
• Dolmens - the most common type of megaliths in Europe, are one or more large stone slabs laid on other blocks or boulders;
• The covered gallery is one of the varieties of dolmens connected together;
• Trilith - a stone structure consisting of two or more vertical and one, laid on top of them horizontally, stones;
• Taula - a construction of stone in the form of the Russian letter "T";
• Cairn, also known as "guri" or "tour" - an underground or ground structure, laid out as a cone of many stones;
• Stone rows are vertically and in parallel installed blocks of stone;
• Seid - a stone boulder or a boulder, established by this or that people in a special place, as a rule, on a hill, for carrying out various mystical ceremonies.

Here are listed only the most famous types of megalithic structures. Let us dwell in more detail on some of them.

Dolmen

In translation from Breton into Russian means "stone table". As a rule, consists of three stones, one of which lies on two vertically installed, in the form of the letter "P". The ancient people did not adhere to any single scheme when constructing such structures, so there are many options for dolmens carrying different functions. The most famous megalithic structures of this type are on the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of Africa and Europe, in India, Scandinavia, the Caucasus.

Trilith

One of the subspecies of the dolmen, consisting of three stones, scientists consider trilith. Typically, this term is not applied to separately located megaliths, but to monuments that are components of more complex structures. For example, in the most famous megalithic complex, like Stonehenge, the central part consists of five Triliths.

Cairn

Another type of megalithic buildings is cairn, or tour. This is a cone-shaped mound of stones, although in Ireland this name is understood as the construction of only five stones. They can be located both on the surface of the earth and under it. In the scientific community, cairns are most often understood as megalithic structures that are underground: labyrinths, galleries and funerary cells.

Menhirs

The oldest and simplest kind of megalithic structures are menhirs. This is a single, set up vertically massive boulders or stones. From ordinary, natural stone blocks, menhirs are distinguished by a surface with traces of processing and by the fact that their vertical dimension is always greater than horizontal. They can be both stand-alone, and can be part of complex megalithic complexes.

In the Caucasus menhirs were given the shape of fish and called vishap. On the Iberian peninsula, in the territory of modern France, in the Crimea and the Black Sea region, quite a few anthropomorphic magalites have survived - stone women.

Postmegalithic menhirs are also created later than runic stones and stone crosses.

Cromlech

Several menhirs, installed in the form of a semicircle or a circle and covered with stone slabs, are called cromlechs. The most famous example is Stonehenge. However, apart from round ones, cromlechs and rectangular ones are encountered, as, for example, in Morbian or Khakassia. On the island of Malta, temple complexes-cromlechs are built in the form of "petals." To create such megalithic structures, not only the stone was used, but also the tree, which was confirmed by the findings obtained during archaeological work in the English county of Norfolk.

"Flying stones of Lapland"

The most common megalithic structures in Russia, oddly enough, are seyds - huge boulders mounted on small stands. Sometimes the main block is decorated with one or several small stones, built into a "pyramid". This type of megaliths is widely distributed from the shores of Onega and Ladoga lakes to the coast of the Barents Sea, that is, throughout the north of the European part of Russia. On the Kola Peninsula and in Karelia there are sejids ranging in size from several tens of centimeters to six meters and weighing from a dozen kilograms to several tons, depending on the rock from which they were made. In addition to the Russian North, quite a lot of megaliths of this species are found in the taiga regions of Finland, northern and central Norway, the mountains of Sweden.

Seidas can be single, group and massive, including from a dozen to several hundred megaliths.