What are menhirs and dolmens?
A Menhir is a tall, vertically placed standing stone, whilst a Dolmen is a table-like structure comprising a large slab laid horizontally on two smaller stone supports (orthostats).
What are the differences between dolmens menhirs and cromlechs?
A big stone that is called Menhir, a roughly shaped stone set into the ground, and Dolmen, formed by two vertical stones supporting on top a horizontally placed one and finally Cromlech, megalithic circles (also stone circles in English or cromlech from Welsh) which are supposed to have a calendar function of …
Where is menhirs and dolmens located?
The Carnac stones (Breton: Steudadoù Karnag) are an exceptionally dense collection of megalithic sites near the south coast of Brittany in northwestern France, consisting of stone alignments (rows), dolmens (stone tombs), tumuli (burial mounds) and single menhirs (standing stones).
What is menhir used for?
Over the centuries, they have variously been thought to have been used by Druids for human sacrifice, used as territorial markers, or elements of a complex ideological system, used as mnemonic systems for oral cultures, or functioned as early calendars.
How are the menhirs arranged?
Menhirs were often arranged in circles (Cycoliths) (see for instance Stonehenge, Avebury, and Ring of Brodgar), semi-circles, large-scale ellipses or in parallel rows called alignments (see the 3000 or so menhirs positoned in Carnac, Brittany, in France).
What were menhirs used for?
Is Stonehenge a dolmen?
The Stonehenge monument is a historical British landmark in Wiltshire, England, believed to be thousands of years old. It was erected from ancient-formed structures known as dolmens, or standing stones and a flat-roof of stone.
Is dolmens a megalith stone?
The Breton word dolmen was originally used to describe the wide variety of stone monuments or, “megaliths” (meaning large stones), being discovered across the world. There is considerable diversity in those monument types, but they nevertheless share a number of common characteristics.