Dolmens, cromlechs, Hünengräber or Hunebedden are megalithic tombs consisting of large stones ("megaliths") set in formation and originally covered with earth or more, smaller stones. In many cases the covering has been weathered away leaving only the stone 'skeleton' of the monument. They are a single chamber type of megalithic tomb. The word dolmen, in Breton and Cornish means "stone table". The word was introduced into archaeological usage by Théophile Corret de la Tour d'Auvergne. Cromlech derives fr ...

Read more here: » Dolmen: Encyclopedia - Dolmen

DOLMEN: DOLMEN: The standing stones of the Celtic countries which are shaped like altars with one large capstone being upheld by two endstones. It is also called a Cromlech. An ancient structure of stone used as a burial space. Often used by a grove as a place of power.

(See also: DOLMEN, Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

DOLMEN - a huge megalithic stone balanced on several small stone supports. (NAD)

(See also: DOLMEN, Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

For many thousands of years our ancestors have been visiting and venerating the power places of Europe. One culture after another has often frequented the same power sites and the story of how these magical places were discovered and used is filled with fairies and nature spirits, sages and astronomers, and enigmatic myths of world destroying cataclysms.

Read more here: » Sacred Sites: Pilgrimage in Ancient Europe - Megalithic and Celtic Sacred Space

A menhir is a large, single upright standing stone (monolith or megalith), of prehistoric European origin. The word menhir was adopted, via French, by 19th century archaeologists on the basis of words in the Breton language meaning "long stone" (compare Modern Welsh: maen hir = long stone). In modern Breton the word peulvan is used. The largest surviving menhir is at Locmariaquer, Brittany, the Grand Menhir Brisé ("Great Broken Menhir") which was once about 20 meters high. It lies broken in f ...

Including:

• Menhir - Partial list of menhirs
• Menhir - England
• Menhir - France
• Menhir - Germany
• Menhir - Malta
• Menhir - Portugal
• Menhir - Scandinavia
• Menhir - Wales

Read more here: » Menhir: Encyclopedia - Menhir

Cromlech is a Breton and Welsh word used to describe prehistoric megalithic structures. Crom means 'bent' and llech means flagstone. The term is obsolete in English-speaking archaeology but remains in use as a folk term for dolmens, the remains of stone chamber tombs. In French 'cromlech' is widely used to describe the stone circles in the country. The British archaeologist Aubrey Burl also uses 'cromlech' to describe stone circles in Britain and France.

Read more here: » Cromlech: Encyclopedia - Cromlech

Bolmsö is an island located in lake Bolmen near Växjö in Småland. It had 382 inhabitants in 1998. It presents 530 ancient remains, including dolmens and cobble-clad graves in various forms, especially large triangular ones. The dominating graves are large barrows from the Iron Age with the addition of stelae, stone circles and a large stone ship. A farm with the name Hof reveals that it was once ...

Including:

• Bolmsö - Sources

Read more here: » Bolmsö: Encyclopedia - Bolmsö

In Western Europe and the Mediterranean, megaliths are generally constructions erected during the Neolithic or late stone age and Chalcolithic or Copper Age (4500 - 1500 B.C.E). Perhaps the most famous megalithic structure is Stonehenge in England, although many others are known throughout the world. The French Comte de Caylus was the first to describe the Monuments of Carnac. Legrand d'Aussy introduced the terms menhir and dolmen, both taken from the Breton language, into antiquarian ...

See also:

Megalith, Megalith - Distribution of megaliths, Megalith - Nabta Playa, Megalith - Western European megaliths, Megalith - Types of megalithic structures, Megalith - Megalithic graves, Megalith - Astronomical use, Megalith - Modern megaliths, Megalith - Examples of megaliths

Read more here: » Megalith: Encyclopedia II - Megalith - Western European megaliths

The French archaeologist Jean-Pierre Mohan in his book Le Monde des Megalithes described the unusual concentration of stone circles in the British Isles as follows: British Isles megalithism is outstanding in the abundance of standing stones, and the variety of circular architectural complexes of which they formed a part...strikingly original, they have no equivalent elsewhere in Europe - stron ...

See also:

Stone circle, Stone circle - Stone circles in the British Isles, Stone circle - Links

Read more here: » Stone circle: Encyclopedia II - Stone circle - Stone circles in the British Isles

The French archaeologist Jean-Pierre Mohan in his book Le Monde des Megalithes described the unusual concentration of stone circles in the British Isles as follows: British Isles megalithism is outstanding in the abundance of standing stones, and the variety of circular architectural complexes of which they formed a part...strikingly original, they have no equivalent elsewhere in Europe - stron ...

See also:

Stone circle, Stone circle - Stone circles in the British Isles

Read more here: » Stone circle: Encyclopedia II - Stone circle - Stone circles in the British Isles

British enthusiasts, such as the editors of the Penguin Dictionary of Archaeology, claim that henges are unique to the British Isles and that similar, much earlier, circles on the Continent, such as Goseck circle are not proper "henges". Another such enthusiast is Julian Cope whose book, The Megalithic European, proposes that the henge was a regional development from the Europe-wide causewayed enclosure, appearing following a cultural upheaval in around 3000 BC which inspired the peoples of Neolithic Europe to develop more inde ...

See also:

Henge, Henge - Distribution, Henge - Forms, Henge - Theories about henges, Henge - Sources

Read more here: » Henge: Encyclopedia II - Henge - Distribution

Nabta Playa was once a large lake in the Nubian Desert, located 500 miles south of modern day Cairo [1]. By the 5th millennium BC the peoples in Nabta Playa had fashioned the world's earliest known astronomical device, 1000 years older than but comparable to Stonehenge [2]. Research shows it to be a prehistoric calendar that accurately marks the summer solstice [3]. Findings indicate that the region was occupied only seasonally, likely only in the summer when the local lake filled ...

See also:

Megalith, Megalith - Distribution of megaliths, Megalith - Nabta Playa, Megalith - Western European megaliths, Megalith - Types of megalithic structures, Megalith - Megalithic graves, Megalith - Astronomical use, Megalith - Modern megaliths, Megalith - Examples of megaliths

Read more here: » Megalith: Encyclopedia II - Megalith - Nabta Playa

Main article: Megalithic tomb Many megalithic monuments were burial mounds which were often re-used by different generations. The chambered cairn is a common type of collective tomb. Some of these are passage graves generally built of drystone walling and/or megaliths often with a round burial chamber in a round mound with a straight passage leading out. Gallery graves have a long megalithic chamber with parallel sides ofte ...

See also:

Megalith, Megalith - Distribution of megaliths, Megalith - Nabta Playa, Megalith - Western European megaliths, Megalith - Types of megalithic structures, Megalith - Megalithic graves, Megalith - Astronomical use, Megalith - Modern megaliths, Megalith - Examples of megaliths

Read more here: » Megalith: Encyclopedia II - Megalith - Megalithic graves

DOLMEN

Huge prehistoric unworked stone resting atop two other upright stones. Used as a gateway or entrance to the underworld. To be distinguished from Cromlech (which is a kind of womb). The Druids apparently preferred monoliths, although Stonehenge, an ancient Druidic temple, contained both. The reason for that is that the Druids themselves customarily practiced on the sites of pervious, prehistoric stone circles of unknown origin. Dolmen sites were connected to one another by paths aligned in patterns called "ley lines" to form lattices of occult energy.

(See also: DOLMEN, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

They are classified as Class I henges which have a single entrance created from a gap in the bank; Class II henges, which have two entrances, opposite each other; and Class III henges which have four entrances, facing each other in pairs. Sub groups exist for these when two or three internal ditches are present rather than one. Henges are usually associated with the Late Neolithic, especially the grooved ware culture, the Peterborough culture and the beaker people. Sites such as Stonehenge also provide evidence of activity from the l ...

See also:

Henge, Henge - Distribution, Henge - Forms, Henge - Theories about henges, Henge - Sources

Read more here: » Henge: Encyclopedia II - Henge - Forms

Henges may have been used for rituals, or astronomical observation rather than being areas of day-to-day activity. The fact that their ditches are located inside their banks indicates that they would not have been used in a defensive function and that the barrier the earthworks provide is more likely to have been symbolic rather than functional. It has been conjectured that whatever took place inside the enclosures was intended to be separate from the outside world and perh ...

See also:

Henge, Henge - Distribution, Henge - Forms, Henge - Theories about henges, Henge - Sources

Read more here: » Henge: Encyclopedia II - Henge - Theories about henges

Menhir - England. Drizzlecombe, Dartmoor Beardown Man, Dartmoor Laughter Tor, near Two Bridges, Dartmoor Menhir - France. Carnac, Brittany Filitosa, Corsica Saint-Sulpice-de-Faleyrens, Gironde [3] (5 m high and 3 m wide, can be found at the nearby port of Pierrefite) Cham des Bondons, [[Lozère Menhir - Germany. Gollenstein, Blieskastel (6.6 m high) Spellenstein, St. Ingbert (5 m high)See also:

Menhir, Menhir - Partial list of menhirs, Menhir - England, Menhir - France, Menhir - Germany, Menhir - Malta, Menhir - Portugal, Menhir - Scandinavia, Menhir - Wales

Read more here: » Menhir: Encyclopedia II - Menhir - Partial list of menhirs

Rising sea levels transformed Guernsey into the tip of a peninsula jutting out into the emergent English Channel until about 6000 BC, when Guernsey and other promontories were cut off from continental Europe, becoming islands. At this time, Neolithic farmers settled the coasts and created the dolmens and menhirs that dot the islands. The island of Guernsey contains three sculpted menhirs of great archaeological interest; the dolmen known as L'Autel du ...

See also:

Guernsey, Guernsey - History, Guernsey - Politics, Guernsey - Geography, Guernsey - Economy, Guernsey - Demographics, Guernsey - Culture, Guernsey - Sport in Guernsey

Read more here: » Guernsey: Encyclopedia II - Guernsey - History

Drenthe, unlike many other parts of the Netherlands has always been a sparsely populated rural area, other parts of the Netherlands didn’t really see this “territory” as a part that belonged to the rest of the Netherlands but more like “wasteland”. This “wasteland”, however, has been populated by people since prehistory, albeit by just a handful. Most tangible evidence of this are the dolmens (hunebedden) built around 3500 BC, 53 of the 54 dolmens in the Netherlands can be found in Drenthe, concentrated in the northeast ...

See also:

Drenthe, Drenthe - History, Drenthe - Politics, Drenthe - Municipalities, Drenthe - Geography, Drenthe - Economy, Drenthe - Drents

Read more here: » Drenthe: Encyclopedia II - Drenthe - History

Around 3500 BC a group of people known as Neolithic people came to Ireland. One of the lasting features they left behind is the Proleek Dolmen at Ballymascanlon, on the northern side of Dundalk. The Celts arrived in Ireland around 500 BC having colonized most of Europe. The group that settled in North Louth were known as the Conaille Muirtheimhne and took their name from Conaill Carnagh, legendary chief of the Red Branch Knights of Ulster. Their land now forms upper and lower Dundalk. The poets in Celtic society were known as the f ...

See also:

Dundalk, Dundalk - History, Dundalk - Overview

Read more here: » Dundalk: Encyclopedia II - Dundalk - History