A menhir, standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright standing stone. Menhirs
may be found singly as monoliths, or as part of a group of similar stones. Their size can
vary considerably, but their shape is generally uneven and squared, often tapering towards
the top. Menhirs are widely distributed across Europe, Africa and Asia, but are most numerous
in Western Europe; in particular in Ireland, Great Britain and Brittany. There are about
50,000 megaliths in these areas, while there are 1,200 menhirs in northwest France alone.
Standing stones are usually difficult to date, but pottery found underneath some in Atlantic
Europe connects them with the Beaker people. They were constructed during many different
periods across pre-history as part of a larger megalithic culture that flourished in Europe
and beyond. Some menhirs have been raised next to buildings
that often have an early or current religious significance. One example is the South Zeal
Menhir in Devon, which formed the basis for a 12th-century monastery built by lay monks.
The monastery later became the Oxenham Arms Hotel at South Zeal, and the standing stone
remains in place in the ancient snug bar at the hotel.
Where menhirs appear in groups, often in a circular, oval, henge or horseshoe formation,
they are sometimes called megalithic monuments. These are sites of ancient religious ceremonies,
sometimes containing burial chambers. The exact function of menhirs has provoked more
debate than practically any other issue in European pre-history. 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, or functioned as early
calendars. Until the nineteenth century, antiquarians did not have substantial knowledge of prehistory,
and their only reference points were provided by classical literature. The developments
of radiocarbon dating and tree-ring calibration have done much to further knowledge in this
area. The word menhir was adopted from French by
19th century archaeologists. It is a combination of two words found in the Breton language;
men and hir. In modern Welsh, they are described as maen hir, or "long stone". In modern Breton,
the word peulvan is used.
History
Practically nothing is known of the social organization or religious beliefs of the people
who erected the menhirs. There is not even any trace of these people's language; however
we do know that they buried their dead and had the skills to grow cereal, farm and make
pottery, stone tools and jewelry. Identifying their uses remains speculation. However, it
is likely that many uses involved fertility rites and seasonal cycles. Until recently,
menhirs were associated with the Beaker people, who inhabited Europe during the European late
Neolithic and early Bronze Age —later third millennium BC. However, recent research into
the age of megaliths in Brittany strongly suggests a far older origin, perhaps back
to six to seven thousand years ago. Many menhirs are engraved with megalithic
art. This often turned them into anthropomorphic stelae, although images of objects such as
stone axes, ploughs, shepherd crooks and yokes were common. With the exception of the stone
axe, none of these motifs are definite, and the name used to describe them is largely
for convenience. Some menhirs were broken up and incorporated into later passage graves,
where they had new megalithic art carved with little regard for the previous pictures. It
is not known if this re-use was deliberate or if the passage grave builders just saw
menhirs as a convenient source of stone. During the Middle Ages, standing stones were
believed to have been built by the giants who inhabited the earth before the biblical
flood. Many of the megaliths were destroyed or defaced by early Christians, but it is
estimated that some 50,000 megaliths once stood in Northern Europe, where almost 10,000
now remain. Geographical distribution
Scandinavia
In Scandinavia, menhirs are called bautasteiner or bautastenar and continued to be erected
during the Pre-Roman Iron Age and later, usually over the ashes of the dead. They were raised
both as solitary stones and in formations, such as the stone ships and few stone circles.
Sometimes, they were raised only as commemoration to great people, a tradition which was continued
as the runestones. Frostating, with its seat at Tinghaugen in
Frosta municipality in the county of Nord-Trøndelag, was the site of an early Norwegian court.
The site is represented by the Frostatinget bautasten.
The tradition was strongest in Bornholm, Gotland and Götaland and appears to have followed
the Goths, during the 1st century, to the southern shore of the Baltic Sea, where they
are a characteristic of the Wielbark culture. Sweden
In Sweden by the 13th century menhirs were erected as markers for the graves of warriors.
The following lines are taken from the introduction of the Heimskringla by Snorri Sturluson;
As to funeral rites, the earliest age is called the Age of Burning; because all the dead were
consumed by fire, and over their ashes were raised standing stones.
For men of consequence a mound should be raised to their memory, and for all other warriors
who had been distinguished for manhood a standing stone; which custom remained long after Odin's
time. In the same work, Snorri wrote that the Swedes
burnt their dead king Vanlade and raised a stone over his ashes by the River Skyt:
The Swedes took his body and burnt it at a river called Skytaa, where a standing stone
was raised over him. The tradition is also mentioned in Hávamál.
Czech Republic
A number of menhirs exist in the Czech Republic. These standing stones include the Menhir Kamenný
pastýř near Klobuky. France
Brittany stands out in the distribution of menhirs by virtue of both the density of monuments
and the diversity of types. The largest surviving menhir in the world is located in Locmariaquer,
Brittany, and it is known as the Grand Menhir Brisé. Once nearly high, today, it lies fractured
into four pieces, but it would have weighed near 330 tons when intact. It is placed third
after the Thunder Stone in St. Petersburg and the Western Stone in the Western Wall
as the heaviest object moved by humans without powered machinery.
Alignments of menhirs are common, the most famous being the Carnac stones in Brittany,
where more than 3000 individual menhirs are arranged in four groups and arrayed in rows
stretching across four kilometres. Each set is organised with the tallest stones at the
western end and shorter ones at the eastern end. Some end with a semicircular cromlech,
but many have since fallen or been destroyed. The second largest concentration of menhirs
in France is at the Cham des Bondons, located on high open limestone plain in the granitic
Cévennes. Today, the site is protected by the Parc National des Cévennes. From the
time pastoralism was established, the site was kept open by controlled burning and grazing.
On the island of Corsica, menhirs are found in Filitosa, a megalithic site in southern
Corsica. The period of occupation spans from the end of the Neolithic era and the beginning
of the Bronze Age, until around the Roman times in Corsica.
Portugal
In Portugal, there are also found several ancient menhirs. Among these megalithic structures
is the Almendres Menhir in Évora. Armenia
Numerous menhirs dot the lands across Armenia, and are called. The stones are cigar-shaped
and are typically 10 to 20 feet tall. They are often found in the mountains near the
sources of rivers or lakes. A large number of them have been carved in the shape of a
fish. The earliest known vishapkar is thought to be from between the 18th to 16th centuries
BC. An inscription in ancient Urartian cuneiform written upon a vishap at the temple of Garni
shows that they were created prior to the Urartian Kingdom.
Horn of Africa
Ancient standing stones are found throughout the Horn of Africa. Several of these old structures
exist in Qohaito, Eritrea, and date to a period before the founding of the Kingdom of Axum.
The Axumites themselves also erected a number of large stelae, which served a religious
purpose in pre-Christian times. One of these granite columns is the largest such structure
in the world, standing at 90 feet. In northeastern Somalia, on the coastal plain
20 km to Alula's east are found ruins of an ancient monument in a platform style. The
structure is formed by a rectangular drystone wall that is low in height; the space in between
is filled with rubble and manually covered with small stones. Relatively large standing
stones are also positioned on the edifice's corners. Near the platform are graves, which
are outlined in stones. 24 m by 17 m in dimension, the structure is the largest of
a string of ancient platform and enclosed platform monuments exclusive to far northeastern
Somalia. Additionally, around 200 stone monuments are found in the northeastern Botiala site,
most of which consist of cairns. There are a number of rows of standing stones on the
eastern side of the structures, which are similar to those at Salweyn, a great cairn-held
situated close to Hais. Besides cairns, the Botiala area also features a few other drystone
monuments. These include disc monuments with circular, ground-level features, as well as
low, rectangular platform monuments. Burial sites near Burao in the northwestern part
of the country likewise feature a number of old stelae.
Additionally, between Djibouti City and Loyada in Djibouti are a number of anthropomorphic
and phallic stelae. The structures are associated with graves of rectangular shape flanked by
vertical slabs, as also found in central Ethiopia. The Djibouti-Loyada stelae are of uncertain
age, and some of them are adorned with a T-shaped symbol.
South America Menhirs were erected by the U'wa people of
Colombia in their ancestral territory. They believe that the menhirs are the ancients
of the U'wa clans who were turned into the stone piers of the world. Menhirs can be found
in Chita and Chiscas, Boyacá. There are 114 menhirs in the Provincial Park
Los Menhires in Argentina. The stones are approximately 4 to high and wide. They were
erected by the Tafí people, an indigenous culture of Tucumán province, and were used
in fertility rites. India
At Mudumala, an archeological site was dotted with about 80 big menhirs some as tall as
14 feet and several hundreds of smaller menhirs scattered all over the agricultural fields.
Dr. Rao and his team visited the site on the days of summer and winter solstice and equinox
and found that particular rows of stones were aligned to the rising and setting Sun on these
days. "This suggests the megalithic community here was aware of the solar trajectories,"
he said. Iran
Menhirs in Iran are found in different villages and areas of East Azarbaijan Province, and
Amlash and Deylaman areas in Gilan and also a double menhir which is situated in Kharg
Island in the Persian Gulf. Menhirs are called سنگ‌افراشت in
Persian, and there are different studies published in Iranian periodicals about the details of
the Iranian menhirs, specially in the periodical "Barrasiha-yi Tarikhi".
Serbia The graves of the "Latins" and the "Jidovs"
near the village of Balwan, north of Aleksinac in Serbia were marked by large boulders.
See also Carlin stone
Carnac stones Cove
Cromlech Deer stone
Dolmen Fulacht fiadh
Gowk Stone Henge
Ley Lines List of megalithic sites
Moai Nature worship
Obelisk Obelix
Orthostat Statue menhir
Stone circle Stone row
Stone ship Notes
References Le Roux, C. T. 1992. "The Art of Gavrinis
Presented in its Armorican Context and in Comparison with Ireland." in Journal of the
Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland vol. 122, pp 79–108.
Mohen, Jean-Pierre. 2000. Standing Stones. Stonehenge, Carnac and the World of Megaliths.
London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-30090-9. External links
Dolmens, Menhirs & Stones-Circles in the South of France – Menhirs of the "Cham des Bondons"
New Theory – Henges – Engineering in Prehistory Rows of Menhirs in Russia, South Ural
List of Menhirs and their related stories in Czech Republic
Ancient Europe Placemarks Google Earth file downloads.
Skela menhirs in Ukraine