A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as
some mountains, or a single large piece of rock placed as, or within, a monument or building.
Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often made of very hard and solid
metamorphic or igneous rock.
In architecture, the term has considerable overlap with megalith, which is normally used
for prehistory, and may be used in the contexts of rock-cut architecture that remains attached
to solid rock, as in monolithic church, or for exceptionally large stones such as obelisks,
statues, monolithic columns or large architraves, that may have been moved a considerable distance
after quarrying.
It may also be used of large glacial erratics moved by natural forces.
The word derives, via the Latin monolithus, from the Ancient Greek word μονόλιθος,
from μόνος and λίθος.
Geological monoliths Large, well-known monoliths include:
Africa Aso Rock, Nigeria
Ben Amera, Mauritania Brandberg Mountain, Namibia
Sibebe, Swaziland Zuma Rock, Nigeria
Antarctica Scullin monolith
Asia
Bellary, India Mount Kelam, Indonesia
Madhugiri Betta, India Sangla Hill, Pakistan
Savandurga, India Sigiriya, Sri Lanka
Yana, India Australia
Bald Rock, near Tenterfield, New South Wales Pine Mountain, Victoria
Mount Coolum, Queensland Mount Wudinna, South Australia
Uluru / Ayers Rock, Northern Territory Mount Augustus, Western Australia
Europe
Kalamos, Anafi, Greece Katskhi pillar, Georgia
Logan Rock, Treen, Cornwall, England Penyal d'Ifac Calpe, Valencian Community,
Spain Rock of Gibraltar, Gibraltar
Rock of Monaco, Monaco-Ville, Monaco North America
United States
Angels Landing, Zion National Park, Utah Beacon Rock, Columbia River Gorge, Washington
Bottleneck Peak and Moon, Sids Mountain, Utah Castle Rock, Pineville, West Virginia
Chimney Rock, Bayard, Nebraska Courthouse and Jail Rocks, Bridgeport, Nebraska
Devils Tower, Wyoming El Capitan, Yosemite National Park, California
Enchanted Rock, Llano County, Texas Frog Woman Rock, Mendocino County, California
Great White Throne, Zion National Park, Utah Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California
Haystack Rock, Clatsop County, Oregon Looking Glass Rock, Transylvania County, North
Carolina Morro Rock, Morro Bay, California
Scotts Bluff National Monument, Gering, Nebraska Shiprock, San Juan County, New Mexico
Stone Mountain, Stone Mountain, Georgia Tooth of Time, Cimarron, New Mexico
Wolf Rock, Linn County, Oregon
Canada Stawamus Chief, Squamish, British Columbia
Mexico La Peña de Bernal, Queretaro; claimed to
be the world's third largest monolith.
South America
El Peñón, also known as El Peñol Stone or simply La Piedra, Colombia
Pão de Açúcar, Brazil Pedra da Gávea, Brazil the world's largest
monolith on the coastline Torres del Paine, Chile
Extraterrestrial Phobos monolith on Phobos
Monumental monoliths
A structure which has been excavated as a unit from a surrounding matrix or outcropping
of rock.
Aztec calendar stone "Stone of the Sun" The Church of Saint George in Lalibela, Ethiopia,
is one of a number of monolithic churches in Ethiopia
Coyolxauhqui Stone another aztec monolith Ellora Caves - UNESCO World Heritage Site
Great Sphinx of Giza "The Egyptian Sphinx" Gomateswara or Lord Bahubali at Sravanabelagola,
Karnataka Manzanar National Historic Landmark, USA
Obelisks - see this article for a list Ogham Stone, Dingle Peninsula, Ireland
Runestones Standing stones
Stelae Stone circle
Stone of the Pregnant Woman, Baalbek Stonehenge contains several
The Longstones or the Devil's Quoits, Avebury, Wiltshire, England
Vijayanagara Empire medieval South Indian carved examples
See also Bornhardt
Butte List of inselbergs
Megalith Mad Men episode 4, "The Monolith"
Monadnock Monolithic architecture
The Monoliths in 2001: A Space Odyssey Notes
External links Regarding Uluru/Ayers Rock and earlier representations
of it as the largest monolith: GA.gov.au, ABC.net.au, Wayoutback.com.au
10 Largest Monoliths in the World, touropia