Megalithic period. Megalithic culture

I again intend to look beyond the edge of the Universe.
And with thoughts like a comet, sweeping across the sky.
I don’t try to be equal to the Creator, but I certainly
I will go there where no one has ever been before.

A tart wind blows from the sea, it dispels boredom
A crab buries itself in the sand from the scorching rays of the sun
And the world reveals secrets, I thank life for the sweet flour
For those moments that he gives me in the gray days that pass by.

Without focusing on the very fact of the origin of megaliths, and discarding obscure statements about the participation of extraterrestrial intelligence in their construction, let us turn to those facts that allow us to some extent to reveal the question of the purpose of these structures. It seems that each megalithic monument on the planet was individual in origin, but in the form of “work”, that is, in the principles of existence, and even more so in the impact required from a given structure, they differed little from each other.

Let's take, for example, the megalithic complex of Rollright, in England (later it will become clear why it is), which consists of a stone circle, a dolmen and a menhir. So, one English zoologist, “running” at night with an ultrasound receiver after bats, discovered that even in the absence of mice in the megalith area, ultrasonic radiation was present. I measured it and made sure that the stones of the structure emitted ultrasound. In response to this message, physicists, radio engineers, chemists, geologists, and ufologists flocked to the complex, each with their own equipment and their own conjectures. For a whole year they “trampled” the area, approaching and moving away from the megalithic monument. The research results looked, briefly, like this:
1. The most intense radiation during the day occurred at sunrise and sunset.
2. The strength of this (daytime) radiation varied throughout the year. On days falling during the spring and autumn equinoxes, the longest radiation intensity was observed. On the days of the solstice, this radiation was at its minimum.
3. The intensity of the “sound” also changed at the stone circle and at the dolmen and at the menhir separately, often without coinciding. At the same time, measurements were taken of some objects located nearby (a concrete building, a cluster of sandstone stones, an iron pillar); all objects were “silent”. By the way, the megalithic complex was also built from sandstone.

Accordingly, all possible assumptions were put forward, which, in the end, made it possible to come to a common decision and put forward several hypotheses:
1.Ultrasonic radiation occurs under the influence of solar radio waves striking quartz crystals in grains of sand. Anyone who has studied physics will remember the piezoelectric phenomenon leading to ultrasonic radiation. It’s clear that the point here is “quantity turns into quality” due to an increase in the number of quartz crystals, sounding weakly, but in unison. Which in turn provides a flow of energy of sufficient intensity so that it can be detected not only by devices, but also by the human body.
2. By unevenly heating the stone surface, the sun causes “microcracks to open and close” or sets rock crystals in motion, and the outgoing air flow from the ground causes these cracks to “sound.”

During all observations of radiation, they did not forget to measure the magnetic field. It turned out that the magnetic field inside the cromlech (stone ring) is weaker than outside the structure. It turned out that the stones created a kind of screen. The researchers were interested in an electromagnetic anomaly in the form of a spiral strip (please pay attention to this), which makes seven revolutions and, going beyond the stones, expands. Something like a funnel. I would like to remind you about the torsion field (“Letters to Mother”), but I won’t. There was no doubt that this anomaly was artificial. If there were no stones, there would be no anomaly.

Immediately, speculation began that magnetic minerals were buried under the complex, arranged in a spiral shape, and they projected this anomaly onto the above-ground space. These conclusions were prompted by the researchers' drawings on the stones of some megaliths. No one had a shovel to dig. Personally, I have a slightly different opinion. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Carrying out round-the-clock observations, scientists also drew attention to the fact that the radioactivity of the radiation periodically increased, and then fell again to an average value. Everything happened as if in amplitude, about which it was suggested that the fluctuation in activity was associated with the movement of groundwater. This is already closer to what I intend to report.
It would not be superfluous to recall that scientists (Ketzer R.) even earlier drew attention to one feature of megaliths, that the latter were built from rocks of a certain composition, that is, those that contain quartz. In Ireland's New Grange the inner chamber is lined entirely with such material. So the stones for Stonehenge were transported 380 km.

Quartz is a fairly common material in nature, more valuable for engineers than for builders or jewelers (rock crystal, from which, by the way, the notorious skulls are made). Possessing piezoacoustic and piezoelectric properties, quartz (SiO2) due to the ability of crystals to “move” (shrink and expand) within the material can generate electric current and reproduce sound vibrations under the influence of electric current. In a word, quartz is still revealing its mysteries. This does not mean that the ancient builders of megaliths knew its properties in full.

They, perhaps, could not know, but they undoubtedly could feel the material and felt accordingly. Why do I once again want to recall the words I expressed in “Letters to my mother.” Faith is based on knowledge (knowledge), but knowledge in turn is translated into feelings born in the process of observation. This suggests that ancient man could not yet explain the nature of what was happening (and more often than not did not strive to do so), but on a conceptual, sensory level, fixed by much repetition, he sought to use his “developments” in practice. Unlike modern science, our ancestors did not create a theoretical base until practical application, until positive results were obtained. They did not spend their time on consolidating the negative results, for the sake of persuasiveness, and it was not advisable. Why is it a waste of time to endow our ancestors with knowledge superior to that of today? The statement to the contrary forces us to agree that our ancestors knew solid state physics, magnetism and acoustics, not just in practical application, but also in theoretical and theoretical justification. Sorry, this is nonsense. It didn’t happen because it wasn’t expedient. Our ancestors were practitioners, that is, specialists in “form” and not in “content.” Hence, all the philosophical contents of the so-called “heritage of our ancestors” are the work of those “who have nothing to do” - philosophers, scientific theorists, and date back to a time no earlier than the 17-18 centuries.

In the present (about three hundred years), humanity is moving towards knowledge in a slightly different way than five hundred years ago. The initial stage is familiarization with the information that the researcher has received from the past. After familiarization and comprehension (he had to believe in the proposed result due to the fact that this result had already been applied in practice), in order not to get into a “mess”, he began to check this information empirically. And in the process of repeated experiments, his observant mind found in these phenomena something that had escaped the attention of his ancestors. And then this natural scientist (in the present, all American science stands in this position) comprehended both what came from antiquity and what he himself had developed, in a philosophical vein, that is, putting a theoretical basis under everything received and conceived. But the time has come when all the achievements of scientists begin with mathematical and philosophical reflections and calculations. Nowadays there is enough knowledge that, without even starting practical experiments, you can “see” the cause-and-effect relationships between phenomena and only then, if necessary, strive to establish yourself in this experimentally. In the present, there is a different mindset than there was in the past. Why should one descend to the level of one’s “parental graves”? This is, excuse me, the same as crawling on one’s belly, trying to catch up with a car. But why do many people today strive so hard to crawl on this very “belly”? There is a very simple answer to this, but it is not in line with our topic.

On this occasion, I will only note the following; similar statements, which can be read in the book of the architect V. Tsirkunov “World History of Architecture”, that familiarity with the structure of many megaliths suggests incomprehensible technical devices, can only be attributed to the difference in thinking between us and our ancestors. And from here to the forms in which this thinking manifests itself. We do not understand our ancestors; they would hardly have understood us. This does not mean that they were smarter or dumber than us, and vice versa. It simply means that “there is a time for everything.” Why is it a great thing to study past times, but the stupidest thing is to cultivate the past in the present. The past never helps shape the future unless the present does. Anyone who persists in this is forever stuck in the interim.

The English scientist J. Wood (the one who loved to throw boomerangs) drew attention to the fact that most megalithic structures in England and France have clear geometric patterns. Most of them are ellipses or egg-shaped. This alone suggests that in order to build this configuration, it was necessary to make precise mathematical calculations. And again, with our thinking, we climb into a “foreign monastery.” Everything is much simpler: nature itself not only tells us what to do, what needs to be built and where, but also provides complete instructions for all stages of the process. This is precisely what is incomprehensible to an urbanized and dogma-blinded person.

The structure of the Universe, of which the Earth and man are a part, respectively, is built according to the general laws of the universe. And these laws are not a secret to anyone, but they are incomprehensible to us, each part of them at this particular stage is in mind (not secret), we are not ready to perceive them. I’ll put it bluntly: “the monkey doesn’t know what to do with a grenade, especially since it’s designed in such a way that it has a dangling ring that you want to pull. This state: the presence of an explosive object and thoughtless desire (curiosity) makes the situation dangerous both for the curious person and for the surrounding space. If the monkey had the opportunity to pull the ring and feel it when an explosion occurs, then it would understand that it is impossible to pull the ring “just like that”, and that it should not be done another time. But, unfortunately, she won’t understand this, she won’t have another time.” In the present, our scientific achievements (no one denies them) have a similar “monkey with a grenade” state, that is, we do not know how to predict the consequences. Can this be avoided? No no and one more time no! "Everything has its time".

Another interesting fact was the form of processing of the menhir pillars of megalithic structures. For some purpose (a question from scientists during archaeological excavations), the underground part of the pillars is pointed. And according to the logic (of current thinking), the lower part of the pillars for stability should be wider than the upper. Moreover, with this pointed end the pillar was pierced into the rock, which connected it to the cromlech or dolmen. A Russian person doesn’t need to say anything more, he will understand everything himself, but to others it is necessary to explain for a long time and tediously that... Sorry, I forgot that there are Russian people all around!

When the lower parts of the pillars were excavated, they also noticed that some of them had wavy grooves engraved on them. They are not visible and therefore they could not play any role like an ornament. It should be noted that these drawings were not on all the pillars and that such images (two wavy lines) have been used since ancient times to represent water. Unfortunately, there is no mention of underground water sources in the information I have. I will take the liberty of suggesting that water is still present under the megalithic structures. Nowhere and never have any such structures been built without the presence of water, without its indispensable movement. Even the now notorious hepatogenic, underground “squares” (nodes) are of little use without the presence of water. But the presence of water precisely determined the “place of power.” In these places there were temples and ancient temples, pyramids were built, etc. and so on. The action of these places is not constant, and most often individual, but has a certain pattern and similarity, which makes it possible to define them as a “place of power.” What and why the question is not related to the topic.
Based on the above, R. Kutzler’s assumption that menhirs could play the role of gravitational vibrators that “worked” from the gravitational energy of the Earth is doubtful. This statement is not just speculative, but also does not stand up to criticism, since any vibrator, during its action, strives to penetrate deeply. This requires a lot of effort to keep it on the surface. But it is known to specialists that quartz plates are used in radio electronics as vibration stabilizers. Therefore, I fully admit that some parts of the megaliths played the role of acoustic generators, but at the same time converted both solar energy into sound vibrations and vibrations received from underground sources.

The hypothesis I expressed “visited” the heads of scientists (though without water) and they, based on the assumption that the phenomenon is based on the Helmholtz resonator principle (acoustic emptiness), made certain calculations. It has long been known that any closed space has a clear boundary and a clearly expressed frequency of oscillation along it. This frequency depends not only on the geometry of the space parameters, but also on the material (composition) of the environment of this void. The natural frequency of the resonator according to Helmholtz is also affected by the parameters of the inlet (outlet) hole. Based on measurements of the “sound” of Caucasian dolmens (architect V. Markovin), we obtained the results that they all have their own resonant waves of their length ranging from 2.52 to 1.81 kHz. This suggests that all sound manifestations of buildings are accessible to human perception (0.1-10 kHz).
In these dolmens, attention is also drawn to the ratio of the hole, its “sounding” to the natural frequency of vibration of the given dolmen; it is either two or even three times larger. Well, here is simple physics related to the flow, which, when the path narrows (increases resistance), increases its speed.

Markovin V. Also noted that most dolmens are built in such a way that their openings are directed to the south or east. Only a few were directed to the north side and where the sun could illuminate the mouth of the dolmen in the afternoon. I mentioned this before and I insist today that dolmens are nothing more than smelting furnaces. Moreover, in every place where these structures were located, places for obtaining the source material for smelting were also found. But what does the huge blocks from which these dolmens are made have to do with it, and it’s not at all clear what acoustic phenomena have to do with it. They can be perceived as a consequence of the reason for which these structures were erected. I ask you not to rush, not to make hasty conclusions, “everything has its time.” It will also occur to many that the material from which dolmens are built and their size and internal volume all matter, and they will not be far from the truth. But many scientists nevertheless concluded that these parameters are necessary to obtain a significant effect from the operation of this “generator”. Whether this is true or not we still have to find out, but now we will write the word generator in quotes.

At the end of the 19th century, the Russian physicist P.N. Lebedev conducted the first laboratory studies of ultrasound. Today, the scope of application of ultrasonic vibrations is quite extensive. Ultrasonic vibrations are used in various industries and manufacturing processes. These include: hardening, tinning and soldering technologies, metal welding, drilling of fragile and particularly hard materials, extraction of animal and plant raw materials, dissolution, sterilization of liquid substances, fine spraying of drugs, production of emulsions and ultra-fine suspensions, dispersion of dyes, production of new substances. A new branch of acoustics has appeared - molecular acoustics, which studies the molecular effect of sound waves on matter. And also a new area of ​​​​application of ultrasound: introscopy, holography, ultrasonic phase measurement, acoustoelectronics, and so on, so on, so on.

Whatever I write here, all the megalithic structures, especially those that include cromlechs, dolmens, menhirs, etc., are in themselves unified complexes with specific functions and purposes. Scientists still have to “rack their brains” about this, but I already have some information about “through what and for what,” but this will be discussed in the next article. In the present, I will only make a foundation for further conversation.

Now the whining voice of the local “beau monde” is already heard, “Well, he’s again so scientific, no matter what..., but we don’t care and why is all this here? We would like something simpler and without unnecessary formulas and so on...”
I can’t help you, I don’t like “shoo from the table”, otherwise, don’t “switch”, those who want to find out can wait for the continuation, and those who don’t want to, let them go to bed. “Good night to them!”

The term is not exhaustive, so a rather vague group of buildings falls under the definition of megaliths and megalithic structures. In particular, large-sized hewn stones, including those not used for the construction of burials and monuments, are called megaliths.

A separate group is represented by megalithic structures, that is, objects largely consisting of megaliths. They are distributed all over the world. In Europe, for example, this is Stonehenge, structures Cretan-Mycenaean culture or Egypt. In South America - Machu Picchu, Puma Punku, Ollantaytambo, Pisac, Sacsayhuaman, Tiwanaku.

Their common characteristic feature is stone blocks weighing sometimes more than a hundred tons, often delivered from quarries located tens of kilometers away, sometimes with a large difference in height relative to the construction site. In this case, the stones are processed in such a way that it cannot enter the joint between the blocks. razor blade .

As a rule, megalithic structures did not serve as housing, and from the period of construction to the present day no records have survived about the technologies and purpose of construction. The lack of reliable written sources and the fact that all these structures have suffered significantly under the influence of time make the task of exhaustive research almost impossible, which, in turn, leaves a vast field for various guesses.

The purpose of megaliths cannot always be determined. For the most part, according to some scientists, they served for burials or were associated with the funeral cult. There are other opinions. Apparently, megaliths are communal buildings (the function is socializing). Their construction represented a most difficult task for primitive technology and required the unification of large masses of people.

Some megalithic structures, such as complex of more than 3000 stones in French Brittany), were important ceremonial centers associated with the cult of the dead. Other megalith complexes have been used to determine the timing of astronomical events such as solstices and equinoxes.

Megalithic structures are subject to a specific architectural design. Based on their appearance, researchers divide them into three groups: menhirs, dolmens, cromlechs. These words themselves came to us from ancient Breton language. It was the language of the people of Brittany, a peninsula in Northwestern France.

MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS IN BRITTANY

Brittany is, of course, a country of megaliths. It was from the words of the Breton language, at the end of the 17th century, that the names of the main types of megalithic buildings were compiled (dolmen: daol - table, men - stone; menhir: men - stone, hir - long; cromlech: cromm - rounded, lec'h - place). In Brittany, the era of megalithic construction began around 5000 BC. and ended around 2500 BC. The builders of the megaliths were not the autochthonous population of Armorica. They came from the shores of the Mediterranean, gradually moving northwest from the southern and western shores of the Iberian Peninsula, densely populating first the coast of Morbihan, between the rivers Vilaine and Ethel, and then other lands of what is now Brittany, rising deep into the peninsula along the rivers and moving along the coast...

DOLMENS

Dolmens are usually “boxes” made up of stone slabs, sometimes joined by long or short galleries. They were collective burial chambers, as evidenced by bone remains and votive treasures (ceramics, jewelry, polished stone axes). Dolmens could be either free-standing structures or part of more complex structures. Let's look at some of them.

Cairn

A cairn is an ensemble of galleries and chambers covered with earth on top, that is, in this case, dolmens formed their skeleton. Relatively many cairns have survived in Brittany, but I would like to dwell on two of them, which are masterpieces of megalithic architecture of the West.

Built around 4,700 BC, this prehistoric necropolis could have been destroyed in our time: it was deliberately turned into a stone quarry for the construction of a tourist road in l955 and only the intervention of one of the most famous Breton archaeologists, Professor Pierre-Roland Giot ) stopped this technocratic barbarism.
To be precise, the monument at Barnenez is a structure of two cairns. It has a total of 72 meters in length and from 20 to 25 meters in width and includes eleven dolmens (in this case representing separate chambers) from each of which a gallery stretches from 7 to 12 meters in length towards the exit. The first cairn (A) was built around 4,350 BC, and the second (B) around 4,100 BC.

The necropolis at Barnenez is one of the most ancient architectural structures on Earth. Older than Stonehenge, New Grange, Egyptian pyramids...

Karin on the island of Gavrinis

This monument of megalithic art, built around 4,000 BC, is remarkable for its interior design. The cairn itself is not complicated: a thirteen-meter corridor leads to the burial chamber. However, its walls are painted with amazing drawings, more abstract than concrete, carved on stone. Among the elements of the fancy ornament there are spiral, cross-shaped and other elements.

Covered alley

There is a type of dolmens called covered alleys. A covered alley is a series of dolmens that make up a gallery, which can end in a chamber not exceeding the width of the gallery, or at a blind end. It looks like this:

Dolmen with gallery

In contrast to a covered alley, a dolmen with a gallery, such as the famous Table de Marchands at Lokmarieker (pictured), is a round or square burial chamber, to which a long corridor leads, which is, so to speak, a passage from the world of the living to the world of the dead (and back probably :)). The plan of this type of dolmen can be supplemented by side rooms (the dolmen at Keriaval, near Pluarnel).

So, nothing is as different from a dolmen as another dolmen. Moreover, not all types of such structures are described here. There are also knee dolmens, transept dolmens (cruciform) and some others. Frankly speaking, some names had to be invented in the process of working on the article, since they simply do not exist in Russian, and literal translations from other languages ​​usually do not reflect the essence of the objects described here.

As we already know, dolmens are both crypts and funerary monuments, as evidenced by the bones and votive warehouses (jewelry, polished axes, ceramics, etc.) found there. We are talking about traces of burials, mostly collective, small or colossal, initially covered with stones (cairns) or earth (mounds), and undoubtedly equipped with additional wooden structures. Breton variations of dolmens are very numerous, and their architecture has changed over time. The most ancient ones were large in size, but the burial chambers in them were reduced; this suggests that they were intended for some of the most important figures of the tribe. Over time, the volume of dolmens decreased, while the size of the burial chambers increased, and they became real collective graves. In the town of Chaussée-Tirancourt, in the Paris Basin, while exploring a similar burial, archaeologists discovered about 250 skeletons. Unfortunately, in Brittany, the acidity of the soil often leads to the destruction of bones. In the Bronze Age, burials again became individual. Later, during Roman rule, some dolmens were adapted to satisfy the religious needs of the conquerors, as evidenced by the numerous terracotta figurines of Roman deities found in them.

How were dolmens built? If you compare the heaviness and bulkiness of these stone structures with the technical arsenal of their creators, then you can only take off your hat to their tenacity and resourcefulness. It was something like this...

Step 1	Step 2
Step 3	Step 4
Step 5	Step 6

Bottom line

Thus, we already know something about one of the types of megalithic architecture. It's time to move on to the next, no less interesting.

MENHIRS

A menhir is a stone pillar dug vertically into the ground. Their height varies from 0.80 meters to 20. Free-standing menhirs are usually the tallest. The “record holder” was Men-er-Hroech (Fairy Stone), from Lokmariaker (Morbihan), which was destroyed around 1727. Its largest fragment was 12 m, and in its entirety it reached 20 m in height, with an approximate weight of 350 tons. Currently, all the largest menhirs in France are located in Brittany:

- menhir in Kerloas (Finistère) - 12 m.

- menhir in Kaelonan (Cote-d'Armor) - 11.20 m.

- menhir in Pergal (Côtes d'Armor) - 10.30 m.

There are also menhirs lined up (let's call them rows of stones), sometimes in several parallel rows. The most grandiose ensemble of this kind is located in Karnak, and has about 3,000 (!) menhirs

Carnac (Morbihan department)

CARNAC is, of course, the most famous megalithic ensemble in Brittany and one of only two (along with Stonehenge) in the world. Brittany, and even France, would not be surprised by menhirs, but Carnac amazes the imagination with the unimaginable concentration of these monuments in a relatively small area. Initially, there were about 10,000 (!) monuments of various sizes in the Karnak complex. In our time, there are approximately 3,000 of them left. This complex of megaliths (mainly cromlechs and menhirs) from the late Neolithic - early Bronze Age (late third - second millennium BC) includes 3 megalithic systems:

Menek is the western part of the Karnak complex. It includes 1,099 menhirs in eleven lines, approximately 1,200 meters long.

Kermario - about 1,000 menhirs in ten lines 1 km long. In the southwestern part, the ensemble is complemented by a dolmen.

Kerleskan - 555 menhirs in thirteen lines, the length of which is 280 meters. In the west these lines are preceded by a cromlech of 39 stones. The highest height of the largest menhir in Kerleskan is 6.5 meters.

By 5000 BC, sites located on the island of Hoedic in Morbihan show the existence of small human groups living mainly by hunting, fishing and collecting shellfish. These human groups buried their dead, in some cases using a special ritual. The deceased was supplied for the journey not only with items made of stone and bone, and jewelry made from shells, but was also crowned with something like a “crown” made of deer antlers. During this era, called the Mesolithic, sea levels were approximately 20 meters lower than today. Starting around 4,500 BC, the first megaliths appear in Carnac (which was also observed in other areas of what is now Brittany by that time).

Let's try to reconstruct the method of erecting menhirs:

	Step 1
	Step 2
	Step 3
	Step 4

The purpose of menhirs, which are not funerary monuments, remains a mystery. Due to the lack of instructions for use left by the builders for future generations, archaeologists are carefully juggling several hypotheses. These hypotheses, which are not mutually exclusive, vary from case to case and depend on a variety of factors: whether the menhirs are isolated or not; rows of stones are composed of one row or several, more or less parallel; menhirs oriented in a readable way, etc. Some could mark territory, indicate graves, or refer to the cult of waters.

But the hypothesis most often expressed relates to several large rows of stones oriented between east and west. There is an assumption that these are attributes of the solar-lunar cult, coupled with agricultural methods and astronomical observations, and large crowds of people gathered near them, for example, during the winter and summer solstices. “The direction of certain blocks according to privileged directions is amenable to analysis,” emphasizes Michel Le Goffi, a Breton archaeologist, and when cases are repeated, sometimes according to a clearly traceable system, one can rightfully think that this is not accidental. This is almost certain in many cases, as at Saint-Just and Carnac. But doubts will always exist due to the lack of direct evidence. Archaeological finds among the rows of stones are indeed very vague, some pottery and processed flints have been found, but the remains of ritual fires, dating from the same time as the construction of the megaliths, suggest that they were located outside the habitation zone.

CROMLECHI

An example of a cromlech is such a well-known building as Stonehenge.

Cromlechs are called ensembles of menhirs standing, most often, in a circle or semicircle and connected by stone slabs lying on top, however, there are menhirs collected in a rectangle (as in Crucuno, Morbihan). On the small island of Er Lannic, in the Gulf of Morbihan, there is a “double cromlech” (in the shape of two touching circles).
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Comparative table of the number of megalithic structures in France and Brittany.

On the surface of the globe, with the exception of Australia, there are many mysterious and ancient buildings. Modern research has shown that they were erected in the Neolithic, Eneolithic and Eneolithic periods. Previously, it was believed that they all represented one common culture, but today more and more scientists are questioning this theory.

So, who and why were such megalithic structures created? Why do they have one shape or another and what do they mean? Where can you see these monuments of ancient culture?

Before considering and studying megalithic structures, you need to understand what elements they may consist of. Today it is generally accepted that the smallest unit of construction of this type is a megalith. This term was officially introduced into scientific terminology in 1867, at the suggestion of the English specialist A. Herbert. The word “megalith” is Greek and translated into Russian means “big stone”.

An accurate and comprehensive definition of what megaliths are does not yet exist. Today, this concept refers to ancient structures made of stone blocks, slabs or simple blocks of various sizes without the use of any cementing or binding compounds or solutions. The simplest type of megalithic structures, consisting of just one block, are menhirs.

Main features of megalithic structures

In different eras, different peoples erected huge structures from large stones, blocks and slabs. The temple in Baalbek and the Egyptian pyramids are also megaliths, it’s just not customary to call them that. Thus, megalithic structures are various structures created by different ancient civilizations and consisting of large stones or slabs.

However, all structures considered megaliths have a number of features that unite them:

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

2. Ancient megalithic structures were built from strong and resistant to destruction rocks: limestone, andesite, basalt, diorite and others.

3. No cement was used during construction - neither in the mortar for fastening, nor for the manufacture of blocks.

4. In most buildings, the surface of the blocks from which they are made is carefully processed, and the blocks themselves are tightly fitted to each other. The accuracy is such that it is impossible to insert a knife blade between two megalithic blocks of volcanic rock.

5. Quite often, later civilizations used the preserved fragments of megalithic buildings as foundations for their own buildings, which is clearly visible in the buildings in Jerusalem.

When were they created?

Most megalithic sites located in Great Britain, Ireland and other Western European countries date back to the 5th-4th millennia BC. e. The most ancient megalithic structures located on the territory of our country date back to the 4th -2nd millennia BC.

The entire variety of megalithic buildings can be conditionally divided into two large groups:

• funeral;
• non-funeral:
• profane;
• sacred.

If everything is more or less clear with funerary megaliths, then scientists are making hypotheses about the purpose of profane structures, such as various giant layouts of walls and roads, military and residential towers.

There is no accurate and reliable information about how ancient people used sacred megalithic structures: menhirs, cromlechs and others.

What are they?

The most common types of megaliths are:

• menhirs - single, vertically installed stelae stones up to 20 meters high;
• cromlech - a 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;
• covered gallery - one of the types of dolmens connected to each other;
• trilith - a stone structure consisting of two or more vertical stones and one laid horizontally on top of them;
• taula - a stone structure in the shape of the Russian letter “T”;
• cairn, also known as “gury” or “tour” - an underground or above-ground structure, laid out in the form of a cone of many stones;
• stone rows are vertically and parallelly installed blocks of stone;
• seid - a stone boulder or block installed by one or another people in a special place, usually on a hill, for holding various mystical ceremonies.

Only the most famous types of megalithic structures are listed here. Let's take a closer look at some of them.

Translated from Breton into Russian it means “stone table”.

As a rule, it consists of three stones, one of which lies on two vertically installed ones in the shape of the letter “P”. When constructing such structures, ancient people did not adhere to any single scheme, so there are many options for dolmens with different functions. The most famous megalithic structures of this type are located on the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of Africa and Europe, in India, Scandinavia, and the Caucasus.

Trilith

Scientists consider trilith to be one of the subspecies of dolmen, consisting of three stones. As a rule, this term is applied not to separately located megaliths, but to monuments that are components of more complex structures. For example, in such a famous megalithic complex as Stonehenge, the central part consists of five trilithons.

Another type of megalithic building is the cairn, or tour. This is a cone-shaped mound of stones, although in Ireland this name refers to a structure of only five stones. They can be located both on the surface of the earth and under it. In scientific circles, a cairn most often means megalithic structures located underground: labyrinths, galleries and burial chambers.

The oldest and simplest type of megalithic structures are menhirs. These are single, vertically mounted massive boulders or stones. Menhirs differ from ordinary natural stone blocks in their surface with traces of processing and in the fact that their vertical size is always larger than the horizontal. They can be either free-standing or part of complex megalithic complexes.

In the Caucasus, menhirs were shaped like fish and called vishap. On the territory of modern France, in the Crimea and the Black Sea region, quite a lot of anthropomorphic magalites - stone women - have been preserved.

Rune stones and stone crosses created much later are also post-megalithic menhirs.

Cromlech

Several menhirs, installed in the form of a semicircle or circle and covered with stone slabs on top, are called cromlechs. The most famous example is Stonehenge.

However, in addition to round ones, there are also rectangular cromlechs, as, for example, in Morbihan or Khakassia. On the island of Malta, cromlech temple complexes are built in the shape of “petals”. To create such megalithic structures, not only stone, but also wood was used, which was confirmed by finds obtained during archaeological work in the English county of Norfolk.

"Flying Stones of Lapland"

The most common megalithic structures in Russia, strange as it may sound, are seids - huge boulders mounted on small stands. Sometimes the main block is decorated with one or more small stones arranged in a “pyramid”. This type of megalith is widespread from the shores of Lakes Onega and Lake Ladoga to the coast of the Barents Sea, that is, throughout all parts of Russia.

On and in Karelia there are seids ranging in size from several tens of centimeters to six meters and weighing from tens of 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 type are found in the taiga regions of Finland, northern and central Norway, and the mountains of Sweden.

Seids can be single, group or massive, including from ten to several hundred megaliths.

Woodhenge is located three kilometers northeast of Stonehenge. As archaeologists have established, Stonehenge and Woodhenge are almost mirror images of each other. They are even the same size. Only Stonehenge was built from stones, and Woodhenge was made from wood.

One of the possible reconstructions of Woodhenge.

Of course, this structure also had a roof; Most likely, logs were laid on the columns, stone slabs were placed on the logs, and earth was poured on top of the slabs.

The result was a “round house” with a gable earthen roof and a hole in the middle, similar to the “eye of a cyclone.”

Actually, such a round house is a looped “long house”. And this is a reconstruction of the “long house” of the Neolithic era (5500-4900 BC) in Eastern Europe (linear band ceramics culture)

model of a longhouse use by the linear potery culture of east Europe neolithic 5500-4900 bce (photo)

Wikipedia reports in the article "Culture of Linear Band Pottery" : " The main type of buildings is a rectangular building approximately 5.5 - 7 m wide, the length of which was arbitrary (the house in Bylany reached 45 m in length). The walls were built from wattle fence coated with clay, sometimes from split logs reinforced with oak pillars. The pitched roofs, covered with thatch, were supported by three rows of such pillars. As usual, 1-2 pits were dug on the floor of the dwelling and next to it for household purposes, the clay from which was used to cover the walls. From the inside, the long house was divided by partitions into two or three parts, one of which was apparently used for livestock. Some houses were used for up to 30 years. Judging by the pottery remains, each longhouse had its own tradition, and the placement of pottery in graves, usually of women, indicates that they were probably made by women."

Wikipedia also reports there: “The Linear Band Pottery Society is considered to be matrilocal. No weapons or fortifications were found."

It should be emphasized here that similar “long houses” existed in Old Europe during the era of matriarchy. The Indian tribe of the Iroquois had exactly the same houses, whose matriarchy remained until modern times. Describing the paired family during the period of matriarchy, Engels refers to Asher Wright, who was a missionary for many years among the Iroquois Seneca tribe:

"As for their families, in the days when they still lived in ancient longhouses"(communist households from several marriages) “...there (in the house) one clan always prevailed” (gens), “so women took husbands from other clans” (gens). “...Usually the female half dominated the house; supplies were shared; but woe to the ill-fated husband or lover who was too lazy or clumsy and did not contribute his share to the common stock. No matter how many children or property he owned in the house, he could still wait every minute for an order to tie his bundle and get away. And he did not even dare try to resist; the house turned into hell for him, he had no choice but to return to his own clan” (clan) “or - as most often happened - to enter into a new marriage in another clan. Women were a great force in clans” (children), “and everywhere in general. It happened that they did not stop before removing the (military) leader and demoting him to a simple warrior.”

With a very high degree of probability it can be assumed that similar “long houses” existed on the territory of prehistoric Britain. However, the “round longhouses” were not intended for people to live in. They were necropolises- "cities of the dead." The ditch around Woodhenge, filled with water, just indicates that it was a city “not of this world,” since in many mythologies it is water that separates the afterlife from our world. Of course, such “cities of the dead” were built to last for centuries, from durable and strong wood. Most likely, there was no external entrance to such cities (as well as to the hut on chicken legs, which is “without windows, without doors”); the dead were lowered inside through the central hole. Actually, these wooden henges were originally nothing more than the same poor houses, or “poor houses” for the so-called. "mortgage dead", i.e., plots of land fenced with stakes.

Around 2800 BC, the expansion of the carriers of the Bell-Beaker culture began. The Bell Beaker culture is often seen as early Indo-European (Aryan), particularly as ancestral to the Proto-Celts and Proto-Italians. This culture spread extremely widely in Western and Central Europe, using sea and river routes.

Spread of the Bell Beaker culture

This is very reminiscent of the medieval expansion of the warlike Normans, who also moved along seas and rivers.

Spread of Bell Beaker culture in Europe

And this is a map of the distribution of megalithic culture.

The Bell Beaker culture did not build the megaliths, but they appear to have been the reason for their construction. Obviously, the warlike Proto-Indo-Europeans destroyed the religious buildings of the natives. Wooden buildings are very easy to burn. What if we build the same buildings from huge, unliftable stone blocks? There is no way to burn them, and breaking multi-ton stone slabs is a tough task. This is how they have survived to this day.

The megalithic culture existed at the “break” of matriarchy, during the period of religious and sexual war, from which legends about the Amazons have been preserved. Stone megaliths appeared as a defensive reaction of the matriarchal culture of Old Europe to the invasion of bearers of a hostile patriarchal culture. They are silent witnesses to the great spiritual battle that has engulfed all of Western Europe.

In this sense, Stonehenge was built forcedly, involuntarily. Why drag and turn huge stone blocks when you can do the same thing from wood? But, obviously, the wooden woodhenges were destroyed by the conquerors, and then it was decided to build such a necropolis that it could not be broken. That's how Stonehenge was built.

The builders of the famous geoglyphs of the Nazca desert took a different path. To protect their shrines from desecration, they made them invisible to their enemies. They are visible only from a bird's eye view, but you cannot distinguish them from the ground. By the way, in the county of Wiltshire, in the same place where the legendary Stonehenge is based, you can find geoglyphs of horses on the chalk hills. For example this one is the Uffington horse.

View of a horse figure from a height of 700 meters

Megaliths stone buildings made from giant blocks, created without the use of binding mortars. These structures represent one of the greatest mysteries of antiquity, which has not yet been solved.

There are several types of megaliths: dolmens, menhirs and cromlechs. The antiquity of these structures, as well as their scale, involuntarily make one wonder who created these structures and why, what kind of civilization was it? The problem is that the oldest megaliths are more than 7,000 years old, and this is a layer of history that is shrouded in fog for science. Ignoring the ancient legends about the Flood led the scientific world to bewilderment, turned a blind eye to obvious facts and led to numerous contradictions in historical science. However, many scientists are aware of this and publicly speak about the need to revise the history of mankind.

Megalithic temples

It is believed that most megaliths are megalithic temples and religious buildings. The most famous megaliths are, of course, associated with Stonehenge and Karnak. Some structures look primitive, while others are quite sophisticated. It must, however, be borne in mind that these structures can be called temples conditionally, since it has not been proven that they were actually intended for religious purposes. But there is evidence of unusual properties of at least some of the mysterious structures. Thus, the well-known Stonehenge contains stones that at certain times emit a powerful electrical impulse. No one yet knows where the energy for the impulses comes from, but one thing is clear that this is not a simple pile of stones; they are located in a given, precise order. In the mentioned megaliths, researchers have established striking patterns described by rows of stones: starting from the radii of the orbits of solar system bodies, and ending with mathematical functions.

Temples of Malta

There is a place not as famous as Stonehenge, but which has significantly more ancient megaliths in Malta. Malta is known for its resorts, but few people have heard about the ancient temples of Malta. The megalithic temples of Malta, even according to official scientific estimates, were built 5.5-7 thousand years ago.

Giant people

The biggest challenge for science is to explain how megalithic structures were built. After all, construction from stone blocks, the weight of which is tens of tons, and the length of 8 m, is problematic even with modern technology. In the case of Malta, we are dealing with complexes of structures. Obviously, the builders did not experience any serious difficulties on the technological side. They had the means of delivering these blocks, the necessary processing tools, and the necessary skills. Their knowledge, apparently, was qualitatively different from modern ones, since they used energies that modern science can only guess about. And it is no coincidence that serious scientists, even before the discoveries in the Borjomi Gorge, came to the conclusion that people are giants. about which numerous legends speak are not fiction. It is the giants who are the builders of these mysterious buildings, the purpose of which may never be fully understood by us.

Megalithic culture is:

See what megalithic culture is in other dictionaries:

Culture of Los Millares— Vessel from the Los Millares culture with a typical eye-shaped motif. South-eastern Spain, Chalcolithic Los Millares, Los Millares is the name of the archaeological site of the Copper Age, which gave its name to the archaeological culture of the same name. Located in… Wikipedia

Culture of Vila Nova de São Pedro— Not to be confused with Villanova Culture. Cultural map of Vila Nova de São Pedro and surrounding regions ... Wikipedia

Torre culture— Main types of structures in Sardinia and Corsica ... Wikipedia

Thalayot ​​culture— Talayot ​​in Mallorca Talaiot in Son Serra, Mallorca The main entrance to the settlement of Ses Paisses, Mallorca ... Wikipedia

Megalithic culture— Megalithic burial in Brittany Similar burial in Burren, Ireland Megaliths. XV century Inca culture. Science and culture. Architecture and fine arts Architecture. The history of architecture in Latin America is divided into 3 periods: ancient, ... Encyclopedic reference book "Latin America"

Pre-Talaiot culture— Ship-shaped dwelling in Mallorca. Ship-shaped tombs called naveta date back to the same time. Reconstruction of the Balearic goat Myotragus balearicus Late tomb in Mallorca D ... Wikipedia

Asturian culture- originated in Spain after 5000. BC. According to its characteristics, it was epi-Paleolithic, that is, it preserved the remnants of the Paleolithic surrounded by Mesolithic cultures. Dating is based on stratification, except in England, where the megaliths are Neolithic. Megalithic monuments are especially numerous and varied in Brittany. Also, a large number of megaliths are found on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, in Portugal, parts of France, on the west coast of England, in Ireland, Denmark, on the southern coast of Sweden and in Israel. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was widely believed that all megaliths belonged to one global megalithic culture, but modern research and dating methods refute this assumption.

Types of megalithic structures:

menhir - a single vertical stone
cromlech - a group of menhirs forming a circle or semicircle
dolmen - a structure made of a huge stone placed on several other stones
taula - a stone structure in the shape of the letter “T”
trilith - a structure made of a block of stone mounted on two vertical stones
seid - including a stone structure
cairn - a stone mound with one or more rooms
indoor gallery
boat grave
Well, now to the essence of the question:

1. Megaliths are primarily astronomical structures. That is, structures for environmental control purposes. With their help, our ancestors determined the time for agricultural work, livestock breeding cycles, weddings and other rhythms of life in harmony with nature.

2. Megaliths are structures created by the collective labor of free people. This is their main difference from the pyramids and other gigantic and meaningless structures of so-called civilizations.

Most of the megaliths in Russia and Ukraine were discovered by boys. Official science has never looked for megaliths and always shows complete helplessness in studying them. The Euro-centricity of our social sciences and the sacred belief in the progressiveness of slave-owning societies always leads to a dead end when meeting megaliths.

Sources: www.objectiv-x.ru, universal_ru_de.academic.ru, earth-chronicles.ru, iskatel.info, www.liveinternet.ru