Megalithic period. Construction of megaliths as a defensive reaction of the culture of Old Europe

One of the features of the Neolithic is that the people of that time, living in adobe-wattle and wattle houses, dugouts or even caves, created giant monuments and mausoleums for the dead, colossal architectural structures.

Megaliths (from the Greek “megas” - large and “lithos” - stone, i.e. large stones), structures made of large blocks of roughly processed stone. These include dolmens, menhirs, cromlechs, stone boxes, and covered galleries. Megaliths are distributed throughout the world except Australia, mainly in coastal areas. The purpose of megaliths cannot always be determined. For the most part they served for burials or were associated with the funeral cult. The mechanism of their construction has not yet been studied; for primitive technology, their construction was a very difficult task and required the unification of large masses of people.

Huge stone buildings erected by primitive man are found in Syria, Palestine, North Africa, Spain, southern Scandinavia Denmark, on the coast of France and England, Iran, India, and Southeast Asia. We find them in the Caucasus, Crimea, and Siberia. Megaliths are diverse. Some of them are individual vertical stone pillars, long and narrow, sometimes roughly processed. These are menhirs. The largest menhir is located in Lochmarian in Brittany. It is truly enormous - about 21 m long, weighing close to 300 tons. Menhirs, as a rule, are associated with necropolises; they apparently played a large role in the cult of the dead.

Menhirs are found not only in the form of individual monuments, sometimes they are collected in groups. The most famous row of stones is at Carnac in Brittany. It stretches for 3900 m and consists of 2813 menhirs.

Some megaliths form circular stone fences, on top of which lie huge slabs (cromlechs). Another group of megaliths are burial houses made of stone slabs with a flat roof (dolmens). According to their purpose, dolmens were monumental tombs of the prehistoric era. They usually contain several burials.

Stonehenge, one of the largest megalithic structures, is located on a spacious plain in the outskirts of Salisbury, three kilometers west of Amesbury.

Stonehenge is so ancient that its history was forgotten already in ancient times. Neither Greek nor Roman authors write anything about him. Probably, the Romans were not impressed by these stones at all, because they saw the ancient Egyptian pyramids, and they themselves built majestic temples. Today it is no longer possible to establish who was the first biographer of Stonehenge. By the 12th century, all information about its origin had disappeared into myth.

Fig No. 1. Stonehenge

The meaning and purpose of Stonehenge remains a mystery to this day. Many hypotheses have been put forward on this score, from the most primitive to the completely incredible, to support which a variety of, often unimaginably abstruse, arguments were used.

Inigo Jones, an English architect of the 17th century, compared this structure with examples of ancient architecture and argued that it was a Roman temple. And these days, the idea has been expressed more than once that aliens had a hand in these stones, who once created a landing pad here for their earthly expeditions.

English scientists Hawkens and White proved that Stonehenge can be used as an astronomical observatory, which makes it possible to determine with amazing accuracy the azimuths of all the most important positions of the Sun and Moon and predict the dates of eclipses. The arrangement of stones made it possible in the distant past to predict the ebb and flow of tides, and the location of individual elements of the complex corresponded to the rising and setting points of the ten main stars 12 thousand years ago. Finally, all the proportions of Stonehenge fit into the ratio of the numbers 9, 11 and 60, two of which are already known from the phenomenon of Indian “flying” stones... What does the number 60 add? It turns out that it makes it possible to obtain two series of numbers that reflect the distribution of planets in the solar system! And, if you believe the complex, there should be more of them than is known to modern science: not 10, but 12. One is at a distance of 50 astronomical units from the Sun with a diameter of 1800 km, the second is about 60 with a diameter of 1700 km.

The original meaning and purpose of Stonehenge remains the subject of fierce debate to this day. There is something inexplicable and attractive about the whole atmosphere of Stonehenge. The likelihood of ever unraveling the mystery is negligible, but for those who are once and for all enchanted by the beauty of this historical monument and the amazing atmosphere of the surrounding landscape, this no longer matters.

Who built the megaliths? The ancient manuscript "Book of Conquests" mentions three waves of early newcomers - the Fomorians, the sons of Portolan and the Nemedians. The first were “gloomy sea giants”, and they also built towers. Maybe they are? The Fomorians acquired their building skills in Africa. Two other peoples came from Europe and brought with them the art of politics." After them, the "fir bolg" people appeared - hardworking, skilled farmers. "Fir bolg" translates as "leather bags" - they sailed to Ireland on them. also the Tuatha de Danani, the Milesians, the Dravidians from India... This is all that could be extracted from the ancient legends that survived despite the attempts of the Romans to impose their ideas about the past on the local tribes.

In the past of Stonehenge, several stages of construction are clearly distinguishable, some separated from each other by a distance of more than one millennium. At the earliest stage, which dates back to about 3100 BC, a ditch and an internal rampart arose in the shape of a circle with a diameter of 97.5 m. Outside this circle was the so-called Heel Stone.

“Friar's Heelstone” - “the heel of a running monk”, and inside there are holes located in a circle at an equal distance from each other with traces of corpse burning. Later, in the space inside the ditch, the so-called blue stones (hewn blocks of greenish dolerite) were installed in two concentric circles -blue tint). But then they were rearranged again, and around 1800 BC Stonehenge acquired the appearance familiar to us today: a majestic stone ring arose, formed by huge hewn blocks of gray sandstone up to 8.5 m high, covered with slabs on top made of stone. Inside this ring there was another horseshoe-shaped structure, made up of larger blocks, grouped in pairs and covered with a third - the so-called trilithons. It seems that the blue stones during the existence of Stonehenge were more than once rearranged by different generations of builders from place to place. Now some of them form, as it were, a small independent horseshoe inside a large horseshoe of gray sandstone blocks, while others are located in a circle inside a large stone ring.

A legitimate question arises: how did our prehistoric ancestors manage to drag heavy boulders over such a huge distance, and, in fact, why? There are a great many answers. Or rather, not even answers, but rather assumptions.

According to an ancient Celtic legend, Stonehenge was created by the wizard Merlin. It was he, the great magician, who personally transported bulky blocks of stone from Ireland and the extreme south of England to the town of Stonehenge, north of the town of Salisbury, in the county of Wiltshire, and erected there a sanctuary that has survived centuries - the most famous in the British Isles, and throughout the world , megalith.

Stonehenge, let us remind you, is a double circular fence made of large stones installed vertically. Archaeologists call this fence a cromlech. And it was built, in their opinion, between the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC - in five long stages.

Back in 1136, the English chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth testified that “these stones were brought from afar.” You and I, relying on the data of modern geology, can completely agree with him on one thing: part of the blocks for the construction of the megalith were indeed somehow delivered from the west, but not from the quarries closest to Stonehenge. In addition, 80 tons of menhirs, or processed stone blocks, which were then installed in a vertical position, were brought from the southern regions of Wales, located in the western part of England (in particular, from Pembrokeshire). And this was already at the second stage of construction, that is, in the second half of the 3rd millennium. From the Prezelian quarries, in southwest Wales, the so-called blue stones were transported to Stonehenge by water - at least, this is what the famous English archaeologist, Professor Richard Atkinson suggests. And more precisely - along the sea and rivers into the interior of the country. And finally - the final section of the route, which several centuries later, in 1265, received a name that has survived to this day, albeit with a slightly different meaning: “avenue”. And here it’s really time to admire the strength and long-suffering of the ancients.

The skill of the stonemasons is no less admirable. After all, most of the roofing slabs of the famous dolmen, as megalithic structures such as Stonehenge are also called, weigh several tons, and the weight of many supports is about several centners. But it was still necessary to find suitable blocks, transport them to the site of future construction and install them in a strictly defined order. In short, the construction of Stonehenge, in modern terms, was tantamount to a feat of labor.

During the construction of Stonehenge, two types of stones were used: strong boulders - the so-called aeolian pillars - from Avebury sandstone, from which trilithes were made - the same dolmens, or vertical stone blocks with transverse stone slabs on top, forming the outer circle of the entire structure; and softer dolerites that are part of ore and coal beds. Dolerite is a basalt-like igneous rock with a bluish-gray hue. Hence its other name - blue stone. Two-meter-high dolerites form the inner circle of the megalithic structure. Although the blue stones of Stonehenge are not very high, archaeologists believe that they contain the secret meaning of the entire structure.

The first thing that archaeologists unanimously agreed on was the geological origin of dolerites: their homeland is the Preselian Mountains. But as to why the ancient ancestors of the Celts needed to move dolerite boulders, scientists have differing opinions. The main controversy was caused by this question: did people from the New Stone Age actually drag the blocks with their own hands to the site of the megalith construction, or did the stones mix on their own - as the glaciers shifted in the Quaternary period, that is, long before the appearance of man? The controversy was only recently put to an end. At an international conference, glaciologists announced the results of their many years of research, which boiled down to the fact that there had never been any major glacial movements in the Stonehenge area.

So archaeologists could already conduct excavations in full confidence that the movement of megalithic blocks was a consequence of enormous human activity. But many other questions related to “how” and “why” have not yet been answered.

From the Prezelian Mountains to Stonehenge in a straight line - two hundred and twenty kilometers. But, as you know, the direct path is not always the shortest. So in our case: taking into account the exorbitant weight of the “cargo,” we had to choose not the shortest, but the most convenient path.

In addition, it was necessary to build appropriate vehicles. It is known that in the new Stone Age people knew how to hollow out canoes from tree trunks; they were the main means of transport. Indeed, recently archaeologists discovered the remains of an ancient trimaran, which consisted of three seven-meter-long dugout canoes, fastened with crossbars. Such a trimaran could easily be controlled by six people using poles. As for the four-ton stone blocks, the same six oarsmen were able to load them onto the trimaran using levers. The sea route along the gentle coast of Wales was the most convenient, and there were plenty of secluded bays in case of bad weather.

However, part of the journey had to be covered overland. And here hundreds of pairs of hands were required. The first step was to transfer the “load” onto a sled and pull it along tree trunks cleared of branches, laid across the path, like rollers. Each block was dragged by at least two dozen people.

And one more important detail: in order to avoid autumn and spring storms, the stones were transported from the beginning of May to the end of August. This required not only a huge number of workers, but also skill, since the only tools in those distant times were wooden poles, stone axes and levers, not counting wooden rollers and canoes. In addition, belts - leather, linen or hemp - served as an indispensable aid. The wheel was not yet known. People also have not yet learned to tame horses. This means that there were no carts - they appeared much later, in the Bronze Age. Meanwhile, people of the New Stone Age already widely used bulls as draft power. And the people themselves were united into a well-organized community.

The people who went to mine stone were certainly guided by some great impulse: the stone miners knew that if they returned not empty-handed, then honor and glory awaited them, since they too were making their contribution to the construction of the sanctuary. And this, in turn, meant that they were fulfilling a sacred mission. For young men, for example, such a trip was a kind of test preceding their initiation into men.

It is not difficult to guess that the path of the stone miners was long and difficult. And it was no coincidence that some of them died along the way. The waterway was especially dangerous - mainly due to storms, headwinds and currents. Moreover, the canoes moved forward very slowly: after all, they were controlled, as we remember, with the help of poles or primitive rows. However, the land route also required enormous effort. This is understandable: moving multi-ton blocks of stone on land is much more difficult than on water.

In the fall, the blue stones were finally delivered along the river to a place located three kilometers from Stonehenge, and the stone miners returned home. And the “cargo” remained on the shore until the next summer: the stones were installed invariably on the day of the summer solstice. It was then, in fact, that the long “sacred path” ended.

On the day of the ceremony, before sunrise, the last stage was completed: a solemn procession headed towards Stonehenge along a special threshold - the “Avenue”. This road, fourteen meters wide, was bordered on both sides by ditches and embankments. It stretched upward in an arc, making it easier to climb the sacred hill, and led strictly to the east - to where the sun rises.

Some stones at Stonehenge form straight rows pointing towards the rising and setting of the sun and moon. This was probably of vital importance for the ancients: they had to know exactly the days when they should worship the spirits of their departed ancestors.

As we already know, dolerites transported to Stonehenge were used in the construction of the first fence - it was erected around 2500 BC. By that time, Stonehenge was already considered an ancient monument. Five centuries earlier, the sanctuary was surrounded by a moat, fencing it on the outside with an earthen rampart about a hundred meters wide.

During the third phase of construction - around 2000 BC. - Huge trilithons were installed at Stonehenge. At the same time, 30-ton aeolian pillars were delivered to the construction site - they had to be dragged thirty kilometers from Stonehenge.

The most ambitious stage of construction began with the delivery of blue menhirs. By that time, the dolerite belt, never completed, had been destroyed, probably to make way for a much more magnificent structure, the construction of which required much more effort.

So, in just four hundred years, the blue stones disappeared completely. However, around 2000 BC. they ended up in the same place. And today it is precisely by these that we can judge what Stonehenge was like in its original form.

However, not all archaeologists believe that dolerites, as a building material, disappeared for four hundred years. Their traces were found in other monumental structures of the time: for example, on Mount Silbury, the highest artificial hill of the New Stone Age, rising 40 kilometers north of Stonehenge. At its top, a fragment of dolerite was discovered, which, apparently, was once part of a cromlech.

Although we do not have complete knowledge of that distant era, we nevertheless have every reason to assume that the cromlechs are, among other things, cultural monuments of the Left Stone Age, when man had just begun to engage in productive activities. It was during that period that man had his first experience in agriculture and animal husbandry. At the same time, people began to get used to a sedentary lifestyle and build settlements.

So, whatever the true reasons that prompted the Stone Age people to build the Stonehenge cromlech, in our minds it will forever remain the most remarkable megalithic monument.

The design principles by which Stonehenge was created cannot be called either primitive or random, for the arrangement of the stones clearly reveals an understanding of the laws of perspective. From any angle, in any lighting, these stone pillars stand out clearly against the sky. In this regard, the idea has been repeatedly expressed that the builders of Stonehenge had extraordinary knowledge of mathematics

Nowadays, Stonehenge turns into an object of mass pilgrimage for tourists at the time of the summer solstice, since the main axis of the entire structure points to the northeast, exactly where the sun rises on the longest days, and this fact seems to strengthen speculation about the mystical significance of the monument.

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The term “megaliths” comes from the Greek words μέγας - large, λίθος - stone. Megaliths are structures made of stone blocks or blocks, from different rocks, various modifications, sizes and shapes, combined and installed in such an order that these blocks/blocks constitute a single monumental structure.

Stone blocks in megalithic structures weigh from several kilograms to hundreds and even thousands of tons. Individual structures are so huge and unique that it is not at all clear how they were built. Also in the scientific world there is no consensus regarding the technologies of ancient builders.

Some megaliths seem to have been carved (processed) with some kind of tools, some objects seem to have been cast from liquid materials, and some objects have traces of clearly artificial processing by unknown technologies.

Megalithic culture is represented in absolutely all countries of the world, on land and under water (and...probably not only on our planet..). The age of megaliths is different, the main period of megalith construction is determined from the 8th to the 1st millennium BC, although some objects have a much more ancient origin, which is often denied by official science. Megalithic monuments of a later period are also widely represented - 1-2 millennia AD.

Classification and types of megaliths

According to their classification, megaliths are divided into separate categories:

megalithic complexes (ancient cities, settlements, temples, fortresses, ancient
observatories, palaces, towers, walls, etc.);
pyramids and pyramidal mountain complexes;
mounds, ziggurats, kofuns, cairns, tumuli, tombs, galleries, chambers, etc.;
dolmens, trilithons, etc.;
menhirs (standing stones, stone alleys, statues, etc.);
seids, Sin-stones, trail-stones, cup-stones, altar-stones, etc.;
stones/rock with ancient images - petroglyphs;
rock, cave and underground structures;
stone labyrinths (surads);
geoglyphs;
and etc.

There are many hypotheses about the purpose of megaliths, but there are some features that are characteristic of many megaliths of the world, regardless of their classification, modification, size, etc. - these are their external similarity, locations (geolocation), geophysical characteristics and belonging to certain highly developed civilizations. The study of megaliths using geophysics and dowsing began in the 20th century. During the study, it was absolutely established that the places for the construction of megaliths were not chosen by chance; very often megaliths are located in places (near) dowsing anomalies (in different-frequency geopathogenic zones - near or on a tectonic fault in the earth’s crust).

Thus, it can be assumed that the generator of these waves of different frequencies are tectonic faults, and stone structures in this case act as multifunctional acoustic devices that resonate with this frequency.

It turns out that megaliths can influence human bioenergy! This allows you to effectively correct a person’s biofield by influencing both his energy points of the body and individual systems.

In ancient times, dedicated priests engaged in similar practices, and this was practiced with the help of various rites and rituals.

With the help of stones, ancient priests, shamans, healers communicated with the spirits of departed ancestors, with the gods, received the answers they were interested in, treated diseases, etc., and also made offerings and demands (not sacrifices, which appeared later and most likely not by the creators of megaliths). Knowledge about this was first distorted, then completely erased.

Almost everywhere near the megaliths there was or is water (some kind of reservoir, stream, spring, etc.)! Often the orientation of megaliths is directed towards the water; this is especially clearly seen in the example of most of the dolmens in the Krasnodar region, which in turn, not without reason, are the standard in dolmen structure.

It is also worth mentioning the orientation of many megaliths to the cardinal points, taking into account some astronomical features.

Often, when studying megaliths, one gets the impression that over time the builders seemed to have lost the ability to erect stone structures and over time the megaliths became like only distant copies of the original structures.

Perhaps, for some reason, the ancients lost that knowledge and technology, and most importantly, over time, the need for megalith construction was lost.

However, despite the time, megalith building continues to exist in the world. Even today in Sumatra (Indonesia), people continue to create funerary stone monuments that are similar in appearance to ancient megaliths, thus preserving the memory and customs of their ancestors.

In many places around the world, traditions, legends and stories have been preserved that many megaliths are associated with the reincarnation of dead people.

Many megaliths are closely related to astrology, in connection with this, a new direction in antiquity researchers has emerged - archaeoastronomy. It is archaeoastronomers who study the astronomical aspect in megalith construction. It was archaeoastronomers who proved many hypotheses regarding the purpose of many ancient stone structures.

Some megalithic structures were created to determine the main solar and lunar cycles of the year. These objects served as calendars and observatories for observing celestial bodies.

Megaliths - the legacy of ancient civilizations

Unfortunately, in our time, in all corners of the world, for various reasons, the tendency to destroy ancient monuments continues, but new finds of ancient structures also continue to be discovered all over the world.

Many studies and the objects themselves are stubbornly hushed up by official departments, or dates are deliberately incorrectly determined and reports and conclusions of scientists are falsified, because many objects simply do not fit into the generally accepted chronology of our civilization.

Megaliths are the very objects that connect us with the distant past, with the deep past, and it can definitely be said that they have not yet revealed all their secrets to people...

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Most common type megalithic structures - dolmens (from the Breton dol - table and men - stone). In most cases, these are collective, intended for the burial of members of individual clans, less often - individual tombs, made of large stone blocks or slabs, placed on edges vertically or slightly obliquely and covered with one or several slabs on top, like a table top, which is where the name comes from. stone table." In some dolmens, the slab covering the entrance has a large round or oval hole. Many dolmens were covered with earth on top, so that only the entrance remained free, but with rare exceptions, the mounds did not survive to this day; they settled. In some areas, megalithic tombs are decorated with carved, engraved or painted designs in the form of spirals, ribbons or rectangular motifs. The most famous examples of such ornamented tombs are Le Havre Inis and Morbihan in France and New Grange in Ireland. In Brittany and the Marne there are symbolic images of parts of human figures - heads, arms, chests, sometimes some costume accessories - belts, necklaces, hryvnias, weapons - daggers.

Dolmens are widespread in the world. In Europe, they are found in the north of Germany, Denmark, Southern Scandinavia, Holland, England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Bulgaria. The oldest European dolmens date back to the 4th millennium BC, the latest - 2400-2000. BC. .

Some dolmens were led by small corridors made of large stone slabs and covered with earth, the so-called tombs with a passage. In southern France and on the Iberian Peninsula, “covered galleries” (allees couvertes) - elongated (15-20 m) corridors made of stones - also served as places for collective burials.

The latest type megalithic structures dating back to the Bronze Age are small underground tombs in the form of boxes made of stone slabs, the so-called cysts, or cysts. In the full sense of the word, they can no longer be called megalithic, since their size does not allow us to talk about “large” stones.

Sometimes to megalithic buildings include fortresses, dwellings and other structures made of stone blocks or dry masonry slabs (the so-called cyclopean buildings).

Construction megalithic buildings presented a most difficult task for primitive technology. The weight of cover slabs reaches 40 tons or more, and the weight of free-standing stones is sometimes 100 or even 300 tons. In some cases, for example for the construction of Stonehenge, stones were delivered almost 200 km away. In addition to a number of devices - adding earth, installing levers, rollers, etc., for the construction of megalithic buildings it was necessary to unite large masses of people. These buildings were erected by entire clans or even tribes. There is no doubt that the large expenditure of effort of the entire community associated with the construction of megalithic buildings required special organization. Thus, a common feature of all bearers of megalithic cultures is that their economic and social structure was strongly influenced by cultic and religious ideas. We do not know what ideas formed the phenomenon that could be called "megalithic religion." Sun worship? Cult of the mother goddess? In the absence of written sources, this riddle apparently cannot be solved. As elements of the “megalithic religion”, in addition to the main one - collective burials (in various stone structures and natural grottoes), one can name almost universally found images of a female deity (figurines, sometimes menhir statues), symbols in the form of images of two eyes (found in various places from Sicily to Scandinavia), temples (in the British Isles, Malta, Brittany). But even recognizing the presence of some common elements in various megalithic societies, one cannot help but notice the extreme diversity in their manifestation. Therefore, the idea expressed by some researchers about the spread of “megalithic ideas” by certain “missionaries” who followed traders appears not only as an unjustified modernization of processes that took place 5 thousand years ago, but also groundless based on the very facts that we know.

Question about origin megalithic construction is complex and has not yet been solved. Montelius, Sophus Muller, Gernes and others believed that megaliths arose under the influence of ancient Egyptian stone tombs and gradually spread along the sea coast from Africa to Scandinavia. Some German scientists considered Northern Europe and Scandinavia in particular to be the homeland of megaliths, and their builders to be “proto-Indo-Germans,” but new dating finally refuted this point of view. The most ancient (second half of the 4th millennium BC) megaliths in Western Europe appeared in Spain (Almeria culture) and Portugal (dolmen culture).

They do not represent a single culture, they were created by different communities, and the “megalithic” pottery is very different in different places. Obviously, the reason for their construction is a common religious idea that arose in similar social and geographical conditions: an attempt to create an indestructible, eternal home for the deceased. Burials in dolmens were supposed to replace burials in specially dug or natural caves, which served as a model for megalithic tombs. Even G. de Mortillier argued that in dolmens the tradition of burying in dwellings was continued, including in artificial or natural caves that served as dwellings and at the same time burial places. Round holes in the entrance slab of the dolmen were probably supposed to serve, according to the ideas of the ancients, for the entry and exit of the soul of the deceased, as well as for delivering food and drink to the deceased.

However, the hypothesis about the independent origin of ideas megaliths in different, poorly connected societies does not exclude the possibility of borrowing this idea and even samples of buildings by one society from another. Most often, the very idea of collective burials, implemented in megalithic structures, is derived from the Eastern Mediterranean. In this area there are known graves covered with a stepped false vault (tholos) into which stone entrances (dromos) led. Similar buildings, along with other megalithic structures, are found on the Iberian Peninsula, which is considered the oldest Western European region of megalithic buildings, and even in Ireland and Scotland. However, this form of buildings has been known in the West since the 3rd millennium BC, and in the Aegean world it appears in a developed form only around 1600 BC. The tholos may be thought to have their origins in the earlier round graves, but not necessarily in the false-vaulted graves. In a word, we have no reason to deny the possibility of the emergence of the idea of megalithic buildings in the Eastern Mediterranean, but there is also no evidence that this idea came to Western Europe from there. The idea of a single people - the builder of megaliths has been finally refuted by the discoveries of recent years. All that remains is the assumption of the diffusion of the idea of megaliths. The agricultural and pastoral tribes that left behind megalithic buildings in Southern England and France differed in culture from the tribes that inhabited South-Eastern Norway and the northern regions of the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany and also erected megalithic buildings. In general, megalithic cultures north of the Mediterranean become poorer in terms of architectural forms, variety of implements and amount of metal. In addition, southern megalithic culture- more ancient, and this indicates that the idea of megalithic buildings spread from south to north.

Let's return to the SUM culture, the question about which served as a reason for the story about megaliths at all. The SUM culture is interesting because it clearly demonstrates the possibility of a transition from burials in natural caves to megalithic structures. Burials of this culture are found in natural caves, artificial caves carved into chalk rocks, or gallery tombs.

The artificial caves were chambers about 4x4 m in size, hollowed out in layers of chalk, into which an inclined entrance (dromos) led. On the walls of some tombs there are carved schematic figures of a man with an ax (or just an ax, and sometimes other objects), similar to those depicted in the statues - menhirs of Southern France. In tombs, up to 40 or more bones are found lying in an extended position (sometimes they bear traces of being in fire). There are more carefully decorated chambers, containing only eight skeletons, and the grave goods are richer. It can be assumed that these are the burials of “leaders” Back to text

14. The issue of the spread of megalithic buildings from the East is considered in extensive literature. However, it cannot be solved only on European material. Megalithic structures are known in different countries of the world (except Australia), and supporters of the theory of their spread from a single center cannot explain how they penetrated, say, Korea and other countries remote from the Middle East. The idea of the arrival of megalithic cultures in Europe from the Eastern Mediterranean is associated with the general concept of the development of European, especially Neolithic, culture under the influence of creative impulses coming from the East. One of these impulses was allegedly the spread of the idea of megaliths and, along with it, metal in Europe along the sea routes. See: A. Varagnac. Die Verbreitung des Megalithglaubens uber See. Das Chalkolithikum. - In the book: Der Mensch der Urzeit. Dusseldorf - Koln, 1960, pp. 375-380.

15. Some consider these figures to be a depiction of the goddess of burial armed with an axe, while others consider them to be a depiction of a female ancestor, the ancestor.