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What are menhirs, cromlechs and dolmens?

Question #80756. Asked by hidoll.

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xo_cinnabon star
Answer has 4 votes
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xo_cinnabon star
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Answer has 4 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
Menhir:A prehistoric monument of a class found chiefly in the British Isles and northern France, consisting of a single tall, upright megalith.

Cromlech:(no longer in technical use) a megalithic chamber tomb.

Dolmen: A Neolithic tomb consisting of two or more upright stones with a capstone, believed to have been buried in earth except for a central opening.

link http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/menhir
link http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cromlechs
link http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dolmen


May 21 2007, 11:28 AM
gdebes1 star
Answer has 3 votes
gdebes1 star
17 year member
58 replies

Answer has 3 votes.
These terms describe certain types of megaliths, as described in link http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/m/megaliths.html :


Megaliths are large stone structures or groups of standing stones which are located at sites in various parts of the would and believed to have religious significance. The term "megalith" means "great stone" which is derived from the Greek words "megas" ('great') and "lithos" ('stone'). However, the general meaning of megaliths includes any structure composed of large stones which includes tombs and circular standing structures. Such structures have been found in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and North and South America.

Their origins and purposes have tantalized experts and ordinary people for centuries. There is a general consensus that many were built in the Neolithic and early Bronze Ages.

Megaliths are classed in two general categories: "dolmens" and "menhirs." Dolmens, also called "chamber tombs," usually contain one or more chambers or rooms in which the dead were buried. Some dolmens also contain long, stone chambers or halls which connect different rooms. These long chambers also are referred to as "Long tombs" and "passage-graves."

Menhirs are large standing stones, or groups of standing stones, arranged in circles, or cromlechs, and henges. A bank or ditch that surrounds the circular henges which distinguishes them. There is always one or more entrance to them.


May 21 2007, 11:44 AM
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