Standing stone

Standing stones (also called menhirs)^[1] are stones set into the ground vertically. They were put there by Neolithic people in the British Isles and Brittany. They also occur elsewhere in the world.

Callanish standing stones in the Outer Hebrides

Ardgroom stone circle, Ireland

Pictish standing stone, Aberlemno, Scotland

The Géant du Manio, a 6.5 metre menhir in Carnac, Brittany.

There may be single standing stones, circles, lines or groups of them. Their dates are mostly from 4000 BC to 1,500 BC. Since Neolithic peoples did not have writing, we do not know much about what they were used for. It is generally thought they had both practical and ceremonial or religious uses. Pottery found near some of these stones suggest that some standing stones in Europe belonged to the so-called 'Beaker culture'.

Features

Their shape is generally uneven and squared, usually becoming thinner near the top. Menhirs can be found across Europe, Africa and Asia. However, they are mostly found in Western Europe, especially in Brittany and the British Isles (Great Britain and Ireland). There are about 50,000 megaliths in these areas.^[2][3]

Standing stones are usually hard to date. However, pottery found underneath some standing stones in western Europe connects them with the Beaker people. They were made as part of a megalithic culture which was powerful in Europe and beyond.

Megalithic monuments

Where they appear in groups, often in a round, oval, henge or horseshoe formation, they are sometimes called megalithic monuments. These are sites of very old religious ceremonies, sometimes having burial chambers.^[4][5]

The developments of radiocarbon dating and tree-ring calibration have helped us learn more of their timing. In some archaeological sites, the remains of wooden henges can be found. Woodhenge was a henge and timber circle monument in the Stonehenge World Heritage Site in Wiltshire, England. It is 2 miles (3.2 km) north-east of Stonehenge.

History

Historians do not know the social group, religious thoughts, or language of the people who made the menhirs. We do know that they buried their dead. They also had the skills to grow cereal, farm, and make pottery, stone tools and jewelry.

Some recent research into the megaliths in Brittany suggests a much older origin, maybe back to six to seven thousand years ago.^[6] This is not generally accepted.

Related pages

• Stonehenge
• Avebury
• Carnac stones

Further reading

• Malone, Caroline. 2005. Neolithic Britain and Ireland. Tempus, Stroud, Gloucestershire.