What megalithic structures do you know. What are ancient megaliths and by whom they were built

Megalithic structures appeared and became widespread during the Bronze Age. Megaliths include the following structures:

• menhirs;
• dolmens;
• Alinemana;
• cromlechs;
• covered walkways;
• and other buildings made of large boulders and slabs.

Megalithic structures can be found anywhere in the world: in the Caucasus, Crimea, Western and Northern Europe (England, France, Denmark, Holland), India, Iran, the Balkan Peninsula, North Africa and other countries.

Figure 1. Megalithic structures. Author24 - online exchange of student papers

The history of the appearance of megalithic structures and types

The emergence of various types of megalithic structures is often associated with cults of worship of ancestors, sun or fire, totem. Large-scale work on the processing and movement of boulders was carried out with the help of a huge number of people in the primitive community of labor organization. The most common monuments of this type are dolmens.

Definition 1

Dolmens are burial structures that consist of several slabs arranged vertically and covered with a horizontal slab.

The slabs weighed several tens of tons. Initially, dolmens reached a length of two meters, their height did not exceed 150 centimeters. However, over time, their size became larger, the approach to them was arranged in the form of a stone gallery. The length of such galleries could reach 20 meters. Menhirs are another type of megalithic structures.

Definition 2

Menhirs are vertically installed stone pillars, which have a rounded cross-section, a height of up to 20 meters, and a weight of about 300 tons.

Menhirs are located near dolmens, so there is an assumption that their funeral rites are connected. Menhirs can often be found in small groups that are arranged in parallel rows. It happens that the length of such rows reaches 30 kilometers.

An example is Karnak in Brittany, where the number of menhirs reaches 3000. It is believed that each menhir is a monument to a deceased person.

Remark 1

Menhirs did not arise out of vital necessity, when a person needed to build a dwelling or warehouses. An idea was laid in the creation of menhirs, which is not related to the struggle for existence. But, despite this, considerable efforts were made in order to extract, deliver and erect these blocks, which reached impressive dimensions and considerable weight.

The fact of such a rapid spread of this type of megalithic structures indicates that menhirs were a kind of expression of ideas that were the same for people of that era, regardless of their actual location.

It is no coincidence that these stones were of enormous size and weight. If we take into account their historical relationship with subsequent structures that had architectural features, then a menhir is a tombstone or monument, which is similar in its memorial column, but a dolmen is a crypt, tomb or sarcophagus. Cromlech at Stonehenge is already a kind of temple, albeit very primitive.

Definition 3

Cromlechs are large groups of menhirs that are located in closed circles. Sometimes the circles are made up of several rows of vertically spaced stones.

Stonehenge is an example of a complex megalithic structure. It is a circle with a diameter of 30 meters, which consists of vertically placed stones. From above they are covered with horizontal slabs. In the middle of the structure there are two rings of low stones, and between them there is a third ring of high boulders composed in pairs. In the center is a single stone, which is believed to be an altar. Stonehenge is a famous megalithic structure, which already has such architectural elements like center, rhythm, symmetry.

In this type, you can see a structure in which a technical problem found not only a certain type of solution, but also received an aesthetic embodiment, which testifies to the architect's mastery of a sense of rhythm, space, form, scale and proportions. Other megaliths do not possess such qualities, since according to all the above signs, they are all closer to amorphous natural creatures than to the work of human hands.

Despite this, cromlech, which is located in Stonehenge, also cannot be called an architectural structure. He is too massive in relation to the horizontal lines, his verticals are too heavy. The technicality of the appearance in this case prevails over its artistic composition. In the same way as in all other structures that preceded the formation of cromlech:

• dugouts;
• semi-dugouts;
• huts;
• ground adobe structures that had a utilitarian purpose.

The artistic form arose only when the utilitarian form reached perfection. It was also at the final stage of the Bronze Period, when crafts and art industries were actively emerging.

A huge number of megalithic structures have been collected in the Caucasus. Here, stone alleys became widespread, which in Armenia were called the stone army. There are also stone images of fish that were the personification of the deity of fertility.

Magical architecture of megalithic structures

The origins of architecture go back to the late Neolithic times. Then the stone was already used to create monumental structures. All ancient megaliths can be divided into two large groups:

• Ancient architectural structures of prehistoric societies: cromlechs, menhirs, dolmens, temples of Malta. For the construction of such structures, almost untreated stones were used. The cultures that used such structures are called megalithic. This culture also includes labyrinths of small stones, as well as individual boulders with petroglyphs. Also, the dolmens of the Korean nobility and the tombs of the Japanese emperors can be attributed to megalithic architecture.
• Megalithic structures of more advanced architecture. These are structures made of large boulders, which have a regular geometric shape. This kind of megalithic architecture is characteristic of the early powers, which were not built in later times. These include the monuments of the Mediterranean: the megalithic structures of the Mycenaean civilization, the pyramids in Egypt, the temple mountain, which is located in Jerusalem.

The most beautiful megalithic structures in the world

Gobekli Tepe, Turkey. The complex is located in the Armenian Highlands. This megalithic structure is considered the oldest in the world. According to historical data, it was formed in the X – IX millennium BC. People at that time were engaged in gathering and hunting. The shape of this megalithic temple resembles a circle, of which there are more than 20 pieces. According to experts, this architectural complex was deliberately covered with sand. Its height reached 15 meters, and its diameter was 300 meters.

Megaliths in Carnac (Brittany) France. Many megalithic structures were presented in the form of ceremonial centers, in which the cult for the burial of the dead was held. This includes the complex of megaliths in Carnac (Brittany), which is located in France. It has about 3000 stones. Megaliths reached a height of 4 meters, they were placed in the form of an alley, the rows ran parallel to each other. This architectural complex can be dated back to the 5th – 4th millennium BC. Legend has it that Merlin ordered the ranks of the Roman legionnaires to be petrified.

Figure 8. Megaliths at Carnac (Brittany), France. Author24 - online exchange of student papers

Nabta Observatory, Nubia, which is located in the Sahara. Some megalithic structures were previously used to determine astronomical events (equinox and solstice). At that time, a megalithic structure was found in the Nubian desert in the Nabta Playa region, which was used for astronomical purposes. Due to the special arrangement of the megaliths, it was possible to determine the day of the summer solstice. Archaeologists believe that people then lived seasonally, only when there was water in the lake. That is why they needed a calendar.

Stonehenge, UK, Salisbury... Stonehenge is a megalithic structure, which is presented in the form of 82 columns, 30 stone blocks and five huge triliths. Columns weigh up to 5 tons, stone blocks - 25 tons, and huge stones weigh 50 tons. The stacked blocks form arches that previously pointed to the cardinal points. According to scientists, this structure was erected in 3100 BC. The ancient monolith was not only lunar and solar calendar, but also was an exact replica of the solar system in cross section.

Figure 9. Stonehenge, UK, Salisbury. Author24 - online exchange of student papers

Comparing the mathematical parameters of the geometric figures of cromlech, it was possible to establish that they all reflect the parameters of various planets of the solar system, and also simulate their orbits. Surprisingly, Stonehenge is a display of 12 planets of the solar system, although today there are only 9 of them. Astronomers have long believed that there are two more planets beyond Pluto's outer orbit, and the asteroid belt is the remains planets. How could the ancient builders of cromlech know about this?

There is another interesting version about the purpose of Stonehenge. During the excavation of the trail, along which the ritual processions were carried out, once again confirm the hypothesis that the cromlech was built along the relief of the Ice Age. This place was special: the natural landscape was located along the axis of the solstice, connecting heaven and earth.

Cromlech Brogar or Temple of the Sun, Orkney Islands... Initially, this structure had 60 elements, but today only 27 rocks have survived. The place where the cromlech is located is ritual. It is "stuffed" with various burial mounds and burials. All monuments here are united into a single architectural complex, which has been preserved by UNESCO. Today, archaeological excavations are being carried out on the islands.

Temples of Ggantija in Shara... It is located in the central part of the island of Gozo and is one of the world's most important landmarks. The megalithic structure is presented in the form of two separate temples, each of which has a concave façade. There is a platform of stone blocks in front of the entrance. Most ancient temple architectural complex consists of several semicircular rooms that are arranged in the shape of a trefoil.

Figure 10. Temples of Ggantija in Shara. Author24 - online exchange of student papers

Scientists believe that such a trinity is a symbol of the past, present and future. According to historians, temple complex- This is a sanctuary for worshipers of the goddess of fertility. However, there is a version that the Ggantija temple is a tomb, because the population of the Megalithic era followed the traditions. They venerated their ancestors and erected tombs, and only later these places became sanctuaries where they worshiped the gods.

Searchers for traces of aliens from outer space are looking for more and more "victims" among the ancient buildings to declare them the work of space guests. We haven't reached the megaliths yet! And it’s strange. So they ask for modern mythology, these grandiose structures, erected at the behest of ancient mythology.

What are megaliths

Megaliths. "Giant Stones" in translation. Or rather, structures made of giant stones.

Of course, no matter how large the "pebbles" that make up the megaliths, any of them is inferior to the slabs of the famous Trilithon of the Baalbek terrace, some even to stone blocks from the Egyptian pyramids. The boulders that make up the megaliths usually weigh only tons, and three hundred tons for them is already the maximum, a kind of record. Another thing is that there are megalithic structures of many hundreds of such "stones".

But if the pyramids were built on the land of a great and powerful civilization, which occupies an honorable place in history, in a country that has long been populated more than densely, and all the pyramids are concentrated, roughly speaking, on several "spots" in the Nile Valley, then the megaliths are scattered in a strip about hundreds or even thousands of kilometers. And the length of this strip is amazing.

Who built the megaliths

At first, naturally, it was believed that the megaliths were built by ordinary giants. Creatures that threw multi-ton stones from palm to palm. The Greeks called the structures of large stones Cyclopean, because they were clearly built by the Cyclops, one-eyed giants, one of whom was later blinded by Odysseus. According to another ancient hypothesis, these stones could move by themselves - for example, to the music of Orpheus. But the cyclops variant was much more popular.

In the 18th century, the "giant" version was resolutely rejected. And soon they decided in return that these were aliens, accustomed to burying their dead in natural caves in their homeland, artificial caves began to get along in new lands. But the trouble is - in Spain, for example, there are enough ordinary caves, but dolmens appeared literally next to them.

However, let's look at the names that are used by different groups of megaliths.

Classification of megaliths

A stone slab can simply stand upright, and then it is called the word "menhir", taken from the language of the Celts, the ancient inhabitants of France, England, Ireland and some other lands. Another, inclined one can be leaned against this vertical plate. Or a horizontal slab may lie on a vertical slab, so it looks like a table for some giant.

The next step to the service is a couple of stones, covered with a third, like a roof. This is already the simplest dolmen - a Celtic word too. And no matter how many stones are now connected in a box or a chamber with a lid, all such structures are also called dolmens. Often stone galleries or corridors lead to them. These stone boxes served as tombs. Where there were no large stones, the chamber could be made of smaller stones. Sometimes, according to a similar plan, tombs were carved into the rocks.

Much depended on local conditions, but not everything. The chalk cliffs of southern England seem to have been made to carve artificial caves, but dolmens are built on the surface there. And in southern Spain, in some places nearby there are megalithic tombs of various types, underground and aboveground. Why some of them were built, while others were carved, is unknown. However, when it comes to megaliths, the word "unknown" is widely used by scientists. Even regarding the fact that dolmens are burial structures, archaeologists did not immediately manage to come to an agreement. And as to whose tombs these are, disputes continue to this day.

Most of the dolmens were built at the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, that is, at the end of the Neolithic and in the Bronze Age. There were, however, places where dolmens continued to be built much later, and those already built were used in many countries as tombs for representatives of more and more generations. Perhaps this is one of the main reasons why archaeologists have so many ambiguities with megaliths - things left by different eras are mixed inside the tombs.

Megalith builders - one people?

So, megaliths seem to be different. But one of the greatest English historians, Gordon Child, argued that, despite all the variety of megaliths in this peculiar stone belt connecting England with Japan, we can talk about the general plan of many of them almost regardless of their geographical location.

The imagination of scientists has long been struck by this real or imaginary, but, in any case, striking similarity. At one time (which is a century or two for the Bronze Age) all over the Earth, or rather, along the coast of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans and their seas, tombs of a similar type appear. And no sooner did we stop trusting the legends about the giants who built the megaliths, when new legends appeared, even brighter and more beautiful (although the legends about "aliens" were still far away - about the dark 19th century!).

First of all, the place of giants as builders of megaliths was taken by people of some unknown, but brilliant and powerful tribe. It would seem natural to assume that the same people put stones on stones from Of the Far East to Scotland. It is not for nothing that almost all megaliths are so clearly drawn to the sea, so stubbornly located in coastal countries. (In the Caucasus, for example, dolmens, in essence, lined up in a chain along the coast of the Black Sea. In some places in the Caucasus they were also built farther from the fertile coast, but these "more continental" dolmens are getting smaller as they move away from the sea, until they finally lose right to be called megaliths - huge stones.)

However, not a single serious scientist insisted that the people of the megaliths inhabited almost the entire coastal area of ​​the Old World at the same time. It seemed more real that the builders of the megaliths - the whole people or the whole tribe - were moving, leaving giant structures behind him, like an indelible chain of footprints.

Naturally, again opinions about what kind of people they were, where they came from, where they were going, why and how they disappeared, diverged. Some researchers believed that he went from east to west. Others insisted on moving it from west to east. Still others talked about immigrants from Sumer, who went both east and west, but since there were no megaliths in Mesopotamia, this option quickly disappeared.

Others believed that it was Egypt who sent out its scouts across the seas and lands, these are its trade agents, they are also missionaries, persuading the inhabitants of the regions under their jurisdiction to acquire grandiose tombs and themselves set an example for them. Supporters of this version remembered primarily about Egyptian pyramids, too, after all, giant tombs. According to these scientists, the "sons of the Sun", immigrants from Egypt, spread throughout the world, spread seeds throughout the world, from which dolmens sprang up. Moreover, first of all, these travelers settled in places where there were deposits of minerals valuable for their homeland: in Spain, Sardinia, Ireland - near copper mines; at the tin deposits - in Western Ukraine and England; near the places of gold mining - in Western France and Ireland; in the Orkney Islands near North Scotland, where pearls were mined; on the east coast of Denmark, which served as a source of amber.

Gordon Child notes that there is indeed a general similarity between the distribution of Bronze Age tombs and the location of important deposits of that era, but a considerable number of tombs are located where no deposits were developed. And most importantly, according to the customs of the same Egyptians, in the tombs there should have been treasures next to the remains of people for which these people climbed here, but in Denmark amber rarely got into dolmens, in Ireland there is not enough gold and copper, and so on. And finally, everywhere in the dolmens there are few or no imported things. It is quite strange if we have before us the graves of the owners of "trading posts" or people who were under their strong influence. After all, it is known that, say, in the Bronze Age, together with a dear deceased, they usually buried the objects most dear to him and most valued by society, or, less often, at least something that personified, represented such objects (a clay horse instead of a real one, etc.). But in most of the dolmens there is nothing foreign at all. In these structures, which are so similar in appearance, in each country lie primarily things created by the tribes that inhabited it at that time. This is in stark contrast to the idea of ​​one people who built all the megaliths, wherever they stand.

It must be said, however, that some enthusiasts suggested even Atlanteans as builders of megaliths. But if we really believe Plato and recognize Atlantis as a reality, then we must remember that dolmens and other structures were built millennia after the Platonic date of the death of Atlantis.

No less fantastic was the version about dolmens as monuments of travel around the world of people of the "pre-Aryan race" - the ancestors of Indo-European peoples. After all, among other things, dolmens also stand where the Indo-Europeans have never been - in Korea, in East Africa ...

It must still be said that sometimes the megaliths definitely testify to the movements of the tribes. The megaliths of South Ethiopia, in their resemblance to the megaliths of Assam in India, cross the usual boundaries for megaliths. On both sides Indian Ocean there are cylindrical pillars with a rounded top, like carnations with a cap, only the height of the “nail” itself is up to four meters. It is difficult not to recognize this as proof of the travel of the inhabitants of "one of the sides" of the ocean across this very ocean. Of course, it can also be bypassed by land - around the Persian Gulf, through Arabia and the narrow strait that separates Yemen from East Africa. But long-distance sea voyages of Vasco da Gama of the Stone or Bronze Age are not excluded.

For some time, the common name of the two tribes was considered confirmation of such a resettlement: the Naga tribe is in Ethiopia, and the Naga tribe is in India. Then between the "namesakes" there was extremely little in common, the version of a single origin was rejected, and at the same time the idea of ​​resettlement from India to Africa of people who made huge stone "nails". But it was not rejected unanimously and not forever.

One way or another, but to the question: "What people built the dolmens" - today the most correct answer is not accurate, but short: "Different".

Megaliths - a derivative of the concept of the world

And yet, the similarity of dolmens all over the world is striking, and even more striking is the fact that on the scale of history they appear everywhere almost simultaneously, moreover, in countries inhabited by peoples, with very different methods of economy, customs, ideological ideas, in countries located on different levels of historical development. People of the Neolithic Age, people of the Copper Age and people of the Bronze Age lived on earth at the same time (as today the Stone Age is adjacent to our Iron Age somewhere in New Guinea). And those, and others, and still others, albeit to varying degrees and far from all, were involved in megaliths, hewed monstrous slabs, piled them on top of each other, arranged in the order common for places separated by many thousands of kilometers.

Obviously, we should speak here not about the mass movement of this or that people, but about the movement on earth of the aggregate of ideas about the world. Performances related to the veneration of the dead. And the economy that had developed by this time was already able to feed many workers that do not reap or sow, but drag huge stones.

This means that in all countries where dolmens appeared, class stratification was already in full swing - otherwise who would have erected these tombs, after all, not mere mortals? Already there were nobles, exploiters and slave owners. Leaders became kings, tribal elders became aristocrats. All of them needed to emphasize their power, in a symbolic confirmation of its eternity and inviolability. As the Egyptian pharaohs with their priests, commanders and officials needed the same. And similar reasons have caused the appearance of similar consequences. It happens. The Mexicans, for example, began building their pyramids a thousand years after the Egyptians had stopped building theirs. The time gap here is perceived quite naturally - after all, the Maya or Aztecs lagged behind in development from Egypt for several thousand years. And they apparently had no ties with Egypt, at least not permanent. And there were pyramids.

But here it is necessary to emphasize the difference between a pyramid and a megalith such as a dolmen or cromlech.

Pyramid and megalith

The shape of the pyramid is such that it is ideal for a symbol of eternity. An ordinary pile of uneven stones, as soon as they are cut and folded "more beautifully", turns into a pyramid. Since ancient times, the class state itself has been compared with the pyramid, because in each new layer of stones, if you go from the bottom up, there are fewer stones - like people in different strata of class society, and above there is one stone: the symbol of the ruler. However, this comparison, despite all its antiquity, nevertheless appeared after the very first pyramid was built. Well, the ancient Egyptians - those, apparently, materialized in the pyramid a sheaf of sun rays, the top of which is the sun. Since the sun was often identified with the pharaoh, the pyramid was also a symbol of power. There are many other explanations ...

But if the theories invented to explain the shape of the pyramids and the conversion of people in different lands to this particular form, basically complement each other and fit into such a neat pyramid themselves, then the hypotheses about megaliths mutually repel. The arrangement of the megaliths is too complicated for coincidences in his plan at different parts of the world could be obtained by chance.

Journey of the megaliths - a journey of worldviews

For most historians, it is the wandering of megaliths around the world that seems certain, and not their appearance in every country or at least part of the world on their own, without any influence from close or distant neighbors. At the same time, it is certainly true that the megaliths were not built by the same people. There seems to be only one way out of this external contradiction: from people to people across Europe, Asia and Africa, the sum of ideas associated with megaliths was transmitted - not a simple idea of ​​the courage of a huge burial structure, but precisely the sum of ideas associated with this idea.

The very possibility of such grandiose journey whole systems of views - and it is evidenced, as you can see, very weighty - says a lot about the really existing ties between the peoples of the distant past. To draw far-reaching conclusions from this fact, many historians are hindered by the fact that we still know too little about megaliths and their builders. But even what has become known about both of them makes us see the tribes of our ancestors not at all as dark and cut off from each other as it seemed.

Gordon Child, having listed and defeated the most popular assumptions about the common builders of all megaliths, goes with obvious relief and pleasure to people who also often buried their dead in dolmens, but themselves apparently lived centuries after the dolmens were built. It was here that one could, it seemed, find traces of some convenient people, whose groups of people wandered in a large part of Europe. The groups are small - the burials of the "wanderers" do not form vast cemeteries. And almost always and almost everywhere (the exception is ventral Spain) such burials are found among the burials of people of other peoples.

During excavations, the traces of these wanderers are recognized primarily by bell-shaped clay goblets. The archaeologists therefore assigned the name of the people of bell-shaped cups to this tribe.

Child sees in the "wanderers" wandering around Europe a handful of armed merchants selling gold and copper, amber and yamsha. Men-metallurgists and women who were engaged in pottery traveled with them. Travelers also made cups. Child speaks of the owners of the cups as guides in the establishment of trade and other relations between the peoples of Europe. They also spread new methods of metal processing, in a word, they played, according to Child, the role of such "peddlers of culture" in prehistoric Europe! However, their possible progressive role is strongly compromised by one circumstance ...

Millet grains are sometimes found in the famous bell-shaped cups, and then hop beer was brewed from millet. The power of the people of bell-shaped cups, if it existed, relied to the greatest extent on its "monopoly" on this invigorating drink. "Cup people" soldered the ancestors of those Europeans who came to North America not only with guns, but also with vodka.

The people of bell-shaped goblets lived a little over thirty centuries ago - not such a long time. After all, writing in Egypt and Sumer had already existed for two thousand years by that time. We know quite a lot about individual cultures and peoples of that time, but the "goblet people" did not have a letter, and the tribes among which they lived too, and with this people are still associated with much more mysteries than answers to them.

The people of bell-shaped cups were supposed to have a significant impact on the culture of Europe. There are scholars who believe that the names of silver and lead in both Indo-European and Basque languages ​​go back to the unknown language of the "goblet" people. " It is possible that traces of their activities remained in Africa. The center from which the carriers of this culture came was the Iberian Peninsula. In Central Europe, they probably met with the Indo-European tribes who moved westward around this time.

In this interaction, perhaps, the culture of Europeans on the threshold of antiquity was forged.

Well, in fact, the builders of the megaliths, at least some of them, still maintained links with powerful Mediterranean civilizations. One of them in the giant cromlech of Stonehenge stores two outfits: a bronze ax and a bronze dagger, a local ax, there are quite a few of these found in England, but the dagger is probably imported, and the point from where it was exported is definitely known: it is these daggers about a multitude that are found on Crete. From Crete to England, from the eastern Mediterranean to the northwestern edge of Europe, it is far enough. And it is possible, and even most likely, that at the beginning and middle of the II millennium BC, no Cretans had yet reached England, and the British themselves did not even dream of serious sea voyages. Too many seas and lands lay along the way. Too many peoples marched on it - peoples who did not know the principles of international law. From people to people, through intermediaries, bronze daggers moved to England. However, not only daggers and not only to England. Treasures of axes and daggers, treasures with Baltic amber beads and Mediterranean opaque glass beads mark trade routes during the time of the creators of the megaliths and the heirs of these creators.

The profession of a merchant was dangerous at that time. The wanderers had a bad time. The Central European traveler was then exposed to far greater dangers than the Central African traveler in the 19th century. Nevertheless, amber beads come from the Baltic to Italy, Greece, gold from Ireland arrives in Crete, Egyptian beads are found by archaeologists in Hungary, Holland and England. All this already in the first half of the II millennium BC. At the time when the last European megaliths were being built. Once things traveled, they could travel and rituals. Could travel and the idea that the dead could build tombs from huge stones.

Well, the similarity of the plans of megaliths in different countries! It is great, but some general details can be explained without the idea that the people are handing over to the people meticulously worked out plans for the tombs.

Or maybe, with such a small number of basic details, you won't create too much variety, if you don't try specially. And in general, the stone box repeats in an enlarged form the main features of the dwelling. And this is a natural wave - everywhere people tried to give the burial structures the signs of ordinary houses, and it is not for nothing that the “coffin” in Ukrainian is called “domina”.

Is it any wonder that stone boxes girdled Eurasia, walking across North Africa? And yet it is tricky. Some megaliths distant from each other have certain features of similarity, which by this in a simple way cannot be explained.

Historians and archaeologists try on megaliths from different sides; tens of theories and hundreds of hypotheses have already been broken on these giant stones. Burial mounds adjoin dolmens in a peculiar way. The same idea of ​​fighting death and oblivion inspired the ancient Egyptians and European, Asian and African builders of megaliths, and inspired the Sarmatians to build artificial hills from stones and earth. The mounds are outwardly unlike the megaliths, as well as the pyramids. But many historians nevertheless believe that the creators of the mounds imitated the builders of the pyramids.

Megaliths, huge structures made of massive boulders, are also found in our country. There are a lot of such structures in Russia, only they are not known as well as the famous Stonehenge in Great Britain or Ollantaytambo in Peru. We will get acquainted with the ancient megalithic structures found on the territory of Russia later.

The first thing to start the journey with is Mount Vottovaara - the highest point of the West Karelian Upland - 417.3 m above sea level. The area of ​​the mountain is 6 sq. km.
The place is just full of strange artifacts after which you start to think about the ancient highly developed technologies for stone processing, let's better take a look at the photo.

Mount Vottovaara.
Megalithic blocks are scattered around.

The middle block was cut at an angle of 90 degrees or a game of nature?

As if a laser was carried out :) geologists believe that cracks and faults were formed as a result of a strong earthquake about 9 thousand years ago. The flat planes of the stones are the result of the properties of the local rock - quartzite, the structure of which sets such flat planes during a split.

So is it still nature or man-made? Let's take a closer look.

More like perfectly cut blocks that fit tightly together. It is difficult to imagine an ancient ancestor with a copper chisel who, somewhere on the mountain, grinds such even blocks.

Good foreshortening, perfectly flat wall.

Who lost the ball?)

Is this obviously not without high technologies in stone processing, or is it a game of nature? :)

Mount Pidan.
At first glance, it looks like an unremarkable pile of stones of cracked rock.

But coming closer it becomes more like a megalithic masonry.

Looking between the blocks, where the stones were less susceptible to the influence of erosion from wind and rain, you can see the hand-made and how the smooth edges were preserved.

In the place where the joint of the blocks parted, an even cut is visible and the technology of laying these blocks opens up in front of us.

Stone town in the Perm region.
According to scientists, Kamenny Gorod is the mouth of a river that flowed into the Perm Sea millions of years ago, this explains beautifully and evenly, at right angles, the cut stones, their neat masonry and perpendicular to each other “channels” “mouths”.

Stone city.

See how flat the sides of the megaliths seem to have been cut down.

Again the old method is to look between the blocks inside the masonry, look at the far block in the center, an even cut along the entire length of the block.

They say that somewhere on the Kola Peninsula there is this pool, carved right into the rock.

In the south of Western Siberia, in the mountainous Shoria in the Mezhdurechensky region, there is a small geological settlement called Kameshki.
Several educated talented geologists live in this village. These are Alexander Bespalov, Vyacheslav Pochetkin and others. These people have been doing research all their lives. mountain systems Western Siberia. Once they came across strange megalithic structures in the mountains, which they could not explain for themselves. They were walls made of giant stone blocks and strange structures with vertically mounted stone obelisks. On the Internet, they contacted Georgy Sidorov, so the first expedition was assembled.

Mountain Shoria.
Some of the granite blocks at the bottom were built of red granite, crowned with blocks of gray granite, and above there was a polygonal masonry of various blocks, both red granite and gray.

Granite melted in some places from the impact of extreme temperatures and flowed under the weight of the upper rows. Kungurov would say about this that these are traces of reflow from a thermonuclear explosion :)

The wall is made of polygonal masonry of colored blocks.

The size of the blocks is impressive, according to one version, the find is a man-made structure over 100 thousand years old.

In the photo, Georgy Sidorov, in his opinion, all this megalithic structure may be the ruins of an ancient power plant or energy center, which transferred seismic energy into some others.

Looking again inside the masonry, where the blocks were less susceptible to erosion, you can see even straight edges, see how the two blocks lie tightly, here you can see the handicraft better.

Polygonal masonry.

Mountain Shoria. Huge blocks.
at the Department of Radiophysics at Tomsk State University, they showed photographs on the screen, talked about various types of masonry, about stone castles that hold giant granite blocks together, and not a single scientist physicist said that all this was of natural origin. Most of all, they were surprised how the ancients could lift giant stone blocks to a height of more than 1000 meters and install them there on a special platform.

Then in the Tomsk branch of the Russian Geographical Society the photographs were studied by scientists geologists and geographers. Both those and others came to the conclusion that the presented artifacts are man-made.

Sklyarov was asked to comment on the find. And what did he say? That all the artifacts found are nothing more than rocks cracked at right angles. That there is nothing man-made here. Just a play of nature, nothing more.
After these words, I am not surprised why LAI does not study Russian megaliths.

Between blocks.

For comparison, on the left is a megalith in Baalbek, on the right is a megalith in mountain Shoria, it seems the author is one :)

Mount Shaman near the village. Nizhnetambovskoe, Khabarovsk Territory.

Ancient megalithic masonry.

Again, between the blocks, hand-made and straight lines are better visible.

Large block of megalith.

A large block of megalith on small stones, this is done for better seismic resistance.

Megalithic masonry resembles Gornaya Shoria.

Kabardino-Balkaria, a cave in the Baksan gorge.
First, you need to squeeze into a 40 x 120 cm hole, then descend on a rope along a narrow vertical shaft. It is formed by two parallel stone slabs. After 9 meters - the first "knee": the hole goes to the side and immediately breaks down again. Already here you will be covered with absolute silence - not a sound penetrates from the outside. Another 23 meters deep - and a new "knee". To reach the bottom of the cave, you need to overcome more than 80 meters, and it will take an hour. But, having passed the "bottleneck", you will find yourself in a huge room, which the researchers called the "flask". Inside, we will see worked walls made of tuff and granite, made of polished megaliths of different sizes, tightly fitted to each other.

Descent into the cave.

The edges of the blocks and the seams between them are clearly visible.

The smooth masonry is striking and the seams are precisely matched to each other.

The triangular blocks are slightly parted.

Barely noticeable block seams on the left half-moon wall and on the wall behind it.

how do you like the stitches?

Rotate the cave at an angle of 90 degrees. Two large megalithic blocks stand on top of each other.

The technologies of stone processing are amazing, and even more striking is the comment of the head of the Kabardino-Balkarian geological exploration expedition Vera Davidenko, but she is a realist and believes that nature can do everything and made the conclusion: “Tuff is an accumulation of volcanic ejection products - ash, pieces of lava , volcanic glass and, to a small extent, debris that composes the crater walls. The material of the ejection was hot during accumulation, and therefore, during solidification, cracks formed separately - that is, the entire tuff massif turned out to be, as it were, broken into blocks. The depression found in the area of ​​the village of Zayukovo is one of such cracks of gravitational separation, which is characterized by flat contact surfaces ”, but this is the head of the geological exploration expedition, she probably knows better.

Structure diagram.

A bit of fiction for the finale) Arakul Shihan, a strange structure in the middle of the forest. I have it all, kick it :)

Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Megaliths(from mega ... and Greek líthos - stone), structures made of large blocks of wild or rough-cut stone. These include dolmens, menhirs, cromlechs, stone boxes, covered galleries. M. are widespread throughout the world, except Australia, mainly in coastal regions. In Europe, M. date mainly from the Eneolithic and Bronze Age (3–2 millennia BC), with the exception of England, where M. belong to the Neolithic era. M.'s appointment cannot always be established. For the most part, they served for burials or were associated with a funeral cult. Apparently, M. are communal structures. Their construction was a very difficult task for primitive technology and required the unification of large masses of people.

Lit .: Artsikhovsky A. V., Introduction to archeology, 3rd ed., M., 1947; Niederle L., Humanity in Prehistoric Times, translated from Czech, St. Petersburg, 1898; Obermeier G., Prehistoric Man, translated from German, St. Petersburg, 1913.

MEGALITS
Megaliths Megaliths or megalithic monuments are prehistoric structures of large boulders or slabs, stone (Neolithic), bronze, and in part and later eras, which served either as tombs, or monuments, or sanctuaries, and these different types partly pass one to another. M. monuments are especially numerous and varied in Brittany, where they attracted the attention of scholars earlier than in other localities (in the past they were called "druidic", that is, they served for the religious purposes of the Druids or Gallic priests); therefore, for the designation of such monuments, the names borrowed from the Breton language are mainly used, namely menhir (men - stone, Mr - long, tall) - a tall standing stone, erected, probably, to remember some event or person, or to designate a well-known place; dolmen (dol - table, men - stone) - a chamber of 4 standing and perpendicular slabs, covered from above by a large horizontal slab; cromlech (crom - circle) - a circle of stones, independent or surrounding a dolmen. Special types of M. monuments are chambers with corridors (allees couvertes, for example, in Provence); rows of stones (alignements, for example, in Carnac, in Brittany, sometimes stretching for a mile or more; cup stones are large blocks with scaly depressions in them, apparently of natural origin, but sometimes served, it seems, for religious (sacrificial) purposes; swinging stones (pierres branlantes) - set on a narrow plane so that they can be easily set in oscillatory motion, but with their colossal magnitude they remain in the same form for centuries (also, apparently, of natural origin, although people could sometimes assist in their installation); box-shaped graves (from large plates placed in a pit); boat-shaped graves - from stones arranged so that the outline of a boat is obtained, sometimes very large, and with transverse partitions that simulate benches for sitting (such graves are known in Sweden and the Baltic region; they served for the burial of Vikings, etc.). kov most in France, in Spain and the Balearic Islands, in England, in sowing. Germany, Algeria, Palestine, we have in the Crimea and the Caucasus, also in some places in Siberia (menhirs ikromlekhs in the Minusinsk region), in Mongolia ("deer stones", that is, with images of deer), etc. In some areas In India, dolmens, cromlechs, etc. are being erected to this day. In addition to general works on prehistoric archeology, cf. Ferguson, "Rude Stone Monuments" (L., 1872; important for many facts and drawings, but wrong for the main idea, precisely because of the desire to attribute almost all of these monuments to the historical era); Carthailac "La France prehislorique" (1893). D. L.
F. Brockhaus, I.A. Efron. encyclopedic Dictionary

Megaliths
- buildings of huge roughly worked stones, the first architectural structures of a primitive society; appeared in the Bronze Age. There are three types: a) dolmens - quadrangular structures of large stone slabs, placed on the edge and covered with a slab. They served as tombs, less often as dwellings; b) menhirs - vertical pillars covered with relief, sometimes designed in the form of a human figure (stone women in the south of Russia, Siberia), an animal; c) cromlechs are the most complex structures of antiquity. Usually these are menhirs, set on a large platform in concentric circles around the sacrificial stone, sometimes covered in pairs with a slab. These are the first places of worship. One of the most famous cromlechs is Stonehenge in England (1900 - 1500 BC).
World of dictionaries

Megaliths(from mega ... and Greek lithos - stone) - ancient structures made of large blocks of stone, sometimes roughly processed. Often they served for burials or were associated with a funeral cult, however, it has not yet been possible to establish their purpose with certainty. In all likelihood, megaliths are communal structures, since their construction required the joint efforts of so many people. European megaliths date back to the Eneolithic and Bronze Age (3-2 millennia BC), with the exception of England, where they belong to the Neolithic era. Distributed all over the world, except Australia (the artificial origin of the world's largest stone monolith Uluru in the Australian desert (perimeter 9 km, height 348 m) has not been proven).

Megaliths include various types of buildings, including dolmens (several giant blocks covered with a similar slab on top), menhirs (single upright stones), cromlechs (a group of menhirs forming a (semi) circle), tauls, stone boxes, covered galleries, etc. dr.

Many different hypotheses have been put forward about the meaning of the megaliths. The most common are that the buildings were ancient altars, temples, tombs or observatories. Among the most exotic, one can mention the hypothesis that dolmens served as dwellings for animals or dwarfs. Burials under structures, as a rule, took place much later than the megalith itself was erected.

In Russia, most of the megaliths are known on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus.

The last finds of mysterious structures took place in Altai and near Ryazan. In the south of the Chelyabinsk region, there is a historical park - the Arkaim settlement, discovered 15 years ago by students and teachers of the archeological laboratory of Chelyabinsk State University under the leadership of G.B. Zdanovich. The cultural archaeological complex (remnants of ancient sites and settlements, burial and cult structures in the form of earthen mounds, stone enclosures and stella, etc.) is part of the so-called "Country of Cities", the steppe region of the Southern Urals, where in the XX-XVII centuries before AD flourished a vibrant civilization of the Bronze Age, contemporary with the pyramids of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and the famous palaces of the Cretan-Mycenaean culture. It has been established that Arkaim is one of the oldest observatories in the world, similar to Stonehenge.

The sanctuary during excavations at Spasskaya Luka in the Ryazan region in central Russia, on a hill above the confluence of two rivers - Oka and Prony, was discovered by archaeologists at the beginning of the 21st century.

The age of the cult building, located at the very top of the hill, is 4,000 years old. The construction of the monument led archaeologists to the idea of ​​its astronomical purpose, and the objects found testify to the religious rites that took place here.

A circle with a diameter of seven meters is marked by pillars of half a meter, between which the same distance. In the center of the circle is a large rectangular pit and a pillar. The wooden pillars have not survived, but rounded pits are clearly visible in the ground, from which they protruded. Along the edges of the site there are two more pits with pillars. A few meters to the east, another pit was dug with a similar pillar, and in the south there is a pillar that was discovered a few years earlier. Within the circumference, two pairs of pillars form a gate, through which, when viewed from the center, the sun can be seen in summer. Another pillar, behind a circular fence, indicates the rising of the star.

The size of the pits ranges from 44x46 cm to 75x56 cm. In the central pit lay a small ceramic vessel from the Bronze Age with a delicate ornament: a zigzag, reminiscent of the rays of the sun, and wavy lines - a symbol of water. Outwardly, the vessel resembles the products of the steppe peoples who lived in the south of Eurasia. In the center of one of the pits with a pillar outside the temple, fragments of a person's long bones and teeth were dug up - likely traces of a sacrifice. In 1979, another expedition conducted excavations at this place, its workers laid a trench and missed by only a meter, opening some pillars, the meaning of which remained unclear.

Scientists from the Gorno-Altai State University (GASU) found out in early 2006, while working on a map of archaeological sites Mountain Altai using GPS receivers and satellite remote sensing data, many ancient archaeological sites and megalithic structures on the territory of the Ukok high-mountain plateau (mounds, steles, barbals, stone displays, megaliths like the famous Stonehenge) are subject to strict spatial laws. They are oriented from north to south, located at a certain distance from each other and tied to certain geological and geographical conditions. That is, the ancient builders deliberately placed ritual and burial complexes in certain conditions. According to the researchers, these complexes were used for orientation in space (when moving along caravan paths) or, possibly, in some kind of astronomical cults.

The most famous megalithic structures in the world, in addition to Stonehenge, include: the temple in Baalbek (Lebanon), the La Roche-aux-Fee dolmen in Brittany, the complex in Karnak (Egypt).
Text: Olga Portugalova.
From the site Gazeta.ru

Early megalithic structures of Asia Minor

Large ceremonial buildings of the 9th millennium BC e. were found in Asia Minor. They belong to the era of the emergence of agriculture and cattle breeding in the society, under the influence of which or directly from it, later the Middle East and European Neolithic was born. The structures are large, rounded in terms of structure, supported by megalithic columns (3 m and more) of monolithic hewn stone. The most ancient of those now known are the temples of Göbekli Tepe and Nevali Chori. In Göbekli Tepe, only four out of about two dozen temples have been excavated to date. The diameter of some reaches 30 m. On the columns there are bas-relief images of animals (foxes, wild boars, lions, birds, snakes and scorpions). Although these temples represent the oldest megalithic structures on Earth, it is not known how they relate to European megaliths.

European megaliths

Megaliths are widespread throughout the world, mainly in coastal areas. In Europe, they mainly date back to the Eneolithic and Bronze Age (3 - 2 thousand BC), with the exception of British isles, Portugal and France, where megaliths date back to the Neolithic (for example, Carrowmore in Ireland, Almendres in Portugal, Barnene in Brittany, and the Necropolis of Bougons in the Poitou Charentes department, France). 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, part of France, on west coast England, Ireland, Denmark, the southern coast of Sweden and 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.

The most common megalithic structure in Europe - the dolmen - is a chamber or crypt of standing vertically hewn monoliths, on which one or more large flat stones, which make up the "roof", rest. Many, though not all, contain the remains of people buried inside. Whether the burial was the main purpose of the building, or people were sacrificed, were buried inside in connection with the performance of some rituals here during their life, or remained in the dolmen for some other reason - is unknown. Dolmen is the general name for such a building, in different languages ​​and dialects of Europe it can also have other names, for example, cromlech (in Wales), anta (in Portugal) or stazzone (in Sardinia).

The second most common type of megalithic burial is the corridor tomb. It usually consists of a rectangular, circular, or cruciform chamber with a flat or protruding roof, to which a long, straight passage leads. The entire structure is covered with earth from above, forming a kind of mound, inside of which an entrance of stone blocks opens. Sometimes along the edge of the mound is bordered by a stone border. The most remarkable examples are Bruno Boyne in Ireland, Bryn Kelly Dee in Wales, Mayshow in the Orkney Islands, and Gavrini in Brittany.

The third type is a variety of gallery-shaped tombs, such as the Severn-Cotswolds. In plan they have axial symmetry and consist of rows of chambers covered with elongated mounds. Menhirs and stone circles, which are also called cromlechs in Russian literature, like Welsh dolmens, are also widespread. The latter type includes Stonehenge, Avebury, Brodgar's Circle and hundreds of other similar monuments. Like menhirs, they were important astronomical devices for observing the sun and moon and are usually not as ancient as megalithic burials.

Types of megalithic structures

* menhir is a single upright standing stone up to 20 m high.
* cromlech - a group of menhirs forming a circle or semicircle.
* dolmen - a construction of a huge stone, set on several other stones (similar to a gate).
* taula - a stone structure in the shape of the letter "T".
* trilith - a structure made of a stone block, installed on two vertically standing stones.
* seid - including a structure made of stone.
* cairn - a stone mound with one or more rooms.
* covered gallery
* boat-shaped grave
* deer stone - massive hewn stone slabs with drawings (most often deer).

Appointment

The purpose of the megaliths is not always possible to establish. For the most part, according to some scholars, they served for burials or were associated with a funeral cult. There are other opinions as well. Apparently, megaliths are communal structures (the function is socializing). Their construction was a very difficult task for primitive technology and required the unification of large masses of people.

Some megalithic structures, such as the complex of more than 3000 stones in Carnac (Brittany) France, were important ceremonial centers associated with the cult of the dead. Other megalithic complexes have been used to time astronomical events such as the solstice and equinox.

In the area of ​​Nabta Playa in the Nubian desert, a megalithic structure was found that served for astronomical purposes. This structure is 1000 years older than Stonehenge, which is also considered a kind of prehistoric observatory.