Megalith

Examples of Megalith in the following topics:

• Neolithic Monuments

  • Neolithic art in Western Europe is best represented by its megalithic (large stone) monuments.
  • Perhaps the best known megalithic henge is Stonehenge, located on Salisbury Plain in the county of Wiltshire in south central England.
  • Megaliths were commonly used in the construction of passage tombs and typically date to the Neolithic.
  • Many of the monuments at Knowth were megalithic tombs, and archaeologists speculate that most have religious significance.
  • Knowth is reputed to have approximately one third of all megalithic art in Western Europe carved into its rock faces.

• Elements of Nature

  • Elements of the natural world were also incorporated in places of worship through megaliths and huge rock formations.
  • A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones.
  • Where they appear in groups together - often in a circular, oval, henge or horseshoe formation - they are sometimes called megalithic monuments.
  • Many megaliths were the sites of ancient religious ceremonies, built as tombs, or thought to have an astronomical or visionary function.
  • In the British Isles, the best-known type of megalithic construction is the stone circle, or henge, which is a prehistoric enclosure in the form of a circle or circular arc.

• Architecture in Early South America

  • Tiwanaku monumental architecture is characterized by megaliths of exceptional workmanship.
  • The main architectural appeal of the site comes from the carved images and designs on carved doorways and megalithic constructions, such as the Gate of the Sun.
  • The Gate of the Sun shares its location with the Kalasasaya, a temple in a large megalithic courtyard over 300 feet long.
  • What stands today is not the original configuration of the megaliths that comprise the Kalasasaya.

• Mesolithic Art

  • Excavation of some megalithic monuments in Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, and France has revealed evidence of ritual activity, sometimes involving architecture, during the Mesolithic Period.
  • One megalith (c. 9350 BCE), found submerged in the Strait of Sicily, over 39 feet long and weighing nearly 530,000 pounds was discovered under over 130 feet of water.
  • In some cases, however, megalith monuments are so far removed in time from their successors that continuity is unlikely.

• Wood Carving in the Caroline Islands

  • Among the most prominent works of the region is the megalithic floating city of Nan Madol, which today lies in ruin off the eastern shore of the island of Pohnpei.
  • By the 8th or 9th century, islet construction had started, but the distinctive megalithic architecture was probably not begun until the 12th or early 13th century.

• Grave Goods in the Kofun Period

• The Stone Age

  • From this period there is evidence of early pottery, as well as sculpture, architecture, and the construction of megaliths.

• The Rise of Pacific Cultures

  • At about 1200 CE, the people of Pohnpei, an island in Micronesia, embarked on another megalithic construction, building Nan Madol, a city of artificial islands and a system of canals.

• Architecture of Aksun and Lalibela

  • Other points of interest include archaeological and ethnographic museums, the Ezana Stone monument documenting the conversion of King Ezana to Christianity, King Bazen's megalith Tomb, Queen of Sheba's Bath, the Ta'akha Maryam and Dungur palaces, the monasteries of Abba Pentalewon and Abba Liqanos, and the Lioness of Gobedra rock art.