Menhir

, Ireland.]] A menhir is a large upright standing stone. Menhirs may be found singly as monoliths, or as part of a group of similar stones. Their size can vary considerably; but their shape is generally uneven and squared, often tapering towards the top. Menhirs are widely distributed across Europe, Africa, and Asia, but are most numerous in Western Europe; in particular in Ireland, Great Britain and Brittany. In northwest France there are 1,200 menhirs. They originate from many different periods across pre-history, and were erected as part of a larger Megalithic culture that flourished in Europe and beyond.

The function of Menhirs has provoked more debate than practically any other issue in European pre-history. Over the centuries they have variously been thought to have been used by Druids for human sacrifice, used as territorial markers or elements of a complex ideological system, or functioned as early calendars. Until the nineteenth century, antiquarians did not have substantial knowledge of prehistory; and their only reference points were provided by Classical literature. The developments of radiocarbon dating and tree-ring calibration have done much to further human knowledge in this area.

The word menhir was adopted from French by 19th century archaeologists. It is a combination of two words found in the Breton language; men (stone), and hir (long). In Modern Welsh they are described as maen hir, or "long stone." In modern Breton, the word peulvan is used.

History

, Brittany.]]

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Practically nothing is known of the social organization or religious beliefs of the people who erected the menhirs. We have no trace even of these peoples' language; however we do know that they buried their dead, and had the skills to grow cereal, farm, and make pottery, stone tools, and jewelry. Identifying their uses remains speculation. However, it is likely that many uses involved fertility rites and seasonal cycles. Until recently, menhirs were associated with the Beaker people, who inhabited Europe during the later third millennium BC; the European late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. However, recent research into the age of megaliths in Brittany strongly suggests a far older origin, perhaps back to six to seven thousand years ago.

Many menhirs are carved with megalithic art. This often turned them into anthropomorphic stelae, although images of objects such as stone axes, ploughs, shepherd crooks and yokes were common. With the exception of the stone axe, none of these motifs are definite, and the name used to describe them is largely for convenience. Some menhirs were broken up and incorporated into later passage graves where they had new megalithic art carved with little regard for the previous pictures. It is not known if this re-use was deliberate or if the passage grave builders just saw menhirs as a convenient source of stone (Le Roux 1992).In many areas, standing stones were systematically toppled by Christians and of the many former standing menhirs of northern Germany, scarcely one stands today.

In Scandinavia

bautasten]] In Scandinavia, menhirs are called bautasten or bautastenar and continued to be erected during the Pre-Roman Iron Age and later, usually over the ashes of the dead. They were raised both as solitary stones and in formations, such as the stone ships and few stone circles. Sometimes, they were raised only as commemoration to great people, a tradition which was continued as the runestones.

Frostating, with its seat at Tinghaugen in Frosta municipality in the county of Nord-Trøndelag, was the site of an early Norwegian court. The site is represented by the Frostatinget bautasten.

The tradition was strongest in Bornholm, Gotland and Götaland and appears to have followed the Goths, during the 1st century, to the southern shore of the Baltic Sea, (now Northern Poland) where they are a characteristic of the Wielbark culture.

Menhirs in Sweden

In Sweden by the 13th century menhirs were erected as markers for the graves of warriors. The following lines are taken from the introduction of the Heimskringla by Snorri Sturluson;

:As to funeral rites, the earliest age is called the Age of Burning; because all the dead were consumed by fire, and over their ashes were raised standing stones.

:For men of consequence a mound should be raised to their memory, and for all other warriors who had been distinguished for manhood a standing stone; which custom remained long after Odin's time.

In the same work, Sturluson wrote that the Swedes burnt their dead king Vanlade and raised a stone over his ashes by the River Skyt (one of the tributaries of the River Fyris):

:The Swedes took his body and burnt it at a river called Skytaa, where a standing stone was raised over him.

Menhirs in South America

archaeological site, Colombia]] Menhirs were erected by the U'wa people of Colombia in their ancestral territory. They believe that the menhirs are the ancients of the U'wa clans who were turned into the stone piers of the world. Menhirs can be found in Chita and Chiscas, in Boyacá.

There are 114 menhirs in the Provincial Park Los Menhires, in Argentina. The stones are approximately 4 to 5 meters high and 1 meter wide. They were erected by the Tafí people, an indigenous culture of the Tucumán province, and were used in fertility rites.

Menhirs in Serbia

The graves of the “Latins” and the “Jidovs” near the village of Balwan (Bovan), north of Aleksinac in Serbia were marked by large boulders.

Menhirs in India

At Mudumala (Mahabubnagar District, Andhra Pradesh), an archeological site was dotted with about 80 big menhirs some as tall as 14 feet and several hundreds of smaller menhirs scattered all over the agricultural fields. Dr.Rao and his team visited the site on the days of summer and winter solstice and equinox and found that particular rows of stones were aligned to the rising and setting Sun on these days. "This suggests the megalithic community here was aware of the solar trajectories," he said.

See also

Carlin stone

Dolmens

Gowk Stone

Statue menhir

List of megalithic sites

Megalith

Standing stone

Obelisk

Obelix

Notes

Sources

Le Roux, C.T. 1992. “The Art of Gavrinis Presented in its Armorican Context and in Comparison with Ireland.” in Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland vol. 122, pp79–108

Mohen, Jean-Pierre. 2000. Standing Stones. Stonehenge, Carnac and the World of Megaliths. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-30090-9

External links

Dolmens, Menhirs & Stones-Circles in the South of France - Menhirs of the "Cham des Bondons"

New Theory - Henges - Engineering in Prehistory

Rows of Menhirs in Russia, South Ural

List of Menhirs and their related stories in Czech Republic

Skela menhirs in Ukraine

Category:Megalithic monuments Category:Stone Age Europe Category:Stones Category:Sacred rocks