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In many countries of the world, and even on the seabed, there are mysterious structures made of huge boulders and slabs. They were named megaliths (from the Greek words "megas" - large and "lithos" - stone). It is still not known exactly who and for what purpose carried out such a titanic work in very ancient times in various places on the planet, because the weight of some blocks reaches tens, or even hundreds of tons.
The most amazing stones in the world
Megaliths are subdivided into dolmens, menhirs and triliths. Dolmens are the most common type of megaliths; they are a kind of stone "houses", only in Brittany (province of France) there are at least 4500 pieces. Menhirs are vertically elongated boulders. If a third is placed on top of two vertically installed blocks, then such a structure is called trilith. In the event that the triliths are installed in a ring ensemble, as in the case of the famous Stonehenge, then such a structure is called a cromlech.
Until now, no one can say for sure for what purpose these impressive structures were built. There are a lot of hypotheses on this score, but none of them can provide an exhaustive answer to all the questions asked by these silent majestic stones.
For a long time, the megaliths were associated with an ancient burial ritual, but archaeologists did not find any burials near most of these stone structures, and those that were found were most likely made at a later time.
The most widespread and supported by many scientists hypothesis connects the construction of megaliths with the most ancient astronomical observations. In fact, some megaliths can be used as sighting devices to record the rising and setting points of the Sun and Moon on the days of the solstices and equinoxes.
However, opponents of this hypothesis have quite fair questions and criticisms. First, there are many megaliths that are difficult to associate with any astronomical observations. Secondly, why did the ancients at that distant time need such a laborious way of understanding the movement of heavenly bodies? Indeed, even if in this way they set the timing of agricultural work, it is well known that the beginning of sowing depends much more on the condition of the soil and weather than on a certain date, and can shift in one direction or another. Thirdly, opponents of the astronomical hypothesis rightly point out that with such an abundance of megaliths, as, for example, in Karnak, you can always pick up a dozen stones, supposedly set for astronomical purposes, and what were thousands of others for then?
The scale of the work carried out by the ancient builders is also impressive. We will not dwell on Stonehenge, we have already written a lot about it, let's remember the megaliths of Karnak. Perhaps this is the largest megalithic ensemble in the whole world. Scientists believe that at first it numbered up to 10 thousand menhirs! Nowadays, only about 3 thousand vertically installed boulders have survived, reaching in some cases a height of several meters.
It is believed that initially this ensemble stretched for 8 km from St. Barb to the river Crash, now it has survived only for 3 kilometers. There are three groups of megaliths. To the north of the village of Karnak there is a cromlech in the form of a semicircle and eleven ranks, in which there are 1169 menhirs ranging in height from 60 cm to 4 m.The length of the row is 1170 m.
No less impressive are the other two groups, which, most likely, once together with the first formed a single ensemble, back at the end of the 18th century. it was more or less preserved in its original form. The largest menhir of the entire ensemble was 20 meters high! Unfortunately, now it is tumbled down and split, however, even in this form, the megalith inspires involuntary respect for the creators of such a miracle. By the way, even with the help of modern technology it is very difficult to cope with even a small megalith if it needs to be restored in its original form or moved to another place.
Are the dwarfs "to blame" for everything?
Megalithic structures have been found even at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, and the oldest megaliths date back to the 8th millennium BC. Who was the author of such laborious and mysterious stone structures?
In many legends, in which megaliths are mentioned in one way or another, mysterious powerful dwarfs often appear, able to playfully perform work that is beyond the power of ordinary people. So, in Polynesia, such dwarfs are called menehuns. According to local legends, these were ugly-looking creatures, only vaguely reminiscent of people, growing only up to 90 cm.
Although the Menehuns possessed a gaze that made their blood run cold, dwarfs were generally kind to people and sometimes even helped them. The Menehunes could not stand sunlight, so they appeared only after sunset, in the dark. Polynesians believe that these dwarfs are the authors of the megalithic structures. It is curious that the Menehuns appeared in Oceania, having arrived on the large three-tiered island of Quaihelani.
If the Menehuns needed to be on land, their flying island sank into the water and swam up to the shore. After completing the intended work, the dwarfs on their island again rose into the clouds.
Famous caucasian dolmens Adyghe people call houses of dwarfs, and Ossetian legends mention dwarfs, who were called the people of Bicenta. The dwarf bicenta, despite its height, possessed remarkable strength and was able to knock down a huge tree with one glance. There are references to dwarfs among the aborigines of Australia: as you know, megaliths are also found in large numbers on this continent.
IN Western Europewhere there is no shortage of megaliths, there are also legends about powerful dwarfs who, like the Polynesian menechunes, cannot stand daylight and are distinguished by remarkable physical strength.
Although many scientists still retain a certain skepticism in relation to legends, nevertheless, the ubiquitous dissemination in the folklore of peoples of information about the existence of a small powerful people should be based on some real facts... Maybe there was actually a race of dwarfs on Earth, or were they mistaken for aliens from outer space (remember the flying island of the Menehuns)?
The mystery is still a mystery
Megaliths, perhaps, were created with goals unclear to us. This is the conclusion reached by scientists who were studying the unusual energy effects that are observed in the locations of megaliths. So, in some stones, devices were able to register weak electromagnetic radiation and ultrasounds. In 1989, under one of the stones, researchers caught even unexplained radio signals.
Scientists believe that such mysterious effects can be explained by the fact that megaliths were often installed in places where faults are located in the earth's crust. How did the ancients find these places? Perhaps with the help of dowsers? Why were the megaliths installed in the energetically active places of the earth's crust? Scientists do not yet have clear answers to these questions.
In 1992, the Kiev researchers R.S.Furdui and Yu.M. Shvaidak proposed a hypothesis that megaliths can be complex technical devices, namely, generators of acoustic or electronic vibrations. Quite an unexpected assumption, isn't it?
This hypothesis was not born out of nowhere. The fact is that British scientists had already established that many megaliths emit ultrasonic pulses. As scientists at Oxford University suggested, ultrasonic vibrations occur due to weak electric currents induced by the radiation of the Sun. At the same time, each individual stone emits a little energy, but in general, the megalithic stone complex can create a powerful energy surge at times.
It is curious that for most of the megaliths, their creators selected rocks containing a large amount of quartz. This mineral is capable of generating a weak electric current under the influence of compression ... As you know, stones from a temperature drop either shrink or expand ...
They tried to unravel the mystery of the megaliths on the basis that their creators were primitive people of the Stone Age, but this approach turned out to be unproductive. Why not assume the opposite: the creators of the megaliths had a very developed intellect, allowing them to use the natural properties of natural materials to solve technical problems unknown to us. In fact - the minimum cost, and what a disguise! These stones have stood for thousands of years, fulfilling their tasks, and only now people have some still vague doubts about their true purpose.
No metal would have withstood so much time, it would have been taken away by our enterprising ancestors or eaten by corrosion, but the megaliths still stand ... Perhaps someday we will reveal their secret, but for now it is better not to touch these stones. Who knows, maybe these structures are neutralizers of some formidable natural forces?
As soon as the sedentary (agricultural) way of life, which became a consequence of the rise in the temperature of the earth's surface, made it possible to improve living conditions and create an opportunity for the collective work of large groups of people, it became possible to start architectural structures. From this distant era, called the Neolithic, or the era of polished stone, the remains of earth and water (pile) dwellings, traces of earthen fortifications (fortifications), tombs (artificial caves, dolmens, covered avenues) and, finally, probably religious structures - menhirs , cromlechs, cysts (dolmens) and avenues of stones (alinemans). The use of stone as a building material was initially limited due to the fragility of flint tools, their fracture upon impact. Even bronze tools could not be hard enough to produce high-quality stone processing. The alignment of the edges with the help of a rough punch was used more often. Stone architecture could have emerged only in the megalithic era, when structures were erected from large blocks. Such laying has always preceded the laying of small stones - the result of a low level of development of tools.
Probably due to technical improvements, the builders of the last era of the Neolithic era were still able to reduce the size of the materials they used. At first, progress was limited to props. Then the walls began to be erected from rough small stones, filling the voids with rubble and earth. The roof required huge stone slabs. Then there was a revolution caused by the invention of the false vault. This innovation made it possible to reduce the size of the openings of buildings, and, consequently, the size of the stone slabs that serve as their roofs. Thus, over the course of several centuries, a rudimentary architecture, common, at different latitudes, to all civilizations, gradually arose and became firmly established. the ancient world - from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, from Scandinavia to Sudan. They are found in various places around the globe: in the Crimea, the Caucasus, Northern and Western Europe (France, England, Denmark, Holland), the Balkan Peninsula, Iran, India, Korea, North Africa and other places. ... The enormous work of moving and installing boulders was carried out by the combined efforts of a large number of people in a primitive communal form of labor organization.
Megilitic structures (Greek. mega + litos, "Huge stone") - structures made of huge blocks of roughly cut stone. They are found almost all over the world, except Australia. They were erected during the copper and bronze ages with the advent of metal tools. Apparently, the megaliths were communal structures. Their construction was a very difficult task for primitive technology, and their construction required the joint efforts of a large number of people. They are represented by four groups: menhirs, alinemans, dolmens and cromlechs.
Menhir (Breton. men + hir, "Long stone") - a huge block of stone, a column of rounded cross-section or a slab, dug vertically into the ground. The average height ranges from 4 to 5 meters. They were located singly or in groups, in alleys. The largest of them was found in Locamarjaker (Brittany province, western France). Its total length is 22.5 meters (of which 3.5 m were originally dug into the ground), weight is about 330 tons (Fig. 1.10).
The emergence of menhirs was not dictated by a vital necessity that forced people to build dwellings or storehouses for supplies. They contained an idea that was not directly related to the struggle for existence. Nevertheless, considerable efforts were made to extract, deliver and erect these stones, reaching very significant sizes. Undoubtedly, in this case, one can state some conscious intention to achieve a certain impression, which these huge stones produce.
Figure: 1.10. Menhirs ("long stones"): a - the central menhir in Temple Wood (Scotland);
b - Big Menhir in Lokyamaryaker (Brittany province, France).
The functional purpose of the menhir is not always clear. It could serve as a border sign between the territorial possessions of two tribes, an obelisk, an astronomical sign, etc. Usually stone pillars were placed near the dolmen, so it is possible that they were associated with funeral rites. Some stones are decorated with bowl-shaped indentations and concentric circles (Sun signs). Sometimes their tops were painted with red ocher, and on the surface were depicted totem animals. Some stones were given the form of a man ("stone women") or an animal (Armenian vishaps, Chinese "bisi").
Alineman - regular rows of small stones, forming parallel roads, alleys. It has been suggested that each menhir was put in the memory of a deceased, or that they were “processional roads”. The most famous are the stone rows in the village of Karnak (Brittany province, France), erected in the III-II millennia BC. e. Here, 2813 menhirs of various sizes are set in 12 rows up to 2.9 km long.
“Of all the megalithic monuments, the most famous are the rows of stones near the quiet bay town of Carnac on the south coast of Brittany. The stones here are so huge and so numerous that they impress even casual visitors. If you walk a little to the north of the town, you can get into a field, where in the thick grass between rare pine trees, like soldiers on a parade, ranks of menhirs - huge, up to five meters high, oblong stones, placed vertically - are lined up. There are 2935 of them here. They are stretched out in 13 rows, four kilometers long. On some of them, you can find the inscriptions that have not been decrypted until now. Archaeologists date the construction of megaliths in Brittany to the Bronze Age ... " (fig. 1.12) .
Figure: 1.12. Alinemane Le-Meneca (Carnac, Brittany):
a - general panorama of the complex; b - the beginning of the "stone alley".
Local legend says that these are petrified Roman legionaries. On the eve of Christmas Eve, the magic spell temporarily loses its power over them - the stone warriors come to life and go down to the river to get drunk. Then they turn to stones again. Their other name is "devil's fingers".
Dolmen (Celt. tolmen - "stone table") - a monumental tomb of tribal leaders, elders and warriors. They were built in the Bronze Age (late III - early II millennium BC). Consists of several vertical stones supporting a horizontal stone slab. They served both as funerary monuments and chambers. Initially, dolmens were small - about 2 m in length and about 1.5 m in height. Subsequently, they were given large dimensions and an approach to them was arranged in the form of a stone gallery with a length of up to 15-20 m. The slabs in such buildings reached several tens of tons in weight. About two thousand dolmens have been found in the western part of the Caucasus, and three thousand in Algeria.
The size of the dolmens can be judged by the following figures. The height of the front wall in the Eschera megaliths is 2.3 m, the width is 3 m, the thickness is 35 cm.The length of the side slabs is 3.7 m. The covering slab is 5.25 × 4.85 × 0.35 m, its weight is 22, 5 tons. The largest dolmen was found in Algeria - 15.0 × 5.0 × 3.0 meters. The weight of its covering slab is 40 tons.
Dolmens are of two types - tiled and trough-shaped.
Tiled dolmens assembled from six slabs of limestone or sandstone (four walls, roof, floor). The floor is formed by one or more slabs. There are dolmens, the walls of which are masonry of individual stones with an overlap inward to reduce the span, the ceiling of which is made of large slabs. The side walls were supported by limestone debris. The front wall is usually wider and higher than the back one; therefore, dolmens have a trapezoidal plan. The slabs were tightly fitted to each other, fastening was made on thorns. The grooves in the side slabs and the corresponding ends of the front and rear slabs have been treated with great care to maximize the sealing of the tomb. It is believed that this was dictated by the desire to isolate the souls of the dead from the living as tightly as possible. A hole was usually cut in the front wall, closed by a massive stone plug or flap. Through this hole, separate fragments of human remains were brought into the tomb (for example, the skull and bones of the right hand - a "secondary" burial). In addition to bones, a large number of clay vessels were found in dolmens, which, in their miniature size, are rather symbols intended for sacrificial food, as well as bronze hooks, daggers, belts, beads, spearheads, pendants, buttons, flint arrowheads, etc. (fig. 1.13).
Figure: 1.13. Tiled dolmens in the valley of the Pshada River (North Caucasus, Russian Federation)
Trough dolmens resemble a stone box with a lid (sarcophagus).
In the second millennium BC. e. two new types of dolmen appeared - gallery (corridor) tombs and court cairns .
Gallery tomb(English gallery grave, French allee couverte or galerie couverte, German Galeriegrab) is a form of a chamber tomb, in which the entrance corridor and the chamber itself do not have any pronounced differences. Therefore, the structure resembles a megalithic corridor under an oblong embankment. Many local variants of such tombs. found in Catalonia, France (the culture of the Seine - Oise-Marne), in the British Isles (court-cairn, North-Cotswold tombs, wedge-shaped gallery tombs), in the north up to Sweden, in the east - up to Sardinia ("tombs of the giants"), in southern Italy. Most of the tombs were built in the Neolithic (3rd millennium BC), they continued to be used in the Copper Age, when bell-shaped goblets appeared. Sardinian specimens belong to the developed Bronze Age. An example of this structure is the corridor tomb at Bryn Selli Ddu, Ireland. (fig. 1.14).
Figure: 1.14. Corridor Tomb at Bryn Selli Ddu (after John Wood)
Court cairn(English court cairn) - a tomb with a courtyard, a kind of megalithic chamber tombs, found in Southwest Scotland, as well as in Northern Ireland, hence the alternative name "Clyde Carlingford Tomb". Typical features are an oblong rectangular or trapezoidal tomb with a semicircular, roofless courtyard on one side. This courtyard provides access to the tomb itself, which is usually a gallery with two or more chambers separated by walls and thresholds. The basic form, sometimes referred to as the "horned tomb", has several variations. The type of "lobster claw" or "enclosed courtyard" provides for the wings of the fence almost closing in front of the tomb, which form a courtyard with rounded or oval outlines. Sometimes the tomb contains several chambers (or additional ones are attached). Several tombs in County Mayo have side chambers and can be attributed to transept gallery tombs.
Cromlech (Breton. crom + lech, "Stone circle") - a group of stone pillars installed in a circle or on an open curve. Sometimes these buildings consist of several concentric rows of vertically placed stones. The pillars were usually covered with stone beams. Combination of two uprights covered by a beam - trilith.
The pillars, the height of which sometimes reached 6-7 meters, formed one or several concentric circles that encircled the rounded platform. In the center of the cromlech there was usually a menhir, an altar stone, a dolmen, etc. Most likely, the composition of the cromlech served astronomical purposes. He was a solar or lunar observatory, a huge compass or gnomon ( sundial). It is also possible that it was a cemetery (in some monuments, the remains of the dead, their belongings were found). At the same time, the outer circle of the cromlech was considered a border that the souls of the dead could not cross.
After the works of N. Lockyer, J. Hawkins, J. Wood, A. Thom and others, it was suggested that the megalithic structures were astronomical, supposedly serving as solar and lunar observatories, the first calculating devices and calendars. There is a certain reason for this. The development of agriculture and navigation required a clearer periodization of the seasons, the timing of flooding of rivers, solar and lunar eclipses, ocean tides. For this purpose, special buildings were needed, called the most ancient solar and lunar observatories.
Cromlech - an ancient (Neolithic, Bronze Age and later, up to the early Middle Ages) structure, which is a few processed or unworked oblong stones (menhirs) placed vertically in the ground, forming one or several concentric circles. Structures of this type are often referred to as megaliths. Sometimes in the center of such structures there is another object: a rock, a menhir, a cairn, a dolmen, a gallery or even a whole megalithic complex.
The term is derived from Celtic (Wales): crom (vaulted) and llech (stone floor). This corresponded to dolmen-like structures. Therefore, in Wales, and also partly throughout Britain, cromlechs were called what we in the Russian (post-Soviet) archaeological tradition call dolmens. And looped stone structures in the English-speaking tradition are called stone circles... However, recently, even in the British Isles, the term “dolmen” is often used for “dolmens”, which creates a certain confusion. In continental Europe, it is the definition of "cromlech" given here that has become more established. However, some caution should be used when reading non-Russian-language literature.
Cromlechs are found almost everywhere. Their purpose is not always completely clear. Known uses include ritual enclosure of sacred space to form a “temple under open air”, A calendar system of sightings with tracking the positions of the Sun and, possibly, the Moon. There are theories linking some cromlechs to astronomical observations. There are cromlechs performing purely technological functions. So, many mounds were lined with stones and rocks to prevent the spread of the artificial hill. And, of course, there are systems in which each of these functions is present to one degree or another.
The stones that make up cromlech can be either elongated in the style of a menhir, or completely shapeless boulders. For technological purposes, usually flat plates were used. The shape of the cromlech is most often round or oval, but other forms are also found, for example, in Khakassia (rectangular cromlechs) or in Malta (megalithic temples - cromlechs in the form of "petals"). Stone is not the only building material for cromlechs. So, in the county of Norfolk (England), a wooden cromlech was found in the quicksand. However, there is evidence that in the construction of some of the famous English cromlechs, wood was used in the original version.
The most famous cromlech is Stonehenge, located near the city of Salisbury in the UK.
On the territory of Russia, cromlechs are present everywhere in the most diverse form. These are both separate technological cromlechs-plates of the dolmen culture of the Caucasus, and plates of the mounds of the Maikop culture, sometimes impressive (but poorly preserved) cromlechs of the Kemi-Obin culture. On the territory of the European part, one can also mention the northern peaks and the looped structures of the Vottovaary Mountain (Karelia). In general, we can say that such a convenient structural element as cromlech was used in Russia, as well as throughout the world, by very different cultures.
TOromlech Carahunj
In Armenia, in the province of Syunik, there is cromlech Carahunjwhich is 3,500 years older than English Stonehenge and 3,000 years older than the Egyptian pyramids.
200 km from Yerevan, near the town of Sisian, there is a prehistoric monument consisting of hundreds of vertically placed large stones with through holes in the upper part. It is located on a mountain plateau at an altitude of 1,770 m above sea level and covers an area of \u200b\u200bmore than 7 hectares on the left bank of the gorge of the Dar river, a tributary of the river. Vorotan.
The purpose of the monument is highly controversial. Some researchers believe that in the mystical territory Zorats Karer (Mighty stones) in the III-II millennia BC. there was a rounded sanctuary, in the center of which there was a large dolmen, that is, a burial mound with stone walls and a roof, surrounded by mangirs - isolated monoliths vertically placed on the earth's surface.
Others believe that the monument is much older: in their opinion, even in the 5th millennium BC. an observatory functioned on this territory. Surrounded by high mountains the area is truly amazing. On an area of \u200b\u200bseven hectares, about 300 vertical monoliths are installed in a circle. Some are more than two meters high. The megalithic architecture forms two rings of different diameters. The central small ellipse of the monument (45 by 36 meters) consists of 40 stones.
Karahunj (Zorats Karer) resembles the famous Stonehenge in many ways. On the day of the autumnal equinox, the sunrise can be observed here directly over the tails of the eastern sector of the central ellipse, just like on the day of the summer solstice - over the menhir of Stonehenge, isolated from the circle.
Suggestions were made about the possible cultic or astronomical purpose of the monument. In order to study it, P.M. Heruni undertook four scientific expeditions (1994-1997) on the days of the equinoxes and solstices.
The dimensions of the monument were measured, a detailed topographic survey was carried out, the geographical coordinates (Ф \u003d 39/34, Л \u003d 46/01), the magnetic declination of the place, the horizon closure, azimuths and angles of the holes in the stones were measured. Numerous observations and video images were carried out through the corresponding holes in the stones at the moments of sunrise, sunset, and the culmination of the Sun and the Moon on the days of the equinoxes and solstices; and a large amount of computing work has been done.
The main conclusions are that the monument had a threefold purpose:
a) Temple of AR-a (Sun) of the main God of the ancient Armenians and his "secretary" Tyr - the patron of sciences and writing;
b) an extensive and highly developed observatory, equipped with stone instruments, allowing measurements to be made with an accuracy of 30 seconds of arc (or 2 seconds of time);
to university. The monument was built more than 7,500 years ago (ie 3,500 years before Stonehenge) and operated for 5,500 years. Further careful research of the monument by various specialists is necessary.Khortitskiy Kromlekh
In Ukraine, in the city of Zaporozhye, on the island of Khortytsya, scientists dug out in the ground at a meter depth cromlech which, according to experts, is more than 5 thousand years old - Khortitsky Cromlech. The found circles are arranged according to the corresponding scheme and resemble a maze. Considering this, experts are inclined to believe that earlier it was a sanctuary of people who lived during the copper age and worshiped the heavenly bodies - the Moon and the Sun. In this area, the territory of which is about 100 square meters, 12 cult stone rings were found, the age of which is at least 5000 years.
The unique geographical position of the island of Khortitsa, provided it rich history and as a result wealth archaeological finds... This is one of the few places left after the flooding of the Veliky Lug by the reservoirs of the Zaporizhzhya and Kakhovsk power plants, where archaeologists can obtain evidence of the material culture of peoples who lived settled on the territory of the ancient Dnieper region.
One of the largest known structures of a cult nature is found and excavated in the period 1993-1999 by an archaeologist national reserve Khortitsa by Maxim Anatolyevich Ostapenko sanctuary in the northern part of the island.
No burials or bones from ritual sacrifices were found within the sanctuary, which testifies in favor of those scientists who claim that the glorification of God, worship of fire, and libation of ritual drinks were the basis of worship of the ancient peoples of our land.
The found ceramics: incense burners for burning fire and incense, bowls, pots, vessels and phallic steles testify to the cult of fertility and the worship of fire among the builders of the sanctuary.
It can be clearly seen that the builders of cromlech worshiped the Sun and "astral deities."
So, we see that along with the mounds, where the main idea of \u200b\u200bthe people who built them was the idea of \u200b\u200bthe short duration of a person's stay on earth, there is another series of monuments that indicate the existence of views that base their ideology on the idea of \u200b\u200bcontinuing life.
Stonehenge
A mysterious building with a long history, around which a huge number of legends have developed - Stonehenge is still a mystery, which no one can solve yet. Why did people spend so much effort building it several thousand years ago? Was Stonehenge a temple or an ancient observatory? We can only guess and guess.
Great Britain, Wiltshire, 13 kilometers from the town of Salisbury. Here, in the middle of an ordinary English plain, is Stonehenge - one of the most famous buildings in the world. It contains 82 five-ton megaliths, 30 stone blocks of 25 tons each, and 5 giant triliths weighing up to 50 tons.
The very word "Stonehenge" is very ancient. There are several versions regarding its origin. It could have formed from Old English "stan" (stone, that is, a stone) and "hencg" (rod - since the upper stones were fixed on the rods) or “hencen” (gallows, torture instrument). The latter can be explained by the fact that the medieval gallows were built in the shape of the letter "P" and resembled the trilithons of Stonehenge.
Trilithon Stonehenge. The precision of the stones is almost like in the Egyptian pyramids.
As soon as people did not rack their brains - why did the ancients need Stonehenge? The earliest mentions that have come down to us connect it with the legend of King Arthur - supposedly this monument was built by the wizard Merlin himself (according to another version, he transferred it with his spells from Mount Killaraus in Ireland).
Other stories “blamed” the devil for the construction of Stonehenge. In 1615, the architect Inigo Jones stated that the stone monoliths were built by the Romans - supposedly it was a temple of a pagan deity named Knelus. In the 18th century, researchers discovered the "astronomical" function of Stonehenge (its orientation to the solstice) - this is how the version appeared, according to which this building belonged to the Druids. Nowadays, some experts argue that Stonehenge can predict solar eclipses or even carry out complex mathematical calculations.
Stonehenge is a structure so ancient and incomprehensible that even science fiction writers are not too sure what to do with it. The ideas they offer in their works often differ little from the versions of some scientists.
THE RISE OF ARCHITECTURE
The origin of architecture dates back to the late Paleolithic era. Construction activity, which solved utilitarian problems, began to gradually turn to the satisfaction of human spiritual needs. Aesthetic comprehension and giving the buildings an ideological and figurative content marked the arrival of a new phenomenon - architecture.
The Neolithic gives a person the tools of labor made of stone, which increase material opportunities. The most developed type of buildings appeared - buildings resting on wooden piles.
Metal tools, which appeared in the Bronze Age, make it possible to successfully process stone. Megalithic structures are becoming widespread - buildings made of large stone blocks, slabs, vertical pillars.
There are three main types of megalithic structures: menhirs, dolmens, cromlechs.
Menhirs- vertically placed stones, sometimes very large. These are tombstones that were erected alone or in groups. Menhirs are found in combination with dolmens- structures of several vertical stones supporting a horizontal stone slab. Most often, dolmens served as burial chambers and, at the same time, as tombstones.
CromlechIs the most complex type of megalithic structure. The most famous of these is the cromlech at Stonehenge, England.
Log buildings, in particular, barrows, deserve special attention. This is a common type of memorial structure.
Along with memorial and ritual buildings at the later stages of the development of primitive society, a new type of architectural structures appears - stone and wooden fortresses.
Megalithic structures. Menhir. Dolmen. Cromlech
Cromlech in Stonehenge (southern France) is the most famous of its kind. Stonehenge (translated: "hanging (in Gaulish - dancing) stones") was built from 2000 to 1600 BC. e., in the Neolithic era and at the beginning of the Bronze Age. This is a complex structure of huge stones. It is a circle with a diameter of 30 m made of vertically placed stones, covered with horizontal slabs; inside there are two rings of small stones, between them, in pairs, high blocks with slabs, forming the center of the space. This monumental megalith, apparently, was an astronomical observatory. Stonehenge was built in three stages by different peoples. At the first stage, cromlech was built by the Windmillhillians (the people who inhabited England in 2000 BC). At the second stage - with beakers (with them the Bronze Age came to Salisbury). The construction was completed by the Wesseks (derived from the beekers). A clear compositional idea is already visible here - symmetry, rhythm and subordination of the elements of the complex.
For the ancients, everything that was alive, including a stone, had a sacred content as a carrier of life, and in this, from a philosophical point of view, they were more "advanced" than we are.
Louis Charpentier.
In the late Paleolithic era, architecture was born, which led to a new aesthetic understanding of construction activities. The buildings are given a figurative content.
And after metal tools of labor appeared in the Bronze Age, which made it possible to process stone blocks, megalithic structures became widespread: dolmens, menhirs and cromlechs. These are the most ancient monuments, shrouded in a mystical halo and scattered all over the planet.
Megaliths raising many questions
The structures, with the help of which people marked places important to them, were erected until the very Middle Ages. Our ancestors possessed information that was inaccessible to most of the uninitiated, and often built stone objects in geopathogenic zones.
Archaeologists have been arguing about the origin of the artifacts for many centuries, putting forward a variety of versions. And the townsfolk are sure that they were not built by people, but by alien creatures or giants who previously lived on earth.
It is believed that the era when the megaliths appeared preceded the ancient civilizations that left hundreds of mysteries to their descendants. Numerous dolmens of the Caucasus and the famous Stonehenge were built by the skillful hands of people who by that time had vast experience in creating such artifacts.
What is cromlech
Interest in megalithic architecture continues to this day. It is believed that cromlechs are the most complex type of structures, which are several vertically placed oblong or shapeless stones that form a circle. Sometimes there is some other object inside the structure.
In Breton, the word cromlech is translated as "a circle of stones". The shape of megaliths is most often oval or round, but there are also rectangular structures and structures that resemble flower petals.
Several versions of scientists
There are fierce debates over the appointment of the cromlechs, and so far one thing is clear: boulders surround the place that people considered important. And it was for him that they built monuments.
Scientists put forward several versions. Some believe that the artifact is a stone temple in the open air. Primitive people thus ritually fenced off the sacred space.
Others put forward a theory according to which the structures were used as observatories, where they observed the luminaries and recorded their positions.
Still others claim that cromlechs are a means that helps prevent the destruction of artificial hills, and people deliberately heaped stones on tall mounds.
And in some artifacts several named functions appear at once.
Peculiar dance floors
There is another version, to which many researchers are inclined. In their opinion, cromlechs are a kind of "dance halls" where people were introduced to the rhythms of the Universe. Dance, which is a religious means of communication between man and nature, opened new horizons in geopathogenic zones, filling the body with the energy of the Earth.
Therefore, scientists assume that circular cromlechs played the role of dance floors, but rectangular ones performed all other functions.
The most famous cromlech in the world
The most famous megalith on our planet, attracting more than one million tourists a year, is Stonehenge, located in the UK, near the city of Salisbury.
There are many rumors around the ancient building, and many believe that they were involved in the construction of the UNESCO-protected landmark extraterrestrial civilizations... Now scientists are confident that this is the oldest observatory in the world, which appeared around 2300 BC.
Mystical monument of Great Britain
Cromlech Stonehenge, the most famous megalith, is a temple associated with the cult of the Sun, which was most likely erected by the ancient tribes living in Britain.
The stone structure in the south of the country was originally a ring-shaped rampart surrounded by a deep moat, along the inner side of which archaeologists have discovered more than fifty holes.
Later, two circles were erected from powerful stones of a blue-gray hue, and a multi-ton block, called the "altar", was installed in the heart of the ring. Several decades later, the bluish cromlech slabs of Stonehenge were replaced by sandy monoliths.
On June 21, the mystical monument gathers an incredible number of tourists and pilgrims who hurry here to celebrate the summer solstice festival. When the star rises above the gigantic ring, the motley audience dances and thanks the Sun in different languages.
Artifacts of the North Caucasus
Those who want to join the monuments of megalithic culture do not need to go to England to see with their own eyes the ancient Stonehenge. No less curious artifacts are literally at our side - on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus.
In the area of \u200b\u200bTuapse, Gelendzhik, Sochi, there are granite structures resembling houses with a round hole. Moreover, the hole is so narrow that an adult cannot get into it. Often, near the buildings, they find a kind of traffic jams that fit exactly to the manhole.
Such different megaliths
Dolmens of the Caucasus are monolithic and composite, consisting of several stone slabs. Scientists believe that they were built about ten thousand years BC. The buildings are oriented to the cardinal points, and each place of construction was not chosen by chance.
Black sea coast Krasnodar Territory recognized as the largest cluster of megaliths on earth, containing ancient knowledge.
Near the village of Krasnaya Polyana, in the Achishkho gorge, there are ten dolmens. And about 20 are deep underground.
In the Lazarevsky district, Sochi is famous for its amazing trough-shaped dolmen, which was created in order to indicate the point of sunrise on the days of the equinoxes. Moreover, in shape it very much resembles a pyramid from which the top was cut off.
Monolithic which became popular tourist attraction, perfectly preserved. Located in it, it was a burial and cult structure. The chamber of the legendary monument is carved through a small hole in the rock.
In addition, about 500 stone giants with traces of processing were found in the Krasnodar Territory. Slabs lying on the ground with bowl-shaped depressions or holes can hardly be called astronomical instruments, and scientists are still puzzling over what the cromlechs were built for.
Zaporizhzhya megaliths
Archaeologists claim that the cradle of the multitude ancient civilizations is the territory between the Dnieper and Volga rivers - the ancestral home of the Indo-European peoples. An incredible number of archaeological sites have been preserved here, ranging from Scythian burial mounds to sacral steles and cromlechs.
In the Dnieper region, archaeologists are studying pagan structures - very complex structures that vaguely resemble Stonehenge. In the Zaporozhye region, there are several dozen artifacts. Scientists have discovered a cult complex consisting of 12 cromlechs, in which the remains of a sanctuary were found. It turns out that several millennia ago there was a single sacred complex of gigantic proportions at this place - the oldest building on the planet. After restoration, it is available to all guests of the island visiting the historical and cultural complex "Zaporozhskaya Sich".
Surprisingly, archaeologists claim that the famous cromlech, located in the village of Nikolskoye-on-Dnepr, was built at a time when the creators of the English Stonehenge were not yet born.
The oval-shaped structure, most likely, was the habitat of the spirit of the ancestors and a source of powerful power. An interesting construction, called the "Temple of the Seven Gates", was sacred place pagans, who communicated here with the dead and offered sacrifices to them.
Discoveries around the corner?
Perhaps, soon archaeologists will discover new traces of civilizations that have disappeared from the face of the earth, and people will learn a lot of interesting things about past eras. Future great discoveries will help to know exactly the technology of construction of unique structures weighing more than ten tons. And how did people who lived in a time when there were no cars and good roads transport stone blocks? And the most famous megaliths, built as astronomical observatories, do not in any way fit with the image of a primitive man living in a cave and hunting a mammoth.
While we are asking many questions, to which, unfortunately, there are no answers.
