In what historical period did megalithic structures appear? History: History. Megaliths: who built them? Residence of the Emperor of Japan - the styling is amazing

Scientists argue no less about the purpose of megaliths than about who built them. But today there is still a consensus on this issue. Megaliths, as researchers suggest, had three main functions.

Single megaliths, menhirs, characteristic of the earliest period of this era, as some archaeologists believe, served as unique symbols that stood out against the backdrop of the agricultural landscape, and may have been boundary markers in conditions of a growing shortage of land suitable for arable land and pastures.

The most common European megaliths, dolmens, or stone boxes, were tombs for wealthy leaders or entire communities. Some of the earliest were simple tombs, consisting of vertically placed slabs covered with a horizontal slab. Access to such a grave was limited to a very narrow passage, which was blocked by a stone or earthen embankment. Even though the passage was often very low and narrow, it provided access to the grave for rituals. More complex structures consisted of entire alleys of stones. Under the long embankment there was a corridor with side stone chambers. Where there was not enough stone, the chambers were built from wood.

Many of these collective stone tombs were in use for decades, even centuries, and a large cemetery such as Bouton in Western France was used for more than 2 thousand years and contained the remains of hundreds of buried people.

The most complex stone structures, alleys and cromlechs, according to scientists, were a kind of astronomical observatories. These megalithic buildings were built collectively - by entire clans and tribes, because their construction required a huge expenditure of muscular strength.

The labor required to create even the smallest cromlechs and galleries was not comparable to the capabilities of an individual community. Digging ditches, transporting and installing huge stones involved cooperation between communities. Estimates of the man-hours required for the construction of these monuments show an interesting progression: the oldest megaliths in Wessex, judging by the calculations of the researchers, required about 50 - 70 thousand man-hours, while for later and larger structures about half a million man-hours were needed. And for the construction of Stonehenge at the third stage it took 2 million! The grandeur of such buildings and the colossal costs of their construction indicate the enormous importance of religion and ritual centers in the life of ancient Europeans. Although we know little about the religious beliefs of the megalith builders, there is no doubt that the celestial bodies played an important role in them: the Sun, the Moon, and the stars. Observations of astronomical and seasonal natural phenomena were the main functions of ancient observatories - ritual centers.

The Cromlech of Newgrange in Ireland is oriented so that sunlight enters the central chamber within the stone circle precisely on the winter solstice in midwinter. Stonehenge was oriented to the summer solstice. With the help of these structures, it is possible to record other astronomical phenomena, in particular the location of stars in the sky.

Megalithic tomb under a long barrow at West Kennet. England

Hundreds of different carved designs that cover many megaliths also provide ideas about the lifestyle and worldview of the megalith builders. The earliest examples are simple axes and intersections, but over time more complex elements appear on them: spirals - symbols of the Sun, wavy lines - symbols water element. Entire galleries of such “engravings” have been opened in Scandinavia. There are images of human figures, hunting scenes, and fantastic creatures. They testify to how complex the religious ideas of the ancestors of Europeans were.

The old agricultural symbols of the Neolithic era, especially the female deity associated with abundance and the Earth, gradually gave way to a male mythology more consistent with the new order: wealth expressed in the number of livestock and metals, valuables captured in war. The old myth of the Mother Goddess has given way to new ones. Circles, wheels, spirals and similar elements reflect the endless movement associated with fire, the Sun and their opposite - water, the source of life. These elements became the main objects of veneration in Central and Western Europe.

Around the middle of the 6th millennium BC. e. the construction of stone circles and galleries in Spain, Portugal, North-West France and the British Isles ceases. Old cults are being replaced by new ones associated with the era of wars and enrichment. The objects of worship are the Earth and water. Gifts are dedicated to them - treasures buried in the ground or flooded in swamps and lakes. Collective tombs - dolmens - are being replaced by other forms of burial structures. A new era of warriors and heroes is dawning in Europe, the era of mounds under which ordinary community members and noble leaders were buried.

Megaliths of the River Valley

This small river flows in Ireland, in a coastal region located north of Dublin. In its valley, several burial mounds were discovered, as well as free-standing stone blocks belonging to the so-called massacre culture. Apparently, in ancient times this valley was considered a sacred place. The center of the entire local megalithic complex is, of course, Newgrange.

The Irish, who discovered Newgrange at the very end of the 17th century, long considered it the tomb of the Celtic kings.

Only later was it proven that this burial dates back to the 4th millennium BC. e., i.e. it is older than the Egyptian pyramids. The World Heritage List describes Newgrange as the largest and most important of Europe's megalithic structures of the period.

Indeed, this huge dolmen structure, 60-80 m long and 11 m high, is made of 200 thousand tons of stones, and is covered with earth and white quartz pebbles on top. An 18-meter corridor made of stone slabs leads from the entrance into the depths of the dolmen. It hides the path to the burial chamber itself with a ritual bowl and three niches decorated with stone carvings. Above the entrance, oriented to the southeast, there is an opening - a window through which the sun's rays can penetrate into the inner chamber, but only once a year - on the winter solstice, and then only for 17 minutes. What is this connected with? Why are only five people buried at Newgrange? How were ancient people able to bring such huge stone blocks here? There are no answers to these questions yet.

An ancient observatory?

Perhaps the most famous megalithic monument in Europe is the giant cromlech Stonehenge (translated from Celtic, its name means “hanging stones”), near the city of Salisbury in southern England. Stonehenge has become a favorite object of study not only for archaeologists, but also for astronomers. It is estimated that the construction of Stonehenge took a third of a million hours in total. It turned out that the ring of giant boulders served as an astronomical observatory. 2 thousand years before Euclid and Pythagoras, the builders of Stonehenge used the mathematical laws they discovered in practice.

This structure has survived to this day in the form of a horseshoe of five pairs of vertical sandstone stones, covered on top with the same stone blocks (trilitles). This horseshoe was surrounded by a ring of 30 stone monoliths weighing 25 tons each and 4.5 m high. Inside it was a stone altar.

Stonehenge stones clearly indicate the sunrise and sunset at different times of the year. It is obvious that this cult was most closely connected with observations of the cyclical changes of nature, the movement of the Sun, Moon and stars. Stonehenge served many functions. It was a monument that embodied the energetic power of the Earth. It was an astronomical observatory. And finally, it was a temple built for people who prayed and celebrated religious holidays here.

The megalith in Avebury, adjacent to Stonehenge, is also a giant cromlech. Modern researchers believe that the outer circle consisted of about 100 stone blocks and was surrounded by a very wide ditch. Together with the two inner circles and the road leading to the monument, the total number of stones reached 274. The stones were unhewn and not decorated with patterns. They are believed to have been installed around 2600 BC. e., although religious rites were performed here before. The secrets of the Avebury stone rings have also not yet been fully solved. It is possible that ancient people worshiped the Sun and Moon in this place.

On a surface globe, with the exception of Australia, there are many mysterious and ancient buildings. Modern research showed that they were erected in the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Eneolithic eras. Previously, it was believed that they all represented one common culture, but today more and more scientists are questioning this theory.

So, who and why were such megalithic structures created? Why do they have one shape or another and what do they mean? Where can you see these monuments? ancient culture?

Before considering and studying megalithic structures, you need to understand what elements they may consist of. Today it is generally accepted that the smallest unit of construction of this type is a megalith. This term was officially introduced into scientific terminology in 1867, at the suggestion of the English specialist A. Herbert. The word “megalith” is Greek and translated into Russian means “big stone”.

An accurate and comprehensive definition of what megaliths are does not yet exist. Today, this concept refers to ancient structures made of stone blocks, slabs or simple blocks of various sizes without the use of any cementing or binding compounds or solutions. The simplest type of megalithic structures, consisting of just one block, are menhirs.

Main features of megalithic structures

In different eras, different peoples erected huge structures from large stones, blocks and slabs. Temple in Baalbek and Egyptian pyramids They are also megaliths, it’s just not customary to call them that. Thus, megalithic structures are various structures created by different ancient civilizations and consisting of large stones or slabs.

However, all structures considered megaliths have a number of features that unite them:

1. All of them are made of stones, blocks and slabs of gigantic size, the weight of which can range from several tens of kilograms to hundreds of tons.

2. Ancient megalithic structures were built from strong and resistant to destruction rocks: limestone, andesite, basalt, diorite and others.

3. No cement was used during construction - neither in the mortar for fastening, nor for the manufacture of blocks.

4. In most buildings, the surface of the blocks from which they are made is carefully processed, and the blocks themselves are tightly fitted to each other. The accuracy is such that it is impossible to insert a knife blade between two megalithic blocks of volcanic rock.

5. Quite often, later civilizations used the preserved fragments of megalithic buildings as foundations for their own buildings, which is clearly visible in the buildings in Jerusalem.

When were they created?

Most megalithic sites located in Great Britain, Ireland and other countries Western Europe, date back to the V-IV millennia BC. e. The most ancient megalithic structures located on the territory of our country date back to the 4th -2nd millennia BC.

The entire variety of megalithic buildings can be conditionally divided into two large groups:

funeral;
non-funeral:
profane;
sacred.

If everything is more or less clear with funerary megaliths, then scientists are making hypotheses about the purpose of profane structures, such as various giant layouts of walls and roads, military and residential towers.

There is no accurate and reliable information about how ancient people used sacred megalithic structures: menhirs, cromlechs and others.

What are they?

The most common types of megaliths are:

menhirs - single, vertically installed stelae stones up to 20 meters high;
cromlech - a union of several menhirs around the largest, forming a semicircle or circle;
dolmens - the most common type of megaliths in Europe, are one or more large stone slabs laid on other blocks or boulders;
covered gallery - one of the types of dolmens connected to each other;
trilith - a stone structure consisting of two or more vertical stones and one laid horizontally on top of them;
taula - a stone structure in the shape of the Russian letter “T”;
cairn, also known as “gury” or “tour” - an underground or above-ground structure, laid out in the form of a cone of many stones;
stone rows are vertically and parallelly installed blocks of stone;
seid - a stone boulder or block installed by one or another people in a special place, usually on a hill, for holding various mystical ceremonies.

Only the most famous types of megalithic structures are listed here. Let's take a closer look at some of them.

Translated from Breton into Russian it means “stone table”.

As a rule, it consists of three stones, one of which lies on two vertically installed ones in the shape of the letter “P”. When constructing such structures, ancient people did not adhere to any single scheme, so there are many options for dolmens with different functions. The most famous megalithic structures of this type are located on the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of Africa and Europe, in India, Scandinavia, and the Caucasus.

Trilith

Scientists consider trilith to be one of the subspecies of dolmen, consisting of three stones. As a rule, this term is applied not to separately located megaliths, but to monuments that are components of more complex structures. For example, in such a famous megalithic complex as Stonehenge, the central part consists of five trilithons.

Another type of megalithic building is the cairn, or tour. This is a cone-shaped mound of stones, although in Ireland this name refers to a structure of only five stones. They can be located both on the surface of the earth and under it. In scientific circles, a cairn most often means megalithic structures located underground: labyrinths, galleries and burial chambers.

The oldest and simplest type of megalithic structures are menhirs. These are single, vertically installed massive boulders or stones. Menhirs differ from ordinary, natural stone blocks in their surface with traces of processing and in the fact that their vertical size is always larger than the horizontal. They can be either free-standing or part of complex megalithic complexes.

In the Caucasus, menhirs were shaped like fish and called vishap. On the territory of modern France, in the Crimea and the Black Sea region, quite a lot of anthropomorphic magalites - stone women - have been preserved.

Runic stones and stone crosses created much later are also post-megalithic menhirs.

Cromlech

Several menhirs, installed in the form of a semicircle or circle and covered with stone slabs on top, are called cromlechs. The most famous example is Stonehenge.

However, in addition to round ones, there are also rectangular cromlechs, as, for example, in Morbihan or Khakassia. On the island of Malta, cromlech temple complexes are built in the shape of “petals”. To create such megalithic structures, not only stone, but also wood was used, which was confirmed by finds obtained during archaeological work in the English county of Norfolk.

"Flying Stones of Lapland"

The most common megalithic structures in Russia, strange as it may sound, are seids - huge boulders mounted on small stands. Sometimes the main block is decorated with one or more small stones arranged in a “pyramid”. This type of megaliths is widespread from the shores of Lakes Onega and Lake Ladoga to the coast of the Barents Sea, that is, throughout all parts of Russia.

On and in Karelia there are seids ranging in size from several tens of centimeters to six meters and weighing from tens of kilograms to several tons, depending on the rock from which they were made. In addition to the Russian North, quite a lot of megaliths of this type are found in the taiga regions of Finland, northern and central Norway, and the mountains of Sweden.

Seids can be single, group or massive, including from ten to several hundred megaliths.

The term “megaliths” comes from the Greek words μέγας - large, λίθος - stone. Megaliths are structures made of stone blocks or blocks, from different rocks, various modifications, sizes and shapes, combined and installed in such an order that these blocks/blocks constitute a single monumental structure.

Stone blocks in megalithic structures weigh from several kilograms to hundreds and even thousands of tons. Individual structures are so huge and unique that it is not at all clear how they were built. Also in the scientific world there is no consensus regarding the technologies of ancient builders.

Some megaliths seem to have been carved (processed) with some kind of tools, some objects seem to have been cast from liquid materials, and some objects have traces of clearly artificial processing by unknown technologies.

Megalithic culture is represented in absolutely all countries of the world, on land and under water (and...probably not only on our planet..). The age of megaliths is different, the main period of megalith construction is determined from the 8th to the 1st millennium BC, although some objects have a much more ancient origin, which is often denied by official science. Megalithic monuments of a later period are also widely represented - 1-2 millennia AD.

Classification and types of megaliths

According to their classification, megaliths are divided into separate categories:

megalithic complexes (ancient cities, settlements, temples, forts, ancient
observatories, palaces, towers, walls, etc.);
pyramids and pyramidal mountain complexes;
mounds, ziggurats, kofuns, cairns, tumuli, tombs, galleries, chambers, etc.;
dolmens, trilithons, etc.;
menhirs (standing stones, stone alleys, statues, etc.);
seids, Sin-stones, trail-stones, cup-stones, altar-stones, etc.;
stones/rock with ancient images - petroglyphs;
rock, cave and underground structures;
stone labyrinths (surads);
geoglyphs;
and etc.

There are many hypotheses about the purpose of megaliths, but there are some features that are characteristic of many megaliths of the world, regardless of their classification, modification, size, etc. - these are their external similarity, locations (geolocation), geophysical characteristics and belonging to certain highly developed civilizations. The study of megaliths using geophysics and dowsing began in the 20th century. During the study, it was absolutely established that the places for the construction of megaliths were not chosen by chance; very often megaliths are located in places (near) dowsing anomalies (in different-frequency geopathogenic zones - near or on a tectonic fault in the earth’s crust).

Thus, it can be assumed that the generator of these waves of different frequencies are tectonic faults, and stone structures in this case, they act as multifunctional acoustic devices that resonate with this frequency.

It turns out that megaliths can influence human bioenergy! This allows you to effectively correct a person’s biofield by influencing both his energy points of the body and individual systems.

In ancient times, dedicated priests engaged in similar practices, and this was practiced through various rites and rituals.

With the help of stones, ancient priests, shamans, healers communicated with the spirits of departed ancestors, with the gods, received the answers they were interested in, treated diseases, etc., and also made offerings and demands (not sacrifices, which appeared later and most likely not by the creators of megaliths). Knowledge about this was first distorted, then completely erased.

Almost everywhere near the megaliths there was or is water (some kind of reservoir, stream, spring, etc.)! Often the orientation of megaliths is directed towards the water, this is especially clearly seen in the example of most dolmens Krasnodar region, which in turn, not without reason, are the standard in dolmen construction.

It is also worth mentioning the orientation of many megaliths to the cardinal points, taking into account some astronomical features.

Often, when studying megaliths, one gets the impression that over time the builders seemed to have lost the ability to erect stone structures and over time the megaliths became like only distant copies of the original structures.

Perhaps, for some reason, the ancients lost that knowledge and technology, and most importantly, over time, the need for megalith construction was lost.

However, despite the time, megalith building continues to exist in the world. Even today in Sumatra (Indonesia) people continue to create funerary stone monuments outwardly similar to ancient megaliths, thus preserving the memory and customs of their ancestors.

In many places around the world, traditions, legends and stories have been preserved that many megaliths are associated with the reincarnation of dead people.

Many megaliths are closely related to astrology, in connection with this, a new direction in antiquity researchers has emerged - archaeoastronomy. It is archaeoastronomers who study the astronomical aspect in megalith construction. It was archaeoastronomers who proved many hypotheses regarding the purpose of many ancient stone structures.

Some megalithic structures were created to determine the main solar and lunar cycles of the year. These objects served as calendars and observatories for observing celestial bodies.

Megaliths - the legacy of ancient civilizations

Unfortunately, in our time, in all corners of the world, for various reasons, the tendency to destroy ancient monuments continues, but new finds of ancient structures also continue to be discovered all over the world.

Many studies and the objects themselves are stubbornly hushed up by official departments, or dates are deliberately incorrectly determined and reports and conclusions of scientists are falsified, because many objects simply do not fit into the generally accepted chronology of our civilization.

Megaliths are the very objects that connect us with the distant past, with the deep past, and it can definitely be said that they have not yet revealed all their secrets to people...

Among the listed ruins, the ruins of the three walls (“fortress”) of Saxauman, about 600 m long, are of greatest interest. The first and second walls reach a height of 10 m, the third – 5 m. The lower (first) wall consists of andesite and diorite blocks weighing from 100 to 200 tons The largest of them measures 9 x 5 m x 4 m. The blocks of the second and third walls are slightly smaller than the blocks of the first tier.

But both of them are so precisely fitted to each other that it is impossible to insert even a knife blade between them. In addition, all blocks are polyhedra of rather complex shape. They were cut down in a quarry located 20 km from Sacsahuaman. Throughout these 20 km there areseveral gorges, steep ascents and descents!

Cusco
In Cusco there are remains of cyclopean walls made of huge stone blocks, also filigreely fitted to each other. One of these buildings is the Inca Palace.

Ollantaytambo
At Ollantaytambo, giant building blocks of andesite and pink porphyry are found in the base of the Temple of the Sun, the surviving fragments of the back wall and gate of the Temple of the 10 Niches, the "sacred area" (in scattered form) and the first row of terraces. They are also found in various hard-to-reach places in the river valley. Urubamba. Locals they call them “tired stones” (Spanish: piedras cansadas).

The website “Living Ethics in Germany” presents a truly fantastic hypothesis that the ancient builders of South American megalithic structures softened rocky matter to a jelly-like state with the help of their psychic energy. Then they cut it into huge blocks of arbitrary shape, transported them through the air to the building site using telekinesis, and there they laid them in the walls, fitting one to another through the same method of softening rock blocks into a plastic substance, giving them the desired shape on the spot. Only in this way can one explain the strange shape of the giant buildings of Ollantaytambo, the Inca Palace in Cusco, the walls of Sacsahuaman, the ruins of Tiahuanaco, the ahu pedestals on Easter Island and other similar buildings.

Read my work"Siddhi powers and reasons for the superhuman abilities of human predecessors"

Giant monolithic sculptures South America and Easter Island

In addition to the ruins, an important part of the megalithic culture of South America are giant monolithic sculptures in Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, on the island. Easter, as well as "Olmec heads" in Mexico. The height of such sculptures reaches 7-10 m, and their weight is 20 tons or more. The height of the heads ranges from 2 to 3 m and weighs up to 40 tons.

Moai and ahu - megalithic structures of Easter Island

A particularly large number of sculptures - moai - are located on the island. Easter. There are 887 of them. The largest of them are located on a slopeRano Raraku volcano. They are neck-deep in sediments that have accumulated on the island over its long history. Some moai used to stand on stone pedestals - ahu. Total ahu exceeds 300. Their size ranges from several tens of meters to 200 m.
The largest moai “El Gigante” has a height of 21.6 m. It is located in the Rano Raraku quarry and weighs about 150 tons (according to other sources, 270 tons). The largest moai, Paro, standing on a pedestal, is located on the ahu Te Pito Kura. Its height reaches 10 m, and its weight is about 80 tons. The height of the moai scattered along the slope of the Rano Raraku volcano is also about 10 m.

Sculptures of human and animal heads on the Marcaguasi plateau

On a par with the ruins and giant sculptures you can put huge sculptures of human heads with features of Europeans and blacks, as well as images of monkeys, turtles, cows, horses, elephants, lions and camels on the Marcaguasi plateau in Peru, located at an altitude of about 4 km. At least two facts indicate the ancient age of these images. Firstly, the animals “engraved” on the plateau never lived at such a height. Secondly, most of them disappeared from the American continent long before Europeans appeared there - from 10-12 to 150-200 thousand years ago.

Stone balls made of granite and obsidian Central America and Mexico

Further evidence of the existence of highly developed civilizations in pre-Columbian America are stone balls made of granite and obsidian in Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the USA (New Mexico). Among them there are real giants with a diameter of up to 3 m.The determination of the absolute age of the Mexican obsidian balls showed that they were formedin the tertiary period "even before the appearance of man" (no later than 2 million years ago). Trying to find an explanation for this, the American scientist R. Smith hypothesized that they arose naturally from volcanic ash.

Megalithic structures Middle East

Baalbek in Lebanon
Ruins of megalithic structures and other ancient archaeological sites known far beyond the American continent. The most magnificent of them are the ruins of Baalbek in Lebanon. The weight of each of the three stone blocks in Trilithon, located at the base of the Temple of Jupiter built by the ancient Romans, is 750 tons. The surfaces of the blocks are perfectly processed, and their dimensions are simply amazing: 19.1 x 4.3 x 5.6 m. Moreover, these monoliths are located... at an eight-meter height! They rest on slightly smaller blocks.

Half a kilometer south of the Temple of Jupiter from the earth at an angle of 30 hail sticks out the world's largest processed stone - Southern or Mother - weighing about 1200 tons and measuring 21.5 x 4.8 x 4.2 m
The author of the books “Gods of the New Millennium” and “The Way of the Phoenix,” Alan Alford, asked heavy-duty crane specialists whether it was possible to lift such a huge thing. They answered in the affirmative, but added that it would be possible to move with the block only if you put the crane on a crawler track and make good road. This means that the builders of the foundation of Baalbek had a similar technique?

Megalithic structures appeared and spread widely during the Bronze Age. Megaliths include the following structures:

menhirs;
dolmens;
alinemans;
cromlechs;
covered walkways;
and other buildings made of large stone blocks and slabs.

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

Figure 1. Megalithic structures. Avtor24 - online exchange of student works

History of the appearance of megalithic structures and types

Appearance various types megalithic structures are often associated with cults of veneration of ancestors, the sun or fire, and totems. Large-scale work on processing and moving stone blocks was carried out using huge amount people under a 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 weight of the slabs reached 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. Another type of megalithic structures are menhirs.

Definition 2

Menhirs are vertically installed stone pillars, which have a round 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 funeral rites connect them. 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 Carnac in Brittany, where the number of menhirs reaches 3000. It is believed that each menhir is a monument to a deceased person.

Note 1

Menhirs did not arise out of vital necessity, when a person needed to build a home or warehouses. The creation of menhirs was based on an idea that is not related to the struggle for existence. But, despite this, considerable efforts were made to extract, deliver and hoist these blocks, which reached impressive sizes and considerable weight.

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

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

Definition 3

Cromlechs are large groups of menhirs that are arranged in closed circles. Sometimes circles consist of several rows of vertically placed stones.

An example of a complex megalithic structure is Stonehenge. This 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 tall blocks arranged 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 as center, rhythm, symmetry.

In this type one can see a structure in which a technical problem not only found a certain type of solution, but also received an aesthetic embodiment, which indicates 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 characteristics, they are all closer to amorphous natural creatures than to the work of human hands.

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

dugouts;
semi-dugouts;
huts;
above-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 Age, when crafts and the artistic industry actively emerged.

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

Magical architecture of megalithic structures

The origins of architecture date back to the late Neolithic. At that time, stone was already used to create monumental structures. All megaliths of antiquity can be divided into two large groups:

Ancients architectural structures prehistoric societies: cromlechs, menhirs, dolmens, temples of Malta. Almost unprocessed stones were used to build such structures. Cultures that used such structures are called megalithic. This culture also includes labyrinths made of small stones, as well as individual stone blocks with petroglyphs. Megalithic architecture also includes dolmens of the Korean nobility and tombs of Japanese emperors.
Megalithic structures of more developed architecture. These are structures made of large stone blocks that have a regular geometric shape. Such megalithic architecture is characteristic of early powers, which were not built in later times. This includes monuments of the Mediterranean: megalithic structures of the Mycenaean civilization, pyramids in Egypt, the temple mount located in Jerusalem.

The most beautiful megalithic structures in the world

Gobekli Tepe, Türkiye. The complex is located on the Armenian Highlands. This megalithic structure is considered the oldest in the world. According to historical data, it was formed in the 10th–9th millennium BC. People at that time were engaged in gathering and hunting. The shape of this megalithic temple resembles circles, 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 represented as ceremonial centers in which cults for the burial of the dead were carried out. This includes the megalith complex in Carnac (Brittany), which is located in France. It contains about 3000 stones. The megaliths reached a height of 4 meters, they were arranged 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. There were legends that Merlin ordered the ranks of Roman legionnaires to be turned to stone.

Figure 8. Megaliths at Carnac (Brittany), France. Avtor24 - online exchange of student works

Nabta Observatory, Nubia, which is located in the Sahara. Some megalithic structures were previously used to determine astronomical events (equinox and solstices). At that time, a megalithic structure was found in the Nubian desert in the Nabta Playa area, which was used for astronomical purposes. Thanks 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's 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 trilithons. The weight of the columns reaches 5 tons, stone blocks - 25 tons, and huge stones weigh 50 tons. The stacked blocks form arches that previously pointed to the cardinal directions. According to scientists, this structure was erected in 3100 BC. The ancient monolith not only contained a lunar and solar calendar, but was also an exact copy solar system in cross section.

Figure 9. Stonehenge, UK, Salisbury. Avtor24 - online exchange of student works

By comparing the mathematical parameters of the geometric figures of the cromlech, it was possible to establish that they all reflect the parameters of the various planets of the solar system, and also model the orbits of their rotation. What is surprising is that Stonehenge is a representation of the 12 planets of the solar system, although today it is believed that there are only 9. Astronomers have long believed that there are two more planets beyond the outer orbit of Pluto, and the asteroid belt is the remains of a previously existing 12th planets. How could the ancient builders of the cromlech know about this?

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

Cromlech Broughgar or Sun Temple, Orkney. 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 mounds and burials. All the monuments here are united into a single architectural complex, which is preserved by UNESCO. Today, archaeological excavations are being carried out on the islands.

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

Figure 10. Ggantija Temples in Šara. Avtor24 - online exchange of student works

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 traditions. They revered their ancestors and erected tombs, and later these places became sanctuaries where they worshiped the gods.