Creation of the first megalithic structures by ancient people. Secrets of ancient megaliths. The most amazing stones in the world

The so-called megalithic structures (in Greek “big stones”) began to appear in the late Neolithic period, and in the Bronze Age they became a fairly common phenomenon. Megaliths include dolmens, menhirs, cromlechs, alinemans, covered passages, etc. All these structures are built from very large stone slabs or blocks. Their geography is very extensive - they are found in the Caucasus, Crimea, northern and western Europe (England, France, the Netherlands, Denmark), the Balkans, India, Iran, North Africa, Korea and many other places.
Megaliths served as cult places for the ancestors: dolmens and menhirs for honoring ancestors, cromlechs for worshiping the sun and fire, etc. For the hard work of moving and installing giant stones, primitive people were required to unite the efforts of significant groups. Most of the dolmens have survived to this day.

1. Stonehenge (UK)

130 km southwest of London there is a unique megalith - Stonehenge, included in the UNESCO list in 1986 World Heritage, and domestically under the care of English Heritage.
According to scientists, this structure is about 5,000 years old. Its appearance is widely known - a circle of stones, around which there are 56 burial holes. In the center of the megalith there is a stone altar weighing about 6 tons. In total, Stonehenge counted 82 stone blocks weighing 5 tons, 30 - 25 tons each, and 5 arches of three stones (triliths) - 50 tons each. The arches are precisely oriented to the cardinal points. To create Stonehenge, stones were used from different places, some of which were located 210 km from the megalith.

2. Puma Punku and Kalasasaya (Tiwanaku)

Near the Bolivian village of Tiwanaku, located 20 km from Lake Titicaca at an altitude of 4000 m above sea level, there are famous megaliths Puma Punku and Kalasasaya. In the distant past, they were cyclopean structures, the outer walls of the large Kalasasaya Sun Temple had a length of 130x1500 m. Next to it was the Akapana pyramid with dimensions of 200x220 m. Constructed of giant stone blocks of andesite, sandstone or diorite, weighing up to 120 tons, the walls of some -where they were more than 3 meters thick.
The ruins of Puma Punku, lying just 300 m from Tiwanaku, amaze with their grandiose scale - huge slabs weighing up to 500 tons are scattered over several hectares. They are hewn from diorite and andesite, mined in the mountains 17 km from here.
In addition to their enormous size and weight, the Kalasasaya and Puma Punku stones surprise with their filigree processing using technology unknown to us. There are suggestions that ancient builders worked with these rocks like plasticine, perhaps even melting them and pouring them into molds.
In the ancient quarries here, there are no traces of crushing or drilling, only smooth niches remain, as if someone had cut the blocks with a giant knife from “plasticine” rock. The blocks often have a very complex shape, with various cutouts with ideal geometry. They fit so tightly that even a thin blade cannot be inserted between them.

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3. Sacsayhuaman

IN South America there are other megalithic structures - the remains of cyclopean walls, the lower tier of the most ancient terraces and buildings in Machu Picchu, Sacsayhuaman, Ollantaytambo, Cusco, Tambomachay (Peru) are composed of them. The age of some of them is determined to be 14,000-17,000 years. Similar ruins are located in dozens of regions of Peru, Bolivia, Mexico and Colombia near the villages of Vinay Vaina, Taraco, Llactapata, Copacapana, Lokvepaia and others. But those are much less studied.
Particularly interesting are the ruins of 3 walls about 600 m long in the “fortress” of Sacsayhuaman. The height of two walls is 10 m, and the third - 5 m. The first (lower) wall is made of diorite and andesite blocks weighing 100-200 tons, the largest dimensions are 4x5x9 m. The second and third walls are built from slightly smaller blocks. Moreover, all the blocks are perfectly matched to each other, the gaps between them are simply not visible. Polyhedral blocks have a rather complex shape. They were mined in a quarry located 20 kilometers from Sacsayhuaman, and at this distance there is very uneven terrain (steep descents, ascents, gorges).

4. Ahu and moai - megaliths of Easter Island

Lost in the Pacific Ocean, Easter Island is home to 887 famous moai sculptures. The largest idols are located on the slope of the Rano Raraku volcano. They have already sunk up to their necks into the ground for many millennia. Some originally stood on ahu - stone pedestals, of which there are about 300 on the island. The sizes of the pedestals range from tens of meters to 200 m. The height of the largest moai “El Giante” (that is, the “giant”) is 21.6 m, and the weight is from 150 to 270 t. It is located in the Rano Raraku quarry. The largest moai standing on a pedestal, “Paro,” weighs 80 tons and is 10 m high. Other moai scattered along the slope of the volcano also have a height of about 10 m.

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5. Baalbek (Lebanon)

The Middle East also boasts its megaliths, for example, in Lebanon there are the ruins of Baalbek. There are three stone blocks there, each weighing 750 tons, and the Romans once used them as the foundation for the Temple of Jupiter. The dimensions of the blocks are amazing - 4.3x5.6x19.1 m, while their surfaces are perfectly processed. These giant blocks are raised 8 meters, resting on slightly smaller blocks.
500 m south of the Temple of Jupiter sticks out of the ground Southern Stone, weighing approximately 1050 tons and considered the largest processed stone in Baalbek (4.2 x 4.8 x 21.5 m). Modern engineers estimate that only a mighty crawler crane could lift such a colossus and transport it along a good road. What kind of equipment did the builders of Baalbek use?

6. Temple Mount in Jerusalem

When archaeological work was carried out under the Temple Mount in Jerusalem at the end of the last century, the remains of megalithic structures were found. Made up of them South part fragment of the foundation of the western supporting wall of the Temple of Solomon built before our era. The masonry rows of this wall were hidden by the ground for several millennia, and since 1996 they have become visible in the Western Wall Tunnel, which is about 500 meters long, which stretches from Via Dolorosa to Wilson's Arch. At the level of the ancient street, 4 huge stone blocks were exposed here, the lengths of three of which are 8.5, 13.5 and 14 meters, and the weight is 355, 570 and 600 tons. Just like in Baalbek, these huge blocks were laid on smaller stones. All of them were moved here from a quarry located west of Jerusalem.

7. Megaliths of Ethiopia

The basalt steles that either lie on the ground or stand in the city of Axum in Ethiopia near the shores of the Red Sea also pose a mystery. The largest obelisk has a rectangular outline with a height of 33.5 meters, and it weighs approximately 500 tons. Other stones are noticeably smaller - from 20 to 24 meters. Their surfaces are carefully processed and dotted with ornaments. The stones are in disarray and many are broken. U local residents there is a legend about the giant Cyclopes who built them, who could melt stones. Allegedly, they poured the molten mass into molds, and after the workpieces cooled, they trimmed and polished them.
Excavations in Axum showed that previously the steles stood on pedestals, one of which was a three-tiered platform made of large basalt slabs and found itself under the Bete Georgis hill. The stone for the blocks was mined in quarries located several kilometers from this place.

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8. Yonaguni Underwater Megaliths

Pyramids and megalithic structures of unknown antiquity exist in a variety of places:

at the bottom of the Bahama Bank near the islands of Andros and Bimini;
on the island of Ponape and 92 artificial islands Nan Madol, as well as in the shallow waters near them - in the Pacific archipelago Caroline Islands;
at the bottom of Rock Lake in Wisconsin (USA);
at the bottom of the sea near Japanese island Yonaguni, etc.

The latter deserve special attention, because multi-meter blocks with regular outlines were discovered there, resting at a 6-meter depth near the coast of Yonaguni Island from the Okinawa archipelago. In 1985, they were discovered by Japanese scuba diver K. Aratake. He told marine seismologist from Okinawa University M. Kimura about his discovery. The scientist conducted a detailed study of them for 10 years, after which he concluded that this was nothing more than a sunken prehistoric city. In 1997, underwater video filming was carried out here by the film crew of G. Hancock, and at the same time geology professor R. Schoch from the University of Boston worked. They were able to confirm that the stone blocks near the shores of Yonaguni Island are of artificial origin.

9. Zorats-Karer

In Armenian, Zorats-Karer means “stone army,” but this ancient megalith, located at an altitude of 1770 m on a mountain plateau in the Sinyuk region of Armenia, 3 km from the city of Sisian, has another name: “Karahunj” - “singing stones.” This complex contains many huge upright stones, some of which have round holes at the top. This structure with an unknown age (from 4000 years to 7700 years) was declared a historical and cultural reserve in 2009.
The place is a field strewn with stones. In the structure, they were able to number 223 andesite (basalt) slabs weighing up to 8.5 m and 1.5-2.8 m long. Some stones form a not very even row, stretching from southeast to northwest. In the central part of the row there is an oval made of stones, and on its opposite sides there are corridors-passages. Next to the mound there is a stone box - a tomb.
Most of all, the mystery is represented by through holes made in the upper part of 80 stones with a diameter of 40-50 mm. They are made rather crudely, some of them are bent at an angle - the result of conical drilling from opposite sides. The stone inside the holes is better preserved than on the surface of the monolith. Now 37 stones with 47 holes remain standing.

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10. American Stonehenge

This is the name given to an archaeological site consisting of several stone structures and large boulders scattered over 120 square meters. m in the city of Salem (New Hampshire, USA). There are different versions of its origin: it could have been built by settlers from Europe in pre-Columbian times, local farmers in XVIII-XIX centuries, or the owner of the site, W. Goodwin, in the 30s of the last century. Radiocarbon dating of local sediments showed dates from 2000 to 173 BC. e., which corresponds to one of the archaic Indian cultures or the early Woodland period.
In 1982, the director of a local restaurant, D. Stewart-Smith, began excavating a megalith found in a quarry north of the monument. A team of researchers and archaeologists found a quarry and hundreds of fragments of stones, which were mistaken for waste from the production of primitive stone tools.

Today, people look at giant skyscrapers and consider them the pinnacle of human engineering. At the same time, many are not even aware of technological miracles ancient history- buildings and temples that seemed impossible to build in that distant time. This review contains little-known examples of amazing ancient buildings.

1. Pueblo Bonito

USA

Located in northwestern New Mexico, Pueblo Bonito is the largest and most famous example of a "palace village" built by the Anasazi culture. The settlement began to be built in the first half of the 10th century AD, and was completed only 180 years later. At its peak, Pueblo Bonito had approximately 800 individual structures, some as many as five stories tall. The ancient settlement was first discovered in 1849 by US Army Lieutenant James H. Simpson. Since then, Pueblo Bonito has become one of the most excavated and explored archaeological sites in the southwestern United States. Unfortunately, a number of buildings were damaged when part of the cliff behind the settlement collapsed. What is especially interesting is that many mysterious petroglyphs were found in Pueblo Bonito, made somewhere at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th century.

2. Chatal

Türkiye

The ancient settlement of Catal, discovered in southern Turkey, is estimated by modern scientists to have existed since 7500 BC. until about 5700 BC It was built by an unknown Neolithic culture, which scientists believe was highly advanced at that time. Excavations have been ongoing since the discovery of Chatal in the late 1950s by British archaeologist James Mellaart. A number of interesting items were discovered, including (presumably) the earliest known map and some of the highest quality daggers of the period. The houses in Chatal have one intriguing feature: they do not have doors, and one had to enter the house through the roof, climbing up the stairs. In addition, the dead in this ancient settlement were buried under the floors of houses, in particular under fireplaces.

3. Lokmarak

France

The French region of Brittany is famous for its group of the largest prehistoric European megaliths. The largest megalith, created around 4500 BC, measures almost 21 meters in length and weighs between 200 and 280 tons. Today, no one will know why this megalith, known as the “Fairy Stone,” was broken thousands of years ago. This may have been caused by an earthquake, but most likely it was done by people. What is especially striking is that the “Fairy Stone” was delivered in one solid piece from a quarry located more than 10 kilometers away. How this was done is unknown.

4. Colossi of Memnon

Egypt

Built as a monument to Pharaoh Amenhotep III and placed near his now-destroyed temple, the Colossi of Memnon are a pair of 23-meter-tall statues. Also on these statues (to be more precise, at the foot of the thrones of the statues) you can find reliefs of Amenhotep’s wife, daughter and mother. The statues were named after Memnon, the hero of the Trojan War. There were legends that before the statues were damaged by an earthquake, the northern statue made a sound in the morning that resembled bell ringing(possibly due to increased temperature). The Egyptians believed that this sound expressed the approval of the gods.

5. Pillar of Pompey

Egypt

Pompey's Pillar was erected as a monument to the Roman Emperor Diocletian after he suppressed a rebellion in Alexandria. It is often mistakenly believed that it was built in honor of the Roman consul Gnaeus Pompey the Great, but the inscription on its base clearly indicates that the pillar was made in honor of Diocletian by the people of Alexandria. The story that when Pompey was defeated by Julius Caesar and fled Rome for Egypt, he was killed in Alexandria and his head placed in a funerary jar on top of a pillar (thus giving the pillar its name) is a myth. The 27-meter pillar was built during the fourth century AD and was once part of the temple of the Roman god Serapis, which was later destroyed.

6. Dolmen Menga

Spain

Dating back to around 2000 BC, the Menga Dolmen (also known as Cueva de Menga) is a large megalithic burial mound located in southern Spain. The rows of burial chambers (their walls, roof and pillars) were created from huge stone blocks weighing up to 180 tons. As for the name, legend says that a leper named Menga took up residence inside the dolmen after her husband died. Archaeologists believe that this dolmen is the largest such structure in Europe, and several hundred different skeletons inside it may have belonged to the rulers of the culture that built Menga. However, who these builders were remains a mystery to this day.

7. Quirigua

Guatemala

Built by the Mayans between 200 and 800 AD. The city of Quirigua contains remarkable examples of Mayan architecture, as well as some of the largest stelae (carved stone monuments) in existence. The “Stela E” alone weighs an incredible 65 tons. Quirigua was abandoned around 900 AD, which was probably due to the decline of the jade trade.

8. Dur Sharrukin

Iraq

Dur Sharrukin, which translates from Akkadian as "Sargon's Fortress", was built by the Assyrians sometime between 717 and 707 BC. in the northern part of modern Iraq. The size of the city was almost 2.6 square kilometers, and especially notable in it were the temple of Nabu (the god of vegetation) and Royal Palace. However, the most interesting artifact recovered from the ruins is the Assyrian bull - a stone statue weighing about 40 tons. The city was abandoned soon after its construction was completed because King Sargon II of Assyria was killed in battle.

9. Hajar Kim

Malta

Located in Malta, megalithic temple complex Hajar Qim is believed to have been built by a culture unknown to modern scientists between 3200 and 2500 BC. It is believed that this culture was destroyed as a result of famine or natural disaster. One of the earliest examples can be found at Hajar Qim religious beliefs- A number of statues of the goddess of fertility have been preserved in the local temple. Interestingly, Hajar Qim was built hundreds of years earlier than Stonehenge.

10. Tiwanaku

Bolivia

The prehistoric capital of Tiwanaku culture, the city of Tiwanaku is located on the shores of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. It was originally a small village, but between 400 and 900 AD. the city literally blossomed and many of the largest stone structures in South America were erected there. However, the city suddenly became deserted around 1000 AD, most likely due to floods. Eventually the Tiahuanaco civilization was conquered by the Incas. The city, which was once home to more than a million people, was only rediscovered in 1876.

4 950

In many countries of the world and even on the seabed there are mysterious structures made of huge stone blocks and slabs. They were called megaliths (from the Greek words “megas” - large and “lithos” - stone). It is still not known exactly who and for what purpose carried out such 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 divided into dolmens, menhirs and trilithons. Dolmens are the most common type of megaliths; these are peculiar stone “houses”; in Brittany (province of France) alone there are at least 4,500 of them. Menhirs are vertically mounted elongated stone blocks. If a third is placed on top of two vertically mounted blocks, then such a structure is called a trilith. If the trilithons 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 matter, but none of them can comprehensively answer all the questions posed by these silent, majestic stones.

For a long time, megaliths were associated with an ancient funeral 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 hypothesis, supported by many scientists, connects the construction of megaliths with the most ancient astronomical observations. In fact, some megaliths can be used as sights, allowing one to record the rising and setting points of the Sun and Moon on the solstices and equinoxes.

However, opponents of this hypothesis have quite fair questions and criticisms. Firstly, there are a lot of megaliths that are difficult to associate with any astronomical observations. Secondly, why did the ancients at that distant time need such a labor-intensive method of understanding the movement of the heavenly bodies? After all, even if they set the timing of agricultural work in this way, it is well known that the start of sowing depends much more on the condition of the soil and weather than on a specific 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 allegedly installed for astronomical purposes, but what were thousands of others intended for then?

The scale of work carried out by the ancient builders is also impressive. Let's not dwell on Stonehenge, a lot has already been written 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! Now only about 3 thousand vertically installed stone blocks have survived, in some cases reaching a height of several meters.

It is believed that this ensemble originally stretched for 8 km from Saint-Barbe to the Crash River; now it has survived for only 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 with a height of 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 has been toppled 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 to its original form or moved to another place.

Are dwarfs “to blame” for everything?

Megalithic structures found even at the bottom Atlantic Ocean, and the oldest of the megaliths date back to the 8th millennium BC. Who was the author of such labor-intensive and mysterious stone structures?

Many legends in which megaliths are mentioned in one way or another often feature mysterious, powerful dwarfs who can effortlessly perform work that is beyond the capabilities of ordinary people. So, in Polynesia such dwarfs are called menehunes. According to local legends, they were ugly-looking creatures, only vaguely reminiscent of people, only 90 cm tall.

Although the menehunes had a look that made your blood run cold, the dwarves were generally kind to people and sometimes even helped them. Menehunes could not stand sunlight, so they appeared only after sunset, at dark time days. Polynesians believe that these dwarfs are the authors of megalithic structures. It is curious that menehunes appeared in Oceania, arriving on the large three-tiered island of Kuaihelani.

If the Menehunes needed to be on land, their flying island would descend into the water and float to the shore. After completing the intended work, the dwarfs on their island again rose into the clouds.

The Adyghe people call the famous Caucasian dolmens houses of dwarfs, and Ossetian legends mention dwarfs who were called the Bitsenta people. The bicenta dwarf, despite his height, had remarkable strength and was capable of knocking down a huge tree with one glance. There are also references to dwarfs among the aborigines of Australia: as is known, megaliths are also found in large numbers on this continent.

IN Western Europe, where there is no shortage of megaliths, legends about powerful dwarfs are also widespread, who, like the Polynesian menehunes, cannot stand daylight and are distinguished by remarkable physical strength.

Although many scientists still retain a certain skepticism towards legends, the widespread dissemination in the folklore of peoples of information about the existence of a small powerful people should be based on some real facts. Maybe a race of dwarfs actually once existed on Earth, or were aliens from outer space mistaken for them (remember the flying island of the Menehunes)?

The mystery remains a mystery for now

Megaliths may have been created for purposes that are still unclear to us. This conclusion was reached by scientists who studied the unusual energy effects that are observed in the locations of megaliths. Thus, in some stones the instruments were able to register weak electromagnetic radiation and ultrasounds. In 1989, researchers even detected inexplicable radio signals under one of the stones.

According to scientists, such mysterious effects can be explained by the fact that megaliths were often installed in places where there are faults in the earth's crust. How did the ancients find these places? Maybe with the help of dowsers? Why were megaliths installed in energetically active places earth's crust? Scientists do not yet have clear answers to these questions.

In 1992, Kyiv researchers R. S. Furduy and Yu. M. Shvaidak proposed a hypothesis that megaliths could 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 English scientists had already established that many megaliths emit ultrasonic pulses. As scientists at Oxford University have suggested, ultrasonic vibrations arise due to weak electrical currents induced by solar radiation. Each individual stone emits a small amount of energy, but as a whole, a megalithic stone complex can create a powerful burst of energy at times.

It is curious that for most megaliths, their creators selected rocks containing large amounts of quartz. This mineral is capable of generating a weak electric current under the influence of compression... As is known, stones either shrink or expand due to temperature changes...

They tried to unravel the mystery of the megaliths based on the fact 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 megaliths had a very developed intellect, allowing them to use the natural properties of natural materials to solve technical problems still unknown to us. In fact - a minimum of costs, 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 could have withstood so much time, it would have been stolen by our enterprising ancestors or eaten away 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?

In the stone circle of an ancient cemetery, in a place of worship of old, forgotten and eternal gods, pulsating with ancient magic and power, the Wall Crawler raised his hands and a bloody knife. And he screamed. Jubilantly. Wild. Inhuman.
Everything around froze in horror.
Andrzej Sapkowski "God's Warriors"

Among the windy heaths, above the heather, under the low, restless sky - hieroglyphs on gray stone. Worn out by time, lost, alien to our world, thrown into it from another, unknown reality, separated by the abyss of centuries. Carrying the stamp of eternity, the wreckage of forgotten eras has survived more than one generation of legends, in which there is no longer a drop of truth. But still filled with strange strength and invincible greatness. Awe-inspiring even now. Megaliths.

Megaliths (“big stones”) are usually called prehistoric structures made of huge stone blocks connected without the use of mortar. But this definition is very imprecise. A significant part of archaeological sites classified as megaliths are not, in the strict sense, structures at all, since they consist of a single monolith or several slabs not connected to each other.

In addition, the stones of megalithic buildings are not always large. Finally, some buildings that were built already in historical times are often classified as megaliths, but either using cyclopean blocks (the Temple of Jupiter in Baalbek) or without the use of mortar (Machu Picchu in Peru, 16th century).

What then unites the megaliths? Perhaps monumentality and an aura of mystery. Megalith is the creation of a departed, often nameless people. This is a message from the unimaginably distant “pre-legendary” past. Monument to an unknown builder.

ETERNAL STONES

Alien, surreal, and contrary to all known principles of architecture, the appearance of megaliths feeds the vast “modern mythology” full of Atlanteans, Hyperboreans and other representatives of highly developed civilizations that have sunk into oblivion. But there are at least two reasons not to take such speculation seriously. Firstly, they still do not provide a clear explanation for the appearance of megaliths. Secondly, the real secrets of history are more interesting than the imaginary ones.

The simplest megaliths, those that cannot yet be considered structures, include the sacred stones of seida and menhirs - oblong, roughly processed blocks vertically stuck into the ground, broken off from the rock. A little later they are replaced by orthostats, distinguished by their flat shape and the presence of at least one carefully smoothed edge on which magical signs were drawn or carved.

Single menhirs and seids, as a rule, served as objects of worship. Sacrifices were made near the largest Rudston monolith in England, 7.6 meters high, decorated with fossilized dinosaur tracks. On the plains, glacial blocks always attracted attention and, quite possibly, could be considered the house of the spirit or the weapon of the ancestor. Smaller menhirs usually served as tombstones for leaders. In any case, it was for this purpose that the last of them under the camera was installed at the beginning of the last century in Indonesia. The largest cluster of 3,000 orthostats is the Carnac Stones in Brittany, a prehistoric cemetery.

In some cases, menigirs were placed in a group, forming a circle of cromlechs marking the boundaries of the cult place. Often, in the center of the decorative fence, a platform lined with stone was found, on which the bodies of the dead were burned or animals and captives were sacrificed. Ceremonies, meetings, celebrations and other public events could also be held here. Cults changed. Cromlechs are more durable than religions.

The use of megalithic structures as observatories is also possible. To accurately determine the position of the Moon and the Sun (from the shadow), unshakable landmarks were required. Menhirs placed in a circle fulfilled this role. It should be noted that in the Middle Ages, observatories had a similar structure.

Already in ancient times, people sought diversity and were not afraid of experiments. An epochal step forward, a real breakthrough in stone architecture, were thauls - structures made of a large stone mounted on a small one. Then trilithons appeared - arches of three stones - the beauty and pride of Stonehenge. The stability and durability of these structures led primitive builders to the idea of building dolmens - the first stone buildings in human history.

There are a lot of mysteries associated with dolmens, as well as with other simple megaliths. For example, they can never be associated with any specific archaeological culture - that is, with an ancient people whose migrations are tracked by scientists using characteristic ceramics, arrowheads and other finds. The stone does not reveal the age of the building and does not say anything about the creators. Determining the date of the appearance of a dolmen, as a rule, is possible only with an accuracy of several centuries. And during such a period of time, the population of the country changed more than once. The artifacts discovered in and around the structure do not say anything, since it is known that megaliths, passing from hand to hand, remained “in use” for thousands of years.

What can also be quite puzzling is the fact that similar, almost identical megaliths are scattered over a huge area - from the Caucasus to Portugal and from the Orkney Islands to Senegal. In this regard, even a version was put forward about a certain “dolmen culture”, whose representatives once inhabited all these territories. But the hypothesis was not confirmed. No traces of such people were found. Moreover, it was discovered that the age of two identical dolmens located next to each other can differ by a couple of thousand years.

In fact, the similarities of dolmens different countries is explained by the fact that the idea lying on the surface naturally occurred to many people. Any child could make a “house” by placing four flat stones on an edge and placing a fifth one on top of them. Or cover the hole in the stone with a flat block (trough-shaped dolmen). Admiring his creation, the young architect grew up, became a leader and encouraged his fellow tribesmen to build a life-size structure.

One thing can be said with certainty: the appearance of the first megaliths is associated with the transition of the population to a sedentary lifestyle. Wandering hunters had no desire to move the boulders they encountered during migrations. And the groups of people were too small to carry out large-scale work. The first farmers had the opportunity to engage in capital construction. The only thing missing was experience. And for a long time they couldn’t think of anything better than digging two stones into the ground and placing a third on them.

Apparently, the dolmens were crypts. In some of them the remains of hundreds of people were found. The decayed bones formed layer after layer, and new graves were dug right in the resulting mass. Other dolmens are completely empty. Probably, over the past millennia, someone took the trouble to clean them out.

Path in the labyrinth

Special category megaliths are made up of flat cairns - lines or drawings laid out from small stones. This includes numerous “stone boats” - Viking burials, made in the shape of a ship outlined by boulders, and a unique “stone eagle” - an image of a bird with outstretched wings, created by an unknown tribe of North American Indians.

But the most famous flat cairns are “labyrinths”, found in Scandinavia, Finland, England, northern Russia and even on Novaya Zemlya. Rows of stones form an intricate, spiraling path. These are the least noticeable and, at the same time, extremely impressive megaliths. For the labyrinth is a powerful symbol that weaves together reality. The path to the land of spirits is winding.

Who left these stone seals, unsolved signs on the northern, meager land? Like most megaliths, labyrinths are anonymous. Sometimes they are associated with the proto-Sami tribes, but the Sami themselves know nothing about spirals. In addition, labyrinths are widespread far beyond the boundaries of the settlement of the ancestors of this people. The Nenets have a separate opinion on this issue, who consider the flat cairns to be the work of the Sirtya - a short, stocky people of blacksmiths who have long gone underground.

But sooner or later, building simple stone boxes ceased to bring satisfaction. The dolmen is impressive enough to glorify an individual clan, but not enough to become the pride and cult center of an entire tribal union. People already wanted more. At least just in size.

Individual dolmens began to line up in a long corridor, often with side branches. Sometimes two corridors connected by passages were built. Natural slabs were difficult to match in shape, and for the construction of “walls” masonry began to be used, as in composite dolmens, or solid polished blocks, as in tiled ones.

But even in this case, the structure did not seem majestic enough. Therefore, a colossal cairn was poured on top of the “multi-series” dolmens - artificial structure in the form of a pile of stones. In order to prevent the pyramid from settling, it was “propped up” with a ring of orthostats along its perimeter. If there was more than one belt, the result was something similar to a ziggurat. The scale of Neolithic gigantomania can be judged by the fact that such structures, which had long ago taken the form of sloping hills, were in modern times operated as quarries for decades before workers discovered the internal chambers.

The most impressive of the Neolithic monuments are now called “corridor tombs” or “megalithic temples.” But the same structure could combine functions or change them over time. In any case, the mounds were poorly suited for rituals. It was too cramped inside. Therefore, cairns continued to coexist with cromlechs until people learned to build real temples, under the arches of which not only priests, but also believers could fit.

The era of megaliths, which began in prehistoric times, has no clear boundaries. It did not end, but only gradually faded away as construction technologies improved. Even in relatively later eras, when the methods of constructing an arch became known, and buildings were built from cut stone and brick, the demand for giant blocks did not disappear. They continued to be used, but rather as a decorative element. And even knowing how to fasten stones with mortar, architects did not always find it necessary to do this. After all, polished stones, fitted to each other, equipped with protrusions and grooves, looked better. Finally, even an unprocessed block sometimes turned out to be in place. The boulder that serves as the base for the equestrian statue of Peter I in St. Petersburg is a typical megalith.

Titan Towers

Scottish Borchs and Mediterranean Nuraghes are relatively late megaliths, dating back to the Bronze Age. They are towers made of small unprocessed stones without the use of mortar. And the fact that many of these structures, held together only by the weight of the material, still stand today evokes great respect for the builders.

The creation of the Borkhs is attributed to the Picts, and the Nuraghes to the Chardins. But both versions are not indisputable. In addition, all that remains of these peoples themselves are the names given to them by foreign chroniclers. The origins and customs of the Picts and Chardins are unknown. And this makes it even more difficult to unravel the purpose of numerous (more than 30,000 nuraghes were built in Sardinia alone) but non-functional structures.

Brochs resemble fortifications, but were hardly used for defense because they did not have loopholes and could not accommodate a sufficient number of defenders. They did not light a fire, did not live in them, did not bury the dead and did not store supplies. The objects found in the towers belong almost exclusively to the Celts, who settled Scotland centuries later and tried to come up with some use for the towers. However, they were no more successful than archaeologists.

SECRETS OF THE BIG STONE

The question remains “how”. How did people deliver huge stones without heavy equipment, how did they lift them, how did they cut them? It is these mysteries that inspire the authors of alternative hypotheses. Which, however, is based on a banal lack of imagination. It is difficult for an unprepared person to imagine how barbarians use stone tools to hew a giant block and manually set it in place. Anyone can imagine how the Atlanteans who have disappeared to who knows where are doing all this for unknown reasons and in an unknown way is within the power of anyone.

But the alternative reasoning contains a fundamental flaw. With cranes and diamond saws, we do not use huge stone monoliths. This is irrational. More convenient materials are now available. Megaliths were built by people who were simply not yet capable of building otherwise.

The stone is really difficult to work with other stone or copper. Therefore, only in the Iron Age did they begin to build from relatively compact hewn “bricks”. After all, the smaller the block, the larger its relative surface. So the Egyptians did not at all seek to complicate their work by using one-and-a-half and two-ton blocks to build the pyramids, which, of course, were not easy to transport and lift. On the contrary, they made it as easy as possible. After all, with the reduction of blocks, the costs of their production would increase sharply, but transportation costs would decrease slightly.

The same weight would have to be transferred. The creators of megaliths thought the same way.

Assessing the complexity of a task “by eye” often leads to mistakes. It seems that the work of the builders of Stonehenge was enormous, but, obviously, the costs of constructing the smallest of the Egyptian and Mesoamerican pyramids were incomparably higher. In turn, all the pyramids of Egypt taken together took four times less labor than the canal alone - a 700-kilometer “understudy” of the Nile bed. This was truly a large-scale project! The Egyptians built the pyramids in free time. For the soul.

Was it difficult to trim and sand a 20-ton slab? Yes. But every peasant or hunter in the Stone Age, during his life, in between, in the evenings making the necessary tools, brought about 40 square meters of stone to almost a mirror shine, choosing, if possible, the hardest of the stones. rocks: Only diamond cannot be processed by chipping and grinding on wet sand.

It seems difficult to deliver huge stones not only without equipment, but also without horses, even without a wheel. Meanwhile, under Peter I, frigates were transported along the route of the future White Sea Canal in this way. Peasants and soldiers pulled the ships along wooden rails, placing wooden rollers on them. Moreover, the cargo had to be dragged onto multi-meter cliffs more than once. In such cases, it was necessary to build a mantel, and sometimes use counterweights in the form of cages with stones. But when giving the order, the king probably did not think long, since we were talking about a completely ordinary operation. The Spaniards also thought it was faster and safer to drag galleons from Caribbean Sea into the Pacific Ocean through the Isthmus of Panama, rather than driving them around Cape Horn.

Valuable information was provided by a study of Maltese megalithic temples, one of which was suddenly abandoned during construction. Everything that workers usually took with them - stone rollers and sleds - remained in place. Even drawings have been preserved that looked like a miniature model of the structure (this is how they built it - from a model, not from paper - until the 18th century). In addition, in Malta, and later in other megalith-rich regions, “stone rails” were discovered - parallel grooves left by repeated rolling of round stones under heavy sleds.

Hobby holes

The megalithic structures of Skara Brae are unique primarily because they are residential. Typically, Neolithic people built houses from eternal stone only for the dead. But Scotland at that time was the northern outpost of agriculture. So it is surprising for the short, less pygmy people who decided to settle on this harsh land, I had to dig in conscientiously. The shortage of wood also had its effect. The “hobbits” could only rely on logs carried by the sea waves.

Other interesting feature these megaliths - in their masonry there is little that would deserve the epithet “mega”. The stones are mostly small. The houses were clearly built by one family, who were unable to deliver a monolithic dolmen slab to the site and install it on the structure. The “hobbit” roofs were made of wood and turf. But in each room there were several miniature megaliths - stone stools and whatnots.

But still, wasn’t the work too much? Was it really necessary for unknown barbarians to complicate their already difficult life by delivering and lifting 50-ton blocks of Stonehenge? And not for the sake of profit, but for beauty, for fame. Realizing that the arches of the cult center can be made of wood.

The inhabitants of Neolithic England thought not too much. The Romans believed exactly the same thing, using record, unimaginable 800-ton blocks in Baalbek, although they could have easily gotten by with ordinary ones. The Incas agreed with them, cutting intricate puzzles out of stone to assemble the walls of Machu Picchu. Megalithic buildings amaze the imagination even now. They struck him then too. They hit much harder. With their work, the builders glorified the deity, and a little - themselves. And considering that they achieved their goals - although their names are forgotten, their glory, having survived the birth and end of many civilizations, thunders through millennia - can we say that the work was too great?

On the contrary, it was a very economical solution.

What to play?

Rise of Nations (2003)
Age of Empires 3 (2005)
Civilization 4 (2005)

On all continents of our planet, with the exception of Antarctica, you can find mysterious structures made of processed blocks of stone. They are called megaliths. Most buildings consist of huge blocks of stone, weighing from tens to hundreds and even thousands of tons.

The stone blocks were carefully cut and polished thousands of years ago. But even the past centuries could not affect the quality of their connection - they are fitted to each other so precisely that it is impossible to insert a knife blade into the connections.

Most megaliths are located near the shores of seas and rivers, sometimes they are under water, and often occupy highlands. The material for making megaliths is often not found in the immediate area and was probably transported hundreds of kilometers from the mining site to the construction site.

All tens of thousands of currently known dolmens can be divided into several types, according to the features of their design:

1. Actually classical dolmens.
2. Underground dolmens - tulumus.
3. Ensembles of dolmens - cairns.
4. Single processed stones - menhirs.
5. Structures made of three stones - trilithons.
6. Complexes of many trilithes - cromlechs.
7. Cyclopean walls, made of something like bricks - huge stone blocks.

Classic dolmens. They are the most common. More than 65 thousand of them have been scientifically described in the world! In terms of their design, they consist of four vertically placed stone slabs forming walls, and a thicker slab covering them - a kind of lid.

Often the “lid” is located with a bevel in one direction and an overhang in the opposite direction. Thus, a “visor” is formed. In the slab, under this canopy, at a height of about half a meter from the ground, there is a through hole drilled with excellent quality. The diameter of such a hole is about 50-60 centimeters.

It is extremely rare to find dolmens whose holes are either completely absent or are closed with a kind of mushroom-shaped plug, carved from the same material as the wall slabs. Even rarer are the classic dolmens, which have no walls at all; they are replaced by four pillars hewn from stone on which a multi-ton lid rests.

Geographically, classical dolmens are scattered across all latitudes - from northern Scotland to the islands of Oceania.

Tulumus are a rare type of classical dolmens. Even in ancient times, builders placed them either in the depths of caves, or simply covered them with earth for unknown purposes. Otherwise, in their design, tulumuses are no different from ordinary dolmens.

Cairns. They are huge ensembles of many classical dolmens. Placed side by side, these dolmens form giant covered galleries. In size, cairns are in no way inferior to pyramids. But not in terms of height - it rarely exceeds 15-20 meters, but in terms of its area - for example, the Barneys cairn (located in the north of France) covers an area of more than two hectares!

Menhirs. This is another type of dolmen that stands out for its minimalism. Their appearance consists of stone columns, up to 25-30 meters high, whose weight sometimes exceeds 500 tons! Such columns are often installed strictly vertically or at a certain, strictly adjusted angle in desert places.

Sometimes dozens, or even thousands of menhirs are installed not far from each other. Thus they form huge fields of vertically standing cyclopean columns.

Trilithons. A curious type of dolmen is a development of the menhir - two vertical stone columns were installed nearby, and a third was placed horizontally on top of them. This is how the giant gates turned out.

Cromlechs are complex ring-shaped complexes of trilithes spread over vast areas. Such a structure is the well-known Stonehenge. This monument ancient architecture built from dozens of stone blocks, whose weight is about 50 tons and length is 8-10 meters! The area of Stonehenge exceeds one and a half hectares!

Especially worth it. For a very long time it was believed that megaliths could only be on the surface of the land. However, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, authoritative archaeological expeditions made a series of sensational discoveries - they discovered a mass of underwater megaliths!

The first such discovery was made by west coast islands of Cuba (at a depth of more than 600 meters), a little later megaliths were discovered in Indian Ocean- off the coast of Indonesia and in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Japan and a number of islands in Oceania.

Not far from the last of the megaliths, there are essentially almost a hundred small islands with an area of more than 90 hectares. Here, under the waters Pacific Ocean gigantic buildings were found - the Non-Madol temple, fortress walls and sea dams.

Their height in some places exceeds 20-30 meters and nowhere falls below 10 meters. Since the dynamics of the ocean level is well known from the research of paleoclimatologists, and there is no doubt, this makes it possible to accurately date the minimum age of these grandiose structures: from 10 to 15 thousand years ago!

But, despite all the above, official historical science is still recognized as an immutable truth: megaliths were built by primitive tribes at the end of the Stone Age - in the Neolithic. This was, according to the assurances of venerable archaeologists, no earlier than the 7th millennium BC.

But as shown above, this statement is wrong. In addition to the above facts of the latest findings, there are a number of controversial issues.

The material for the construction of megaliths was a natural mineral that was formed hundreds of millions of years ago. There is still no sufficiently reliable method for determining the time when the megalith blocks were cut out of the rock mass in a quarry.

For this reason, radiocarbon analysis is carried out on the remains of human activity found next to the megalith in the cultural layers accompanying it. Often such objects are traces of ancient fires that were lit inside dolmens.

In the case of menhirs, the age of the closest Paleolithic site is usually taken as the point of their creation. primitive people. Despite all the obvious unreliability and proximity of such dating, even it suggests that the megaliths are orders of magnitude older than all the peoples known to us who lived on these lands.

BEHIND THE SECRETS OF THE MEGALITHS.

As a result, a logical question arises: why did people build these gigantic structures in those ancient times? The first step to answering this question is to find out how the megaliths were built.

The most common explanation in the scientific community for the method of building megaliths comes down to an analogy with the construction of pyramids. In the sense that hundreds of people were involved, from blocks, ropes and levers. It was in this way that giant stone blocks were transported and placed one on top of the other.

But if you think about it, you can find a number of contradictions in this explanation. First of all, there are relatively few pyramids and they were built over decades in lands rich in resources to provide for the builders. But tens of thousands of megaliths are known. And many of them are located in hard-to-reach places, and in the lands surrounding them there have never been rich sources for the life of primitive tribes.

We can conclude that the megaliths were built quite quickly. This is confirmed by many legends among various peoples about the creators of megaliths. These legends tell of white, red-bearded gods or goddesses who came to these lands from afar and built megaliths in a matter of days.

Having analyzed all the above facts, we can conclude that the megaliths were built by some ancient sailors. They belonged to an ancient culture unknown to us, quite highly developed, possessing a significant amount of knowledge about mechanics, geometry and crystal chemistry.

In search of an answer to the question of the purpose of megaliths, it was believed for a very long time that they were tombs. But in thousands of structures studied in detail, not even a hint of burial remains has been revealed. And if they were there, then they were from a much later era. If megaliths were structures for ritual purposes, then why are they so different from other structures for performing religious rituals? Why are megaliths so simple and utilitarian?

Another common explanation for the purpose of megaliths is that they were ancient observatories. As evidence, the facts were usually cited that most megaliths are oriented according to the time and place of the equinox. But this is completely irrational even for primitive thinking. The stone blocks used were too huge.

And, what is most interesting, indeed, since ancient times there have been structures made of stones that were used as observatories (this is a proven fact), but the maximum weight of the stones from which they were built does not exceed 250-300 kilograms, and not 50 tons like ordinary megaliths!

From time to time, publications appear in the tabloid press, the authors of which claim that megaliths were landmarks for some kind of transport (most often alien). But then why are the pointers located like this? huge complexes and often in hard-to-reach places where they are not visible at all?

All the identified issues remain unresolved to this day. So far, detailed research of megaliths using natural science methods is ongoing. And it has already produced amazing results.

By studying megaliths in detail, researchers were able to find a number interesting facts. First of all, it turned out that without exception, all megalithic buildings on all continents of the planet were built from the same material - quartz sandstone. Often its deposits are located hundreds of kilometers from the location of the megalith.

Science now knows that quartz (the main element of which quartz sandstone is composed) is an excellent generator of electric current when it is compressed (this is called the piezoelectric effect) and is capable of stabilizing the frequency of vibrations. After the emergence of an electromagnetic field and with simultaneous compression, quartz crystals simultaneously generate ultrasound and radio waves.

Nowadays, all these features of quartz are used in electronics. For example, during a study of the well-preserved Royallight cromlech (located in Britain), it was revealed that this cromlech emits powerful ultrasonic pulses shortly before sunrise. They are most intense and complex in structure during the equinox.

All individual stones of the Royallight megalith have their own diagram and radiation intensity. This is multiplied and somehow modulated due to the thoughtful arrangement of all the stone blocks that make up this megalith.

During further research, it was found that some of the megalith stones emit strong ultrasound directed outside the complex.

Almost all megalithic buildings, without exception, are emitters. To increase their power, one stone block was placed on top of another in a special way. And the menhirs were installed on a thinner end, under which a specially processed supporting stone was placed - which had a well-defined piezoelectric effect.

And the last mysterious fact is that many megaliths are located above deep faults in the earth’s crust. These are the so-called pathogenic/geopathogenic areas. This is unlikely to be a mere coincidence, but what does it mean and how did Stone Age people determine the structure of the earth's surface at a depth of kilometers? All this remains a mystery awaiting scientific solution.

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