Megalithic architectural elements

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This article describes several characteristic architectural elements typical of European megalithic (Stone Age) structures.

Forecourt

In

ritual practices connected with the burial and commemoration of the dead in the past societies that built these types of tombs
.

In European

megalithic
architecture, forecourts are curved in plan with the entrance to the tomb at the apex of the open semicircle enclosure that the forecourt creates. The sides were built up by either large upright stones or walls of smaller stones laid atop one another.

Some also had paved floors and some had blocking stones erected in front of them to seal the tomb such as at

dead
.

Kerb or peristalith

See edge.
still survives (foreground). The stone burial chamber can be seen in the background.

In

built over a chamber tomb.

European

dry stone wall method employing small blocks or more commonly using larger stones set in the ground. When larger stones are employed, peristalith is the term more properly used. Often, when the earth barrow has been weathered away, the surviving kerb can give the impression of being a stone circle
although these monuments date from considerably later. Excavation of barrows without stone rings such as Fussell's Lodge in Wiltshire suggests that, in these examples, timber or turf was used to define a kerb instead.

In the British Isles, the enclosing nature of kerbs has been suggested to be analogous to later Neolithic and Bronze Age stone and timber circles and henges which also demonstrate an attempt to demarcate a distinct, round area for ritual or funerary purposes. Famous sites with kerbs include Newgrange where many of the stones are etched with megalithic art. An example of the dry stone wall type of kerb can be seen at Parc le Breos in Wales.

Orthostat

An orthostat is a large stone with a more or less slab-like shape that has been artificially set upright (so a cube-shaped block is not an orthostat).

Hittite architecture and Assyrian sculpture among other styles. In the latter case, orthostats are large thin slabs of gypsum
neatly and carefully formed, for use as a wall-facing secured by metal fixings and carrying reliefs, which were then painted.

Many orthostats were a focus for megalithic art, as at Knowth in Ireland.

Port-hole slab

In

Seine-Oise-Marne culture
.

Portal stones

Portal stones are a pair of Megalithic orthostats, usually flanking the entrance to a

dolmens. Examples may be seen at Bohonagh and Knocknakilla
.

A trilithon at Stonehenge

Trilithon

A trilithon (or trilith) is a structure consisting of two large vertical stones supporting a third stone set horizontally across the top. Commonly used in the context of

megalithic monuments, the most famous trilithons are those at Stonehenge and those found in the Megalithic Temples of Malta
.

The word trilithon is derived from the

See also

  • List of megalithic sites
  • List of ancient monoliths

References

Further reading

  • James Phillips, the Megalithic Architecture in Europe series
  • Salvatore Piccolo (2013), Ancient Stones: the Prehistoric Dolmens in Sicily, Thornham/Norfolk (UK), Brazen Head Publishing

External links