megalith

Prehistoric stone monument of the late Neolithic (New Stone Age) or early Bronze Age. Most common in Europe, megaliths include single large uprights or menhirs (for example, the Five Kings, Northumberland, England); rows or alignments (for example, Carnac, Brittany, France); stone circles; and the hutlike remains of burial chambers after the covering earth has disappeared, known as dolmens (for example, Kits Coty, Kent, England, where only the entrance survives).

A number of explanations have been put forward for the building of megaliths during the Neolithic period in areas including Denmark, Ireland, northeastern Scotland, England, western France, and Spain. These range from economic reasons to expressions of dominance (neo-Marxist) and symbolism. The great stone monuments at Carnac in western Brittany, France; in Jersey, such as La Hougue Bie; and in western Britain and Ireland, suggest possible cultural links through trade among megalith builders whose rural economy encompassed arable farming, stockrearing, and the development of pottery and weaving.

In the later Neolithic, in Wessex, southern England, the construction of stone monuments such as Avebury and Stonehenge involved large numbers of working hours and considerable organization; possibly the stone was transported over a great distance, as has been suggested in the case of the bluestone at Stonehenge, although glacial deposition is another explanation.

Changes in social structure and diversification of labour probably caused the practice of megalith building to be abandoned.