In Weatrn Eurpoe, where Plleolithic
paintings and sculptures abound no comparably developed towens of the time of
Catal Hoyuk have been found. However, in succeeding millennia, perhaps as early
as 4000BCE, the local Neolithic populations in several areas developed a
monumental aechitecture employeing massive rough-cut stones.The very dimensions
of the stones, some as high as 17 feet and weighing as much as 50 tons, have
prompted historians to call them megaliths (great stone) and to designate
Neolithic architecture employing megaliths as megalithic.
NEWGRANCE
One of the most imprassive megalithic
monuments in Europe is also one of the oldest . The megalithic tomb at
newgrangein Ireland, north of dublin, may have been constructed as early as
3200 BCE and is one of the oldest burial monuments in Eurpoe.It takes the from
of a passage grave, that is a tomb with a long stone corridor leading to a
burial chamber all covered by a great timulus (earthen burial mound). Passage graves
have been found also in England, France,Spain and Scandinavia.All attest to the
importance of honoring the dead in Neolithic Scocitey, Some mounds contain more
then one passage grave. The Newgrange tumulus is 280 feet in diameter and 44
feet tall.Its passageway is 62 feet long and is an early example of
aconstruction technique uaes in other later ancient culture and even today-the
corbeled vault.At Newgrange, huge megaliths form the ceiling of the passage and
the burial chamber.The stones are held in place by their own weight. Those on
one side countering the weight of the megaliths on the other side of the
p[assageway. Some of the stone are decorated with incised sprial and other
abstract motifs.A special feature of the Newgrange tomb is that at the winter
solstice the sun illuminates the passageway and tah burial chamber.
STONEHANGE
The
most famous megalithic monument in Europe is Stonehange on the Salisbury Plain in southern England. A
henge is an arrangement of megalithic stone in a circle, often surrounded by a
ditch, The type is almost entirely limited to Britain. Stonehange is a complex
of rough cut sarsen ( a form of sand stone )stones and
smaller”bluestone”(various volcanic rocks)built in several stages Over hundred
of years. The final hange took the form of concentric post and lintel circel.
The outer ring, almost 100 feet in diameter, consists of a huge sarsan
megaliths.Inside is a ring of blue stone , which in turn encircle a
houseshoe(open and faceing east) of trilithons (three stone constructions) five
lintal topped paris of the largest sarsens,each weighting 45 to 50 tone.Standing
apart and to th east is the “ heel stone”which, for a person looking outward
from the center of the complex, would have marked in point where the sun rose at the summer solstic, Stonehange seem to have been a kind
of astronomical observatory and a remarlable accurate solar calender.The
megalithic tombs , tamples and hange of Europe are enduring testaments to the
rapidly developing intellecutual powers of Newlithic human as well as to their
capasity for heroic physical effort.
STONEHANGE