1.
Simple dolmen
The simple dolmen or primeval dolmen is an early form of dolmen or megalithic tomb that occurs especially in Northern Europe. The term was defined by archaeologist, Ernst Sprockhoff, and utilised by Ewald Schuldt in publicising his excavation of 106 megalithic sites in the north German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, neolithic monuments are an expression of the culture and ideology of neolithic communities. Their emergence and function serve as indicators of social development, in many cases there is no clear distinction between simple dolmens and stone cists. In the necropolis of Brüssow-Wollschow, in the Uckermark region, simple dolmens, the differences consist in the degree to which they are embedded and in the material used for the sidestones. In simple dolmens the sidestones consist of rubble, in stone cists of slabs, whether this was of relevance for neolithic people, remains questionable, because there are combinations of both materials. The smallest simple dolmens occur on the Danish island of Zealand and this small size led researchers such as Hans-Jürgen Beier, to refuse to give simple dolmens the status of a megalithic site.
Whether, the very small megalithic tombs fulfil his conditions, is still open to question. This applies to the development of simple dolmens into extended dolmens, to its variant, the polygonal dolmen. The prototype of the dolmen is the so-called block cist, enclosed on all sides. It has no entrance and is, once closed, difficult for the less skilled user to open. It was therefore intended for a one-time use. On the island of Sylt in Schleswig-Holstein, two simple dolmens were found in a common enclosure, but there is usually only one simple dolmen within an enclosure, lying parallel to the longitudinal axis, the so-called parallel type. In Ulstrup near Gundeslevholm two of the three simple dolmens form a pair next to one another in the enclosure, the block cist in the Tykskov of Varnæs near Aabenraa and the one in the Nørreskov on Alsen lie diagonally within the enclosure. North of the River Eider about 20% of the dolmens are covered by a circular mound. Initial progress - in terms of multiple use - was achieved by the creation of an entrance, in examples that were still dug into the ground the entrance was initially made through the roof - as, for example, at Barkvieren.
By dividing the ceiling into a stone and a stone that could be lifted by hand. This variant, however, is not very widespread and this development path was abandoned in favour of options using other axes of entry. The simple dolmen was now buried less deeply and the half of one of the ends was used as access
2.
Basque Country (greater region)
The Basque Country is the name given to the home of the Basque people in the western Pyrenees that straddles the border between France and Spain on the Atlantic coast. Euskal Herria is the oldest documented Basque name for the area they inhabit, dating to the 16th century and it comprises the Autonomous Communities of the Basque Country and Navarre in Spain and the Northern Basque Country in France. The region is home to the Basque people, their language, the name in Basque is Euskal Herria. The name is difficult to translate into other languages due to the wide range of meanings of the Basque word herri. It can be translated as nation, land, people and town, the first part, Euskal, is the adjectival form of Euskara the Basque language. Thus a more literal translation would be country/nation/people/settlement of the Basque language, some Basques refer to the seven traditional districts collectively as Zazpiak Bat, meaning The Seven One, a motto coined in the late 19th century. In most contemporary sources it covers the arrondissement of Bayonne and the cantons of Mauléon-Licharre and Tardets-Sorholus, within these conventions, the area of Northern Basque Country is 2,995 square kilometres.
As emphasized by Jean Goyhenetche, it would be accurate to depict it as the reunion of five entities, Lower Navarre, Soule but Bayonne. The Southern Basque Country, known in Basque as Hegoalde is the part of the Basque region that lies completely within Spain and it is the largest and most populated part of the Basque Country. It includes two main regions, the Basque Autonomous Community and the Chartered Community of Navarre and its name refers to the charters, the Fueros of Navarre. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 states that Navarre may become a part of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country if it is so decided by its people, to date, there has been no implementation of this law. The latter has repeatedly asked for an amendment to the Constitution to remove this clause, the Basque Country region is dominated by a warm and wet oceanic climate and the coastal area is part of Green Spain and by extension it affects Bayonne and Biarritz as well. Inland areas in Navarre and the regions of the autonomous community are transitional with continental mediterranean climate with somewhat larger temperature swings between seasons.
The list only sources locations in Spain, but Bayonne/Biarritz have a similar climate as nearby Hondarribia on the Spanish side of the border. According to some theories, Basques may be the least assimilated remnant of the Paleolithic inhabitants of Western Europe to the Indo-European migrations, Basque tribes were mentioned by Greek writer Strabo and Roman writer Pliny, including the Vascones, the Aquitani, and others. Geographically, the Basque Country was inhabited in Roman times by several tribes, the Vascones, the Varduli, the Caristi, the Autrigones, the Berones, the Tarbelli, and the Sibulates. Many believe that except for the Berones and Autrigones they were non-Indo-European peoples, some ancient place-names, such as Deba, Butrón, Nervión, suggest the presence of non-Basque peoples at some point in protohistory. The Vascones around Pamplona, after fighting against Franks and Visigoths, founded the Kingdom of Pamplona
3.
Marayur
Marayur or Marayoor is a town in Idukki district of Kerala, India. It is located 42 kilometers north of Munnar on SH17 connecting Munnar with Udumalpet, Marayur is the only place in Kerala that has natural sandalwood forests. Ancient dolmens and rock paintings in Marayur date back to the Stone Age, in 1991 Marayur had a population of 9,590. Marayur claims to be a part of a Stone Age civilization that is as old as 10,000 B. C and it is home to a period of large-scale dolmen-building. People migrated from Tamil Nadu to this area when the Madurai king Thirumalainaicker was defeated by Tippu Sultan, the migrants created five villages, being Kanthalloor, Karayur and Kottakudi. These villages were called the Anju nadu, literally meaning “five lands”, called Muniyaras, these dolmens belong to the Iron Age. These dolmenoids were burial chambers made of four stones placed on edge, some of these Dolmenoids contain several burial chambers, while others have a quadrangle scooped out in laterite and lined on the sides with granite slabs.
These are covered with cap stones, at least one of them has a perfectly circular hole of 28 cm diameter inside the underground chamber. This region has several types of dolmens, large number of them are overground with about 70–90 cm height. Another type has a height 140–170 cm, there is an overground dolmen with double length up to 350 cm. Fragments of burial urns are available in the region near the dolmens and this indicates that the dolmens with 70–90 cm height were used for burial of the remains of people of high social status. Burial urns were used for the burial of the remains of commoners, the dolmens with raised roofs might have been used for habitation of people. Why some people lived in the cemeteries has not been satisfactorily explained, ancient rock paintings are part of Marayur heritage at Attala, Ezhuthu Guha and Manala in Marayur panchayat. Attala is situated in the west part of Marayur Township and more than 90 painted motifs can be seen here, the rock paintings of Attala are situated in a colossal east facing rock shelter 1500 meters above mean sea level.
Most of the paintings at Attala are abstract designs except for a few human, Ezhuthu Guha rock paintings are sited in the Koodakavu Sandalwood Reserve Forest at Marayur in the Marayur Panchayat at an elevation of 1000 meters above mean sea level. More or less 90 painted motifs can be seen here, however, as the place is the most famous rock art site in Kerala, it attracts a large number of visitors and has been extensively vandalized since it was brought to wide public attention. Kovilkadavu is less than five kilometers from Marayur town and the place is famous for Neolithic dolmens, ten 10 painted motifs are located on the south-western slope of the plateau overlooking the Pambar river. There is a painting at Manala in Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary of Marayur near the Alampetty tribal settlement
4.
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, to the west and south it is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east and north by Spain. The Portugal–Spain border is 1,214 kilometres long and considered the longest uninterrupted border within the European Union, the republic includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments. The territory of modern Portugal has been settled, invaded. The Pre-Celts, Celts and the Romans were followed by the invasions of the Visigothic, in 711 the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by the Moors, making Portugal part of Muslim Al Andalus. Portugal was born as result of the Christian Reconquista, and in 1139, Afonso Henriques was proclaimed King of Portugal, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal established the first global empire, becoming one of the worlds major economic and military powers.
Portugal monopolized the trade during this time, and the Portuguese Empire expanded with military campaigns led in Asia. After the 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy, the democratic but unstable Portuguese First Republic was established, democracy was restored after the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution in 1974. Shortly after, independence was granted to almost all its overseas territories, Portugal has left a profound cultural and architectural influence across the globe and a legacy of over 250 million Portuguese speakers today. Portugal is a country with a high-income advanced economy and a high living standard. It is the 5th most peaceful country in the world, maintaining a unitary semi-presidential republican form of government and it has the 18th highest Social Progress in the world, putting it ahead of other Western European countries like France and Italy. Portugal is a pioneer when it comes to drug decriminalization, as the nation decriminalized the possession of all drugs for use in 2001.
The early history of Portugal is shared with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula located in South Western Europe, the name of Portugal derives from the joined Romano-Celtic name Portus Cale. Other influences include some 5th-century vestiges of Alan settlements, which were found in Alenquer, the region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Neanderthals and by Homo sapiens, who roamed the border-less region of the northern Iberian peninsula. These were subsistence societies that, although they did not establish prosperous settlements, neolithic Portugal experimented with domestication of herding animals, the raising of some cereal crops and fluvial or marine fishing. Chief among these tribes were the Calaicians or Gallaeci of Northern Portugal, the Lusitanians of central Portugal, the Celtici of Alentejo, a few small, semi-permanent, commercial coastal settlements were founded in the Algarve region by Phoenicians-Carthaginians. Romans first invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 219 BC, during the last days of Julius Caesar, almost the entire peninsula had been annexed to the Roman Republic.
The Carthaginians, Romes adversary in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their coastal colonies and it suffered a severe setback in 150 BC, when a rebellion began in the north
5.
Giant
Giants are the monsters of human appearance but prodigious size and strength common in the mythology and legends of many different cultures. The word giant, coined in 1297, was derived from the Gigantes of Greek mythology, Giants often play similar roles in the mythologies and folklore of other, non Indo-European peoples, such as in the Nartian traditions. There are accounts of giants in the Old Testament, most famously Goliath, Og King of Bashan, the Nephilim, the Anakim, attributed to them are extraordinary strength and physical proportions. Fairy tales such as Jack the Giant Killer have formed the modern perception of giants as stupid and violent monsters, sometimes said to eat humans, the ogre in Jack and the Beanstalk is often described as a giant. In some more recent portrayals, like those of Jonathan Swift and Roald Dahl, genesis 6, 4-5 tells of the Nephilim before and after the Flood. The 1st-century historian Flavius Josephus, and the 1st-2nd-century BC Dead Sea Scrolls give Goliaths height as four cubits and a span, approximately 2.00 m or about six feet seven inches.
There were till left the race of giants, who had bodies so large, and countenances so entirely different from men, that they were surprising to the sight. The bones of men are still shown to this very day. In Islam, giants known as jababirat or jabbirun such as Jalut are mentioned, the Book of Enoch describes giants as the offspring of fallen angels and mortal women in 7,2. According to Jains, there was a time when giants walked upon this earth, Jain cosmology divides worldly cycle of time into two parts or half-cycles and ascending. According to Jain texts, the height of Rishabha, first tirthankara of present half cycle of time was 500 dhanusa, in avasarpani, as the cycle moves ahead, height of all humans and animals decreases. The following table depicts the six aras of avasarpini- In Hinduism, the Daityas were the children of Diti and the sage Kashyapa who fought against the gods or Devas because they were jealous of their Deva half-brothers. Since Daityas were a race, they sometimes allied with other races having similar ideology namely Danavas and Asuras.
Daityas along with Danavas and Asuras are sometimes called Rakshasas, the term for a demon in Hindu mythology. Some known Daityas include Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha, the main antagonist of the Hindu epic Ramayana, was a Brahmin from his fathers side and a Daitya from his mothers side. His younger brother Kumbhakarna was said to be as tall as a mountain and was good natured. Furthermore, the Paiute creation story tells of beautiful giants who lived between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains. After giving birth to a child, the giants treated the child so poorly that the Great Spirit responded by making the land hot and desolate
6.
Great dolmen
Neolithic monuments are features of the culture and ideology of Neolithic communities. Their evolution and function act as indicators of social development, the type of site, called Stordysse in Danish, does not follow the criteria listed below. The antechamber dolmen is found southeast of that, between Demmin and the island of Usedom, several variant, but very rare examples recall the extended or polygonal dolmen types. In Mecklenburg there are 146 great dolmens, of which Ewald Schuldt has investigated 44, there are two great dolmens in Schleswig-Holstein, several in western Lower Saxony, but quite a few in Saxony-Anhalt. Since the width of northern megalith sites is limited due to the material used. Great dolmens reach an interior size of 14 cubic metres. Great dolmens have up to five capstones lying on eight to twelve supporting stones, several great dolmens were extended using wide piers, on which, in certain cases, even capstones may have been placed. Like passage graves, great dolmens are a type of layout, the 44 great dolmens that have been investigated were found in various configurations.
Five were surrounded by rectangular and 8 by trapezoidal frames of standing stones,4 were buried under circular mounds, in one case, the type of mound was not known because it had been removed. The trapezoidally-framed dolmens have guardian stones, sometimes at both ends, the great dolmen of Gaarzerhof, which initially lay within a very short rectangular frame, was eventually covered with a circular mound. New York, de Gruyter Berlin u. a, untersuchungen zu ihrer Architektur und Funktion. Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1972, beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3
7.
Megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. The word megalithic describes structures made of large stones without the use of mortar or concrete. For periods, the monolith, with an overlapping meaning, is more likely to be used. The word megalith comes from the Ancient Greek μέγας and λίθος, megalith denotes an item consisting of rock hewn in definite shapes for special purposes. It has been used to describe buildings built by people from parts of the world living in many different periods. A variety of stones are seen as megaliths, with the most widely known megaliths not being sepulchral. The construction of these took place mainly in the Neolithic and continued into the Chalcolithic. At a number of sites in eastern Turkey, large ceremonial complexes from the 9th millennium BC have been discovered and they belong to the incipient phases of agriculture and animal husbandry. Large circular structures involving carved megalithic orthostats are a feature, e. g.
at Nevalı Çori. Although these structures are the most ancient megalithic structures known so far, at Göbekli Tepe, four stone circles have been excavated from an estimated 20. Some measure up to 30 metres across, as well as human figures, the stones carry a variety of carved reliefs depicting boars, lions, birds and scorpions. Dolmens and standing stones have been found in areas of the Middle East starting at the Turkish border in the north of Syria close to Aleppo. They can be encountered in Lebanon, Iran, Jordan, the largest concentration can be found in southern Syria and along the Jordan Rift Valley, however they are being threatened with destruction. They date from the late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age, megaliths have been found on Kharg Island and pirazmian in Iran, at Barda Balka in Iraq, and at Jaintapur in Bangladesh. A semicircular arrangement of megaliths was found in Israel at Atlit Yam and it is a very early example, dating from the 7th millennium BC. The most concentrated occurrence of dolmens in particular is in an area on both sides of the Jordan Rift Valley, with greater predominance on the eastern side.
They occur first and foremost on the Golan Heights, the Hauran, and in Jordan, in Saudi Arabia, only very few dolmen have been identified so far in the Hejaz. They seem, however, to re-emerge in Yemen in small numbers, the standing stone has a very ancient tradition in the Middle East, dating back from Mesopotamian times
8.
The Burren
The Burren is a region in County Clare, Ireland. It is dominated by karst landscape and measures, depending on the definition, the name The Burren is most often applied to the area within the circle made by the villages of Ballyvaughan, Tubber, Corofin and Lisdoonvarna. The Burren National Park is one of six National Parks in Ireland, the exact extent of the area referred to as The Burren is not clearly defined. The name is applied to the limestone uplands of north western Clare. In the north and northwest it is bounded by Galway Bay, although mostly considered to lie in County Clare, geologically the area does extend into County Galway. The Aran Islands are an extension of the limestone hills that make up most of The Burren. Note that this includes places like the town of Ennistymon and the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren Programme for example defines The Burren region as extending well into the Gort plain, encompassing inter alia Coole Park and the turloughs around it. To the south it extends to Ruan and Crusheen, in the southwest it is bordered by Doolin, Lisdoonvarna and Corofin.
Thus the size of The Burren varies between around 250 square kilometers and 560 square kilometers, depending on the approach taken, roughly 60% of the uplands show exposed limestone. The rolling hills of The Burren are composed of limestone pavements with criss-crossing cracks known as grikes, the limestones, which date from the Visean stage of the Lower Carboniferous, formed as sediments in a tropical sea approximately 325 million years ago. The strata contain fossil corals, sea urchins and ammonites and this bed of limestone is up to 800 meters thick. In the north and west it lies on a shelf of Galway granite which supported the upper layers, preventing shifts like those that created the twisted hills Knockanes, the limestone extends below Galway Bay out to the Aran Islands and to the east into the Gort plain. Later in the Upper Carboniferous, the limestone was covered by sand and mud that turned into shale. These layers reached a thickness of up to 330 meters in north Clare, one island of shale is the hill Poulacapple, southwest of Ballyvaughan, where an upland moor has formed on top of the impermeable shale layers.
Glaciation during the late Quaternary facilitated greater denudation, glaciers expanded and retreated over the region several times. Of the last two periods the first was the pronounced, covering the whole of the Burren. The last advance of the ice cover was more limited, affecting only the eastern Burren, the result is that The Burren is one of the finest examples of a glacio-karst landscape in the world. The effects of the last glacial period are most in evidence, the impact of earlier karstification has been eliminated by the last glacial period
9.
Poulnabrone dolmen
Poulnabrone dolmen is a portal tomb - one of approximately 174 in Ireland - located in the Burren, County Clare, Ireland. It dates back to the Neolithic period, probably between 4200 BC and 2900 BC and it is situated 8 km south of Ballyvaughan,9.6 km north-west of Kilnaboy. The tomb is located in a field in the townland of Poulnabrone, parish of Kilcorney, close to the R480 road. Poulnabrone is sometimes translated as Hole of Sorrows. However, brone is derived form the Irish bró, meaning quern, the cairn helped stabilize the tomb chamber, and would have been no higher during the Neolithic. The entrance faces north and is crossed by a low sill stone, a crack was discovered in the eastern portal stone in 1985. Following the resulting collapse, the dolmen was dismantled, and the stone was replaced. Excavations during that time found that 33 people, both adults and children, were buried under the monument, personal items buried with the dead included a polished stone axe, a bone pendant, quartz crystals and pottery.
There were no intact skeletons, indicating the site was not used as a place in the sense that bodies were placed there immediately after or even close to the time of death. Bones were found in the strata, but jumbled chronologically. Only one of the adults seems to have lived past 40, the children had teeth showing signs of illness and malnutrition. Those selected for deposit at this site were apparently the members of some sort of elite and their bodies were left elsewhere to decompose, in a protected location, as none of the bones show any signs of teeth marks. Only the bare bones were taken here and deposited. As some of them show scorch marks, they may have ritually purified by fire beforehand. According to Radiocarbon dating, the tomb was used between 3,800 and 3,200 BC. The findings are now at the Clare Museum, loaned from the National Museum of Ireland, in the Bronze Age, a newborn baby was buried in the portico, just outside the entrance. With its dominating presence on the landscape of the Burren.
It may have served as a territorial marker in the Neolithic landscape on the important north-south route from Ballyvaughan bay to Kilnaboy
10.
Neolithic
It ended when metal tools became widespread. The Neolithic is a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops, the beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the Levant about 10, 200–8800 BC. It developed directly from the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild cereals, which evolved into true farming. The Natufian period was between 12,000 and 10,200 BC, and the so-called proto-Neolithic is now included in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic between 10,200 and 8800 BC. By 10, 200–8800 BC, farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep. By about 6900–6400 BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order, the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery.
Early Japanese societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery before developing agriculture, unlike the Paleolithic, when more than one human species existed, only one human species reached the Neolithic. The term Neolithic derives from the Greek νέος néos, new and λίθος líthos, the term was invented by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. In the Middle East, cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BC, early development occurred in the Levant and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are attested in southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia by around 8000 BC. The total excavated area is more than 1,200 square yards, the Neolithic 1 period began roughly 10,000 years ago in the Levant. A temple area in southeastern Turkey at Göbekli Tepe dated around 9500 BC may be regarded as the beginning of the period. This site was developed by nomadic tribes, evidenced by the lack of permanent housing in the vicinity.
At least seven stone circles, covering 25 acres, contain limestone pillars carved with animals, Stone tools were used by perhaps as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9500–9000 BC have been found in Jericho, Gilgal in the Jordan Valley, the start of Neolithic 1 overlaps the Tahunian and Heavy Neolithic periods to some degree. The major advance of Neolithic 1 was true farming, in the proto-Neolithic Natufian cultures, wild cereals were harvested, and perhaps early seed selection and re-seeding occurred. The grain was ground into flour, emmer wheat was domesticated, and animals were herded and domesticated
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