the.com/menhir
a single standing stone, dragged upright by people who really wanted to make a point
means A tall, upright stone set in the ground by prehistoric people, standing alone or sometimes in groups.
from Borrowed in the 19th century from Breton, the Celtic language of Brittany, where it literally means 'long stone' — 'men' (stone) plus 'hir' (long). The word entered French and then English as antiquarians began cataloguing the standing stones scattered across the region.
- the name
- Breton for long stone, plain and honest
- prehistoric labor
- some weigh over 300 tons, hauled by hand
- older than Stonehenge
- many predate the pyramids by millennia
- largest one
- France's broken Grand Menhir once stood 20 meters
- purpose unknown
- nobody left a memo explaining why
menhir of locmariaquer — brittany, france; 20.3 meters tall, one of the world's tallest standing stones
carnac stones — brittany, france; 3,000+ menhirs arranged in aligned rows, erected 6500-4500 bce
callanish stones — isle of lewis, scotland; 13 standing stones in circle formation, dating to ~3000 bce