cromlech
Sign in to saveAlso known as Cromlêh, Cromleh
A cromlech (sometimes also spelled "cromleh" or "cromlêh"; cf Welsh crom, "bent"; llech, "slate") is a megalithic construction made of large stone blocks. The word applies to two different megalithic forms in English, the first being an altar tomb (frequently called a "dolmen"), as William Borlase first denoted in 1769. A good example is at . The second meaning of the name "cromlech" in English refers to large stone circles such as those found among the Carnac stones in Brittany, France.
Wikidata facts
- Has part
- menhir
- Material used
- stone
- Image
- Steintanz Klopzow.png
- Said to be same as
- stone circle
- Has use
- structure of worship
Show 5 more facts
- shape
- circle
- time period
- Bronze Age
- topic's main category
- Category:Cromlechs
- Commons category
- Cromlechs
- different from
- dolmen
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
4 sectionsContents
- List
- See also
- Notes
- External links
A cromlech (sometimes also spelled "cromleh" or "cromlêh"; cf Welsh crom, "bent"; llech, "slate") is a megalithic construction made of large stone blocks. The word applies to two different megalithic forms in English, the first being an altar tomb (frequently called a "dolmen"), as William Borlase first denoted in 1769. A good example is at . The second meaning of the name "cromlech" in English refers to large stone circles such as those found among the Carnac stones in Brittany, France.
Unlike in English, the word "cromlech" in many other languages (such as Azerbaijani, Armenian, French, Greek, Indonesian, Italian, Romanian, and Spanish) exclusively denotes a megalithic stone circle, whereas the word "dolmen" is used to refer to the type of megalithic altar tomb sometimes indicated by the English "cromlech". Also, more recently in English, scholars such as Aubrey Burl use "cromlech" as a synonym for "megalithic stone circle".
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “cromlech” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.