Egyptian obelisks, while the Egyptian obelisks were later carved with flattened faces, the European menhirs
were shaped and smoothed so that with a few exceptions, the builders retained and even emphasised the natural
qualities of the stone they used.
Although there are suggestions of astromical significance at many of the larger menhirs, it by no way means that
this was true for all menhirs. There are several examples of prominent stones being border markings, although
this is most likely to have been a secondary usage, for example, the stone at Champs Dolent, in France (below)
defines the border between Brittany and Normandy, but is also part of an older landscape alignment including
nearby Mont St. Michel.
and Karnak were marked by huge obelisks.
The Egyptian obsession with obelisk building led them to produce several of the largest standing stones from the
ancient world.
Compiled by Charles Legg
Was there a history of carving Menhirs in France during Roman times?
In the Aterix series, the indomitable Gaul's sidekick, Obelix, was a menhir sculptor and delivery man in the Roman era of the 1st century in BC. In reality the region's megaliths were carved much further back in prehistory.
A megalith is a large stone that has been set on its own or with other stones to create a man-made monument.
They consist of menhirs, dolmens,tumuli and druidicla altars, the oldest of these menhirs whose name is derived
from the Welsh or Brythonic 'maen' meaning 'stone' and hir meaning 'long'.
There are more than 50,000 dolmens and menhirs found across Europe, the greatest single concentration of these
can be found at Menec Field, near Carnac in Brittany, France, there are 1,169 stones, with an average height of 10ft.
Also in Brittany at Plouazeil is the Menhir de Kerloas standing 33ft tall and weighing more than 150 tonnes-the
largest erect standing stone in France.
The difference of Menhir and Obelisk..
The Menhir is a single tall standing stone as a monument, especially of prehistoric times.
The Obelisk is a tall , square,tapered,stone monolith topped with a pyramidal point, frequently used as a monument.
The Obelisk