192.88.140.98: /* Trilithon */

2025-05-06T14:27:07Z

Trilithon

New page

{{short description|Architectural elements typical of European megalithic structures}}
{{more footnotes|date=June 2017}}This article describes several characteristic '''architectural elements''' typical of European [[megalith]]ic ([[Stone Age]]) structures.

==Forecourt==
In [[archaeology]], a forecourt is the name given to the area in front of certain types of [[chamber tomb]]. Forecourts were probably the venue for [[ritualism|ritual]] practices connected with the burial and commemoration of the dead in the past societies that built these types of [[tomb]]s.

In European [[megalithic]] architecture, forecourts are curved in plan with the entrance to the tomb at the apex of the open semicircle enclosure that the forecourt creates. The sides were built up by either large upright stones or walls of smaller stones laid atop one another.

Some also had paved floors and some had [[Burial stone|blocking stones]] erected in front of them to seal the tomb such as at [[West Kennet Long Barrow]]. Their shape, which suggests an attempt to focus attention on the tomb itself may mean that they were used ceremonially as a kind of open air auditorium during ceremonies. Excavation within some forecourts has recovered animal [[bone]], [[pottery]] and evidence of burning suggesting that they served as locations for [[votive]] offerings or feasting dedicated to the [[dead]].

{{anchor|kerb}}

==Kerb or peristalith==
:''See [[curb (road)]] for the [[road]]side edge.''
[[Image:coldrumeast.jpg|thumb|Although the barrow mound is now almost gone, the surrounding peristalith at [[Coldrum Stones]] in [[Kent]] still survives (foreground). The stone burial chamber can be seen in the background.]]
In [[archaeology]], kerb or peristalith is the name for a stone ring built to enclose and sometimes [[revetting|revet]] the [[cairn]] or [[tumulus|barrow]] built over a chamber tomb.

European [[dolmen]]s, especially [[hunebed]] and [[dyss]] burials, often provide examples of the use of kerbs in [[megalith]]ic architecture but they were also added to other kinds of chamber tomb. Kerbs may be built in a [[dry stone wall]] method employing small blocks or more commonly using larger stones set in the ground. When larger stones are employed, peristalith is the term more properly used. Often, when the earth barrow has been weathered away, the surviving kerb can give the impression of being a [[stone circle]] although these monuments date from considerably later.
Excavation of barrows without stone rings such as Fussell's Lodge in [[Wiltshire]] suggests that, in these examples, timber or turf was used to define a kerb instead.

In the [[British Isles]], the enclosing nature of kerbs has been suggested to be analogous to later [[Neolithic]] and [[Bronze Age]] stone and [[timber circle]]s and [[henge]]s which also demonstrate an attempt to demarcate a distinct, [[circle|round]] area for [[ritual]] or [[funeral|funerary]] purposes. Famous sites with kerbs include [[Newgrange]] where many of the stones are etched with [[megalithic art]]. An example of the dry stone wall type of kerb can be seen at [[Parc le Breos]] in [[Wales]].

==Orthostat==
An orthostat is a large stone with a more or less slab-like shape that has been artificially set upright (so a cube-shaped block is not an orthostat). [[Menhir]]s and other [[standing stone]]s are technically orthostats although the term is used by [[archaeologist]]s only to describe individual prehistoric stones that constitute part of larger structures. Common examples include the walls of [[chamber tomb]]s and other [[megalith]]ic monuments, and the vertical elements of the trilithons at [[Stonehenge]]. Especially later, orthostats may be carved with decoration in [[relief]], a common feature of [[Hittite architecture]] and [[Assyrian sculpture]] among other styles. In the latter case, orthostats are large thin slabs of [[gypsum]] neatly and carefully formed, for use as a wall-facing secured by metal fixings and carrying reliefs, which were then painted.

Many orthostats were a focus for [[megalithic art]], as at [[Knowth]] in Ireland.

In the context of [[Ancient Greek architecture|classical Greek architecture]] the term [[orthostate]] is usually used.

==Port-hole slab==
In [[megalith]]ic [[archaeology]] a port-hole slab is the name of an orthostat with a hole in it sometimes found forming the entrance to a chamber tomb. The hole is usually circular but square examples or those made from two adjoining slabs each with a notch cut in it are known. They are common in the [[gallery grave]]s of the [[Seine-Oise-Marne culture]].

==Portal stones==
{{anchor|Portal stone}}
Portal stones are a pair of Megalithic orthostats, usually flanking the entrance to a [[chamber tomb]] or opposite the axial stone of an [[axial stone circle]]. They are commonly found in [[dolmens]]. Examples may be seen at [[Bohonagh]] and [[Knocknakilla]].
[[Image:Trilithon at Stonehenge.jpg|thumb|upright|A trilithon at Stonehenge]]

==Trilithon==
{{main|Trilithon}}
A trilithon (or trilith) is a structure consisting of two large vertical stones supporting a third stone set horizontally across the top. Commonly used in the context of [[megalithic]] monuments, the most famous trilithons are those at [[Stonehenge]] and those found in the [[Megalithic Temples of Malta]].

The word ''trilithon'' is derived from the [[Greek language|Greek]] "having three stones" (''tri'' - "three", ''lithos'' - "stone") and was first used by [[William Stukeley]]. The term also describes the groups of three stones in the Hunebed tombs of the Netherlands and the three massive stones forming part of the wall of the [[Temple of Jupiter (Roman Heliopolis)|Temple of Jupiter]] at [[Baalbek]], Lebanon.<ref>{{Citation
| last = Adam
| first = Jean-Pierre
| title = À propos du trilithon de Baalbek: Le transport et la mise en oeuvre des mégalithes
| journal = Syria
| volume = 54
| issue = 1/2
| year = 1977
| pages = 31–63 (50f.)
| doi=10.3406/syria.1977.6623
}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of megalithic sites]]
*[[List of ancient monoliths]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*James Phillips, the ''Megalithic Architecture in Europe'' series
*Salvatore Piccolo (2013), ''Ancient Stones: the Prehistoric Dolmens in Sicily'', Thornham/Norfolk (UK), Brazen Head Publishing

==External links==
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/whereilive/highlandsandnorthernisles/backyard/index.shtml BBC Highlands and Northern Isles - In Your Backyard]
*[http://www.comp-archaeology.org/MEGTindex.htm The Comparative Archaeology Web - A Spatial Analysis of megalithic Tombs]
*[http://www.britarch.ac.uk The Council for British Archaeology]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20061113040435/http://megalith.ukf.net/ The Megalith Map]
*[http://www.megalithic.co.uk/ The Megalithic Portal]

{{Prehistoric technology| state=expanded}}
{{Stonehenge}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Megalithic Architectural Elements}}
[[Category:Architectural elements]]
[[Category:Megalithic monuments|*]]
[[Category:Stonehenge]]

Megalithic architectural elements - Revision history

192.88.140.98: /* Trilithon */