#dolmen

Missed these guys. I think asymmetrical crystal shapes are better for these, and I now have the urge to make more.

Stonehenge's Epic Mystery

Ancient builders hauled massive stones over 185 miles to create Stonehenge, a prehistoric wonder on England's Salisbury Plain. Started around 3100 BCE, it evolved from a wooden henge into a stone icon aligned with solstices. Did they seek healing, burials, or cosmic rituals? Its secrets still stun us today.

Key Facts

First phase (3100 BCE): Circular earthwork with 56 Aubrey Holes for wooden posts; Britain's largest early cremation cemetery.

Phase II (3000 BCE): Timber structures inside; used for elite burials.

Phase III (2550 BCE onward): 80 bluestones from Wales' Preseli Hills (4 tons each) formed inner circles; sarsen stones (25 tons, 13.5 feet high) from 24 miles away built outer circle and trilithons with mortice-and-tenon joints.

Alignments: Northeast entrance faces midsummer sunrise, midwinter sunset; Avenue leads 1.5 miles to River Avon.

End phases: Y and Z holes dug (2030-1520 BCE) but never filled; site abandoned after 1520 BCE.

Recent find: Sarsen stones dated to 2640-2480 BCE, reshaping timeline.

Historical Context

Neolithic and Bronze Age peoples transformed a simple henge into a stone marvel over 1,500 years. They dragged bluestones from Wales and sarsens from Marlborough Downs using unknown methods—no wheels, just muscle and smarts. It shifted from cemetery to ritual center amid changing societies.

Historical Significance

Stonehenge bridged life, death, and stars. Experts debate: a healing site for the injured (like prehistoric Lourdes)? Or part of a "domain of the dead" with processions to Durrington Walls? Its multi-use history mirrors evolving prehistoric beliefs, inspiring awe from Druids to modern visitors who flock to witness solstice sunrises.

Megalithic dolmen turned chapel.

Dolmen-Chapel of São Brissos Anta de São Brissos

Not far from Évora, Portugal

Dolmen of Guadalperal, Caceres, Spain,

In the dry, sun-beaten lands of southern Spain something extraordinary has emerged from the depths. As drought grips the region and water levels drop, the receding shoreline of the Valdecañas Reservoir has uncovered a piece of ancient history: the Dolmen of Guadalperal, a megalithic structure believed to be around 7,000 years old.

This ancient site, often called the "Spanish Stonehenge," is made up of dozens of large standing stones arranged in a circular formation. It was built by early inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula—long before the Great Pyramid of Giza was raised in Egypt or Stonehenge took shape in England. These prehistoric people, without the tools or technology of later civilizations, somehow transported and placed these massive stones in a way that still inspires awe today.

For decades, the dolmen lay hidden beneath the man-made reservoir, flooded during the 1960s after the construction of a dam. Only in times of extreme drought does the water retreat enough to reveal it fully. Now, with rainfall decreasing and the climate growing hotter and drier, the ancient stones have returned to view, standing like silent sentinels in the cracked earth.