Megalithic Dictionary

This dictionary section has been designed for all ages and may include words that are known by many

Jargon and terminology used in Archaeology or, in MRW's case, "stone hunting" can, on occasion be difficult to understand.

This is a basic dictionary for all the specific words used on this site and a selection of words used on others dedicated to the same.

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		Alignment	A relatively straight row of standing stones
		Ancient	Belonging to times long past
		A.D.	Anno Domini - Used before dates following the supposed year Jesus was born eg AD 2004 also CE 2004. There have been occasions where, for ease, children refer to it as After Death - 'After the Death of Jesus'
		Archeology	Also archaeology. The study of past human life and culture by recovering and examination the remains of material evidence, such as graves, buildings, tools, and pottery
		Avenue	Two parallel rows of stones
		Barrow	See Tumuli
		B.C.	Before Christ (Jesus), before the Christian era. Used following dates before the supposed year Jesus was born
		B.C.E.	Before the Common Era or before the birth of Christ - Also B.C.
		Beaker People	The Beaker People were a prehistoric people of Europe, whose pottery style many archeologists believe spread across the western part of the Continent during the 3rd Millennium BCE. They were particularly prevalent in northern Europe, most notably in Britain. They were skilled at metalworking and are known as the Beaker people because of a particular type of beaker with a distinctive bell-shaped profile
		Bluestones	The name given to the mixture of stones, mainly of dolerite, from the Preseli Mountains and the type used at Stonehenge. [Visit the BBC South West Wales Nature Walks - Mynydd Preseli (Preseli Mountains) page]. A bluish-gray sandstone
		Burial Chamber	A chamber that is used as a grave
		Burial Mound	See Tumuli
		Cairn	A cairn is a pile of stones. Typically, a cairn is used as a monument, to mark a path or to designate the summit of a hill. These present-day traditions emerged from the Bronze Age habit of putting cists into cairns, which would be situated in conspicuous positions, often on the skyline above the village of the deceased
		Capstone	A final touch; a crowning achievement; a culmination; stone that forms the top of wall or building. Horizontal stone on top of chamber, passage or Dolmen; dressed or otherwise
		C.E.	The Common Era or Anno Domini - Since the birth of Christ - Also AD (The period coinciding with the Christian era - or the period of time beginning with the birth of Jesus - a teacher and prophet born in Bethlehem and active in Nazareth; his life and sermons form the basis for Christianity (circa 4 BCE - 29 CE))
		Celt	A member of a European people who occupied Britain and Spain and Gaul in pre-Roman times
		Celtic	A branch of the Indo-European languages that (judging from inscriptions and place names) was spread widely over Europe in the pre-Christian era. - Relating to or characteristic of the Celts
		Ceremony	An event, usually formal, performed on a special occasion or for a rite
		Ceremonial	A set of ceremonies set for a specific occasion. Sometimes a ritual
		Chamber	A natural or artificial enclosed space
		Chambered Cairn	A chambered cairn is a burial monument, usually constructed during the Neolithic, consisting of a cairn of stones inside which a sizeable (usually stone) chamber was constructed. Some chambered cairns are also passage graves
		Cist	A cist (pronounced 'kissed') is a small stone-built coffin-like box used to hold the bodies of the dead (notably during the Bronze Age in Britain) The sides are usually built of single slabs. A cist may have been associated with other monuments, perhaps under a cairn or long barrow. It would not be uncommon to find several cists close together within the same cairn or barrow. Occasionally, ornaments have been found within a cist under excavation, which could indicate the wealth of the interred individual
		Cove	Three standing stones, one at the back, two at the sides like an unroofed sentry-box
		Composite	Made up of distinct components
		Cromlech	Dolmen, cromlech -- (a prehistoric megalith typically having two upright stones and a capstone)
		Contiguous	Connecting stones without a break
		Cup mark	Cup shaped depression carved out from stone. Often grouped together, they are the result of a repeated ritual gesture of unknown significance
		Diabase	A dark-gray to black, fine-textured igneous rock composed mainly of feldspar and pyroxene and used for monuments and as crushed stone
		Dolerite	A dark, fine-grained igneous rock; diabase
		Dolmen	Dolmen, cromlech -- (a prehistoric megalith typically having two upright stones and a capstone)
		Eisteddfod	Any of several annual Welsh festivals involving artistic competitions
		Entrance grave	Sometimes called Undifferentiated Passage Grave; no distinction between passage and chamber, within round mound
		Fathom	See Megalithic Fathom
		Fa�ade	Setting of upright stones flanking the entrance to a Chambered Tomb
		Futhark	The runic alphabet or Futhark (from the first few letters) was the alphabet used by the old Germanic peoples (such as the Norse) their letters being called runes.
		Futhork	See Futhark
		Gallery grave	Stretched rectangular Megalithic burial chamber, beneath long mound
		Gorsedd Stones	"Modern Stone Circles" - These are raised when the town hosts the National Eisteddfod
		Grave	A place of burial
		Head stone	The stone slab in the wall of a megalithic chamber which faces the tomb entrance
		Henge	A Henge is a circular or sub-circular prehistoric enclosure unique to the British Isles defined by a raised circular bank, and a circular ditch which normally runs inside the bank. Henges have one or more entrances leading into an enclosed open space. Believed by most archaeologists to have a ceremonial or ritual function, they often contain evidence of a variety of internal features including timber or stone circles. They should not be confused with the stone circles which are sometimes present within them
		Hobby	An activity or interest pursued outside someone's regular occupation and undertaken mainly for pleasure
		Horned cairn	Partly enclosed fa�ade of cairn; it can be at front and back
		Inscribed	Written (by handwriting, printing, engraving, or carving) on or in a surface. Cut or impressed into a surface; "an incised design"; "engraved invitations"
		J
		Kerb	Ring of retaining stones against mound or cairn base
		Kistvaen	A kistvaen is a (usually pre-Christian) stone coffin, derived from the Celtic cist, meaning chest and "maen" meaning stone
		Lintel	A stone across the top of two uprights like those on the sarsen circle and the trithithons at Stonehenge
		Lithic	Relating to or composed of stone. Relating to or characteristic of a specified stage in the use of stone by humans. Consisting of or relating to stone or rock
		Measurements	Please see below for an approximate conversion table where you will find conversions from feet to meters. You can also use the calculator
		Megalith	Megalith, megalithic structure -- (memorial consisting of a very large stone forming part of a prehistoric structure (especially in western Europe)) A megalith is a large stone which has been used to construct a structure or monument either alone or with other stones. Megalithic means a building or structure made of such stones, but without the use of mortar or cement. The term can be used to describe buildings erected by people from many parts of the world living in many different periods. In the early twentieth century, some scholars believed that all megaliths belonged to one global "Megalithic culture" but this has long been disproved by modern dating methods
		Megalithic Art	A term generally used to describe art carved onto megaliths by prehistoric peoples
		Megalithic Fathom	5.43 feet. You can also use the calculator
		Megalithic Rod	2.5 Megalithic yard. You can also use the calculator
		Megalithic Yard	2.72 feet. The Megalithic yard (sometimes abbreviated to MY) is a theoretical unit of prehistoric measurement first suggested by the Scottish engineer, Alexander Thom in 1955. To find out how to create your own MY, click here. Also see the "Megalithic Yard Unearthed". You can also use the calculator
		Menhir	Menhir - a tall upright megalith; found primarily in England and northern France French, from Breton : `men`, stone (from Middle Breton) and `hir`, long (from Middle Breton).
		Mesolithic	Mesolithic Age, Mesolithic, Epipaleolithic -- (middle part of the Stone Age beginning about 15,000 years ago) Mesolithic -- (of or relating to a middle period of the Stone Age (following the Paleolithic))
		Monolith	Monolith -- (a single great stone (often in the form of a column or obelisk))
		Mound	Of either earth or stone pebbles, generally covering a burial chamber or deposit
		Monument	A structure erected to commemorate persons or events
		Mudstone	A fine-grained, dark gray sedimentary rock, formed from silt and clay and similar to shale but without laminations
		Neolithic	Neolithic Age, Neolithic, New Stone Age -- (latest part of the Stone Age beginning about 10,000 BC in the middle east (but later elsewhere)) Neolithic -- (of or relating to the most recent period of the Stone Age (following the Mesolithic); "evidence of Neolithic settlements")
		Obelisk	An obelisk is a thin, four-sided, tapering monument which ends in a pyramidal top. Ancient obelisks were made of a single piece of stone - see also Monolith
		Ogham (Ogam)	A particular kind of writing practiced by the ancient Irish, and found in inscriptions on stones, metals, etc. An alphabetic system of inscribed notches for vowels and lines for consonants used to write Old Irish, chiefly on the edges of memorial stones, from the fifth to the early seventh century. See Ogham here
		Orthostat	Large stone or slab, set vertically in a structure. Menhirs and other standing stones are, technically, orthostats, although the term is only used by archeologists to describe individual prehistoric stones that constitute part of larger structures
		Passage grave	Passage (sometimes with lateral chambers) leading to a broader burial chamber, often roofed, within round mound (which may be kerbed). Fa�aded forecourt entrance common
		Paving	Stone slabs on passage and chamber floors. In a Megalithic tomb, paving stones superimposed on each other may indicate several phases of use
		Pictogram	A pictogram or pictograph is a symbol which represents a concept or an object by illustration
		Pictograph	See pictogram
		Portal dolmen	Rectangular burial chamber which is narrower and lower towards back, with two portal stone at entrance. Mainly Irish and Welsh
		Portal stones	Large stones forming the entrance to a structure, usually a tomb
		Port-hole	Circular hole, often in entrance stone to chambered tomb, or made by semi-circular holes in facing contiguous stones. Also in orthostats and capstones. Some writers refer to the hole of the spirit to indicate the symbolic function of the port-hole through which the soul of the dead could come and go
		Prehistoric	Belonging to or existing in times before recorded history
		Pudding Stone	A composite rock made up of particles of varying sizes.
		Quoit	Cornish name for burial chamber or dolmen
		Religion	Beliefs, values and / or a way of life based on the teachings of a spiritual leader
		Ritual	A set out series of events for a ceremony
		Rite	A ceremonial act - see ceremony
		Rod	See Megalithic Yard
		Rune	See Futhark
		Sandstone	A sedimentary rock consisting of sand consolidated with some cement (clay or quartz etc.).
		Sarsen	Sandstone lying on Wiltshire Downs, in England; used for Stonehenge and Avebury, though not exclusively
		Sediment	Material that settles at the bottom of, for example, a river
		Sedimentary Rock	Formed from sediment. Rock formed from consolidated clay sediments
		Sepulcher	Sepulcher - a chamber that is used as a grave. Also sepulchre
		Site	The piece of land on which something is located
		Standing Stone	A prehistoric monument of a class found chiefly in the British Isles and northern France, consisting of a single tall, upright megalith. Also called menhir
		Stone Circle	Prehistoric stone circles are megalithic monuments found almost exclusively in the British Isles They are circular spaces, delimited by purposefully erected stones and often contain burials
		Stonehenge	A group of standing stones on Salisbury Plain in southern England. Dating to circa 2000-1800 BCE, the megaliths are enclosed by a circular ditch and embankment that may date to circa 2800 BCE
		Tomb	From the Latin tumba, meaning a burial stone, simple or monumental. Generally it is used in very broad terms to denote megalithic graves
		Trilithon	A monument consisting of three stones; especially, such a monument forming a kind of doorway, as among the ancient Celts.
		Tumuli	A tumuli is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows or burial mounds and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn
		U V W X
		Yard	Equal to 3 feet, or 36 inches (0.9144 meter). See also Megalithic Yard. You can also use the calculator
		Zoomorphic	See Zoomorphism
		Zoomorphism	The attribution of animal forms or qualities to a god. Use of animal forms in symbolism, literature, or graphic representation

Feet	Meters
2	0.6
3	0.9
4	1.2
5	1.5
6	1.8
7	2.1
8	2.4
9	2.7
10	3.0
11	3.3
12	3.6
13	3.9
14	4.2
15	4.5
16	4.8
17	5.1

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