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5,000 Years Ago in West & North Europe

From the Mediterranean to northern Europe, a series of massive stone structures were built, used as burial sites, temples or observatories, but all called megaliths. These included Stonehenge in England, New Grange tunnel in Ireland, the hunnebed graves in the Netherlands, Carnac menhirs in France and the Palamos dolmens in Spain.

Recent discovery of the "ice man" in the Alps has shown that European cultures were much more advanced than previously thought with the use of bow and arrow, copper and medicinal herbs.

Most of Europe was dotted by small farming communities connected by sophisticated roadways and extensive trading.

How to Make a Standing Stone Stand

1. Dig a pit. Slide the stone on log rollers into the pit. Lever the stone up a bit, and block it with a platform of rocks and logs so it does not slide down again.

2. Prop the standing stone up with logs and take away the platforms. Pull it straight from the other side until it the stone settles firmly into the pit.

3. Using levers again, raise the top block a bit and hold it up with logs or stones. Build a wooden platform under the top block to give a strong base.

4. Then lever the block up another level, build another platform, and keep going until the block is high enough.

5. Finally slide and lever the top block onto the two standing stones.

The raising of the Megaliths

Deep pits with one sloping side were dug to house the great sarsen stone, some of which weighed as much as 45 tons. The stones were probably lowered into the pits with the aid of ropes and rollers , then slowly raised by using a scaffold as the fulcrum of a rope-operated lever. In the last stage, ropes alone may have been used to straighten the stones.

Once the uprights were in position, the 7-ton lintels were probably placed on a timber platform. As the stone was inched higher with levers, wedges and blocks, the platform was built up from below. Finally, the lintel was slid into position on top of uprights, which had pegs carved to fit exactly into the mortise sockets on the lintels.

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