Megalithic mysteries - Michael David Balfour

Some 6000 years ago in Neolithic and Bronze Age times, as nomadic peoples were gradually settling down to sedentary farming lives, the megalith builders were at work, constructing vast numbers of stone circles and standing stones. Despite the antiquity of their technology, they employed astonishingly complicated calculations and astronomical references, and even an identical unit of measurement, indicating a complex society at work.;Megaliths in fact exist in their thousands in most countries of the world, and their origins and possible purposes have long been a popularly perplexing enigma. In "Megalithic Mysteries", Michael Balfour portrays some of the great achievements of the megalith builders, and examines the riddles surrounding these curious creations. Coverage is world wide, with sections on: the menhirs and dolmens of Britain and north-west France; the huge number of Scandinavian sites; the relationship with North American Indian earth mounds; the massive Maltese templies; the navetas, talayots, and taulas in the Balearics; and carved idols of Europe and South America. In total, over 200 sites in 27 countries are described in words and photophraphs, with accompanying maps and location instructions.