1. What are these strange rocks heaps?

2. This construction is a dolmen, but it also has other names coming from various old origins and whose list would be useless. It’s a structure made of 3 or more massive upright stones supporting a large flat other one.

3. In English you distinguish 3 terms. You have: - “Menhirs”: A large upright stone, that stands alone or arranged with others, for example in circle. - “Megaliths”: A massive stone which has been used to construct a structure or monument, put with others stones or even alone. - And ”Dolmens”: As seen before, a single-chamber construction.

4. A 4th word, “Megalithic”, is used to describe: - Either a stone alone forming itself a monument like menhirs, - Or an entire structure like dolmens and other such monuments.

5. Dolmens were mainly built in western Europe by some civilizations, but some of them also have been constructed in many different places around the world like in eastern Asia. Most of the dolmens date from the Prehistory in western Europe, during the early Neolithic that is ~ from 4000 BC to 3000 BC, but there are a few of them that were built before and also after this period.

6. A dolmen was built with this basic scheme: - The principal single-chamber that is usually what remains today, - Then there could be a previous and smaller chamber called antechamber, - A corridor make the link to outside, - And, finally the entire construction was covered by a mix of stones and earth forming a little hill that we call tumulus. Imagine how much this construction was a great work, with the really rudimentary tools of this period; and everything without any help from Chuck Norris !

7. Dolmens were built as sepulchral monuments and the same one could be used for many generations. We know this as we found bones and objects from different periods in the same tomb. But we think that such tombs were reserved only for special (higher) people in the society, because where there were big villages we sometimes found only a few bones. The many different megalith constructions have large kinds of use, not all sepulchral, and have a lot of various appearance. Here you have a view of some of the Megalithic that we could find in Scotland… Glencoe, Scotland

8. Ring of Brodgar Stone Circle, Orkney

9. Stones of Stenness Standing Stones, Orkney

10. Stones of Stenness Standing Stones, Orkney

11. Dwarfie Stane Rock-cut Tomb, Orkney

12. Grain Earth House, Orkney

13. Skara Brae Settlement, Orkney

14. Stane o' Quoybune Standing Stone, Orkney

15. Achavanich Stone Circle, Caithness

16. Balnuaran of Clava (The Clava Cairns) Clava Cairns, Inverness

17. Corrimony 'Clava' type Cairn, Central Highlands (Glen Urquhart)

18. Barpa Langais Chambered Tomb, North Uist

19. Baluachraig Cup and Ring marks / Rock Art, Argyll

20. Kilmichael Glassary Rock Art, Argyll

21. Finlaggan Loch Standing Stone (possible Avenue / Stone Circle), Islay

22. Applecross, Scotland. I hope you enjoyed this view over dolmens, menhirs and megaliths, and you didn’t fall asleep. Congratulations !!! Now I should tell you where I found my inspiration, by respect for the pictures and information owners…

23. Thanks to: www.megalithic.co.uk http://home.primus.ca www.ispireland.net/ireland.htm http://picasaweb.google.com/ www.vallhalla.eu/aspnet http://www.pbase.com/hwatt/scotland www.wikipedia.org

24. Our Master Pen Of Chaos For his “Ballintore Jigs Instrumental”

25. Finally, and the most important, great thanks to: My Grand-Mother, because I love her and her wonderful chocolate ! Thanks to “La-dame-de-la-cafèt’”, because she prepares delicious tuna sandwiches ! And thanks to Chuck Norris, because he invented the automatic- waffle-cooker-for-the-blue-socks- ironing !

26. The End. Big and friendly kisses to the ones who have read my presentation until the very end !!!...