These impressive volumes originate from a course on Megaliths of the World delivered consecutively from 2014 in Rennes (France), Trujillo (Peru), and Évora (Portugal), and the international meeting Les mégalithes dans le monde (Megaliths of the World), held in Les Lucs-sur-Boulogne (Vendée, France) in 9-15 September 2019. Several researchers were involved in the celebration of the conference; but four names stand out as the key organizers of such ambitious endeavour, Jean-Paul Cros, Sophie Corson, Jean-Marc Large, and Luc Laporte. In the spirit of Joussaume's Dolmens for the Dead (Reference Joussaume1988), originally published in 1985 as Les Dolmens pour les Morts, these volumes aim to showcase the diversity of megalithic monumentality across the world, with expressions spanning from 10.000 bc in Göbekli Tepe (Turkey), to nowadays (e.g. Madagascar). The volumes collect the contributions to the meeting, a total of seventy-two papers by 150 researchers of twenty-five nationalities. Given the amount of chapters covering broadly comparable—but different and mostly independent—phenomena, as well as the diversity in points of view and academic traditions represented within these volumes, I will not be able to mention all the chapters but will mainly provide a general overview and outlook of the volumes and some reflections.
Megaliths of the World is prefaced by Roger Joussaume, who presents the aim and scope of the book, situating it within a broader scholarly context. This is followed by a brief Introduction by the conference organizers Jean-Paul Cros, Sophie Corson, Jean-Marc Large, and Luc Laporte. The bulk of the book is composed of eight sections covering different parts of the world, each with an introduction giving an overview and a variable number of chapters. Laporte authors a Conclusions chapter offering a brief synthesis of the contributions (pp. 1391–402). Finally, each volume is rounded off by a section with the abstracts of the volume's chapters in French.
Part 1, titled ‘Megaliths’, is composed of five chapters discussing disparate theoretical and interpretative questions that generally relate to the study of megalithic monumentality. This includes a chapter by Laporte tackling important aspects of the dynamic social lives of megalithic monuments and making a plea for the detailed study of megaliths. Macé and Nespoulous focus on written sources and how they can aid the understanding of the roles of megalithic monuments, in this case through myths of the Kofun period in Japan that underlined the majestic and unchanging nature of stone. In his chapter, the late Gallay proposes a theoretical framework combining the social evolutionist perspective of Testart (Reference Testart2012) with Descola's modes of identification (Descola, Reference Descola and Lloyd2013). He sees megalithic constructions as emerging across the world within societies with storage and wealth that have animistic and analogistic ontologies. Steimer-Herbet highlights the contribution of ethnographic analogy, used here to interpret the tower tombs in Arabia (first half of the fourth millennium bc) as constructions that contributed to the creation of a shared identity that ultimately would have helped develop and maintain exchange networks across the peninsula. This part is closed by Scarre's chapter, which discusses megalithic monuments within their broader landscape and skyscape contexts, highlighting the role of stony landscapes and natural places in the genesis of megaliths.
The remaining sections of the book cover different continents or regions of the world. Chapters have regional scope and generally follow a broadly similar structure aiming to present an updated overview of research. Part 2, with a fantastic introduction by Oliver and Laporte, focuses on megalithic monumentality in South America and the Caribbean, which rarely features in general syntheses about the megalithic phenomenon. The very diverse megalithic traditions from the Colombian Andes (Ch. 7, by Oliver) were a highlight for me, as well as the chapters focused on Late Holocene Amazonia (Saldanha, Costa), in Amapá, where the emblematic site of Rego Grande (called the ‘Brazilian Stonehenge’) sits.
Megaliths on the islands of the Pacific and Indonesia are discussed in Part 3, which is introduced by Cauwe and Steimer-Herbet. In these chapters, there is often precious context to understand the symbolic and social dimensions of different megalithic traditions, frequently because they are living traditions. For Australia, Urwin and colleagues (Ch. 10) discuss monumental stoneworking (i.e. carving out rock outcrops) by Aboriginal communities through the most up-to-date evidence for Nawarla Gabarnmang. Very useful updated research syntheses for Eastern Polynesia and Micronesia are provided by Cauwe and Sand respectively. This is followed by a series of fascinating chapters on the broader contexts of Indonesian megaliths. Steimer-Herbet (Ch. 13) reflects on the emergence of megaliths in Indonesia in relation to dynamics of trade, exchange, and the development of complex societies. Adams and Robin (Ch. 14) discuss the living practice of erecting menhirs in Sulawesi and explore the role of feasts in crafting the enduring significance of these monuments from an ethnoarchaeological point of view. Bonatz (Ch. 15) provides an outline of megaliths on Sumatra and Nias, while Jeunesse (Ch. 16) examines the contrast between two different types of social organization documented in Sumba and how this corresponds to different types of megalithic practices. To conclude this part, Wunderlich (Ch. 17) compares the megalithic tradition in Sumba with that in Nagaland in India in a variety of respects, concluding that while they share important aspects their societal contexts are varied.
Part 4, introduced by Mohanty and Müller, covers India and Southeastern Asia. There are chapters providing synthetic overviews of megalithic traditions in Southeast Asia and India (Chs. 18 and 19, by Mohanty), a lengthy chapter by Jamir and Müller discussing megaliths and their broader social dimension in Northeast India, as well as a highly interesting chapter giving an overview of the living tradition documented in Jharkhand, Eastern India (Ch. 21, Shekhar and Mohanty). There are a variety of chapters providing systematic overviews of different aspects of megalithic traditions in Vidarbha (Chs. 24, 25, and 26, by Mohanty, Sontakke, and Vaidya & Mohanty, respectively). This is supplemented by a paper focused on stone jars in Southeast Asia and Northeast India (Ch. 22, Thakuria) and one on dolmens in Karachi in Pakistan (Ch. 23, Kalhoro). The section is closed by a superb updated overview of research on megalithic monuments in the southernmost regions of Tamil Nadu (Ch. 27, by Rajan).
The sections are quite systematic in their coverage, as seen, again, in the part comprising Central and East Asia, Part 5, introduced by Nespoulous and Hein. There is much diversity in this enormous region. I was particularly captivated by the useful and up-to-date overviews of stela, statue-menhir, deer stone, and megalithic tomb traditions dated to the Bronze Age and the Iron Age that are populating the landscapes of the Mongolian Altai, Mongolia, and Southern Siberia. These are covered by two chapters, plus a poster feature, by Magail and colleagues, Kazakow and colleagues, and Kovalev, that also include brilliant results of the recent digital surveys conducted on numerous of those decorated sculptures revealing many previously unknown details. This is complemented by two chapters focused on megalithic tombs in western and northeastern China (Chs. 28–29, by Hein and Miyamoto), three on the rich Bronze Age traditions and long-term stone art from the Korean peninsula (Chs. 30–32, by Nakamura, Son, Yanamoto), and two on the prehistoric and protohistoric megaliths from Japan (Chs. 33–34, by Kikuchi, Nespoulous). Part 6 covers a huge region expanding from the Caucasus to the Arabian Peninsula. Introduced by Steimer-Herbet and Trifonov, it deals with very diverse megalithic traditions, from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic monuments in the Levant (including Göbekli Tepe) (by Hadad), Bronze Age megaliths in Northwest Caucasus, some with beautiful decorated stelae (Trifonov), the Bronze Age and Iron Age dolmens from the Balkans (Nekhrizov & Iliev), dolmens and standing stones from Turkey (Yükmen Edens), the Levant (Fraser), as well as the Bronze Age tower tombs found across Arabia (Munoz).
Part 7 is focused on megalithic monumentality in Africa. The section is introduced by Cros and Laporte with a useful general context of research and synthesis of the chapters composing it. The coverage of the section is broad geographically and chronologically, and it accounts, again, for very diverse megalithic expressions. There are general overviews of Africa (by Gallay), the Horn of Africa (by Cros), with a brief survey discussing also the fascinating traditions of stelae-making from Tija, and Tuto Fela, including the current wooden statues of the Konso, Kenya (by Hildebrand and Grillo), Madagascar (Parker-Pearson), and Nigeria (by Edet & Sani), which gives an updated overview of the amazing Bakor monoliths of the Cross River region. Here recent efforts have been focused on document sites, assess preservation, and digital recording. A comprehensive updated overview of megaliths from Senegal and The Gambia is offered by Laporte and colleagues, while monuments across the Sahara are discussed by the late Gallay (Ch. 50) and Vernet (Ch. 51, focused on standing stones). The late Sanmartí presents an updated overview of the late megalithic phenomenon documented in the eastern Maghreb.
To close the volume there is a section on European megaliths introduced by Scarre. After the Pre-pottery Neolithic monumentality from the Levant, Europe yields some of the oldest megalithic monumentality. Thus, it is not surprising that many of the researchers in this section discuss early expressions of megalithic monumentality, such as Boric (Lepenski Vir, Ch. 53) and Laporte and Bueno (Ch. 54, on the specific problems raised by dating and reuse, with a useful survey of some of the earliest evidence). This is complemented by an informative poster feature by Gouézin assessing the extent of standing stone reuse in the construction of tombs in Morbihan, a chapter by Ghesquière and colleagues on the spectacular necropolis of Fleury-sur-Orne in Normandy (Ch. 55), and a chapter giving an updated overview of early monumentality in northern Europe (by Müller & Sjögren). For northwest Europe, Bradley tackles the very specific issue of similarity in architectural styles, and how there were cases of ‘revival’ (the copying of old architectural styles) (Ch. 57, in relation to the recent evidence for the Clava Cairns and Orkney-Cromarty Cairns). Bradley stresses the importance of considering reuse in understanding these processes. Scarre and Laporte offer an overview of megaliths in north and northwest France, Britain, and Ireland (Ch. 58), with some insightful poster features related to latest evidence from aDNA analysis (on familial pedigrees) (by Cheronet et al.), clay binders in monuments (Debrosse & Wattez), slabs with geological features (by Kenny), and archeoastronomy of stone settings in Ireland (by Meaden). The western Mediterranean is discussed by Guilaine (Ch. 59, with a long-term overview), followed by a poster feature by Bouchet and colleagues on the significant monument of Uzès, which includes an alignment (whose dating is still unclear but that could be Late Neolithic or Late Bronze Age) made with reused menhirs and a statue-menhir. A chapter by Bravo Asensio and Riudavets González discusses cyclopean monumentality in the prehistory of Menorca, the Balearic Islands (Ch. 60), and in contrast, Andrade and colleagues present an updated review of the small size megalithic tombs built by Middle Neolithic communities in south-central Portugal. This section is wrapped up by Bueno and colleagues’ chapter offering an up-to-date overview of megalithic art in Western Europe, where historiography, methods, pigment use, and dating feature prominently.
It becomes evident by this very brief review that these 1400-page volumes offer, quite literally, a tour through the world of megaliths, demonstrating the sheer diversity of the phenomenon, in stylistic/architectural, socioeconomic, and ontological terms, as well as disseminating some exciting new data and extremely useful overviews. I will definitely use these volumes for my teaching and research, as they offer excellent entry points to further explore megalithic phenomena from across the world, and help put regional phenomena in broader perspective.
For me, one of the most valuable contributions of these volumes is not only that they offer such a wealth of updated knowledge in English as a lingua franca, but also that there is information for further research (extensive lists of references) and diversity in viewpoints. The fact that this is a multi-authored book, and that scholars from the regions discussed are involved, is a significant and valuable step forward.
