Monolith

From Free net encyclopedia

For other uses, see Monolith (disambiguation).

A monolith is a monument or natural feature such as a mountain, consisting of a single massive stone or rock. Erosion usually exposes these formations, which are most often made of very hard and solid metamorphic rock.

A common cultural reference is to the Monolith from the book and film 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick. These fictional monoliths are a group of probes built by an alien civilization. Their purpose in the story is to aid in the development of species: a monolith utilised at the dawn of humankind was a major reason for accelerating and directing the evolution of man to its current level of development.

The word derives from the Latin word monolithus from the Greek word μονόλιϑος (monolithos), derived from μόνος ("one" or "lonely") and λίϑος ("stone").

Image:Mount Augustus by Jan Van Der Hoeven.jpg

Contents 1 Natural monoliths 1.1 North America 1.2 Europe 1.3 Africa 1.4 Asia 1.5 Australia 1.6 South America 1.7 Antarctica 2 Manmade monoliths 3 See also

Natural monoliths

The three largest are:

1. Mount Augustus, in Australia
2. La Peña de Bernal, in Mexico
3. Stone Mountain, in Stone Mountain Park, Stone Mountain, a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Note: For many years, Uluru/Ayers Rock was listed in record books as the world's largest monolith. This is wrong on two counts. Uluru is not a monolith at all, but even if it were, Mt Augustus is about 2.5 times its size.

Others include:

North America

• Bottleneck Peak and Moon, Sids Mountain, Utah
• Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming
• El Capitan, Yosemite National Park, California
• Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, Oregon
• Stawamus Chief, Squamish, British Columbia, Canada
• Enchanted Rock, Llano County, Texas

Europe

• Frau Holle Stone, near Fulda, Germany
• Humber Stone, Humberstone, near Leicester, England.
• King Arthur's Stone (Cornwall)
• Logan Stone (Trereen, Cornwall)
• Odin Stone (Stenhouse, Orkney; destroyed in 1814)
• Rock of Gibraltar

Africa

• Ben Amera, Mauritania

Asia

• Savandurga

Australia

• Mount Coolum, Queensland, Australia

South America

• Towers of Paine, Chile

Antarctica

• Scullin monolith

Many of these have legends attached.

Manmade monoliths

• Top stone on the Mausoleum of Theoderik, Ravenna
• Aztec calendar "Stone of the Sun"
• Rune stones
• Stelae
• Obelisks - see this article for a list
• Ogham Stone, Dingle Peninsula, Ireland
• Adam and Eve Stones, Avebury, Wiltshire, England
• Merlin Stone, Avebury Stone Circle, Wiltshire, England
• Manzanar National Historic Landmark, USA

See also

• Megalith
• Monolithic
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• Monolithic churchde:Monolith

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