Orthostat

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An orthostat is a large stone set upright.

Menhirs and other standing stones are technically orthostats although the term is only used by archaeologists to describe individual prehistoric stones that constitute part of larger structures. Common examples include the walls of chamber tombs and other megalithic monuments and the vertical elements of the trilithons at Stonehenge.

Many ortostats were a focus for megalithic art.

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