Dolmen

Dolmens are like ancient stone houses, but they weren't for living in! They are made of super big rocks. Usually, there are two tall rocks standing up, and one huge flat rock on top, like a table.

Sometimes, these stone tables were covered with dirt and smaller stones, making a big hill called a burial mound. Over a very, very long time, the dirt might wash away, leaving just the stone skeleton of the dolmen!

People built dolmens a super long time ago, even before castles or pyramids! They were built during a time called the Late Neolithic period, which was about 6,000 to 5,000 years ago. That's older than your grandparents' grandparents' grandparents! Imagine building something that lasts for thousands of years. It shows how strong and clever people were even back then.

These amazing stone structures were built as tombs, which are special places to bury people. They were like final resting places for important people or groups of people. Think of them as very old, very grand memorials. In some places, like the island of Sumba in Indonesia, people still build dolmens today for their families to rest together forever.

Building a dolmen was a huge job! People had to find enormous stones, some weighing as much as a few cars. Then, they had to figure out how to lift and balance these heavy stones to create the dolmen. Sometimes, they used smaller stones to help prop up the big top stone so it sat perfectly flat. It was like a giant, ancient puzzle made of rock!