- For the computer game company, see Monolith Productions.
A monolith is a monument or natural feature such as a mountain, consisting of a single massive stone or rock. Erosion usually exposes these, which are most often made of very hard and solid metamorphic rock such as granite.
The word derives from the latin word monolithus from the Greek word μονόλιϑος (monolithos), derived from μόνος ("one" or "lonely") and λίϑος ("stone").
Natural monoliths
The two largest are:
- Uluru (Ayers Rock), in the Outback of Australia
- Stone Mountain, near Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Others include:
North America
- Bottleneck Peak and Moon, Sids Mountain, Utah
- El Capitan, Yosemite National Park, California
- Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, Oregon
- Stawamus Chief, Squamish, British_Columbia, Canada
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
Australia
- Mount Coolum, Queensland, Australia
South America
Many of these have legends attached.
Manmade monoliths
Obelisks
- Pharaoh Tuthmosis I (Karnak Temple, Luxor, Egypt)
- Pharaoh Tuthmosis III (now in Central Park, New York)
- Pharaoh Tuthmosis III (now on Victoria Embankment, London)
- Pharaoh Tuthmosis III (now in Square of Horses, Istanbul)
- Pharaoh Ramses II (Luxor Temple, Egypt)
- Pharaoh Ramses II (now in Place de la Concorde, Paris)
- Pharaoh Hatshepsut (Karnak Temple, Luxor)
- Pharaoh Sesostris I, (Heliopolis, Cairo)
- Washington Monument, USA
- Obelisk of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Others
- Ogham Stone, Dingle Peninsula, Ireland
- Adam and Eve Stones, Avebury Stone Circle, Wiltshire, England
- Merlin Stone, Avebury Stone Circle, Wiltshire, England
- Manzanar National Historic Landmark, USA
See also
- Monolithic
- 2001: A Space Odyssey