A menhir, also known as a standing stone, orthostat, or lith, is a large, upright stone placed on the ground by people, and typically dating from Europe's Bronze Age (usually the late Bronze Age, around 2800-1800 BC, although some have made claims they go back some seven thousand years). Menhirs are found across much of northern Eurasia, but are most heavily concentrated on the British Isles as well as Brittany in France across the English Channel. Large groupings of menhirs are known as megalithic monuments, frequently having stones aligned with particular sunrises and sunsets during the year. Perhaps the most famous megalithic monument is Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England.

Why Bronze Age peoples erected these stones is unknown, with ideas ranging from religion to territorial markers to calendars to burial stones. People in Medieval times usually thought these stones had been erected by ancient giants who had lived before the biblical Flood, and as such, sometimes destroyed them. Nowadays, they are preserved for their archaeological and cultural value.

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Minhir (Wikipedia)