A stone monument or edifice (as a dolmen [prehistoric monument], a menhir [ancient megalithic stone monument], or an obelisk [a tall, four-sided shaft of stone, usually tapered and monolithic, that rises to a pointed pyramidal top]) erected for religious or ceremonial purposes.

A dolmen is a prehistoric monument usually consisting of several large stone slabs set edgewise in the earth to support a flat stone roof, all covered by a mound of earth that in most cases has weathered away.

Designed as a burial chamber, the structure is typical of the Neolithic Period in Europe. Dolmens, although found as far east as Japan, are mainly confined to western Europe and northern Africa.