Size and Shape

• Menhirs were carved from a single stone and then hoisted vertically into the air by the primitive builders. Given the prehistoric tools and skills, archaeologists have been impressed with the sheer grandeur and audacity of the ancient Dacians in constructing such ambitious monuments. Some menhirs are cylinder-shaped with conical tops while others have a distinct pyramid shape or are obelisks jutting into the sky. They are all basic columns and by the standards of ancient Egypt, Roman or Greece, menhirs are crude and "primitive."
  
  

Possible Monument Meanings

• Archaeologists are divided into three camps as to the meaning of the menhirs. One faction believes that the menhirs were constructed to celebrate and remember major events, while another camp argues that the columns are religious in nature, symbols of some ancient prehistoric belief system. A third camp views the menhirs as monuments to the dead, perhaps great leaders or warriors. This latter view is not supported by findings because no human remains have been found around or near the columns.
  
  

Possible Dual Purpose

• Some archaeologists argue that menhirs served a dual purpose, one much like the Christian cross, an object of veneration and worship, and another as sacred stones marking territorial boundaries and borders or signifying road directions. Again, much of the historical record is sketchy and conjecture, based on the development of monuments in early Rome and Greece, substitutes for fact.
  
  

Roman Influence

• The Romans occupied the Dacia region for many years, at first enslaving the natives and later living peaceably with them and even allowing Dacians to assume some formal political offices. However, unlike other conquered areas, Roman religious figures do not appear on Dacia monuments. Although there is no evidence showing what became of the native Dacia religion, some archaeologists believe that it was a religion that would naturally oppose Roman occupation and, as a result, the Romans destroyed temples, banned sacred religious social structures and outlawed the native religion. However, the invaders did "Romanize" Dacia as proven by the number of monuments built during the Roman occupation of the area that depicted Roman deities or other Roman religious symbols or inscriptions.