Cromlech

Cromlech (from the Gaelic crom, 'curved,' and leac, 'a stone') is a modern term, formerly applied by British archaeologists to a class of megalithic monuments, consisting of one flat stone supported on two or more upright stones, and forming a kind of open chamber with a roof. It is now generally recognised, however, that these are merely the denuded or uncovered chambers of chambered Cairns (q.v.) or Barrows (q.v.), for which another modern term, 'dolmen,' is now generally substituted (see DOLMEN). The French archaeologists retain the use of the word cromlech, but they have always applied it to those groups of standing stones which in Britain and Scandinavia are called Stone Circles (q.v.).