Harrespil is the
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
name, that can be translated by "
stone circle
A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The be ...
", given to small
megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
ic monuments which abounds on mountains of the
Basque Country in particular. They are also called baratz, a Basque word meaning "garden" and traditionally applied to the prehistoric
necropoles
This is a list of necropolis, necropoleis sorted by country. Although the name is sometimes also used for some modern cemetery, cemeteries, this list includes only ancient necropoleis, generally founded no later than approximately 1500 AD. Be ...
.
Gathered in necropoles of 5 to 20 monuments, they appeared during the late
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
(from approximately -1200) but remained used during the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
.
These
burial
Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...
s are distinguished from the preceding ones by the recourse to cremation, like in the
urnfield
The Urnfield culture ( 1300 BC – 750 BC) was a late Bronze Age culture of Central Europe, often divided into several local cultures within a broader Urnfield tradition. The name comes from the custom of cremating the dead and p ...
culture.
More spectacular by its fitting than by the size of the stones, the harrespil is formed of a rectangular
cist
A cist ( or ; also kist ;
from grc-gre, κίστη, Middle Welsh ''Kist'' or Germanic ''Kiste'') is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle East ...
made of flat stones containing ashes of the dead, and of a stone circle.
The circle measures about 5 to 6 m in diameter and is made of a great number of medium stones.
The cist, of approximately a meter by 60 cm, consists of 4 side flagstones and a flagstone of cover.
These burials coexisted with
tumuli
A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones buil ...
, a little earlier, also sheltering a cist for ashes, but surrounded of stones in bulk. These architectures are sometimes combined, as in ''Zaho II'' where the harrespil is buried under a mound, delimited by a second stone circle.
{{European Standing Stones
Ruins in Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Ruins in Spain
Stone circles in Europe
eu:Harrespil