A monolith is a Monument or natural feature such as a Mountain, consisting of a single massive stone or rock. Erosion usually exposes these formations, which are most often made of very hard and solid Metamorphic rock.
A common cultural reference is to the Monolith from the book and film 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C Clarke and Stanley Kubrick. These fictional monoliths are a group of artifacts built by an Alien civilization. Their purpose in the story is to aid in the development of species: a monolith utilised at the dawn of humankind was a major reason for accelerating and directing the Evolution of man to its current level of development.
The word derives from the Latin word monolithus from the Greek word μονόλιϑος (monolithos), derived from μόνος ("one" or "lonely") and λίϑος ("stone").
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Others include:
Many of these have legends attached.