I think earliest Megalithism is from SW Iberia
(southern Portugal), dating apparently to c. 4800 BCE. Now and then I
see the same date for earliest French Megalithism (Brittany and nearby
regions) but the more serious stuff I've read puts it acually c. 3800
BCE, one thousands year later (still the earliest outside of the
nuclear Portuguese area). This French/Breton Megalithism also has some
peculiarities not shared by the rest of Atlantic groups that rather
follow the Portuguese model. It seems more "aristocratic" somehow.
The
southern and central Portuguese region had recieved Neolithic tech
(agriculture, pottery) only some two centuries before from nearby
Andalusia, though it seems largely a local developement, being earliest
Megalithism surely a byproduct of neolithization.
In the 4th
milennium BCE Megaithism expands first by Atlantic Europe, whose
peoples directly linked to Paleolithic ones, from Portugal to Southern
Sweden. It's been speculated that cod-fishing activities may have
helped this expansion, though probably the picture was complex.
In
the 3rd milennium BCE (when ancient Egypt arises, to give a reference)
the cultural landscape of Europe was pretty revolted with the arrival
of the first Indo-Europeans (Kurgan peoples) and Megalithism found also
its way into non-Atlantic non-IE peoples of the Mediterranean and
Central Europe. It is then when the first known civilizations (cities)
of Western Europe arise in Portugal and Southern Spain. These
civilizations had commercial contacts from the Baltic to Africa, as its
attested by their imports (sadly North African archaeology is kind of
under-developed for this period).
C. 2400 BCE the Rhin stands as approximate border between IEs and Western Europeans. And would stay that way till c. 1300 BCE.
Already
in the 2nd milennium BC, Megalithism starts receeding. The customs of
individual burial (typical of IEs, specially) gain ground in some areas
(parts of France and Mediterranean Iberia, in this case with clear
Mycenaean influence) but remains strong in Atlantic Iberia and Britain.
Nevertheless
by c. 1300 BCE (another very revolted period) the Iberian civilizations
fall (totally or partly) and Celtic (IE) presence is clearly seen west
of the Rhin. We can take this date as the line that marks the end of
Western Megalithism, though it's possible that it still survived in
some areas.
...
But then we have a second wave of
Megalithism rather unexplained: since approximately this date, we see
the Megalithic pehnomenon with its trilithes (dolmens), standing stones
(menhirs) and stone rings (cromlechs) appear in Asia. First in places
such as the Caucasus, later as far as India and Korea.
My
personal impression is that some "religious" offshots of this
Megalithism (that was strong in many Mediterranean regions) could have
made their way, locally modified, to the East. But the pattern is not
fully clear.
One thing seems certain Megalithism and
Indo-European presence seem incompatible: it flourishes instead among
peoples that were maybe in the border with with IEs, like Caucasians or
Dravidians. In this sense I speculate it may have been adopted, among
other reasons, because its "cult to the ancestors" may have given these
peoples an element of identity against the pressure by the
Indo-Europeans roaming from the steppes.
I wonder also if this
expansion may have had any connection with the extension of Astrology
and that of the svastika, symbol that (against the common perception)
is most frequent among non-Indo-European cultures or lately
indo-Europenized peoples. Still the connection is at least tenuous.
...
So
yes, it's possible that the concept of Megalithism originated in
Portugal and expanded from there, though beyond the Euro-Mediterranean
area this link is diffuse, uncertain - yet the pattern is so strikingly
simmilar that the link must at least be suspected.
http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=94993http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolmen