Statue Menhirs, Prehistoric Western Europe

A statue menhir from Montpellier in southern France

More info: http://lithos-perigord.org/spip.php?article797

About Statue-menhirs: http://www.jrank.org/history/pages/6535/Statue-menhirs.html

The identity of these mysterious personages is unclear. Of the three regional groups on the French mainland, only one, the Languedoc group, shows any association with settlement site or burial monuments. The others, especially the Rouergue group, are located far from contemporary settlement sites in relatively remote areas of upland. This has led to the suggestion that they represent deities. Breasts on a few examples indicate that some of the statue-menhirs are female; others are considered male from the presence of weapons, though it is quite possible that these were also used by women at this time. The universal absence of a mouth is a feature that may indicate the ritual or belief associated with the monuments.

It is interting to read a thread that I posted some years ago: Temple with 500 statues discovered in 7,000 years old Yeri

Good mention TheGreatSimba, but who were these people?

http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Khaldi-(god)

This new line of evidence leads us to the conclusion that the early "Celts" or "Kelts" were presumably the early Picts calling themselves "Khaldis" or "Khaltis," a primitive people who, I find from a mass of evidence, were the early "Chaldees" or Galat(i) and "Gal(li) " of Van and Eastern Asia Minor and Mesopotamia in the Stone Age. {Details in Aryan Origins.} Their western hordes would seem to have retained their title of "Khaltis " or "Galati" or "Gal," when in the Old Stone Age they penetrated westward into Gaul on the Atlantic and formed there the primitive Kelts or Celtae of Gaul and of Pictavia on the border of Iberia, and the Gauls and Gaul are actually called "Galatae" and "Galat" by Strabo {S. i, 3, 21, etc.; iv, 2, 1, etc.}

It is asked: "The Sphinx, a statue-menhir ?" -> http://www.archaeometry.org/sphinxEN.htm

It is really a good research but why the Sphinx?!

Some statue-menhirs from Filitosa in southern Corsica, France: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filitosa

Lets see what has been discovered just some kms from Shahr Yeri where that Iranian temple is located:

http://www.payvand.com/news/00/apr/1041.html

Ardebil, April 10, IRNA -- A huge anthropoid statue made of stone has been discovered on a hill overlooking Anbaran village in the city of Namin, Ardebil province in northwest Iran, by an Iranian geographer.

The statue, 20 meters high and six meters wide, was found in an area 40 km from the provincial capital city of Ardebil at the top of a 100-meter high hill.

Residents of Anbaran village call the statue 'baba davood' and entertain the belief that a shrine, built in the area surrounding the statue, has been destroyed with the lapse of time.

However, local residents have no exact information as to why the statue is called `baba davood,' or its historical beginning.

While projections resembling the eyes, mouth and chin of a person can be seen on the face of the statue, it is believed that they have been shaped by atmospheric changes. However, a human role in the shaping of the statue cannot be ignored.

The stone statue, situated on the bank of a river overlooking anbaran village, is very similar to the statue of sphinx, one of the wonders in the world.

 

As you see some persons have stood on the head of this statue.

 

Lets compare with the Sphinx:

 

It is interesting top read about Gargoyles here: http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/oxford/gargoyles.html

Gaping Mouths

You will find that an inordinate number of gargoyles have their mouths wide open and their tongues protruding. Why? 
The mouth pulled open is a frequent symbol of devouring giants. In order to convey size in a small sculpture, much smaller figures are placed next to the "giant". The act of pulling the mouth open is a threatening gesture which serves to remind us that we are vulnerable to forces larger than ourselves. 

Men With Foliage
 
The Celts often depicted a human head entwined with foliage. Branches coming from the mouth or crowning the head were a sign of divinity. Often, the branches are of the oak tree which was sacred to the Druids. Images like this have come to be called "Jack O'Green" or "The Green Man" 

Sex Objects
 
Fertility was the major theme of pagan religions, and fertility symbols were not excluded from cathedral walls. If these symbols were on the outside walls, they might scare off evil spirits. This would explain how some fairly crude sexual imagery came to be preserved on the outer walls. However, some would argue that these images may arouse more than they discourage. The most crudely sexual image is perhaps that of Sheelagh-na-Gig, commongly found on medieal Irish churches. Her eyes are typically round and deeply drilled, with no mouth and an obscene pose.

And about Sheelagh-Na-Gig: http://www.unc.edu/celtic/catalogue/stbrigid/SHEELAGH.html

The Sheelagh-na-gig from Hertfordshire is a relatively small stone carving located on an exterior wall underneath the eaves of a British Romanesque church notable for the overwhelming abundance of pagan iconography in its decorative program. She is specifically an abstract, if not crude, figuration of a hag-like female form indicating her enlarged genitals with her hands. Although this Sheelagh-na-gig dates to the 11th or 12th century, she shares with earlier Celtic traditions of human depiction a departure from naturalistic representation. She can be identified as a symbol of fertility and abundance rather than a true depiction of a human female by the subordination of her tiny limbs and torso to those most significant in the Celtic iconography of gods and goddesses; her head and sexual characteristics. Thus, any sense of realistic proportion is abandoned. Her head is similar in form and conception to earlier Celtic designs in that her facial features have been highly summarized and abstracted. The mouth of the Sheelagh-na-gig has been eliminated entirely, her large nose is represented by an incised line, and her eyes are merely deeply punched holes with one incised surrounding circle. The head is nearly circular with a slight indication of a chin and there are no ears.