User:TwoKillerMockingbirds/sandbox

A stele is a tall block of stone or wood. Two or more of these are called stelae. Stelae are used to help people remember things. Many times someone will write the name of a person and what they did on a stele. The names can be painted on the stele. They can also be carved.

Stelae were sometimes used to show where the land someone owned stopped. Sometimes they reminded people of battles they had won.

Stelae can be found all across the world. Many were made in Mesopotamia, Greece, Egypt, and Ethiopia. Steles were found in China and Buddhist countries. They made by people in Mesoamerica, for example the Olmec and the Mayas. These groups thought up steles without talking to each other. We learned a lot about ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica because we read what was written on the stelae.

Standing stones are similar to stelae, but standing stones have no writing on them. Standing stones were made by the Megalithic people during the Late Stone Age. These people could not read or write.

An obelisk is a special type of stele. The Celtic high crosses in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales are also special stelae. Totem poles are found in North and South America; these are also stelae. Gravestones are stelae as well.

Stelae are still made. Peter Eisenman, who is an architect, made 2,700 blank stelae. These were a memorial for people who were killed in the holocost. The stelae were called the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. It was finished in 2004; It is in Berlin.