"Cyclopean", the term normally applied to the masonry style characteristic of Mycenaean fortification systems, describes walls built of huge, unworked limestone boulders which are roughly fitted together.

cyclopean masonry, wall constructed without mortar, using enormous blocks of stone. This technique was employed in fortifications where use of large stones reduced the number of joints and thus reduced the walls’ potential weakness. Such …

Cyclopean masonry, developed by the Mycenaean Civilization of Greece (more specifically, during the Late Helladic IIIA – IIIB, c. 1425 – 1190 BCE) stands in stark contrast to the types of construction favored by earlier Greek civilizations.

Dec 18, 2020 · Cyclopean walls are structures built with the ‘polygonal masonry’ technique, which sees more-or-less regularly-worked stone blocks placed on top of each other without the use of mortar.

Jul 21, 2022 · There are hundreds of visible examples of clearly cyclopean masonry making up parts of hilltop fortifications, aqueducts, road substructures, agricultural terraces and villa platforms as well as other types of architecture.

Feb 11, 2025 · Massive stone walls, known as Cyclopean walls, have puzzled historians and archaeologists for centuries. Constructed by ancient civilizations such as the Mycenaeans and the Incas, these walls are characterized by their enormous, irregularly shaped stones, meticulously fitted together without the use

Apr 30, 2022 · A type of masonry, also known as megalithic architecture, characteristic of unusually huge constructions created of gigantic more-or-less rough-edged boulders adjusted to each other frequently without using mortar, and the resulting minimal clearances between them are sometimes filled with clay and small stones (Lucie-Smith, 2003:68,205 ...

This is called ashlar masonry. The massive stones out of which the Lion Gate and the walls of Mycenae have been constructed are sometimes also called Cyclopean. The Cyclops were a mythical race of Giants. The later Greeks believed that only the Cyclops would have been strong enough to lift the blocks of stone found at Mycenaean sites.

Aug 4, 2021 · Cyclopean masonry is a type of dry-stone wall building with large blocks laid so that the joints are close together and overlap. (Updated 2025)

Cyclopean masonry is a form of stonework where massive stone boulders are fitted together with minimum gaps between adjacent stones. Typically without any tooling, leftover gaps in cyclopean walls are generally filled with smaller stones without mortar.