The megalithic societies, those of dolmens and menhirs, are presented to the general public through a significant effort to combine anthropology, archaeology, ethnology, and history.

Instead of a geographical and chronological inventory, the book proposes an ethnological analysis of the powers, customs, beliefs, and social divisions indicated by the management of the megaliths, primarily in the agricultural societies of dominant genealogical lines with ostentatious wealth in Europe.

The evolution of megalithic constructions is approached in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific (on Easter Island) in a way that does not become mired in individual topics, but instead foundationally establishes, based on archaeological findings, the common characteristics of various scenarios - scenarios that illuminate the fundamental confrontations surrounding the origins of property, the state, the appropriation of wealth, systems of governance, and the political use of violence.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]