I don't know exactly how many societies in the world have "living" traditions of megalithic construction, but here is another one: the Toraja people of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. If you're keeping score at home, this is the fourth group I've discussed (the others are the Angami Naga of India and the megalithic traditions of Sumba and Nias in Indonesia). If you have any doubt that lots of people with some wood and rope can move some pretty big rocks, you should watch some of the videos from the Naga and Sumba cases, or look at the early 20th century photographs from Nias.
Menhirs at Bori Parinding. The Toraja erect menhirs (standing stones) as monuments for the deceased. In a paper in this 2006 edited volume titled Archaeology: Indonesian Perspective, Retno Hondini explains the connection between status in life and treatment at death: larger, more complex, and more expensive funerals are performed for higher status individuals. These funerals include several ceremonies, one of which involves moving and erecting menhirs (Hondini 2006:551):
"Mangriu batu is a stone-pulling ceremony. The stone then functions as a menhir (simbuang), a symbol that a ceremony has been performed for the deceased. Every burial ceremony, particularly those of an aristocrat, always includes the manufacture of a menhir (simbuang). The raw materials to make menhirs are usually available in the surrounding environment. The chosen stone is pulled by a large number of people from its original place to the place where the ceremony is to take place (rante). After the stone arrives at the rante, a menhir (mesimbuang) is then erected"
I've been able to find just a few videos of stone-pulling among the Toraja. This one is of poor quality, but shows a stone (maybe 3m long?) being pulled into a village and erected using ropes and poles. This video shows a smaller stone being pulled by a relatively small group of men (a second video shows another stone being moved).
"Mangriu batu is a stone-pulling ceremony. The stone then functions as a menhir (simbuang), a symbol that a ceremony has been performed for the deceased. Every burial ceremony, particularly those of an aristocrat, always includes the manufacture of a menhir (simbuang). The raw materials to make menhirs are usually available in the surrounding environment. The chosen stone is pulled by a large number of people from its original place to the place where the ceremony is to take place (rante). After the stone arrives at the rante, a menhir (mesimbuang) is then erected"
I've been able to find just a few videos of stone-pulling among the Toraja. This one is of poor quality, but shows a stone (maybe 3m long?) being pulled into a village and erected using ropes and poles. This video shows a smaller stone being pulled by a relatively small group of men (a second video shows another stone being moved).
This 1937 photo by F. van der Kooi reportedly shows a Toraja stone-pulling ceremony. Source: http://www.tanatorajasulawesiselatan.com/monoliths.htm
I'm no expert on South Asian megalithic traditions, but I feel comfortable pointing out the positive relationships between status/wealth, the ability to mobilize/support human labor, and the size of the stones moved in the four cases I've looked into so far. I'm not saying those relationships explain all the megalithic monuments erected by prehistoric non-state (e.g. Neolithic) societies, but it's a much more reasonable place to start than giants or aliens. Or giant aliens.
References
Handini, Retno. 2006. Stone Chamber Burial (Leang Pa'): A Living Megalithic Tradition in Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi. In Archaeology: Indonesian Perspective, edited by Truman Simanjuntak, M. Hisyam, Bagyo Prasetyo, and Titi Surti Nastiti, pp. 549-557. Jakarta: LIPI Press.
Simanjuntak, Truman, M. Hisyam, Bagyo Prasetyo, and Titi Surti Nastiti (editors). 2006. Archaeology: Indonesian Perspective. Jakarta: LIPI Press.
Handini, Retno. 2006. Stone Chamber Burial (Leang Pa'): A Living Megalithic Tradition in Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi. In Archaeology: Indonesian Perspective, edited by Truman Simanjuntak, M. Hisyam, Bagyo Prasetyo, and Titi Surti Nastiti, pp. 549-557. Jakarta: LIPI Press.
Simanjuntak, Truman, M. Hisyam, Bagyo Prasetyo, and Titi Surti Nastiti (editors). 2006. Archaeology: Indonesian Perspective. Jakarta: LIPI Press.
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