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Cyclopean

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Cyclopean (sīkləpē`ən), name often applied to a primitive method of prehistoric masonry construction, found throughout Greece, Italy, and the Middle East. The term is derived from Cyclopes, the mythological beings who were supposed to have built walls in this manner. The Cyclopean technique involves the use of huge, irregular boulders, carefully fitted together without the use of mortar, thereby creating a massive wall with an uneven face. These walls were characteristic of Mycenaean civilization Mycenaean civilization (mīsēnē`ən), an ancient Aegean civilization known from the excavations at Mycenae and other sites.
..... Click the link for more information. . Remaining examples are found at Knossos, Mycenae, Tiryns, and Athens. There are many Cyclopean walls in Etruscan and Anatolian architecture. Somewhat similar examples are seen in China, Japan, and Peru.


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President Barbicane and the members of the Gun Club warmly congratulated their engineer Murchison; the cyclopean work had been accomplished with extraordinary rapidity.
From The Earth To The Moon by Verne, Jules View in context
The engineering difficulties were great, the dredging and filling a cyclopean task.
Burning Daylight by London, Jack View in context
The day was glowing hot, and the scrambling over the rough surface and through the intricate thickets, was very fatiguing; but I was well repaid by the strange Cyclopean scene.
The Voyage of the Beagle by Darwin, Charles View in context
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