Regarding
Menhirs are rarer than dolmens in Minervois. The enormous menhir at Malves-en-Minervois, on the D38 just north of the village, is easily three times the height of a man, and probably extends the same length into the ground in order to have remained vertical for thousands of years.
It stands on a flat hill (given the human penchant for building mounds, there is always the question of whether these mounds are at least partly artificial) which must have been a particularly important place. Perhaps it was a meeting place for people from the mountains with those from the valley?