This guide will show you where to find the Monoliths in Shadow of the Tomb Raider and their riddle solutions to find the buried treasures. In order to read the Monoliths you will have to level up your language skills by finding Murals, Treasures, and Relics.
There are 12 Monoliths in SOTTR and they are needed for 100% game completion. You can still do them all after the story. The goal is always to find the hidden treasure for which a search area gets marked on the map after reading the monolith. This is accompanied by a riddle that helps you narrow down the exact dig site.
Peruvian Jungle (1 Monolith)
#1 – Two serpents guard life and death, I lie trapped within their eternal struggle.
It is located barely 15 meters away from the monolith itself, between 2 small snake statues.
Kuwaq Yaku (3 Monoliths)
#1 – I lie silent where arrows once flew, guarding a door which will no longer open.
It is described very precisely, it is in front of a door with a lot of arrows stuck in it. Climb the ledge to find it.
#2 – Two guardians have fangs, two guardians have feet. One guardian has both to better protect me.
Quick and simple, it is behind the statue in the very same room.
#3 – Take a deep breath and find me right under another’s nose.
Dive in the water of the marked search area. At the end of a tunnel where a stone-head statue is, you can dig up the treasure in the sand.
Hidden City (7 Monoliths)
#1 – A lone sentry stands guard over me and his harvest.
Located by a small statue in the corn field.
#2 – The waters below protect me from the waters above.
The riddle for this one is pretty obvious. It is located in the water near the waterfall north of the monolith. From the waterfall just swim around 10 meters back south to find it.
#3 – The youngest of four turns the back on his brothers, unable to speak as I lie in his mouth.
The four stands for the 4 towers in this area. The youngest means, the one which looks the least messed up, which is the one on the bottom of the hill.
#4 – Seven golden birds perched, here and there. One escaped to the trees with his treasure. Dropped from his talons, I’m waiting for you.
It’s exactly next to the 2nd closeby monolith of the area, behind a woman that’s standing there, under a tree.
#5 – Canals bring water to the arid parts of the village, and they washed me away.
From the monolith, follow the stream of water flowing downhill. Where the water stops you will find the treasure dig spot (by the ruined huts where some wood is burning).
#6 – They stand back-to-back, two brothers in arms. I lie at the feet of the one who watches the shaded serpent.
North of the monolith you will find 2 statues divided by a wall. Get to the statue behind the wall (coming from the south) and check the ground next to its left feet.
#7 – A once ferocious warrior, raided as a warning. I fell from his mouth and now lie beneath him.
Pull the rope arrow door downstairs of the Monolith. Behind it, on the edge of the cliff is the treasure location. It’s underneath a yellow warrior’s helmet on a spike (the ferocious warrior).
Mission of San Juan (1 Monolith)
#1- I swim with a turtle, seen only by those who let fear fall away.
Hidden underwater, near a turtle-shaped rock formation.
Those were all of the 12 Monoliths you can find in Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
Michael says
Hi the Monolith #4 in the Hidden City is for me bugged what can I do? Same in new game Plus.
Michael
PowerPyx says
Friend of mine has the same bug with #5 where the treasure doesn’t spawn :/
The Monoliths can glitch easily (no treasure dig site spawning)
John Smith says
Hidden City: The “Seven Golden Birds” one (the fluent yucatec monolith) is up the stairs to the left of Pisco the Dead’s house, hang a hard left around the wooden fence and it is on the ground behind the lady under the bird.
John Smith says
Hidden City: A once ferocious warrior, raided as a warning. I fell from his mouth and now lie beneath him. go to the right of the monolith and break the barrier down the stairs using a rope arrow, continue down the path to the right where the lion mask stands and dig up the cache
somtamchili says
bugged for me. no cache at this location…
Riv says
any news about glitched monoliths? will they patched it?
Ailsa says
All I need is number 1 & 2 from the Hidden City and then I’m 100% finished. But it’s not ther, I’ve spent hours looking for it in their locations (crying)
PowerPyx says
Sometimes they can glitch out, meaning the treasure cannot be dug up :/
I’m really sorry to hear that happened to you. Please do contact Square Enix support to make them aware of the issue. The same happened to a lot of other people. Currently, there is no known fix other than collecting it all again from scratch. You could try reinstalling the game but a friend of mine already tried that and didn’t work, but who knows maybe you have more luck.
Brancovitc says
I think the problem lays with the fact that the monolith treasure’s are already spawned and that we’ve collected them before we could read the monolith.
I’m sure that I found something at the turtle shaped rock from #12 before I could read it’s monolith. Now I can read it and there’s nothing to find any more.
Carlos says
Monolith # 5 in The Hidden City glitched twice on me. Even after the latest update, it doesnt show up.. I contacted them, hopefully they fix it..
John Mitchell says
Great walkthrough and thanks so much this was a huge help. Your other challenge videos were spot on too. Great stuff and thanks for taking the time to do this.