597 Sentences With "stone circles" | Random Sentence Generator

Thousands of years ago, megaliths began to appear in Europe — standing stones, dolmens, stone circles.

It even had its own quasi-naturalistic headset accessories: two large stone circles that delineated where participants could move.

I'm thinking a lot about circular formations that mark time and burial mounds: Stonehenge, Easter Island, African stone circles, etc.

And it almost looks like a futuristic reinterpretation of ancient stone circles, which carried, if not emotions, at least their own sets of associations.

The islands' histories include the Vikings, stone circles and a monastery dating back to 300 AD. A main attraction of this island is its natural beauty.

Mirza, 40, grew up in the UK as the child of immigrants and became fascinated by stone circles as an adult, touring archeological sites with his now-wife.

The experts believed it was a new discovery of what they know as Recumbent Stone Circles, which were built in the northeast region of Scotland about 3,500 to 4,500 years ago.

Mr. Stone circles back to the grand questions of power, war and secrecy that have propelled his most ambitious work, and finds a hero who fits a familiar Oliver Stone mold.

We'll later see some of these same spirals and geometric patterns in cave paintings and stone circles made by the Children of the Forest, which underlines the connection between the two species.

After stopping at the Wassu Stone Circles, a site of monoliths of uncertain origin that mark the burial sites of royalty past, Mr. Manjang took us to the edge of the River Gambia National Park.

"I've been to stone circles in Scotland—they're of course from 215,21973 years ago—and this is a pretty cool stone circle," said Austin Cooley, a radio DJ and musician who's lived in Houston since the early 225s.

The stone circles were built c. 2500 BC. Five-stone circles like that at Derryarkane are believed to be later in date.

Emblance Downs stone circles are a pair of stone circles located in the parish of St. Breward on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, England.

Machrie Moor Stone Circles is the collective name for six stone circles visible on Machrie Moor near the settlement of Machrie on the Isle of Arran, Scotland.

Mitchell's Fold and Hoarstones stone circles lie within the parish.

The surrounding area contains many stone circles, hut circles, cairns and cists.

Since publication, two other recumbent stone circles have been identified by archaeologists.

The Senegambian stone circles are also located in this zone. Numerous tumuli, burial mounds, some of which have been excavated, revealed materials that date between the 3rd century BC and the 16th century AD. According to UNESCO : "Together the stone circles of laterite pillars and their associated burial mounds present a vast sacred landscape created over more than 1,500 years. It reflects a prosperous, highly organized and lasting society."Stone Circles of Senegambia, UNESCO See the Senegambian stone circles, Serer ancient history and Serer religion articles for more on this.

Although Coles was careful and cautious in his identifications, he sometimes made misidentifications of circles in a ruinous condition. Somewhat similar stone circles were later found in the far southwest of Ireland where they were originally called recumbent stone circles until significant differences led to them becoming called "Cork–Kerry stone circles" and later axial stone circles. OpenStreetMap display of recumbent circles (all but two in Aberdeenshire) As part of their wider interest in northern European stone circles, the northeast Scotland circles attracted Alexander Thom, Aubrey Burl and Clive Ruggles who catalogued them as part of their investigations into whether the recumbent setting could in some way be shown to have an astronomical significance. Those identified as recumbent stone circles all were found in the traditional counties of Aberdeenshire (historic county) and Kincardineshire (with a very few just over the borders into Angus, and Banffshire).

Sixteen other forts, mottes, stone circles and cairns all lie within of Crossmichael.

On average Dorset's earthen henges are four times larger than the stone circles.

At Emba Derho in the Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands, two kinds of megalithic circles are found. The first type consists of single stone circles, whereas the second type comprises an inner circle enclosed within a larger circle (i.e. double stone circles).

Glebe Stone Circles are standing stones and National Monument located in County Mayo, Ireland.

Evidence for the destruction of stone circles first comes from the Late Bronze Age.

The vast number of Senegambian stone circles is also evidence of an emerging architecture.

The historian Ronald Hutton noted that, along with the chambered long barrows of the Early Neolithic, stone circles are one of the most prominent forms of monument produced in prehistoric Britain. Despite the commonly used term "stone circles", many of these monuments are not true circles, but are instead ellipses or ovals. The stone circles are not always found in isolation from other forms of monument and often intersect with timber and earth structures. For this reason, the archaeologist Richard Bradley cautioned against understanding stone circles, timber circles, and earthen henges as distinct "types" of monument.

The stone circles have been studied since John Aubrey's visit in 1664, and some excavations of the site were performed in the 18th century. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, geophysical surveys have confirmed the size of the stone circles and identified additional pits and postholes. The Cove has been shown to be around 1000 years older than the stone circles, and so date from 4000-3000 BCE. A variety of myths and legends about the stone circles have been recorded, including one about dancers at a celebration who have been turned to stone.

There are also a number of stone circles and a cairn.Sydney Morning Herald The site consists of a double arc shape of boulders, a cairn of stones and other small stone circles. The arc shape is often thought to represent a boomerang.

Rathfran Stone Circles is located to the west of Killala Bay, northeast of Summerhill House.

The remains of other sites, which were possibly stone circles, are also in the area.

New Haven, Yale University Press 1999, p. 175. and published a plan in the Journal of the British Archaeological Association.A. L. Lewis, On three Stone Circles in Cumberland, with some further Observations on the Relation of Stone Circles to adjacent Hills and outlying Stones.

Ancient stone circles are found throughout the Horn of Africa. Booco in northeastern Somalia contains a number of such old structures. Small stone circles here surround two enclosed platform monuments, which are set together. The circles of stone are believed to mark associated graves.

Prior to the publication of Rites of the Gods, Burl had already published several books on the subject of prehistoric religion, such as The Stone Circles of the British Isles (1976), Prehistoric Avebury (1979) and Rings of Stone: The Prehistoric Stone Circles of Britain and Ireland (1980).

Their nearest analogies are the circles found on Dartmoor and Exmoor to the west, and the Stanton Drew stone circles to the north. It is also possible that the stone circles were linked to a number of earthen henges erected in Dorset around the same period.

Horn Head has many remains of Neolithic stone circles, court tombs, passage tombs and prehistoric field boundaries.

The grave field consists of 660 graves which are historical monuments dating from 500 BC to 500 AD. Among these are one tumulus, a pair of grave cairns, about 300 stone circles in different shapes, two stone ships, and 14 stone circles. There are also 38 rectangular stone circles, about 300 menhirs and three sunken lanes. The grave site is roughly 500 meters long and about 300 meters wide. The Nynäs Line (Nynäsbanan) cuts through the field and splits into two parts.

Six stone circles are visible on the moor immediately east of the derelict Moss Farm.Machrie Moor Stone Circles, Historic Scotland, accessed 1 May 2014 Some circles are formed of granite boulders, while others are built of tall red sandstone pillars. The moor is covered with other prehistoric remains, including standing stones, burial cairns and cists. The stone circles are positioned over previous timber circles. A radiocarbon date of 2030 ± 180 BCE has been found for the timber circle at Machrie Moor 1.

Wassu stone circles. The Senegambian stone circles lie in The Gambia north of Janjanbureh and in central Senegal. With an approximate area of 30,000 km²,Laport et al. 2012, p. 410 they are sometimes divided into the Wassu (Gambian) and Sine-Saloum (Senegalese) circles, but this is purely a national division.

In 1961, Beale travelled to The Gambia where he was principal of The Gambia High School until 1966. While there he jointly organised an archaeological expedition to examine the Senegambian stone circles,"Stone circles in The Gambia, West Africa". by Philip Beale, Magdalene Matters, No. 38 (Nov. 2013), pp. 10-11.

The village is probably best known from the nearby megalithic stone circles and burial places of the Wielbark Culture.

The townland contains Scheduled Historic Monuments: Two stone circles, a standing stone and a possible cairn (grid ref: H4409 8185).

The archaeologist Alexander Thom suggested that the stone circles fell into four broad classes: circles, flattened circles, egg-shaped rings, and ellipses. Some stone circles, such as that at Stanton Drew in Somerset, are approached by a short alignment of paired stones. There are also stone avenues that link different monuments in the landscape, such as the West Kennet Avenue which links the Avebury henge to The Sanctuary. In some cases, the stone circles survive in such a damaged state that it is not possible to know what they originally looked like.

Kerbatch, an area comprising nine stone circles and one double circle, is located in Gambia's Nianija district. Kerbatch also features a V-shaped stone that had broken in three places and fallen.allafrica.com/stories/201206200701.html Yunus Saliu, "Gambia: World Heritage Sites of the Gambia- Wassu and Kerbatch Stone Circles", allAfrica 6/20/2012 This stone, that had been part of a frontal line, was restored during the 1965 Anglo-Gambian Stone Circles Expedition led by P. Ozanne. During this expedition Ozanne and his team excavated the double circle at Kerbatch.

B.K. Thapar was involved with excavations of the site in 1961. Initially, three stone circles were unearthed of which two circles revealed human remains associated with funerary objects; an animal skeleton of the Equidae (horse) family was also found. During these excavations, only cup- marked stones in the stone circles were noted. To establish the significance of these cup marks, which are fixed with specific orientation, TIFR instituted studies to establish if these stone circles have any link with astronomy or cosmogony of the people of the area.

In the Mediaeval and Early Modern period onward, much folklore developed around the subject of the stone circles. In Britain, several stone circles have been connected to the countless stones motif in folklore. The earliest recorded account comes from Philip Sidney's The 7 Wonders of England, written prior to 1586. Sidney linked the motif to Stonehenge.

There are numerous Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in the vicinity in County Antrim, and include stone circles, long barrows and stone rows.

It is also possible that the stone circles were linked to a number of earthen henges erected in Dorset around the same period.

These stone circles consist of a circle of upright stones, the orthostats, with a particularly large megalith, the recumbent, lying on its side with its long axis generally aligned with the perimeter of the ring between the south and southwest. On each side of the recumbent is a tall pillar-like stone called a flanker. This type of ring is found in lowland Aberdeenshire in northeast Scotland – the most similar monuments are the axial stone circles of southwest Ireland. Recumbent stone circles generally enclosed a low ring cairn, though over the millennia these have often disappeared.

These parts are connected with a walking tunnel under the railroad. When Nynäsbanan was expanded to double tracks from 1993-1994, some additional excavations were done at the grave field. On the western side of the railroad, archaeologists excavated the outer layer of humus and thus made several stone circles visible. To the east of the railroad, stone circles are not as visible - many of them only hinted at through observation of the raised parts of the ground however, there are more erected menhirs, rectangular stone circles and grave cairns here in the eastern area of the grave field.

About 100 metres to the northwest of Brat's Hill circle lie the two White Moss stone circles. One of them (White Moss North East) measures 16 metres in diameter and has 11 stones forming the circle, while the other (White Moss South West) measures 16.5 metres in diameter and has 14 stones forming the circle. Both stone circles have internal cairns.

Machrie Moor is the site of a number of neolithic structures dating back up to 4500 years ago. These include the six Machrie Moor Stone Circles, and Moss Farm Road Stone Circle. The standing stones were dated back to approximately 2500 years ago but excavations in the 1980s uncovered elaborate timber structures and stone circles which dated back even further in history.

Several settlements however remained stable for hundreds of years. A characteristic of the Wielbark culture, which it had in common with southern Scandinavia, was the raising of stone covered mounds, stone circles, solitary stelae and variations of cobble cladding. These stone circles might have been places of communal meatings. The Wielbark culture displays several characteristics similar to those of the Chernyakhov culture.

These features are also found in stone circles in Dumfriesshire. In particular, Swinside has a number of features in common with the Girdle Stanes.

They may have been a development from the Clava cairns found nearby in Inverness-shire and axial stone circles may have followed the design.

Grey Wethers consists of a pair of prehistoric stone circles, situated on grassy plateau to the north of Postbridge, Dartmoor, in the United Kingdom.

Castlerigg Stone Circle, April 2005 Much of our knowledge and understanding of Castlerigg stone circle has been passed down to us by the work of 18th-century antiquarians and 19th-century amateurs. Considering that the stone circles of Cumbria in general are of such antiquity, being the earliest stone circles in the whole of Europe, it is surprising that so little work has been carried out here under modern conditions and that none of the stone circles of Cumbria have so far been scientifically dated.Hodgson, J and Brennand, M (eds.) (2004) North West Region Archaeological Research Framework Prehistoric Resource Assessment Draft, November 2004. Since the 1960s, the names Aubrey Burl and Alexander Thom have become synonymous with stone circles and both men have contributed significantly to the literature on this subject, whilst taking opposing sides regarding their purpose and significance.

The Burnmoor Stone Circles are a group of five different approximately 4000-year-old stone circles in Cumbria. They are around 1 mile north of the village of Boot. The site which covers roughly a square mile is looked after by the National Trust. The largest circle is known as Brat's Hill and there are two nearby pairs of circles known as White Moss and Low Longrigg.

A minor stone circle in Brändåsen (), Hardemo parish, Närke. Although, Närke is north of the main distribution area, the province has 50 remaining stone circles The stone circles of the Iron Age (c. 500 BC - c. 400 AD) were a characteristic burial custom of southern Scandinavia and Southwestern Finland, especially on Gotland and in Götaland Finland court stones are found in Eura, Ulvila and Kokemäki.

Drombeg multiple-stone circle An axial stone circle is a particular type of megalithic ring of stones of which many are found in southwest Ireland. Archaeologists have found it convenient to consider axial five-stone circles and axial multiple-stone circles separately – this list is of multiple-stone circles, those with seven stones or more. They have an approximate axis of symmetry aligned in a generally northeast–southwest direction – the stone at the southwest side of the circle, rather than being an upright orthostat like all the rest, rests on the ground with its long axis horizontal. Because it marks the axis it is called the axial stone.

Stone circles were found in Fan Lau and other areas in Hong Kong. Its purpose is still unidentified but some suggests it is related to worship.

Sine Ngayene is the largest of the four areas, and home of 52 stone circles, one double circle, and 1102 carved stones. It is generally accepted that the single burials found here predate the multiple burials that are associated with the construction of the stone circles. The site of Sine Ngayene is located just northwest of Sine, Senegal, at the coordinates of 15°32′W, 13°41′N.Holl et al.

A stone circle in the area of northern Poland where the Goths initially settled after emigration from Scandza. A tradition of making stone circles existed on the European continent in Wielbark culture near the mouth of the Vistula River in the first century. The practice suggests Norse influence but may have been established in the area before the arrival of the Goths. The stone circles were sometimes used as burial grounds.

Several hut circles can also be seen as low rings of turf-covered stone. Map of the Machrie Moor Stone Circles The six stone circles are situated below a prominent notch on the skyline to the northeast where Machrie Glen divides into two steep-sided valleys. At the summer solstice the notch is intersected by the sun at sunrise, and this may explain why the circles were sited in this location.

Prehistoric and Protohistoric remnants have been found, many in the valleys above Cauterets: Eleven stone circles, four cromlech tumuli, six individual tumuli and five dolmens. The stone circles are particularly located in the Marcadau Valley and some plains and pastures. There are few traces of the period preceding the Roman conquest. Of the Gallo-Roman period, remains were found which used Cauterets thermal waters, such as a swimming pool.

Archaeological findings, such as a hill fort and stone circles near Flatensjön, indicate that Skarpnäcksfältet and nearby areas were populated by vikings as early as the 10th century.

They are interpreted as being variations on the ritual and funerary practice of enclosing significant sites of activity during the period, also exhibited by henges and stone circles.

Easter Aquhorthies recumbent stone circle A recumbent stone circle is a type of stone circle that incorporates a large monolith, known as a recumbent, lying on its side. They are found in only two regions: near Aberdeen in the north-east of Scotland, and in the far south-west of Ireland in the counties of Cork and Kerry where they used to be called recumbent stone circles but now are commonly called Cork–Kerry or axial stone circles. They are thought to be associated with rituals in which moonlight played a central role, as they are aligned with the arc of the southern moon. More than 200 such stone circles are known to exist.

Plan of the Hurlers, 1906 The Hurlers comprises three stone circles that lie on a line from SSW to NNE, and have diameters of , and . The two outer stone circles are circular. The middle circle, the largest is slightly elliptical. The survival of the southern stone circle, which now contains nine stones, has been most precarious: only two of the remaining stones are upright and the other seven are partially covered with soil.

In some examples, timber posts were replaced with stone ones, perhaps with the intention of making the monument more durable and protecting it from decay. In others, it is possible that both wooden and stone features of the circle were contemporary with each other. Like henges, the stone circles are almost exclusively found in the British Isles. The distribution of the stone circles is distinctive as it is broader than that of the henges.

The tipi ring site comprises seven stone circles, a stone cairn, a fire hearth and scattered stones. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

The Shap Stone Avenue (an unofficial name) is a megalithic complex near Shap in Cumbria comprising stone circles, a two-mile avenue (actually two avenues) of stones, and burial mounds.

They are generally found in the southwest, and associated with standing stones and stone circles; some dispute that there were ever burial sites, as no human remains have ever been recovered.

Kealkill is an example of the type of stone circle commonly found in counties Cork and Kerry. In 1909 they were first called recumbent stone circles because of their similarity to the recumbent stone circles of Aberdeenshire in Scotland which were also constructed to have a stone lying lengthways rather than upright. In 1975 the archaeologist Seán Ó Nualláin thought the differences from the Scottish rings were sufficiently great to call the Irish rings "Cork–Kerry stone circles" and the crucial stone became the "axial stone" rather than the recumbent stone – from the centre of the circle this stone marks the direction of an axis pointing southwest. Ó Nualláin identified two types of Cork–Kerry circle and Kealkill is in the five-stone category.

Illustration by W. C. Borlase 1872 Tregeseal East stone circle from the east Illustration by William Cotton 1827 Stone circles such as that at Tregeseal, were erected in the late Neolithic or in the early Bronze Age by representatives of a Megalithic culture. The first mention of the stone circle in the modern times is found in the 1754 work Antiquities, historical and monumental, of the County of Cornwall by William Borlase, who reported 17 upright standing stones. An early drawing, by William Cotton in 1827, can be found in his book Illustrations of Stone Circles, Cromlehs and other remains of the Aboriginal Britons in the West of Cornwall. At that time some of the standing stones in the other stone circles were still visible.

George Barnett (11 February 1876 – 10 April 1965) was an Irish historian, archaeologist, botanist, geologist, folklorist and poet. Self-taught, he acquired a vast knowledge of the Sperrin Mountains through experience, experimentation, observation, and traditional lore. He discovered many prehistoric sites, although he is best known for his discovery of the Beaghmore stone circles, and developed the theory that they were an ancient lunar observatory. This theory was expressed in his poem, The Beaghmore Stone Circles.

The stones are of squarish granite of approximately in height and around wide. Rough Tor, Tolborough Tor and Catshole Tor can be seen from the site with Brown Willy obscured behind Garrow Tor. The fragmentary remains of two other stone circles (Emblance Downs stone circles) can be found about 300 metres northwest of Leaze stone circle. Less than 1 kilometre in a west by north-west direction lies the enigmatic enclosure known as King Arthur's Hall.

There is growing evidence that megalithic constructions began as early as 5000 BCE in northwestern France, and that the custom and techniques spread via sea routes throughout Europe and the Mediterranean region from there. The Carnac Stones in France are estimated to have been built around 4500 BCE, and many of the formations include megalithic stone circles. The earliest stone circles in England were erected 2500–3000 BCE, during the Middle Neolithic (c. 3700-2500 BCE).

Instead, they began the construction of large wooden or stone circles, with many hundreds being built across Britain and Ireland over a period of a thousand years.Parker Pearson 2005. pp. 58–59.

Drombeg stone circle in Ireland, showing the small recumbent stone visible through the gap between the large portal stones opposite Irish recumbent stone circles take a rather different form, with the recumbent being small and placed in an isolated position on the southwest side while the two tallest stones, known as portals, stand opposite on the northeast side. It is highly likely that the recumbent stone circles of northeast Scotland and south-west Ireland are related, given how similar they are, but the geographical distance between them – several hundred kilometers of mountain terrain, bogs and sea – has prompted debate about how exactly the relationship came about. It is possible that rather than there being direct communication between the two locations, the ideas underlying recumbent stone circles were transmitted by a single influential person or group of people who – for whatever reason – left one location and perhaps settled in the other. Because of the differences in design they are now more commonly called Cork–Kerry or axial stone circles.

There are some remote Bronze Age stone circles, an Iron Age fortified village, and early Christian remains (including St. Blane's Chapel). The Bute Museum of the island's history is situated behind Rothesay Castle.

One particular feature noted in these circles is the placement of stones with cup marks. It is inferred that these circles have nothing in common with the menhirs, dolmens and other non- sepulchral and sepulchral megalithic structures of South India. Rivett Carnac was the first to report on his excavation of stone circles of Junapani, in 1879. Junapani is the second largest site, with 150 stone circles of megalithic period, out of 51 sites around Nagpur Region, and 89 in the Vidharba Region.

Ring cairns may have had a function that lay somewhere between that of the much older henges and the contemporary stone circles. In northeast Scotland the recumbent stone circles seem to have encircled a cairn and typically it was a ring cairn, as distinct from a Clava cairn. In some instances, in particular at Tomnaverie stone circle, the cairn was built before the circle according to an overall design. Usually all superficial trace of the cairns has disappeared over the millennia.

Craddock Moor Stone Circle or Craddock Moor Circle is a stone circle located near Minions on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, UK. It is situated around half a mile Northwest of The Hurlers (stone circles).

Further comparisons with Stonehenge were quickly noticed by Cunnington: both have entrances oriented approximately to the midsummer sunrise, and the diameters of the timber circles at Woodhenge and the stone circles at Stonehenge are similar.

Henges sometimes, but by no means always, featured stone or timber circles, and circle henge is sometimes used to describe these structures. The three largest stone circles in Britain (Avebury, the Great Circle at Stanton Drew stone circles, and the Ring of Brodgar) are each within a henge. Examples of henges without significant internal monuments are the three henges of Thornborough Henges. Although having given its name to the word henge, Stonehenge is atypical in that the ditch is outside the main earthwork bank.

Holl et al. 2007, p. 128 Evidence suggests that the burials occurred first with the stones being erected later, exclusively for the burials. Often frontal stones were erected on the East side of the stone circles.

Tipi rings are nearly all of the types of stone circles, except those that are medicine wheels or of very small diameter.What is a Medicine Wheel? Royal Alberta Museum, Government of Alberta. Retrieved December 8, 2011.

The dolmen collapsed in 1862 but was restored in the same year. No finds were recorded. There are 18th-century antiquarian reports of nearby stone circles and alignments. These reports are considered to be of "dubious accuracy".

Standing stones in the middle circle of The Hurlers The Hurlers from the north The north circle Map of the stone circles The Hurlers (Cornish: An Hurlysi"Place names in the SWF" at magakernow.org.uk) is a group of three stone circles in the civil parish of St Cleer, Cornwall, England, UK. The site is half-a-mile (0.8 km) west of the village of Minions on the eastern flank of Bodmin Moor, and approximately four miles (6 km) north of LiskeardOrdnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 201 Plymouth & Launceston at .

150m south west of Coate Stone Circle. Six stone circles were recorded in the 18th/19th and early 20th centuries, all in the Coate area, and possibly linked, at least in part, by avenues of large sarsen stones. The remains of one of the stone circles probably still lies at the bottom of the lake at Coate Water. Other relevant archaeology listed on the Sites and Monuments Records includes the Coate Mound, excavated with very little record in the earlier 20th c, which is spatially associated with the Mesolithic artifact scatter.

Between Chapeltown and Egerton are the remains of prehistoric stone circles on moorland at Cheetham Close which date back to the Bronze Age. These stone circles are the earliest evidence for settlers in the Turton area. One of the circles was 15 metres (51 ft) in diameter and some of the stones were several feet in height. In the 19th century there were many uninvited visitors to the site which caused the local farmer, a tenant of Turton Tower, to break it up in 1871 using his team of carthorses and sledge hammers.

The stone circles of Junapani are prehistoric megalithic circles in Junapani, near Nagpur in the Indian state of Maharashtra. There are about 300 such stone circles noted around Junapani. They were first excavated by J. H. Rivett- Carnac in 1879, yielding a variety of iron objects including daggers, flat axes with cross-ring fasteners, hoes, rings, bracelets, horse bits, chisels with long blades, and pointed tongs, possibly covered with a wooden handle. There is also evidence of black and red pottery, such as bowls featuring linear paintings in black.

These businesses survive on fell walkers (ramblers), the passengers of the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway (which stops less than 300 metres from Boot), and holiday-makers from the nearby campsite and cottages. Also in the area is an old boarding house (now available to rent) and a small church. On the moorland around one mile north of the village are five stone circles known collectively as the Burnmoor stone circles.Burnmoor Stone Circles, Lake District National Park On 2 June 2010, Boot became the centre of a search after a shooting spree in Cumbria.

View of the fragmentary Kirkton of Bourtie stone circle, illustrating the wide vistas chosen by the circle- builders Recumbent stone circles are believed to have been designed for ritualistic astronomical purposes. The moon would have appeared above the recumbent stone, framed between the flankers. Scotland's recumbent stone circles have an average diameter of about , so a recumbent stone that was long would have given an observer an arc of vision of around 10 degrees. This would have given the worshippers about an hour during which the moon would pass over the stone.

Edward Craig, ed., Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Index (1998), p. 645 In Who's Who, Lawrance states his recreations as "Searching for stone circles with daughter, entertaining friends, evading capture by elephants, loud music, geriatric football, Bologna."'LAWRANCE, Prof.

Their religious rites are said to have invariably taken place at sunrise, usually on rock outcrops. Some involved animal sacrifices. Some were reserved for elders, while others were open to all. Ritual feasts were held at stone circles.

The route traverses the southern are of the Sperrin Mountains. It serves much of the rural community of the locality, as well as An Creagán cultural centre, Dunnamore stone circles, Wellbrook Beetling Mill, and Drum Monor Forest Park.

Butler, Jeremy., Dartmoor atlas of antiquities, Volume 2, Devon Books, p. 192, 1991. Estimates for the original number of stones have varied between 51 and approximately 70 making it among Devon's widest stone circles with the tallest remaining monolith.

Cornish Blue, a cheese made by the Cornish Cheese Company at Upton Cross, was the winning cheese in the World Food Awards in December 2010. The Hurlers are a group of three stone circles some distance to the west.

Eskdalemuir is rich in archaeological remains, including two neolithic stone circles, the Loupin Stanes and the Girdle Stanes, and bank barrow, Castle O'er, a possible ritual centre for the Selgovae, Raeburnfoot, a Roman fort and later dark age fortifications and settlements.

These structures are designated by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) as monuments of national importance. The site was excavated by ASI in 1962 which unearthed three stone circles. The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) has funded additional studies.

Cullingford, pp. 23–24 There are numerous ancient burial sites and standing stones.Cullingford, pp. 15 & 16Hilliam, p. 124 Some of the more impressive include the stone circles at Kingston Russell, Hampton Hill, Rempstone and Nine Stones near Winterbourne Abbas.Hilliam, pp.

Stone circles and clearings, containing Later Stone Age occupation or activity debris, on and around the hill were noted by Stow in the 1870s.Stow, G. W. 1905. The native races of South Africa. London: Swan, Sonnenschein. Cf. Clark, J.D. 1959.

Although Stonehenge predates the Iron Age and there is no evidence that it was ever used by Iron Age druids, many modern Druids believe that their ancient namesakes did indeed use it for their ceremonies. Druids also use many other prehistoric sites as spaces for their rituals, including stone circles like that at Avebury in Wiltshire. Some Druids have erected their own, modern stone circles in which to perform their ceremonies. Druidic practices have also taken place at Early Neolithic chambered long barrows such as Wayland's Smithy in Oxfordshire, and the Coldrum Long Barrow in Kent.

It is possible that they were not all constructed around the same date. The Piggotts suggested that while they may well be Early Bronze Age in date, it is also possible that "their use and possibly their construction may last into the Middle and even into the Late Bronze Age". Their nearest analogies are the circles found on Dartmoor and Exmoor to the west, and the Stanton Drew stone circles to the north. It is also possible that the stone circles were linked to a number of earthen henges erected in Dorset around the same period.

According to the Gazetteer for Scotland the island was an "early Christian retreat" and that it has several stone circles. Haswell-Smith refers to "three prehistoric stone circles" and a "prehistoric stone circle ... beside the burn" that had been dug up and placed there by the naturalist John Harvie Brown.Haswell-Smith (2004) pp. 191-92 Harvie Brown visited the island on July 4, 1884 and "saw the remains of old crofts, and a curious and perfect circle of stones, lying flat on their sides with the smaller ends towards a common centre, and sunk flush with the surface of the short green sward".

It is usually quite thin and it lies with its long thin edge along the circumference of the ring. Dating from the Bronze Age, axial stone circles when constructed had an odd number of stones with two stones (portal stones) placed on either side of where the axis crosses the northeast side of the ring. They are found in County Cork and County Kerry. Early in the 20th century they were called recumbent stone circles by analogy with similar examples in Scotland but when it became clear there were substantial differences the term "Cork–Kerry stone circle" was adopted.

Stone circles are most densely concentrated in southwestern Britain and on the northeastern horn of Scotland, near Aberdeen. The tradition of their construction may have lasted for 2,400 years, from 3300 to 900 BCE, with the major phase of building taking place between 3000 and 1,300 BCE. The stones These stone circles typically show very little evidence of human visitation during the period immediately following their creation. This suggests that they were not sites used for rituals that left archaeologically visible evidence, and may have been deliberately created to serve as what the historian Ronald Hutton describes as "silent and empty monuments".

Such a kurgan could include one or several individual burials, have a diameter of up to a dozen or so meters, and be up to 1 meter high. Some burial grounds feature large stone circles of massive boulders up to 1.7 meters high, separated by several meters of spaces, sometimes connected by smaller stones; the whole structure is 10–40 meters in diameter. In the middle of the circles, one to four stelae were placed, and sometimes a single grave. The stone circles are believed to be the locations of meetings of Scandinavian (see below) tings (assemblies or courts).

Around that time stone circles began to be built in the coastal and lowland areas towards the north of the United Kingdom. The Langdale axe industry in the Lake District appears to have been an important early centre for circle building, perhaps because of its economic power. Many had closely set stones, perhaps similar to the earth banks of henges; others were made from boulders placed stably on the ground rather than standing stones held erect by a foundation trench. Recent research shows that two oldest stone circles in Britain (Stenness and Callanish) were constructed to align with solar and lunar positions.

Avebury () is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, in southwest England. One of the best known prehistoric sites in Britain, it contains the largest megalithic stone circle in the world. It is both a tourist attraction and a place of religious importance to contemporary pagans. Constructed over several hundred years in the Third Millennium BC, during the Neolithic, or New Stone Age, the monument comprises a large henge (a bank and a ditch) with a large outer stone circle and two separate smaller stone circles situated inside the centre of the monument.

Balquhain Stone Circle Balquhain, also known as Balquhain Stone Circle, is a recumbent stone circle from Inverurie in Scotland.Burl, A. The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, p. 227, Yale University Press, 2000, Newhaven & London. It is a scheduled ancient monument.

Booco is situated in the Aluula District, near Aluula. The site features a number of ancient structures. Two of these are enclosed platform monuments set together, which are surrounded by small stone circles. The circles of stone are believed to mark associated graves.

Barrowclough (2010), p. 83. Also at this time, possibly reflecting economic power created by the Axe Factory, stone circles and henges began to be built across the county. Indeed, "Cumbria has one of the largest number of preserved field monuments in England".

Standing stones can be found isolated or forming circular arrays (stone circles or cromlechs). The Almendres Cromlech, also located near Évora, is the largest of the Iberian Peninsula, containing nearly 100 menhirs arranged in two elliptical arrays on an east–west orientation.

San Miguel Sanctuary, mount Beriain in the background Megalithic monuments indicate prehistoric habitation of the range. These monuments include tumuli, stone circles and menhirs. There are 17 on the Gipuzkoan side and 44 on the Navarrese side of the range. Archaeological evidence suggests Neolithic pastoralism.

The area of Wanar is located in the Kaffrine district of Senegal, and is made up of 21 stone circles and one double circle. There are also numerous lyre-stones. In fact, one third of all Senegambian lyre-stones are located at Wanar.Laport et al.

The Modern Antiquarian: A Pre-Millennial Odyssey Through Megalithic Britain is a guide book written by Julian Cope, published in 1998. It is written as a travelogue of British megalithic sites, including Stonehenge and Avebury. Types of artifacts catalogued include stone circles, hillforts and barrows.

Rhymney Valley Gorsedd Stones The Rhymney Valley Gorsedd Stones are located above Byrn Bach park, Tredegar on the site of the 1990 National Eisteddfod of Wales hosted by the Rhymney Valley. The stone circle consists of 12 standing stones arranged in a circle approximately 25m across with the tallest being 1.8m high a thirteenth stone marks the entrance to the circle. In the center is a flat stone known as the Logan stone. Stone circles of this type were erected on all sites of the National Eisteddfod until 2005 when as a cost-cutting exercise fibre-glass stone circles were used for the first time.

While the transition from the Early Neolithic to the Late Neolithic in the fourth and third millennia BCE saw much economic and technological continuity, there was a considerable change in the style of monuments erected, particularly in what is now southern and eastern England. By 3000 BCE, the long barrows, causewayed enclosures, and cursuses which had predominated in the Early Neolithic were no longer built, and had been replaced by circular monuments of various kinds. These include earthen henges, timber circles, and stone circles. Stone circles are found in most areas of Britain where stone is available, with the exception of the island's south-eastern corner.

While the transition from the Early Neolithic to the Late Neolithic in the fourth and third millennia BCE saw much economic and technological continuity, there was a considerable change in the style of monuments erected, particularly in what is now southern and eastern England. By 3000 BCE, the long barrows, causewayed enclosures, and cursuses that had predominated in the Early Neolithic were no longer built, and had been replaced by circular monuments of various kinds. These include earthen henges, timber circles, and stone circles. Stone circles exist in most areas of Britain where stone is available, with the exception of the island's south- eastern corner.

While the transition from the Early Neolithic to the Late Neolithic in the fourth and third millennia BCE saw much economic and technological continuity, there was a considerable change in the style of monuments erected, particularly in what is now southern and eastern England. By 3000 BCE, the long barrows, causewayed enclosures, and cursuses that had predominated in the Early Neolithic were no longer built, and had been replaced by circular monuments of various kinds. These include earthen henges, timber circles, and stone circles. Stone circles are found in most areas of Britain where stone is available, with the exception of the island's south- eastern corner.

While the transition from the Early Neolithic to the Late Neolithic in the fourth and third millennia BCE saw much economic and technological continuity, there was a considerable change in the style of monuments erected, particularly in what is now southern and eastern England. By 3000 BCE, the long barrows, causewayed enclosures, and cursuses which had predominated in the Early Neolithic were no longer built, and had been replaced by circular monuments of various kinds. These include earthen henges, timber circles, and stone circles. Stone circles are found in most areas of Britain where stone is available, with the exception of the island's south-eastern corner.

While the transition from the Early Neolithic to the Late Neolithic in the fourth and third millennia BCE saw much economic and technological continuity, there was a considerable change in the style of monuments erected, particularly in what is now southern and eastern England. By 3000 BCE, the long barrows, causewayed enclosures, and cursuses which had predominated in the Early Neolithic were no longer built, and had been replaced by circular monuments of various kinds. These include earthen henges, timber circles, and stone circles. Stone circles are found in most areas of Britain where stone is available, with the exception of the island's south- eastern corner.

While the transition from the Early Neolithic to the Late Neolithic in the fourth and third millennia BCE saw much economic and technological continuity, there was a considerable change in the style of monuments erected, particularly in what is now southern and eastern England. By 3000 BCE, the long barrows, causewayed enclosures, and cursuses which had predominated in the Early Neolithic were no longer built, and had been replaced by circular monuments of various kinds. These include earthen henges, timber circles, and stone circles. Stone circles are found in most areas of Britain where stone is available, with the exception of the island's south-eastern corner.

Aerial video of the great circle and north east circle at Stanton Drew stone circles The Stanton Drew stone circles are just outside the village of Stanton Drew in the English county of Somerset. The largest stone circle is the Great Circle, in diameter and the second largest stone circle in Britain (after Avebury); it is considered to be one of the largest Neolithic monuments to have been built. The date of construction is not known, but is thought to be between 3000 and 2000 BCE, which places it in the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age. It was made a scheduled monument in 1982.

Easter Aquhorthies recumbent stone circle near Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland Dunnideer recumbent stone circle near Insch, Aberdeenshire, Scotland Recumbent stone circles are a variation containing a single large stone placed on its side. The stones are often ordered by height, with the tallest being the portals, with gradually reducing heights around each side of the circle, down to the recumbent stone, which is the lowest. The type is found throughout the British Isles and Brittany, with 71 examples in Scotland, and at least 20 in south-west Ireland. In the latter nation they are generally called axial stone circles, including Drombeg stone circle near Rosscarbery, County Cork.

While the transition from the Early Neolithic to the Late Neolithic in the fourth and third millennia BCE saw much economic and technological continuity, there was a considerable change in the style of monuments erected, particularly in what is now southern and eastern England. By 3000 BCE, the long barrows, causewayed enclosures, and cursuses that had predominated in the Early Neolithic were no longer built, and had been replaced by circular monuments of various kinds. These include earthen henges, timber circles, and stone circles. Stone circles are found in most areas of Britain where stone is available, with the exception of the island's south-eastern corner.

The circle, photographed in 2014 While the transition from the Early Neolithic to the Late Neolithic in the fourth and third millennia BCE saw much economic and technological continuity, there was a considerable change in the style of monuments erected, particularly in what is now southern and eastern England. By 3000 BCE, the long barrows, causewayed enclosures, and cursuses which had predominated in the Early Neolithic were no longer built, and had been replaced by circular monuments of various kinds. These include earthen henges, timber circles, and stone circles. Stone circles are found in most areas of Britain where stone is available, with the exception of the island's south-eastern corner.

There are only two known prehistoric stone circles on Exmoor: Porlock and Withypool Stone Circle. The archaeologist Leslie Grinsell suggested that the circular stone monument on Almsworthy Common was "probably" the remains of a stone circle, although more recent assessments regard it one of the stone settings, a different form of monument that is more common across Exmoor. Archaeologists have dated these circles to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age, and have noted that they are comparable to the stone circles found further south, on Dartmoor. In contrast to the two known Exmoor circles, over seventy such monuments have been identified on Dartmoor.

While the transition from the Early Neolithic to the Late Neolithic in the fourth and third millennia BCE saw much economic and technological continuity, there was a considerable change in the style of monuments erected, particularly in what is now southern and eastern England. By 3000 BCE, the long barrows, causewayed enclosures, and cursuses which had predominated in the Early Neolithic were no longer built, and had been replaced by circular monuments of various kinds. These include earthen henges, timber circles, and stone circles. Stone circles are found in most areas of Britain where stone is available, with the exception of the island's south-eastern corner.

Remnants of a bridge and a cemetery have been excavated. Some artifacts found in the graves originated in Ireland and in the lands east of the Baltic. Following Scandinavian customs, the dead were buried either in stone ships, i.e. ship-like graves, or within stone circles.

Campaigning to save the Aerial Glide at Shipley Glen. and its story can be read on the wall of the Archaeology room. On the moor opposite Bracken Hall there is a neolithic stone circle.The Megalithic Portal: map of stone circles and engraved stones in the Bradford area.

It covers an area of 70x190 meters and includes stone circles and stone ships. Ljungby has had at least two churches. The old one caught fire in 1869 and was replaced with a new one at the same spot, inaugurated in 1875. An inn was established in 1764.

Llamedos is run by druids, who dot the land with stone circles used for computation. This is a lifetime job, since they frequently need upgrading. Llamedos is a fairly obvious parody of the British constituent country Wales. Its annual bardic competition, the Eisteddfod, is still held in Wales.

Lambrick noted that similar features could be found within the stone circles of Mayburgh, Stenness and Balbirnie. He said that it was a possible original prehistoric feature, although accepted it may equally have been the result of refuse deposited in the Romano-British period, or tree-planting holes.

Aubrey Burl's gazetteer lists 1,303 stone circles in Britain, Ireland and Brittany. The largest number of these are found in Scotland, with 508 sites recorded. There are 316 in England; 187 in Ireland; 156 in Northern Ireland; 81 in Wales; 49 in Brittany; and 6 in the Channel Isles.

The principal historical site in the parish is the Calanais Stones which are a neolithic site of international importance. They are unusual in being cross-shaped with an avenue leading to the central point. This main Calanais site is connected to seven other stone circles in the locality.

Further evidence can be found in Kilmartin Glen with its Stone Circles, Standing Stones and Rock Art The widespread connections of these people are shown by offerings imported from Cumbria and Wales and left on the sacred hilltop at Cairnpapple Hill, West Lothian, as early as 3500 BC.

There are numerous ancient tombs, stone circles and megaliths in the vicinity as well as large burial mounds implanted with baobab trees. Kahone is routinely involved in many administrative territorial disputes with neighboring communes, always emphasizing its earlier importance. In 2007, according to official estimates, Kahone had 5,852 inhabitants.

Senegambian stone circles. The dead, especially those from the upper echelons of society, were mummified in order to prepare them for the afterlife (Jaaniiw). They were accompanied by grave goods including gold, silver, metal, their armour and other personal objects. Mummification is less common now, especially post- independence.

Th. Dagan, Le Site préhistorique de Tiémassas (Sénégal), Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Afrique Noire (1956), pp. 432-48 This culture was named after Thiès, the region it is in. Senegambian stone circles (Wassu)Gravrand, Henry, La Civilisation Sereer: Pangool, Nouvelles Editions Africaines du Senegal (1990), pp, 9, 20 & 77\.

Runestone U 661This stone is in style Fp. It is located c. 500 metres south- west of the church of Råby in a gravefield with c. 175 registered pre-historic monuments. Among these monuments, there are many raised stones, mostly in stone circles, 34 barrows and a triangular cairn.

The Avebury monument is vast, and consists of several smaller sites of varying dates. The earliest of these, the earthworks, dates to between 3400 and 2625 BC. Later additions include a henge and several stone circles. Starting in around the 14th century, locals began dismantling the stone circles for one reason or another: to clear land, to provide material for other building projects, or simply to efface a pagan monument. In 1648 John Aubrey visited the site and found most of the stones still standing or lying nearby: > These Downes looke as if they were Sown with great Stones, very thicke; and > in a dusky evening they looke like a flock of Sheep: from whence it takes > its name.

At Runsa and Skavsta's prehistoric fortifications, known as hill forts. Traces of aboriginal burial grounds are found in many places in the form of mounds, stone circles, standing stones or minor bumps. The graves are sometimes the shape of a ship, as at Runsa, one of Sweden's most famous stone circles. It is 56 meters from the bow and stern and were made in 400-500 AD. Other cemeteries in the form of large burial mounds exist near Löwenströmska Hospital and Runby, called Zamores hill after the timpanist Antonin Zamore, a North African who came to Sweden in the late 1700s and who lived on the Runby Lower farm, now called the homestead.

There are only two known prehistoric stone circles on Exmoor: Withypool and Porlock Stone Circle. The archaeologist Leslie Grinsell suggested that the circular stone monument on Almsworthy Common was "probably" the remains of a stone circle, although more recent assessments regard it one of the stone settings, a different form of monument which is more common across Exmoor. Withypool Stone Circle in its landscape context, 2014 Archaeologists have dated these circles to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age, and have noted that they are comparable to the stone circles found further south, on Dartmoor. In contrast to the two known Exmoor circles, over seventy such monuments have been identified on Dartmoor.

About south of the largest stone ship lies another, and wide, surrounded by two small stone circles, a stone tumulus in diameter and a smaller, slightly damaged stone ship. Approximately east of the first stone ship is a burial site consisting of one tumulus and eight round stone circles. There is also a large stone tumulus, in diameter and high, halfway between the stone ships and the fishing village. North of the stone ships is the only megalithic tomb on Gotland dating to 3600–2900 BC. Excavations at the site have revealed the remains of several people from different time periods up until 85 AD, making it a collective grave that has been reused several times.

The town of Nioro du Rip was the capital of Rip (a kingdom of the marabout leader Maba Diakhou Bâ). Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba Mbacké (founder of The Mouride brotherhood) at one point lived here. Nioro is near one group of the Senegambian stone circles which date from the eighth century.

Clare, 2007, p.44 Long Meg was something more than a burial place. However, the exact nature of the purpose of the monument is still a matter of conjecture. Clare summarises the various arguments concerning types, purpose, construction, size, layout, origins and dates, of Cumbrian stone circles and other monuments.

In Cornwall, the saint is known as St Breward. St Breward's church is the highest in Cornwall, located on Bodmin moor, in the village of the same name. The village had a Granite quarrying industry from ancient times; the Norman church was built from local stone. There are nearby stone circles.

Long Meg and Her Daughters, the largest example of Alexander Thom's Type B Flattened Circle Alexander "Sandy" Thom (26 March 1894 – 7 November 1985) was a Scottish engineer most famous for his theory of the Megalithic yard, categorisation of stone circles and his studies of Stonehenge and other archaeological sites.

The Pipers are a pair of standing stones near The Hurlers stone circles, located on Bodmin Moor near the village of Minions, Cornwall, UK. They share the name with another pair of standing stones near the Merry Maidens to the south of the village of St Buryan, also in Cornwall.

The largest stela has 1.75meters with its circumference of 1.3meters, and the smallest stela is 0.76 meter. The megalithic tradition exists in the northern part of Ethiopia. Some stone circles are identified in Amba Dero area. But there is scare information about megalithic culture in the northern part of Ethiopia.

Hearths found in the center of tipi rings suggest a winter encampment. In the summer, food was cooked in open-air hearths. There are generally few artifacts found at these sites. Stone circles, of which tipi rings are an example, may be simply assembled rocks placed in single or multiple courses.

Around 1862, when the area was ploughed, some of the stones were buried or blasted.Aubrey Burl (2005) A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, page 80. Some stones have been taken for a wall to the south. Ploughing uncovered two worked flints and a probable cist- slab.

The Blaauboskraal stone ruins are among a number of stone circle ruins located in the Mpumalanga escarpment over an area of approximately 150 km2, a number of which are facing threats to conservation. Information about the people who created these stone circles and terraces was often omitted from South African historical sources.

Glenquicken stone circle or Billy Diamond's Bridge stone circle () is an oval stone circle with a central pillar, two miles east of Creetown, Dumfries and Galloway. The outer ring is formed of 29 stones. Aubrey Burl has called it "the finest of all centre-stone circles." It is a scheduled ancient monument.

Mediaeval toponymy Cornish stone circles and rows are often called maidens. Significantly, medn is late Cornish for stone. The associated legend (of petrifaction for dancing or playing on the sabbath) is clearly post- Christian. The timing of language change from Cornish to English suggests mediaeval naming, though some may be more recent.

The individual standing stones ("bautastones"), mark the Iron Age graves at Ekornavallen, and they are placed in an almost straight line from the north to south. The stone circles are of a type common in Sweden which were typically built in the five hundred years up to 500 AD. Their function is uncertain.

The outer cairn has been destroyed by a combination of road construction and stone robbing, although Castleden discusses whether or not a covering mound ever existed. The chamber lies close to a series of Early Bronze Age monuments to the south including two stone circles, a standing stone and a round barrow cemetery.

The single graves inside the circles are probably those of human sacrifices meant to propitiate the gods and assure their support for the deliberations. A stone kurgan cemetery was found in Węsiory, Kartuzy County; another burial site with 10 large stone circles was discovered in Odry, Chojnice County, both dated 2nd century CE.

Around it are the remains of houses, walls and cairns of the same period. There are numerous Neolithic era standing stones including those at Yoxie on Whalsay and at Boardastubble, Unst. Hjaltadans on Fetlar is a ring of stones, although there are no true stone circles as such in Shetland.Turner (1998) p.

Rostki is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Troszyn, within Ostrołęka County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It lies approximately south of Troszyn, south-east of Ostrołęka, and north-east of Warsaw. The village has a population of 60. There are the remains of stone circles in the nearby forest.

Kuntaur is located in Central River Division, in the district of Niani, on the north bank of the Gambia River which is about three kilometres south of Wassu and 13 kilometres north of Janjanbureh. The North Bank Road, an important highway crosses Wassu, where the well-known Wassu stone circles are located.

The circles were composed of large river boulders, varying in diameters between and . A nearby ramleh outcrop contains a large, square empty cistern or well cut into the sandstone. Flints including Levallois cores, flakes and waste were dispersed across the whole area but gave little evidence regarding the age of the stone circles.

The north facing side of the Moffat Hills is bounded by a minor road (no road number on the Ordnance Survey map) which runs from Tweedsmuir village to St Mary's Loch, passing along the banks of the Talla Reservoir and the Megget Reservoir and rising to 450 metres by the Megget Stone.Ancient Stones A Guide to Standing Stones & Stone Circles in the South of Scotland The hills to the north here are called the Manor or Tweedsmuir hillsAncient Stones A Guide to Standing Stones & Stone Circles in the South of Scotland and the hills to the north west of the Moffat hills are called the Culters (pronounced Cooters). There is a third reservoir within the Moffat hills area called the Fruid where two Bronze Age round housesFruid unenclosed platform settlement Biggar Archaeological group have been excavated in recent times and on the road from Tweedsmuir to the Fruid there are also standing stones.Ancient Stones A Guide to Standing Stones & Stone Circles in the South of Scotland In 1885 when the Talla dam was being built they put in a railway to help get construction materials to the site.

In northern Wiltshire, in the area to the south of Swindon, at least seven stone circles are reported as having existed, often only a few miles distant from one another; of these, the Day House Lane Stone Circle is the only example to survive. The stones of the Fir Clump Stone Circle were for instance removed during construction of the M4 motorway in 1969. The Nine Stones near Winterbourne Abbas, Dorset The area of modern Dorset has a "thin scatter" of stone circles, with nine possible examples known within its boundaries: Hampton Down Stone Circle, Kingston Russell Stone Circle, Nine Stones, and Rempstone Stone Circle remain visible. The archaeologist John Gale described these as "a small but significant group" of such monuments.

Five further concentric post rings had also been erected outside and inside the main wooden circle although these were made from narrower timbers and may have supported hurdling or a palisade. Later during the site's use the timber circle was replaced by two concentric stone circles, again with an entrance to the west and some time after this the henge was constructed. Around 1900 BC a pit was dug in the centre of the stone circles and in it was placed the body of a young man along with a flint knife and a handled beaker. Later excavation between 1983 and 1985 by Barclay and Russell-White demonstrated that there were scatters of earlier Neolithic pits round the Balfarg henge.

In his study of the stone circles of Cumbria, archaeologist John Waterhouse commented that the site was "one of the most visually impressive prehistoric monuments in Britain."Waterhouse 1985. p. 43. Every year, thousands of tourists travel to the site, making it the most visited stone circle in Cumbria.Díaz-Andreu et al 2006, 1580.

In his book, "Stonehenge, Avebury and Drombeg Stone Circle Deciphered", he wrote that most stone circles were planned as sunrise fertility monuments, and so need to be studied at sunrise. Meaden writes that the Neolithic calendar was based on the eight festival dates of traditional agriculture, corresponding roughly to the pagan Wheel of the Year.

Seminole Canyon State Park and Historic Site has cave drawings and other evidence of settlement dating from the early Archaic period, around 7000 BC. Later remains include stone circles and cairns of the late Prehistoric, and even 19th-century remains from the construction of the Southern Pacific, one of the nation's first transcontinental railroads.

Early archaeoastronomy began by surveying alignments of Megalithic stones in the British Isles and sites like Aughlish in County Londonderry in an attempt to find statistical patternsAughlish (also Auglish) is a townland and the site of at least six stone circles and two stone rows, in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 3.6 km from Feeny.

The burial sites were characterized by cairns. About 150 stone circles have been studied and documented. A notable feature is the cup-marked stones in the circles which seem to suggest an astronomical significance. This aspect has been discerned from the fact that the cup-marked stones are fixed at specific locations denoting specific directions.

There is much more visible evidence of Neolithic activity than of any earlier period. This consists mostly of finds of axes and the presence of monuments (stone circles, cairns). However, " there are few settlement traces represented either by physical structures or surface flintwork"..."pottery finds are...very poorly represented in Cumbria".Barrowclough (2010), pp.

Irish axial stone circles are found in Cork and Kerry counties. These do not have tall flanking stones on either side of the recumbent stone. Instead, there are two tall stones at the side of the circle opposite the recumbent stone. These are known as 'portals', as they form an entrance into the circle.

Culbone Church is the smallest English parish church still holding services. Many legends exist about Somerset. The Stanton Drew stone circles are said to have been formed when a wedding party continued to dance on the Lord's day. Likewise the Witch of Wookey Hole is said to have been turned to stone by a priest.

Comparatively few temples have been excavated to date, so these schemas remain provisional. The oldest south Arabian sanctuaries belong to the prehistoric period and were simple stone monoliths, sometimes surrounded by stone circles or mortarless masonry walls. In a second phase, actual temples were constructed. These temples were simple rectangular stone structures without roofs.

Chandupatla, Nakrekal Mandal has the traces of rich history. The Hindu, historian D. Suraya Kumar explored megalithic monuments, which are from the Iron Age period (1000 B.C. to 200 B.C.) and found three types of Megalithic monuments: stone circles, dolemanscist burials, and burrows. These are funerary burials of ancient Iron Age people. Chalukyas, Kakatiyas, and finally Nizams ruled it.

The history of Auchterless dates back to prehistoric times, with prehistoric remains including stone circles, and the remains of earthen huts. Towie-Barclay farm incorporates Tolly Castle, once a Barclay stronghold. It is two miles north east of Auchterless. It was built in the 14th century, but the bulk of the remains are from the 16th century.

Late Neolithic Britons also appeared to have changed their religious beliefs, ceasing to construct the large chambered tombs that archeologists widely think were connected with ancestor veneration. Instead, they began the construction of large wooden or stone circles, with many hundreds being built across Britain and Ireland over a period of a thousand years.Parker Pearson 2005. pp. 58–59.

Rowlands investigated of stone circles, cromlechs, and other prehistoric remains. He conjectured that Anglesey was the ancient centre of the Druids. His major work was Mona Antiqua Restaurata, an Archæological Discourse on the Antiquities Natural and Historical of the Island (Dublin, 1723). A second edition was issued, London, 1766, and a supplement with topographical details in 1775.

Callan's book claims that Diana was murdered then her corpse was dragged around Scottish stone circles until it fell apart, and Callum/Alan decides to test this by repeating the process with a ventriloquist's dummy. The novel contains extensive descriptions of Aberdeen and nearby parts of Scotland. About a third of the novel is pornographic sex scenes.

It was noted that while Falkner's Circle and Clatford Stone Circle bore many similarities in location and design, the Winterbourne Bassett Stone Circle was "distinctly different in setting and magnitude". It is possible that these three rings might have begun as timber circles before being changed to stone ones, or that the stone circles themselves included wooden elements.

3300 BC – c. 2900 BC) saw the development of cursus monuments close to earlier barrows and the growth and abandonment of causewayed enclosures, as well as the building of impressive chamber tombs such as the Maeshowe types. The earliest stone circles and individual burials also appear. Different pottery types, such as grooved ware, appear during the later Neolithic (c.

The road meets Japan National Route 104 and turns to the southwest towards Kazuno, Akita. In Kazuno it passes by the Ōyu Stone Circles a Jōmon period site. It continues into the city of Kazuno. In the city it passes under the Tōhoku Expressway and then crosses over the Yoneshiro River where it has a junction with the expressway.

Grey Croft stone circle is a circle of 12 stones situated south of the Sellafield nuclear site.GREY CROFT STONE CIRCLE, Pastscape, retrieved 13 November 2013 The circle is about 600 metres from the sea. Only 10 of the original 12 stones are currently standing.Aubrey Burl (2005), A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, page 44.

Metsamor central park The archaeological site of ancient Metsamor is located about 4 km southeast of the town, near the village of Taronik. The site been populated starting from the 5th millennium BC until the 18th century AD, based on excavations conducted in 1965. Neolithic stone circles dating back to ca. 5000 BC stand within the historical site.

John Wood, the Elder, (1704 – 23 May 1754), was an English architect, working mainly in Bath. In 1740 he surveyed Stonehenge and the Stanton Drew stone circles. He later wrote extensively about Bladud and Neo-Druidism. Because of some of his designs he is also thought to have been involved in the early years of Freemasonry.

However, this is untrue and the gulf has about 40, depending on the tide. Many islands are private property, except the largest two, l'Île-aux-Moines and l'Île-d'Arz. The area around the gulf features an extraordinary range of megalithic monuments. There are passage dolmens, stepped pyramids with underground dolmen chambers, stone circles, and giant menhirs, among others.

Alternatively, they may be replicas of earlier timber circles rebuilt in stone, especially the examples in Wessex. A funerary purpose is thought likely, especially by Aubrey Burl. He thinks that such sites in Cumbria are analogous to the kerbs that surround some chamber tombs. Burials have been found at all excavated concentric stone circles: both inhumations and cremations.

The Fourfold Circle () is a configuration of four concentric stone circles. The outer circle has a diameter of 9 m, the others have diameters of 6.4 m, 4.7 m and 2.4 m respectively.FOURFOLD CIRCLE, Pastscape, retrieved 21 May 2013 The Fourfold Circle is the location of a turf-covered cairn with a central cist which has been robbed.

Scotland is generally seen as a destination with beautiful scenery combined with thousands of historic sites and attractions. These include prehistoric stone circles, standing stones and burial chambers, and various Bronze Age, Iron Age and Stone Age remains. There are also many historic castles, houses, and battlegrounds, ruins and museums. Many people are drawn by the culture of Scotland.

The Senegambian stone circles which are regarded as a place of worship among the Serer are not far from the area.Meagher, Allen (pub), Historic sites of The Gambia. Ada Dinkiralu (Mandinka), Bereb-I-Chosan (Wolof), Tarica Tawal (Fula), Nannin (Jola), Soninke Ada (Serehuli), I-Mofan Chosan (Serer). An official guide to the monuments and sites of The Gambia.

Its monuments comprise the henge and associated long barrows, stone circles, avenues, and a causewayed enclosure. These monument types are not exclusive to the Avebury area. For example, Stonehenge features the same kinds of monuments, and in Dorset there is a henge on the edge of Dorchester and a causewayed enclosure at nearby Maiden Castle.Malone 1989 p. 38.

Geoffrey marshals the old men, and assembles a fighting force. Tiffany attempts to enlist the help of the Elf King. When that fails, she assigns the Feegles to build the King a shed in the hope that it will earn his allegiance. The elves break through at two stone circles: up in Lancre and down in the Chalk.

There are two types of axial stone circle, one type with five stones, listed here, and axial multiple-stone circles, with seven stones or more, listed at List of axial multiple-stone circles. Dating from the Bronze Age, these circles when constructed had an odd number of stones with two stones (portal stones) placed on either side of where the axis crosses the northeast side of the ring. They are found in County Cork and County Kerry. Early in the 20th century this type of circle was called a recumbent stone circle by analogy with similar examples in Scotland but when it became clear there were substantial differences the term "Cork–Kerry stone circle" was used for both types until later the term "axial stone circle" became commonly used.

Burl, A (2005) A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany. London: Yale University. It is important to archaeoastronomers who have noted that the sunrise during the Autumn equinox appears over the top of Threlkeld Knott, a hill 3.5 km to the east. Some stones in the circle have been aligned with the midwinter sunrise and various lunar positions.

The Golasecca culture is best known by its burial customs, where an apparent ancestor cult imposed respect of the necropolis, a sacred area untouched by agrarian use or deforestation. The early-period burials took place in selected raised positions oriented with respect to the sun. Burial practices were direct inhumation or in lidded cistae. Stone circles and alignments are found.

There are several other prehistoric sites, including two stone circles, one on the Nordgård farm and one at the rectory, both of which are partially destroyed. Traditionally, agriculture and forestry were the major industries in Stod, but construction of the Nordlandsbanen railway line brought with it new jobs and a dairy. Today most residents of Stod work in the town of Steinkjer.

Subsequently, the antiquary Richard Carew mentioned the story in his book, The Survey of Cornwall, published in 1602, noting that it was applied both the Stonehenge and to The Hurlers in Cornwall. The countless stones motif has been attributed to over five different stone circles, as well as several ruined long barrows such as Little Kit's Coty House in Kent.

Kungshögen (English: the Royal Tumulus) in Faurås is one of the objects that have suffered that fate. However, the adjacent kung Fares sten (king Fare's stone) remains intact. Three other brons age tumulii can be found in Faurås, as well as some stone circles. Further remains can be found in Töringe, close to the border to Ljungby and in Hällinge.

Concentric circular basement, north of the sunken patio It is located at the northernmost edge of the sunken patio-altar complex. It consists of two concentric stone circles, the outer circle measuring about 20 meters (65 ft.) in diameter, with no other visible structural remains. The circle is not complete, its south side, facing the altar is flat against the altar structure.

The church is medieval but was restored in 1899 and a north aisle added. In the churchyard there is a monolith of the type found in Derbyshire stone circles which suggests that the site was used for pagan worship before the church was built. The churchyard houses the grave of Daniel Boswell King of the Gypsies.Churches in the Ashfield Area.

It has been noted that they often link stone circles with rivers. They are a common element to Bronze Age ritual landscapes. Avenues are identified through their earthworks or using aerial archaeology as their parallel side features can be seen stretching over some distance. In most examples, it is the association of the avenue with other contemporary monuments that provides diagnosis.

Some sites do not contain evidence of human dwelling. This suggests that stone circles were constructed for ceremonies. The variety of the stones excludes the possibility that they had astronomical observation purposes of any precision. Sometimes a stone circle is found in association with a burial pit or burial chamber, but the great majority of these monuments have no such association.

In parts of Britain and Ireland a relatively common type of megalithic construction is the stone circle, of which examples include Stonehenge, Avebury, Ring of Brodgar and Beltany. These, too, display evidence of astronomical alignments, both solar and lunar. Stonehenge, for example, is famous for its solstice alignment. Examples of stone circles are also found in the rest of Europe.

In Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society (Vol. 66, pp. 89-121). Cambridge University Press. As ritual sites were often marked by the production and display of commemorative items,Twiss, 'Transformations in an early agricultural society', 424 the suggestion that these sites were sometimes spaces of notable communal gathering is further substantiated by the discoveries of monuments, stone circles, and other non-funerary artifacts.

Tumuli, stone circles and stone ships often have a reclined or raised central stone, and grave orbs derive from this practice. They were of ritual or symbolic significance. Some grave orbs are engraved with ornaments, such as the orb at Inglinge hög or Barrow of Inglinge near Ingelstad in Småland. Hög is from the Old Norse word haugr meaning mound or barrow.

Breasclete has several stone circles, as well as various cairns. The Bronze Age-era Olcote kerbed cairn, south of the settlement, was excavated in 1995 during road works, and the site seems to form part of a wider ceremonial complex. The local pier, situated west of the settlement, was built in the early 20th century, and has a quay of similar construction.

Part of the Outer Circle Within the henge is a great outer circle. This is one of Europe's largest stone circles, with a diameter of , Britain's largest stone circle. It was either contemporary with, or built around four or five centuries after the earthworks. It is thought that there were originally 98 sarsen standing stones, some weighing in excess of 40 tons.

Duncton Wood and its sequels have as its protagonists anthropomorphic moles living in Moledom, a community in Great Britain. Moledom has its own social organization, history, and written language. The moles do not otherwise make use of technology or clothing. The other focus of the Duncton series is the Stone, a religion based on the standing stones and stone circles of Britain.

Three chambered tombs date to the Neolithic. The moorlands in particular are home to many of the 100 Bronze Age and Iron Age, the vast majority of which are burial mounds. There are some 21 hill forts and other enclosure sites, and several stone circles. There are only three sites from the Roman period, and none dating to Early Medieval times.

The archaeologists Stuart and Cecily Piggott believed that the circles of Dorset were probably of Bronze Age origin, a view endorsed by the archaeologist Aubrey Burl, who noted that their distribution did not match that of any known Neolithic sites. It is possible that they were not all constructed around the same date, and the Piggotts suggested that while they may well be Early Bronze Age in date, it is also possible that "their use and possibly their construction may last into the Middle and even into the Late Bronze Age". Their nearest analogies are the circles found on Dartmoor and Exmoor to the west, and the Stanton Drew stone circles to the north. It is also possible that the stone circles were linked to a number of earthen henges erected in Dorset around the same period.

Arab traders provided the first written accounts of the Gambia area in the ninth and tenth centuries. During the tenth century, Muslim merchants and scholars established communities in several West African commercial centres. Both groups established trans-Saharan trade routes, leading to a large export trade of local people as slaves, along with gold and ivory, as well as imports of manufactured goods. Senegambian stone circles (megaliths) which run from Senegal through the Gambia and are described by UNESCO as "the largest concentration of stone circles seen anywhere in the world". By the 11th or 12th century, the rulers of kingdoms such as Takrur (a monarchy centred on the Senegal River just to the north) ancient Ghana and Gao had converted to Islam and had appointed to their courts Muslims who were literate in the Arabic language.

Whitcastles or Little Hartfell () is a stone circle 6½ miles NE of Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway. Nine fallen stones lie in an oval measuring 55m by 45m. The largest stones lie to the north and south of the circle; interest in cardinal points is a common feature in the stone circles of the Solway Firth. It was designated as a scheduled monument in 1937.

There are many surviving remains, especially prehistoric and Roman, in the area. They include the castras at Mynydd Bach Trecastell and a Roman road crossing Fforest Fawr as Sarn Helen. There are numerous menhirs, round barrows and several small stone circles. An especially famous circle occurs on the banks of the River Tawe below Fan Hir, and is known as Cerrig Duon, or "black stones".

They built earth barrows above graves and surrounded them with stone circles. The name of the clan was first mentioned in 1073 by Adam of Bremen, who calls them "most humane people". Warfare with Danes continued from the mid-9th century to beginning of the 13th century. It is known that there was Wiskiauten, a Viking settlement in Sambia, that flourished for about 300 years.

The arrangement of the menhirs suggested to the archaeologists that this monument was built in two distinct phases. In December 1995, an attempt was made to understand the effort involved in the construction of stone circles. With the help of ropes, logs and 70 volunteers, it proved possible to raise most of the monoliths. The 1995 excavations involved controlled sampling of soil from different stratigraphic units.

These stone circles typically show very little evidence of human visitation during the period immediately following their creation. This suggests that they were not sites used for rituals that left archaeologically visible evidence. They may have been deliberately left as "silent and empty monuments". The archaeologists Mike Parker Pearson and Ramilsonina suggested that in Neolithic Britain, stone was associated with the dead and wood with the living.

Wessex contains the two best known, though most atypical stone circles, Avebury and Stonehenge. All of the other Wiltshire circles are in a heavily ruined state and in some cases have been destroyed. As noted by the archaeologist Aubrey Burl, these examples have left behind "only frustrating descriptions and vague positions". Most of the known Wiltshire examples were erected on low-lying positions in the landscape.

The Green Mountain Arrow Site is an assemblage of arranged stones in Fremont County, Wyoming. The site includes seven stone cairns, a directional arrow, three possible stone circles and lines of small stones. It is one of relatively few stone effigies found in the northern Great Plans and Rocky Mountains. The site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 12, 1986.

Hälsö () is an island and a locality situated in Öckerö Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 611 inhabitants in 2010. Hälsö is situated in the northern part of the archipelago and offers nice harbour walks along small and winding roads. There are also ancient remains on the island, mainly stone circles from temporary fishing camps. On the northern part of the island there are good fishing opportunities.

About 500 metres to the northwest of Brat's Hill circle lie the two Low Longrigg stone circles. One of them (Low Longrigg North East) measures around 21 metres in diameter, has 15 stones forming an irregular circle, and contains two cairns. The other (Low Longrigg South West) measures 15 metres in diameter, has nine stones forming the circle, and contains a cairn at the centre.

They date typically during the Pre-Roman Iron Age and the Roman Iron Age. In Sweden, they are called Domarringar (judge circles), Domkretsar (judge circles) or Domarsäten (judge seats). In Finland they are called Käräjäkivet (court stones). In some places in Nordic countries they were used until 17th century They should not be confused with the Stone circles of the Bronze Age and Britain.

Dymond was a civil engineer.The Annual Monitor for 1916, Being an Obituary of Members of the Society of Friends in Great Britain and Ireland, p. 25-38 (). From 1851 to 1852, he explored Worlebury Camp, an Iron Age camp. In 1901, he excavated the Swinside Stone circle together with Collingwood, which he had already surveyed in 1872,Aubrey Burl: Great Stone Circles, fables, fiction facts.

A specific angular range has also been recorded in all the cup marks, which are in the form of 3 clusters. The cup marks are a few centimeters in length, specifically located along the stone circles are indicative of locating them with orientation towards the sky with specific angles with respect to the north. The directions recorded are 118, 208 and 334 degrees to the north.

The rich and varied material has enabled scholars to perform cross-domain studies of the inhabitants' social, economic and religious life, giving a good picture of an Iron Age agricultural settlement and its resources. There are two stone circles, and two irregularly shaped cobble-clad graves and a smaller one, as well as a circular formation of stones from the late Vendel Age or the Viking Age.

Angarn () is a former ward in Vallentuna Municipality, Uppland (Stockholm). Since 2006, Angarn has been part of Össeby congregation. In Angarn there are about 450 ancient monuments: cairns and stone circles of Bronze Age type, a remarkable rock carving, burial ground from the older and younger Iron Age and 10 rune stones. The rectangular granite Angarn Church was probably built at the end of the 13th century.

Earliest evidence of habitation are still visible in Strathrusdale at the eastern end of the Strath, where there are a number of stone circles, which formed the base of Pictish roundhouses. Picts lived in the area until the 10th century, which was part of the Kingdom of Fortriu. After this period there was progressively more transition as Norse settlement began to increase in the area.

All are of different heights, the stone to the north east being the south western , and the north eastern . The stones of The Cove are mineralogically different from those in the nearby stone circles. A long barrow burial chamber has been found under the stones of The Cove. It is thought that this predates the erection of the stones by approximately a thousand years.

Wiltshire is characterised by its high downland and wide valleys. Salisbury Plain is noted for being the location of the Stonehenge and Avebury stone circles and other ancient landmarks, and as a training area for the British Army. The city of Salisbury is notable for its medieval cathedral. Important country houses open to the public include Longleat, near Warminster, and the National Trust's Stourhead, near Mere.

Larrun holds an iconic place in Basque culture. It is covered in dolmens, stone circles and other neolithic monuments and was held to be a sacred place in Basque mythology. It was said to be the home of Lehensugea, the first serpent. Later, and perhaps as a consequence of the ancient sacred sites, the summit had a reputation as an akelarre or ritual meeting place for witches.

In current terms except for two they are all in the Aberdeenshire council area. In 2011 the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) published an authoritative book, , on recumbent stone circles specifically. The RCAHMS also issued an online gazetteer giving details of each monument that listed 71 as confirmed being recumbent and another 85 as not belonging in this category.

Alexander Thom had been examining stone circles since the 1950s in search of astronomical alignments and the megalithic yard. It was not until 1973 that he turned his attention to Stonehenge. Thom chose to ignore alignments between features within the monument, considering them to be too close together to be reliable. He looked for landscape features that could have marked lunar and solar events.

The radio mast on top of Sir William Hill is a prominent local landmark. Sir William Hill Road is an ancient packhorse route across the moor and was part of the Sheffield to Buxton Turnpike of 1758. The Barrel Inn on Sir William Hill Road at Bretton is the highest pub in Derbyshire. Chair Stone of Wet Withens There are three stone circles on Eyam Moor.

Domidian had his own studio at the age of 27. In 1984, aged 30, he liberated himself with Joseph Beuys' idea of human interactions as social sculpture. His first campaign was to hike the Pyrenees with friends, creating stone circles and to accept this as art. In 1994, he met his wife Marion, a psychology student, and relocated to Bochum, Wuppertal and Norderney where she was studying.

The "Conchi" natural pool on the east coast of Aruba. The Natural Pool, also known as "conchi" or "Cura di Tortuga", is a natural pool of water located in a very remote area in east Aruba. It is formed by rock and volcanic stone circles. The rugged terrain surrounding the pool makes it accessible only by four-wheel drive, all-terrain vehicles, horseback, or on foot.

A number of archaeological sites and ruins surround the village, dating from prehistoric times to the Middle Ages. These include cairns, stone circles, raths, ringforts and crannogs. The surrounding landscape also has a number of ruined Norman castles previously occupied by the McDonnell mercenaries. Adjacent to The Neale village is the home of the first Englishman to settle in the country – sheriff and map maker – John Browne.

Chapter seven, "The public interest", debates why the monuments of the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age British Isles were based on a circular archetype, suggesting that they reflect a cosmological worldview and create a theatre for public participation in cultic behaviour; throughout, he uses Newgrange in Ireland as an example. In the eighth chapter, "Theatre in the Round," Bradley studies the stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany, arguing that they were constructed with explicit links to the wider landscape, in contrast to the earlier henges, which restricted visibility to the surrounding area. In the penultimate chapter, "Closed Circles", Bradley examines how the stone circles were converted into cemeteries during the Early Bronze Age. Chapter ten, "An agricultural revolution," looks at the transition to agriculture at prehistoric monuments in the mid-second millennium BCE, suggesting that many of the features of the "Neolithic Revolution" only occurred at this time.

The works of Burl strongly support the idea that any geometry within the circle, or astronomical alignments, are either purely coincidental or symbolic in nature. Thom, on the other hand, is a proponent of the circle builders being adept astronomers and mathematicians and suggests that these skills can be seen in all stone circles, everywhere.Michell, J (1982) Megalithomania: Artists, Antiquarians, and Archaeologists at the Old Stone Monuments. London: Thames and Hudson.

The Ruthwell Cross Archaeological remains from the neolithic and Bronze Age include stone circles (as in Dunscore and Eskdalemuir), tumuli and cairns (Closeburn), and sculptured stones (Dornock). A number of bank barrows and cursus have recently been discovered. The British tribe which inhabited this part of Scotland was called by the Romans Selgovae. They have left many signs of their presence, such as hill forts and camps (Dryfesdale).

The Nine Ladies stone circle There are more than 70 barrows on the moor, mostly on the southern side and often difficult to discern. Most of them were excavated between 1927 and the early 1950s by the local archaeologist J.C.Heathcote and his son, J.P.Heathcote. They exhibited their finds in a private museum in nearby Birchover. The moor has four Bronze Age stone circles, of which the best known is Nine Ladies.

Bristol Record Office accession 44394 Maes Knoll provides a splendid view over the lands it would have once commanded. From here, there are clear views north to Bristol, east to Bath and the Cotswold Hills, and south over Stanton Drew stone circles to Chew Valley Lake and the Mendip Hills. The parish was part of the hundred of Chew. Ammonites and fossil nautili are abundant in this neighbourhood.

Janjanbureh or Jangjangbureh is a town, founded in 1832, on Janjanbureh Island in the River Gambia in eastern Gambia. It was formerly known as Georgetown and was the second largest in the country. It is now the capital of the Central River Division and is best known as home to Gambia's main prison. The Wassu stone circles lie 22 km northwest of Lamin Koto, on the north bank across from Janjanbureh.

There is another important china clay works at Stannon. The most important prehistoric remains are the earthwork already mentioned, the Fernacre stone circle and two other stone circles (one 2.5 miles north-east and the other near Leaze Farm). The first of these has 76 stones in the circle and a single outlying stone; the latter has 16 stones but probably had 22 originally.Pevsner, N. (1970) Cornwall, 2nd ed.

Prehistoric Ritual and Religion: Essays in Honour of Aubrey Burl. Thrupp, Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton, 1998. He was called by The New York Times, "the leading authority on British stone circles"."MagicStones: Prehistoric Avebury" by Paul Johnspon The New York Times Book Review, Page BR3, October 21, 1979 link Burl's work, while considering the astronomical roles of many megalithic monuments, was cautious of embracing the more tenuous claims of archaeoastronomy.

The Twelve Apostles () is a large stone circle located between the villages of Holywood and Newbridge, near Dumfries, Scotland. It is the seventh largest stone circle in Britain and the largest on the mainland of Scotland.Stell, G. (1996) Exploring Scotland's Heritage: Dumfries and Galloway, Edinburgh: The Stationery Office, p. 170 It is similar in design to the stone circles of Cumbria, and is considered to be an outlier of this group.

It includes Brown Willy, the highest point in Cornwall, and Rough Tor, a slightly lower peak. Many of Cornwall's rivers have their sources here. It has been inhabited since at least the Neolithic era, when primitive farmers started clearing trees and farming the land. They left their megalithic monuments, hut circles and cairns, and the Bronze Age culture that followed left further cairns, and more stone circles and stone rows.

Megalithic specialist Aubrey Burl called Swinside "the loveliest of all the circles" in north-western Europe.Burl 1979. p. 235. In his study of the stone circles of Cumbria, archaeologist John Waterhouse commented that Swinside "can be compared only to Castlerigg and Long Meg and her Daughters in its visual impact; but its charm – for great charm it undoubtedly has – is greater even than theirs."Waterhouse 1985. p. 43.

With an area of 10.1 square kilometres (2496 acres), Berneray rises to a height of 305 feet (93 m) at Beinn Shlèibhe (Moor Hill) and 278 feet (85 m) at Borve Hill. There is strong evidence that points to Berneray being inhabited since the Bronze Age, and possibly before. The island is scattered with ancient sacred sites, stone circles, signs of Viking inhabitation and historical buildings, some several centuries old.

The Hurlers, looking south On Craddock Moor, near Minions, are "The Hurlers". These consist of three separate Bronze Age stone circles with thirteen, seventeen and nine surviving stones. Local tradition maintains that they are men turned to stone for profaning the Lords Day by taking part in a hurling match. The arrangement of the stones led to the name and was recorded as far back as 1584 by John Norden.

There are a number of tumuli and stone circles scattered throughout the Cleveland Hills and North York Moors, dating back to the Bronze Age, as well as many cairns that are of varied ages, some of which are relatively modern. Hundreds of flint arrowheads have been discovered during excavations in the hills and dated to the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, indication of an active population in prehistoric times across the region.

Two more excavations were carried out subsequently on other stone circles and a similar order of construction was found. There remains some doubt whether the stages of construction took place over a "relatively short duration" or whether they took "many generations". It does not seem the monument was primarily for burials. An archaeoastronomical theory has been that the alignment of these circles was for viewing astronomical events from within the circle.

Philip Shallcrass began to lecture on Druidry at a series of conferences on New Religious Movements. In 1992, he became editor of The Druids' Voice: the Magazine of Contemporary Druidry. In 1993, at the invitation of Tim Sebastian, founder of the Secular Order of Druids, Shallcrass composed a ritual to be performed at a multi-faith conference Tim had organised among the old stone circles of Avebury in Wiltshire.

The laying stone seems to have tumbled, its surface is covered with 31 cup marks, thought to be markers of where the major standstill moon rises or sets.Aberdeenshire Council - Recumbent Stone Circles Inside the circle is a ring cairn, which was added later. At the excavation in 1865 remains of cremations were discovered. Another recumbent stone circle is about 2 km to the west, near the church of Midmar Kirk.

Tattersall Wilkinson was a local antiquarian most usually known as 'The Sage Of Roggerham'. Tattersall was well known in Burnley during the late 1800s. He was the first person to uncover the flint daggers and stone circles of nearby Worsthorne, and other antiquities such as burial urns. He also wrote many articles for the Burnley Express and a book of his own (with J.F Tattersall) named 'Memories Of Hurstwood'.

In 1940 the site was described as consisting of 3 stone circles with alignments and a possible grave structure to the northwest. The site is no longer so clear and survives as a complex of at least 4 alignments. Three are very well defined, consisting of stones ranging from 0.3 to 1.6m high. Within one alignment are two very large stones which may be the remains of a tomb.

Nearby is the Ballycrovane Ogham stone, the tallest known, standing high and bearing the inscription 'MAQI DECCEDDAS AVI TURANIAS' which translates as "Mac Deich Uí Turainn" or "son of Deich the descendant of Turainn". About 2 km to the southwest is a ruined stone circle, sometimes Coulagh Stone Circle, and to the northeast, in the Ardgroom area, are two stone circles, one in good condition, one a remnant.

The Ekornavallen burial ground is located 15 km (9 miles) north of the city of Falköping. It contains four passage graves and a gallery grave from the Neolithic period, as well as cairns, stone circles, twelve standing stones, eight round stone settings and one triangular stone setting all dating from the Bronze and Iron Ages. It is estimated that the field was used over a six to seven thousand-year period.

French author Louis Charpentier claimed that the Ark was taken to the Chartres Cathedral by the Knights Templar.Brian Haughton, Haunted Spaces, Sacred Places: A Field Guide to Stone Circles, Crop Circles, Ancient Tombs, and Supernatural Landscapes, page 142 (Career Press, Inc., 2008). Louis Charpentier, Les Mystères de la Cathédrale de Chartres (Paris: Robert Laffont, 1966), translated as The Mysteries of Chartres Cathedral (London: Research Into Lost Knowledge Organisation, 1972).

Most recumbent stone circles seem to have encircled a cairn and typically it was a ring cairn, as distinct from a Clava cairn. In some instances, in particular at Tomnaverie stone circle, the cairn was built before the circle according to an overall design. This discovery places doubt on any intent to produce an accurate alignment for the circle. Usually all superficial trace of the cairns has disappeared over the millennia.

The area has been occupied from very early times, as is evidenced by the Neolithic remains (pred 2000 BC) such as portal dolmens. The area is very strong in Bronze Age remains - including a number of stone circles. There are also two inscribed stones in Burgatia. The number of ring forts and holy wells witnesses the Iron Age and transition from the Old to the New (Christian) God.

Stone circle near Worsthorne The history of human habitation in the area goes back to the late stone, bronze and Iron Ages. Earthworks and two prehistoric stone circles are shown on Ordnance Survey maps, one at on the moors to the east of the village; both are in a poor state of repair. A flint dagger 15 cm in length found on the moor is now in Towneley Museum.

The cromlech of Er Lannic Island in the Gulf of Morbihan, Brittany (France). In the background we can see Berder Island, and at right the ship Étoile Molène Er Lannic is a small island in the commune of Arzon, in the Morbihan department in Brittany in northwestern France. Er Lannic is a bird reserve and also the site of two stone circles, the southern of which is submerged.

Standing stone at Neptune's fields Just south of the Neptune's fields is the Forgalla Skepp, a Bronze Age ship shaped tumulus, and a grave field. The latter measures and contains 32 small stone circles, nine cists, twelve round cairns, and one in the shape of a three pointed star (treudd). A bit further south, just a kilometer north of Byxelkrok, is Höga Flisa (the Tall Shard), a high limestone.

Along the route of Wda some attractions can be found. First of them is a 19th-century Neogothic church in Lipusz. Next Kaszubski Park Etnograficzny, containing wooden dwelling houses, farms and windmills. The oldest once date back to the 17th century. The archeological reserve “Kamienne Kręgi” near the towns of Odry and Miedzno consists of 12 mysterious stone circles and 20 burial mounds, which are remains from Goths and Gepids.

There is evidence of growing importance of bovine cattle (oxen). Burial customs also changed, with a clear dominance of cremation in the Iron Age. The treatment of the ashes varies instead with burials in stone circles (cromlechs), mounds, caves, cists or urn fields. Cromlech of Okabe, Lower Navarre The individual burial in cromlech is the most aboundant but limited to the Pyrenean region, where 851 of these funerary monuments are documented.

Boat How Boat How is a hill in the English Lake District, near Boot, Cumbria. It is the subject of a chapter of Wainwright's book The Outlying Fells of Lakeland. It reaches and Wainwright describes an anticlockwise circuit from Boot. He says: "Its proliferation of ancient remains makes it a happy hunting ground for walkers with an eye for relics of days long past", mentioning the presence of four stone circles.

Leonard Cottrell was born 21 May 1913 at Tettenhall, Wolverhampton to William and Beatrice Cottrell(née Tootell). His father inspired an interest in history at the age of ten. At King Edward's Grammar School, Birmingham, Leonard was only interested in history and English, reading widely. In the 1930s, Cottrell toured the English countryside on his motorcycle, visiting prehistoric stone circles, burial mounds of the Bronze Age, medieval and Renaissance monuments.

Mummydron resembles a Mummy wearing an Egyptian headpiece. Mummydron's first form is his coffin on top of 5 stone circles, which he uses to make 3 blocks that shoot 4 lasers fall onto the floor (or smash Dewy if he's not careful). He then summons a wave of sand monsters that try and eat Dewy. On the back corners of the arena are 2 staffs that absorb Cloud Dewy's lightning.

These stone circles contain a low central ring cairn surrounded by comparatively small kerb stones. Coles' plan of Easter Aquhorthies stone circle, 1900 Thought to have been built in the Bronze Age, over the millennia many of these circles have become ruinous, being particularly vulnerable in the 18th and 19th centuries due to agricultural improvement, so many stones have fallen or been taken away and, indeed, only about half of the circles show any signs of a cairn without archaeological excavation. As early as 1527 Hector Boece was writing about the stone circles in Scottorum Historia. Until the mid 19th century these circles, when they were noticed at all, were spoken of as being "Druidical Temples" or similar epithets and it was Frederick Coles who was the first person to carry out a systematic survey which he published in an annual series of papers from 1900 to 1907 in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

The site consists of large concentric stone circles located on an artificially flattened plateau at an altitude of 80 to 160 meters overlooking the Aomori Plain, between the Arakawa River and the Nyunai River in the western foothills of Mount Hakkoda to the southeast of the center of Aomori City. The stone circle has a diameter of 55 meters, with a 2.5 meter central ring surrounded by a 29-meter diameter middle ring and a 35 meters diameter outer ring. Portions of a fourth ring have also been found, along with a number of smaller stone circles with diameters of up to four meters around this outermost ring. The outer two rings of the stone circle were made by placing oval stones vertically and horizontally as if building a stone wall. This method of arranging stones is very rare, and the site is thus designated a type site for the “Komakino style” of stone arrangement.

The Adrar was settled in the Neolithic era as shown by cave and rock paintings found in the area such as the Agrour Amogjar. The more recent aridification has left much of the archaeology intact, most notable several stone circles, e.g. Atar Stone Circle, and the later town of Azougui. Beginning in the mid-17th century, migrants from the Adrar Plateau region moved into the Tagant Plateau and displaced the native population.

Cardiff is unique in Wales in having two permanent stone circles used by the Gorsedd of Bards during Eisteddfodau. The original circle stands in Gorsedd Gardens in front of the National Museum while its 1978 replacement is situated in Bute Park. Since 1983, Cardiff has hosted the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, a world-renowned event on the opera calendar which is held every two years. The city also hosts smaller events.

Osman read modern languages at Cambridge University before joining the BBC as a general trainee. She has lived and worked in London, Lebanon, Sudan and Washington DC and lives with her husband and three children in London. She has, to date, one published children's novel, Quicksilver, which explores the themes of leylines, stone circles and ancient holy sites such as Stonehenge in England, Meroe in Sudan and Mount Shasta in the United States.

Although BANES was only created in 1996 the area it covers has been occupied for thousands of years. The age of the henge monument at Stanton Drew stone circles is unknown, but is believed to be from the Neolithic period, as is the chambered tomb known as Stoney Littleton Long Barrow. Solsbury Hill has an Iron Age hill fort. The hills around Bath such as Bathampton Down saw human activity from the Mesolithic period.

The archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson suggests that in Neolithic Britain, stone was associated with the dead, and wood with the living. Other archaeologists have suggested that the stone might not represent ancestors, but rather other supernatural entities, such as deities. In the area of modern Wiltshire, various stone circles were erected, the best known of which are Avebury and Stonehenge. All of the other examples are ruined, and in some cases have been destroyed.

It was also likely that the naturally forming tors were also viewed in a similar manner to the manmade ceremonial sites. In the following Bronze Age, the creation of monuments increased dramatically, with the production of over 300 further cairns, and more stone circles and stone rows. More than 200 Bronze Age settlements with enclosures and field patterns have been recorded. and many prehistoric stone barrows and circles lie scattered across the moor.

Langdon, A. G. (2005) Stone Crosses in East Cornwall; 2nd ed. Federation of Old Cornwall Societies; pp. 45-46 Also in the parish are the Holy Well of St Melor; a 15th-century bridge over the Lynher at Plushabridge; and near Minions the Rillaton round barrow (in which Bronze Age grave goods, including a gold beaker, were discovered in 1837). The Hurlers are a group of three stone circles near Upton Cross.

The archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson argues that in Neolithic Britain, stone was associated with the dead, and wood with the living. Other archaeologists have proposed that the stone might not represent ancestors, but rather other supernatural entities, such as deities. Stone circles were erected in the area of modern Wiltshire, the best known of which are Avebury and Stonehenge. All of the other examples are ruined, and in some cases have been destroyed.

The archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson suggests that in Neolithic Britain, stone was associated with the dead, and wood with the living. Other archaeologists have suggested that the stone might not represent ancestors, but rather other supernatural entities, such as deities. In the area of modern Wiltshire, various stone circles were erected, the best known of which are Avebury and Stonehenge. All of the other examples are ruined, and in some cases have been destroyed.

The archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson argues that in Neolithic Britain, stone was associated with the dead, and wood with the living. Other archaeologists have proposed that the stone might not represent ancestors, but rather other supernatural entities, such as deities. In the area of modern Wiltshire, various stone circles were erected, the best known of which are Avebury and Stonehenge. All of the other examples are ruined, and in some cases have been destroyed.

The archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson suggests that in Neolithic Britain, stone was associated with the dead, and wood with the living. Other archaeologists have suggested that the stone might not represent ancestors, but rather other supernatural entities, such as deities. In the area of modern Wiltshire, various stone circles were erected, the best known of which are Avebury and Stonehenge. All of the other examples are ruined, and in some cases have been destroyed.

This encloses broad slopes of heather and fell grass, with a wide depression at Moor Divock (1,060 ft) and then a steeper rise to the independent top of Heughscar Hill (1,240 ft). Continuing from here to the road, plantations and other forms of cultivation gradually increase. Moor Divock is a site of historic interest, complete with tumuli, standing stones, boundary markers and stone circles. There are also sink holes and old quarries.

The remains of various structures lie within it and on the west side there is a shallow bay that forms an enclosure approximately in area."Fetlar, Whilsa Pund". Canmore. Retrieved 17 May 2011. There are various other prehistoric ruins near the line of the wall, including the Bronze Age Hjaltadans stone circle north of Skutes Water, which is only from the dyke, and the three stone circles of Fiddler's Crus to the north-west.

This suggests strongly that these crop circles were more likely to be caused by intentional human action than by paranormal activity. Another strong indication of that theory was that inhabitants of the zone with the most circles had a historical tendency for making large-scale formations, including stone circles such as Stonehenge, burial mounds such as Silbury Hill, long barrows such as West Kennet Long Barrow, and white horses in chalk hills.

The Great Circle was surrounded by a ditch and is accompanied by smaller stone circles to the northeast and southwest. There is also a group of three stones, known as The Cove, in the garden of the local pub. Slightly further from the Great Circle is a single stone, known as Hautville's Quoit. Some of the stones are still vertical, but the majority are now recumbent, and some are no longer present.

Stone circles like Er Lannic (a double oval of standing stones and a ditch) sometimes contain settlement material and pottery of Chasséen-type. By the middle of the 3rd century, the Kerugou, upper and lower Conguel and Rosmeur/Croh Collé types became preponderant. Seine-Oise-Marne culture-influenced pottery in central Brittany includes the Quessoy and Crec'h Quille/Le Melus types. Collared bottles can be related to the Kragenflaschenhorizont of the late TBK.

As early as 1579, scholars in Germany described large erect stone circles near Ballenstedt. In 2001 a stone circle (Beglik Tash) was discovered in Bulgaria near the Black Sea. There are several examples in the Alentejo region of Portugal, the oldest and most complete being the Almendres Cromlech, near the regional capital of Évora and within its municipality. Remains of many others consist only of the central anta (as they are known in the Alentejo).

The archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson argues that in Neolithic Britain, stone was associated with the dead, and wood with the living. Other archaeologists have proposed that the stone might not represent ancestors, but rather other supernatural entities, such as deities. Various stone circles were erected in the area of modern Wiltshire, the best known of which are Avebury and Stonehenge. All of the other examples are ruined, and in some cases have been destroyed.

Jōmon pottery, clay objects, and stone tools and stone objects (arrowheads, spoons, etc.,) from the early phase of Final Jōmon Period unearthed at site bear designs similar to that found at Kamegaoka Stone Age Site. These included some 250 disk-like stone objects with a diameter of five to ten centimeters, made of the same pyroxene andesite as the stone circles, which presumably had some ritual significance in connection with the stone circle.

The committee carried out very numerous excavations of prehistoric round houses during the 1890s up until 1906. Worth became the secretary of the Dartmoor Exploration Committee and played a major role in the work of the committee which disbanded after his death in 1950. The committee was responsible for the restoration of many Dartmoor stone rows and stone circles. The restorations being carried out to protect the ancient monuments from being robbed for stone.

Included on this page are 13 Neolithic and Bronze Age standing stones and 3 stone circles. There are a large and diverse variety of burial cairns, mounds and barrows, mainly from the Bronze Age and mainly on the eastern uplands, accounting for some 79 sites. A further 70 defensive Iron Age sites such as hillforts and enclosures are found across the county. Ceredigion is both a unitary authority and a historic county.

During the Bronze Age (2200-600 B.C.), copper was mined on Mount Gabriel, just west of the village. About the same time, stone circles, wedge and boulder tombs were constructed in the area. The Celts arrived at some later time and in the early historic period various clans fought for dominance, until the eventual emergence of the McCarthys and O'Mahonys as the rulers of the region. A string of castles were built along the coastline.

On the top of the northernmost stone there are three cupmarks. The stone circle is one of the more westerly examples of a large number of stone circles to be found in central Scotland, many of which consist of six stones. The good condition of this particular stone circle may be due to its position in the grounds of Kinnell House, and it may have been 'restored' in the 18th or 19th century.

The heaviest stone has been estimated to weigh around 16 tons and the tallest stone measures approximately 2.3m high. There is a 3.3m wide gap in its northern edge, which may have been an entrance. Within the circle, abutting its eastern quadrant, is a roughly rectangular setting of a further 10 stones. The circle was probably constructed around 3200 BC (Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age), making it one of the earliest stone circles in Britain and possibly in Europe.

In his early writings, Hando was particularly interested in ley lines and the alignment of the sun with stone circles. He said that he wanted to add to what was already on the map and that by studying leys he could reach back in history far beyond Roman Britain. Hando was organist and choirmaster of Summerhill Baptist Church Newport for many years". In 1953 he was awarded the MBE for services to education and to Monmouthshire".

The name Stanton is derived from Old English term stan ‘stone’ and tun ‘enclosure’ or ‘settlement’. Many places took on the name Stanton, like Stanton Harcourt in Oxfordshire, and Stanton Drew in Somerset, close to the Neolithic Stanton Drew stone circles. Many variants of the spellings, Stanton, Stainton, Stinton or Staunton, are recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 AD, and the surname can be found in England, Scotland, Ireland and their diaspora, which includes America.

Megalithic tomb building continued into the Bronze Age when metal began to be used for tools alongside the stone tools. The Bronze Age lasted approximately from 4,500 years ago to 2,500 years ago (2,500 BC to 500 BC). Archaeological remains from this period include stone alignments, stone circles and fulachta fiadh (early cooking sites). They continued to bury their chieftains in megalithic tombs which changed design during this period, more being of the wedge tomb type and cist burials.

The earliest evidence of occupation in the river valley can be dated to the Mesolithic and Neolithic Ages with the discovery of flint tools and arrowheads. Around Harkerside are some small stone circles that date to the Bronze Age and some Iron Age defensive earthworks. Evidence of lead mining has been traced back to Roman times with finds at the Hurst mine. This industry seemed to decline until after the Norse (Danish) invasions of the area.

Alongside the stone circles, earthen henges (such as Maumbury Rings in Dorset) were erected in Late Neolithic Britain This transition was, according to historian Ronald Hutton, "as fundamental as that from the Mesolithic had been."Hutton 1991. p. 52. Archaeological pollen analysis has shown that it was a period when scrub and weeds were spreading over what had formerly been cultivated fields, and forests that had previously been cleared began to grow back.Burl 2000. p. 29.

The Ring of Brodgar, a Neolithic stone circle on Orkney, Scotland. Stone circles exist throughout Scotland, from Ninestane Rig in the far south to more famous examples in the far north and particularly in the islands (where several form part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site). The Callanish Stones are one of the best-known examples in the Outer Hebrides, while Orkney is known for its Neolithic monuments, including the Ring of Brodgar and the Standing Stones of Stenness.

Swinside, which is also known as Sunkenkirk and Swineshead,Lewis 1886. p. 475. is a stone circle lying beside Swinside Fell, part of Black Combe in southern Cumbria, North West England. One of around 1,300 recorded stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany, it was constructed as a part of a megalithic tradition that lasted from 3,300 to 900 BC, during what archaeologists categorise as the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages.Burl 2000. p. 13.

The only other known stone circles in Shropshire are the Hoarstones, only 1½ miles northeast of the Fold, and the Whetstones, less than half a mile to the east of the Fold. So this area is a concentrated area of activity. Nearly all the latter's stones were blown up in the 1860s; now there is only a collapse of stones. When the last stone was uprooted in 1870 charcoal and bones were seen in its hole.

All but one—Rempstone Stone Circle on the Isle of Purbeck—are located on the chalk hills west of Dorchester. The Dorset circles have a simplistic typology and are of a comparatively small size in comparison to other British stone circles, with none exceeding 28 metres (92 feet) in diameter. All are oval in shape, although they perhaps have been altered from their original form. With the exception of the Rempstone circle, all consist of sarsen stone.

In the north are a number of long, deep ravines, and Mount Nebo, famous as the scene of the death of Moses.Deuteronomy xxxiv. 1–8 The rainfall is fairly plentiful and the climate, despite the hot summer, is cooler than the area west of the Jordan river, snow falling frequently in winter and in spring. The plateau is dotted with hundreds of dolmens, menhirs, and stone circles, and contains many ruined villages, mostly of the Roman and Byzantine periods.

On the outskirts of the village, towards Dungiven, lies four-storey Drumcovitt House which was built over 300 years ago by the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers and is a visible reminder of the Plantation of Ulster period. In 1796 a round ended Georgian front was added to the house. It is now tourist accommodation. Banagher Glen National Nature Reserve is also close to the village, and Aughlish stone circles and alignments are approximately 3 km from Feeny.

Another view of the Stone Circle The stone circles of Junapani is an uninhabited burial site containing Sepulchral megaliths with remains of the dead. These are found in a small area, about northwest of Nagpur city in central India, in the Vidharba region. They are of fairly large size, visible on Google Earth, and grouped near banks of rivers. It is located on the highway to Katol and forms the northern fringe of central India's megalith distribution.

The Carisbrook stone arrangement is a well-preserved Aboriginal stone arrangement in Victoria, Australia. It measures and is one of only four stone arrangements in the state and the only one of a boomerang design. It is located about 5 km south-east of the town of Carisbrook, on the banks of Tullaroop Creek. It was initially surveyed in the 1980s by the Victorian Archaeological Survey following reporting by a local landowner.Victorian Archaeological Survey, 1986, “Carisbrook Stone Circles”, leaflet.

Formations are usually created overnight, although some are reported to have appeared during the day. In contrast to crop circles or crop formations, archaeological remains can cause cropmarks in the fields in the shapes of circles and squares, but they do not appear overnight, and they are always in the same places every year. Nearly half of all crop circles found in the UK in 2003 were located within a 15 km radius of the Avebury stone circles.

Higham (1986), p. 102. This was not compensated for by home-grown metallurgical working. Cairn circle, Oddendale In terms of burial practices, both inhumations (burials of non-cremated bodies) and cremations took place in Cumbria, with cremations (268) being more favoured than inhumations (51). Most burials were associated with cairns (26) but other monuments were also used: round barrows (14); 'flat' cemeteries (12); stone circles (9); plus use of ring cairns, standing stones and other monuments.Barrowclough (2010), p. 154.

The first explorer to record the existence of these ruins was Gustav Fischer, who passed them on July 5, 1883, and compared them to the tumbled-down walls of ancient castles. Scoeller and Kaiser mentioned the ruins of "Ngaruku" including great stone circles and dams in 1896-97. The first detailed and archaeological investigation was by Hans Reck, in 1913. Louis Leakey and Mary Leakey investigated the site in 1935, but were disappointed by the lack of burial sites.

The southernmost group was the Xhosa people, whose language incorporates certain linguistic traits from the earlier Khoisan people. The Xhosa reached the Great Fish River, in today's Eastern Cape Province. As they migrated, these larger Iron Age populations displaced or assimilated earlier peoples. In Mpumalanga Province, several stone circles have been found along with the stone arrangement that has been named Adam's Calendar, the ruins are thought to be created by the Bakone a Northern Sotho people.

The Lothagam North Pillar Site, registered as GeJi9, is an archaeological site on the west side of Lake Turkana in Kenya dating to the Pastoral Neolithic. It is a communal cemetery, built between 3000 BCE and 2300 BCE by the region's earliest herders. It is thought to be eastern Africa's largest and earliest monumental cemetery. The main burial mound is flanked by megaliths, stone circles, and cairns and is believed to hold the remains of hundreds of individuals.

The southern pair are sited 405m from the northern stones, also in an east-welt alignment and roughly 1m apart. The standing stones are no taller than 0.6m. The Wren's Egg is not in its original position; it appears a farmer tried and failed to move it from the field. It was previously thought that the Wren's Egg lay at the centre of two concentric stone circles, but excavations in 1975 showed that this was not case.

Janjanbureh or Jangjangbureh is a town, founded in 1832, on Janjanbureh Island, also known as MacCarthy Island, in the Gambia River in eastern Gambia. Until 1995, it was known as Georgetown and was the second largest town in the country. It was the capital of the former Central River Division and is best known as home to Gambia's main prison. The Wassu stone circles lie 22 km northwest of Lamin Koto, on the north bank across from Janjanbureh.

On the summit of Beltany Hill, just over a mile from Raphoe, there stands one of the finest stone circles in Ireland. Reputedly older than Stonehenge, it consists of 64 standing stones out of an original 80. The stones range in height from 4 ft to 9 ft (1.2-2.7 metres) while the diameter of the circle is 145 ft (44.2 metres). To the S E of the circle is a standing stone 6 ft (2 metres) high.

Mari was said to reside in Mount Anboto; periodically she crossed the skies as a bright light to reach her other home at Mount Txindoki. Legends also speak of many and abundant genies, like jentilak (equivalent to giants), lamiak (equivalent to nymphs), mairuak (builders of the cromlechs or stone circles, literally Moors), iratxoak (imps), sorginak (witches, priestess of Mari), and so on. Basajaun is a Basque version of the Woodwose. This character is probably an anthropomorphism of the bear.

The ancient architectural landscape of pre-Christian Britain, such as stone circles and dolmens, gives pagan beliefs an attraction, identity, and nationalist legitimacy.R. L. Winzeler, Anthropology and Religion: What We Know, Think, and Question (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012), , p. 174. The rise of pan-Celticism may also have increased the attractiveness of Celtic neopaganism.M. Bowman, "Contemporary Celtic spirituality", in A. Hale and P. Payton, eds, "New Directions in Celtic Studies" (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2000), , pp. 61–80.

The two ruined stone circles are situated between King Arthur's Downs and Emblance Downs, on Bodmin Moor (). They lie close together separated by 2.5 metres and each has a diameter of about 23 metres. The circles had a very irregular spacing of stones, and each ring has an exceptionally large stone to the southeast. The western circle is better preserved with six upright and two fallen stones on the perimeter, with the one in the southeast being 1.6m long.

Transhumance is most likely the beginning of human activity in the Cévennes but little trace has been found of humans from the Paleolithic era except in the southern portion around Ganges and Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort which contains a large quantity of caves rich with archeological evidence such as "La Roque Aynier" (Ganges), and "Baume Dolente"(Vebron) which suggest the presence of Magdalenian peoples (17,000–12,000 BCE). By the Neolithic epoch, which lasted from about 12,000 BCE to around 2,300 BCE in France (), transhumance and hunting were prevalent throughout the entire Cévennes with developments such as pottery moving from south to north in the region. Sheep were common in Mediterranean France before 7000 BCE and numerous prehistoric pots and tools have been recovered dating from as early as 4000 BCE. Around this time many Megalithic constructions such as stone circles, dolmen, and menhirs appeared in the area, with the second largest megalithic site in Europe, the stone rows of , being created around 3,000–2,500 BCE, and important sites such as the stone circles around Blandas in the south appearing between 3,500–2,500 BCE.

The stone circle at Castlerigg (alternatively Keswick Carles, Carles, Carsles, Castle-rig or Druids' Circle) is situated near Keswick in Cumbria, North West England. One of around 1,300 stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany, it was constructed as a part of a megalithic tradition that lasted from 3,300 to 900 BC, during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages.Burl 2000. p. 13. Various archaeologists have commented positively on the beauty and romance of the Castlerigg ring and its natural environment.

While neither Burl's nor Thom's works deal with Castlerigg exclusively, they do attempt to place all the stone circles of Britain in context to each other and to explain their purpose. English Heritage subjected the scheduled area and the field to its immediate west to a geophysical survey in 1985 in order to improve our understanding of the stone circle and to provide a better interpretation for visitors.David, A (1986) Castlerigg Stone Circle: Preliminary Report on Geophysical Survey, 1985. Ancient Monuments Laboratory.

Long Meg and Her Daughters is a Bronze Age stone circle near Penrith in Cumbria (historically in Cumberland), North West England. One of around 1,300 stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany, it was constructed as a part of a megalithic tradition that lasted from 3,300 to 900 BCE, during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age.Burl 2000. p. 13. The stone circle is the sixth-largest example known from this part of north-western Europe,Burl 2005. p. 46.

The structure is located at an altitude of 9642 ft (2939 meters), near the summit of Medicine Mountain. It is a precolumbian structure, built from roughly loaf-sized stones gathered from the surrounding area. The structure consists of a circular rim, 80 ft (24.3 meters) in diameter, 28 spokes extending from the rim to the center, and a series of seven stone circles (cairns). Cairn O is at the center of the structure and is about 10 ft (near 3 meters) in diameter.

It was later investigated by archaeologists in 1992. Below the ruins is a stone ship burial area (Runsa skeppssättning; sv) with some 30 graves. The burial ground is made up of round stones estimated to date from 400 - 500 AD. It is 56 feet from the bow to the stern and is one of the best known stone circles in Sweden.Runsa - Standing Stones in Sweden in Uppland (The Megalithic Portal)] Runsa Manor (Runsa slott) is surrounded by these ruins and other monuments.

In pre-literate times, Neolithic people expressed meaning through images and symbols displayed at stone circles. Meaden determined the core idea behind the building of Stonehenge and Avebury by spotting and interpreting key symbolism. A documentary filmed in 1998 for Channel 4 and the Discovery Channel detailed his hieros gamos concept. At Stonehenge on midsummer morning, a phallic shadow is cast from the "Heel" stone; this penetrates to the centre of the monument where its tip touches the "Goddess" stone.

With its wealth of rock types and their abundance in the landscape, mining and quarrying have long been significant activities in the Lake District economy. In Neolithic times, the Lake District was a major source of stone axes, examples of which have been found all over Britain. The primary site, on the slopes of the Langdale Pikes, is sometimes described as a "stone axe factory" of the Langdale axe industry. Some of the earliest stone circles in Britain are connected with this industry.

Remains of an ancient settlement and evidence of life dating back to 400 BC have been found in the caves of Bolata, as well as the Maltese Cross - a testimony to the trade of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom with Venice and Genoa. Also discovered are stone circles, sacrificial stones, rock caves - dwellings. The beach is also widely known as a dive site. A steep path to the north ascends to the top of the rock wall, offering a view of the entire gorge.

Bradley noted that this interpretation was "consistent with the archaeological evidence from Britain", where evidence for feasting and other human activities have been found at a range of timber sites but not at their stone counterparts. At the latter sites, there has been evidence of human remains. Bradley suggested that the stone circles may have been spaces "devoted to the dead". Other archaeologists have suggested that the stone might not represent ancestors, but rather other supernatural entities, such as deities.

Swinside stone circle, in the Lake District, England, which megalithic specialist Aubrey Burl called "the loveliest of all the circles" in north- western Europe. The stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany are a megalithic tradition of monuments consisting of standing stones arranged in rings. These were constructed from 3300 to 900 BCE in Britain, Ireland and Brittany. It has been estimated that around 4,000 of these monuments were originally constructed in this part of north-western Europe during this period.

The purpose of such rings is unknown, although archaeologists speculate that the stones represented supernatural entities for the circle's builders. At least nine of these stone circles are known to have been constructed near modern Dorset. They are smaller than those found elsewhere in Great Britain and are typically built from sarsen stone. Located in the bottom of a narrow valley, the Nine Stones circle has a diameter of 9.1 metres by 7.8 metres (29 feet 10 inches by 25 feet 11 inches).

It consists of nine irregularly spaced sarsen megaliths, with a small opening on its northern side. Two of the stones on the northwestern side of the monument are considerably larger than the other seven. This architectural feature has parallels with various stone circles in southwestern Scotland, and was potentially a deliberate choice of the circle's builders, to whom it may have had symbolic meaning. Antiquarians like John Aubrey and William Stukeley first took an interest in the site during the eighteenth century.

Marquis of Lansdowne), Henry Street (originally Sound Road), after the son of William the 1st. Marquis and Shelbourne Street (Henry Petty became the first Earl of Shelburne). This name was also later applied to Shelbourne Road in Dublin. However, the area has more ancient roots. One of the largest stone circles in the south-west of Ireland is close to the town, and shows occupation in the area going back to the Bronze Age (2,200–500 B.C), when it was constructed.

Bedwin et al 1980, p. 193. Cross dykes have tended to be dated by their association with other monuments nearby, such as stone circles and Iron Age field systems, although such dating is not secure. Some cross dykes may have continued in use into the Middle Ages (AD 410 – 1485), with a few possibly being built at this late date. Some cross dykes additionally have functioned as boundaries right through to modern times, and they sometimes exhibit a close relationship with parish boundaries.

Ringfort at Cloonmung Fairy forts (also known as lios or raths from the Irish, referring to an earthen mound) are the remains of stone circles, ringforts, hillforts, or other circular prehistoric dwellings in Ireland. From (possibly) the late Iron Age to early Christian times, the island's occupants built circular structures with earth banks or ditches. These were sometimes topped with wooden palisades and wooden framed buildings. As the dwellings were not durable, in many cases only vague circular marks remain in the landscape.

The 20th century saw the development of some substantial gentleman's residences - notably Gidleigh Park, which subsequently became a country house hotel - and the building of a village hall. Gidleigh lies on the Mariners' Way and there was a YHA Youth Hostel in the village from 1932 to 1988. Gidleigh has no village shop, and residents rely on nearby Chagford for shops and other services. Scorhill, one of the largest and best preserved stone circles in Devon, is near the village on Gidleigh Common.

Later on, monuments would become more 'institutionalised' and develop into stone circles and henges, reflecting a more localised and settled focus to occupation, as opposed to marking meeting points for trade and exchange as had been the case earlier.Evans (2008), ch. 7 Neolithic stone axe with handle from Ehenside Tarn (now in the British Museum) The best-known Neolithic site in the West Cumbrian Plain is Ehenside Tarn near Beckermet, with roughout (unfinished) and polished axes, plain bowl pottery, cattle and deer bones.

The parish is dotted with evidence of Neolithic activity, from stone circles and Celtic crosses to burial chambers and ancient holy wells. The village of St Buryan itself is also a site of special historic interest, and contains many listed buildings including the famous grade I listed church. The bells of St Buryan's Church, which have recently undergone extensive renovation, are the heaviest full circle peal of six anywhere in the world. The parish also has a strong cultural heritage.

A concentric stone circle is a type of prehistoric monument consisting of a circular or oval arrangement of two or more stone circles set within one another. They were in use from the late Neolithic to the end of the early Bronze Age and are found in England and Scotland. Cobble pavements have been found in the centre of many examples. Connected features at some sites include central mounds, outlying standing stones, and avenues or circular banks on which the stones are set.

Cumbria is formed of the older counties of Cumberland, Westmorland, parts of North Lancashire and North Yorkshire. There are signs of human inhabitancy as early as 5000 years ago with stone circles discovered under 20 miles east of Little Clifton at Long Meg and Castlerigg amongst other places. The early settlements are in areas suitable for crafting tools such as stone axes and became the source for quarrying in the area. Celtic immigration began around 500BC and developed in Cumbria as Brigantes.

Nabta Playa at the southwest corner of the western Egyptian desert was once a large lake in the Nubian Desert, located 500 miles south of modern-day Cairo. By the 5th millennium BC, the peoples in Nabta Playa had fashioned an astronomical device that accurately marks the summer solstice. Findings indicate that the region was occupied only seasonally, likely only in the summer when the local lake filled with water for grazing cattle. There are other megalithic stone circles in the southwestern desert.

There are over 500 known Neolithic sites on the moor, in the form of burial mounds, stone rows, stone circles and ancient settlements such as the one at Grimspound. Stone rows are a particularly striking feature, ranging in length from a few metres to over 3 km. Their ends are often marked by a cairn, a stone circle, or a standing stone (see menhir). Because most of Dartmoor was not ploughed during the historic period, the archaeological record is relatively easy to trace.

The first stone phase at Stonehenge has been dated to about 2600 BCE. Stone circles are still being made in Wales as part of the Eisteddfod movement, which incorporates this among other elements from the Druidic revival. Desert kites were used possibly by 3000 BCE; they fell out of use in the Neolithic as prey populations declined and the human population rose. Turtle petroform in Whiteshell Provincial Park, Manitoba Some of the North American petroform shapes are over 2,500 years old.

Ulan-Ude 1998 The burial of corpses lying on their backs which was practiced in west Siberia continued in the developing Scythian cultures of south Siberia, which is dealt with separately along with the other horse nomad cultures below. Only isolated sanctuaries are known. Among them are the many burnt offering places found near the necropolis of the chalcolithic Afanasevo culture in south Siberia. They consisted of simple stone circles containing ashes, pottery, animal bones and tools made of copper, stone and bone.

Wedge tomb at Glantane Standing stone at Glantane Glantane East is a megalithic complex situated from Millstreet, County Cork, Ireland. It is set in the Keel River valley on the north-west upper slopes of Musherabeg mountain, in the townland of Glantane. The complex includes a wedge tomb, two stone circles and a pair of stone alignments. The wedge tomb is known locally as "The Flags" and is in height, with a capstone square resting on two sidestones and a backstone.

This suggests that larger stones would have been available had the sites' builders desired, and that the use of miniliths was therefore deliberate. Exmoor also has a henge, near Parracombe, although it has been damaged by ploughing. Alongside this, the moor bears a profusion of other Bronze Age monuments, including between 300 and 400 round barrows, standing stones, linear stone rows, and stone settings. The creation of these different monument types might also explain why so few stone circles were apparently created here.

These stone circles typically show very little evidence of human visitation during the period immediately following their creation. This suggests that they were not sites used for rituals that left archaeologically visible evidence, and may have been deliberately left as "silent and empty monuments". The archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson suggested that in Neolithic Britain, stone was associated with the dead and wood with the living. Other archaeologists have suggested that the stone might not represent ancestors, but rather other supernatural entities, such as deities.

The name is known since 1304 as Fledynge, the first part flaidh meaning "tear or wound" is figuratively used for "hills" or "wound in the landscape", such "wounds" can be found north and northwest of the church, and the last part inge meaning "inhabitants". Fleringe is situated on the north coast of the main island, Gotland, west of Fårösund and right by Lake Bästeträsk. Fleringe is mostly forested land. A number of grave mounds and stone circles from the bronze age can be found at Fleringe.

The archaeologist Alexander Thom proposed that the stone circles were built using a unit of measurement which he called the "megalithic yard", about . He came to this conclusion following more than forty years of surveying the monuments, aided by his son Archibald Stevenson Thom. Parker Pearson stated that "the idea of a standard unit of measurement is very plausible" but perhaps not as regular as Thom and others have argued. In 1980, Burl noted that the idea of Thom's Megalithic Yard "remain[ed] contentious".

It has been suggested to mean bracken-land or come from the old plural for fairy; feren, who were said to be sacred to the ancient Cornish. Fernacre is one of the biggest stone circles in Cornwall. It is slightly flattened in a northwest to southeast direction, measuring by The circle contains some 68 or 69 stones with a further 3 displaced within, 38 or 39 remain standing upright. They are deeply sunk into the soil with the tallest stone measuring high and the longest fallen stone .

Somali architecture is a rich and diverse tradition of engineering and designing. It involves multiple different construction types, such as stone cities, castles, citadels, fortresses, mosques, mausoleums, towers, tombs, tumuli, cairns, megaliths, menhirs, stelae, dolmens, stone circles, monuments, temples, enclosures, cisterns, aqueducts, and lighthouses. Spanning the ancient, medieval and early modern periods in Greater Somalia, it also includes the fusion of Somali architecture with Western designs in contemporary times. In ancient Somalia, pyramidical structures known in Somali as taalo were a popular burial style.

The archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson suggested that in Neolithic Britain, stone was associated with the dead and wood with the living. Other archaeologists have suggested that the stone might not represent ancestors, but rather other supernatural entities, such as deities. Burl described modern Dorset as having a "thin scatter" of stone circles, with nine possible examples known within the county's boundaries. The archaeologist John Gale described these as "a small but significant group" of such monuments, and all are located within five miles of the sea.

The outer ring measured by in diameter; the inner ring was by . It was one of at least seven stone circles that are known to have been erected in the area south of Swindon in northern Wiltshire. Around the 1860s, the megaliths in Fir Clump Stone Circle were levelled and in the 1890s the antiquarian A. D. Passmore observed that the circle was no longer visible. Some of the fallen megaliths were rediscovered in 1965 by the archaeologist Richard Reiss, who described and measured the monument.

During the 1940s, she was at the height of her productivity, producing an average of two publications each year – often for the national journal Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, as well as for notable regional societies. At this time, she published on several important Bronze Age monument types including Bronze Age enclosures (Wiltshire), including the well-known hilltop enclosure site of Ram's Hill (Berkshire) and stone circles (Dorset), including the excavation of eighteen barrows (Hampshire and Wiltshire), as well as others on Crichel and Launceston Downs (Dorset).

The archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson suggested that in Neolithic Britain, stone was associated with the dead and wood with the living. Other archaeologists have suggested that the stone might not represent ancestors, but rather other supernatural entities, such as deities. The area of modern Dorset has only a "thin scatter" of stone circles, with nine possible examples known within its boundaries. The archaeologist John Gale described these as "a small but significant group" of such monuments, and all are located within five miles of the sea.

The walls on this side of the broch do not much exceed the height of the entrance capstone and there are no stones on top of the large capstone.WM Mackenzie, Notes on certain structures or archaic type in the island of Lewis - beehive houses, duns and stone circles, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 38, 173-204. On the south side of the entrance-passage is a so-called "guard cell", a small side room in the hallway. The opening to the "guard cell" is 61 centimetres square.

The stone circles were recorded in 1861 by James Bryce, and numbered 1 to 5."Machrie Moor" in Current Archaeology (1988), page 35 Five other monuments in the area were numbered 6 to 10, and when subsequently a further stone circle was discovered almost completely submerged in peat in 1978, it was numbered Machrie Moor 11. Around 1 kilometer to the west is the remains of the Moss Farm Road Stone Circle,Moss Farm Road Stone Circle, Historic Scotland, accessed 1 May 2014 (Machrie Moor 10).

58 Macaulay suggested that a high culture of bards (or druids) emerged following an influx of Indo- European farming techniques into Britain in the 5th millennium BC. This culture were able to determine pythagorean mathematics from harmonious sounding triads played on ancient Lyres.Sherbon, Michael A., Pythagorean Geometry and Fundamental Constants, SSRN Classics: Journal of Philosophical & Scientific Texts (27 October 2007). These mathematics were then suggested to have been used in the construction of stone circles and exported back to Greece via the tin trade.

Barrowclough (2010), p. 105. The Neolithic examples include the impressive henge at Mayburgh, near Penrith, and a partly destroyed one at nearby King Arthur's Round Table (KART); as well as the Castlerigg Stone Circle above Keswick. The megalith Long Meg, along with Little Meg and a circle at Glassonby may also have been erected at this time, although they are also possibly early Bronze Age in date. The stone circles, henges, cairns and other standing stones are often grouped at nodes of communication routes.

A large amount of earthenware and stoneware were recovered from these middens, including approximately 2,000 clay figures, wood products, bones and antler objects and tools, and fragments baskets and lacquerware. Some objects made of jade, amber and obsidian and not native to the area, and could only have come to this site via trade. The site also contained over 500 burial pits for adult remains, and numerous jar- burials for infants. Some burials, hypothesized to be for the social elite, were enclosed within stone circles.

Scorhill (pronounced Scorill) Stone Circle is now the commonly known name for Gidleigh Stone Circle Rowe, Samuel., Investigations in Dartmoor, Transactions of the Plymouth institution (Plymouth Institution and Devon and Cornwall Natural History Society, Plymouth) 1830 or Steep Hill Stone Circle, one of Devon's biggest and most intact stone circles, situated on Gidleigh Common near the village of Gidleigh in the north east of Dartmoor, in the United Kingdom. It is an English Heritage scheduled monument and has been described as Devon's finest stone circle.Rowe, Samuel.

He worked odd temporary jobs, for example in exhibition stand construction, as warehouse clerk, as a toilet man with Opel. He surprised his employer asking for vacation to accept an invitation to attend an exhibition of his work in Korea. In 2004, he moved to Sigmaringen, where his wife was employed at the hospital, and explored the woods, where he has been laying stone circles, suspending snail shells and arranging found wood. He has called these markings acts of "small anarchy", which cause confrontations with forest workers.

Near the middle of the cairn is an unusual cup-marked stone. The cairn's shape indicates that it was likely to have been a prehistoric burial barrow. Wet Withens is also known as Eyam Moor 1 because there are 2 smaller stone circles about 650m to the east, which are also Scheduled Monuments: Eyam Moor 2 and Eyam Moor 3. There are a number of other ancient henges in Derbyshire including Arbor Low, The Bull Ring, Doll Tor, Hordron Edge, Nine Stone Close and Twyford Henge.

Nearer the middle of the monument are two additional, separate stone circles. The northern inner ring is in diameter, but only two of its four standing stones remain upright. A cove of three stones stood in the middle, its entrance facing northeast. Taking experiments undertaken at the megalithic Ring of Brodgar in Orkney as a basis, the archaeologists Joshua Pollard, Mark Gillings and Aaron Watson believed that any sounds produced inside Avebury's Inner Circles would have created an echo as sound waves ricocheted off the standing stones.

The rolling hills contain improved pasture with limestone walls or fences with some hedgerows and farming in the area is usually sheep with some other livestock while grass is grown for hay and silage in the valleys. Heather is found on the moorland and tree cover is mostly sparse except in small groups with a mix of broad-leaved and coniferous trees, with Ash trees being quite common. Archaeological remains are located in the area and include ancient villages, stone circles, burial mounds and a Roman road.

Close view of a stone in the Stone Circle Chicken feathers within the Stone Circles indicative of tantric worship in recent years The funerary antiquaries at this megalithic burial site are painted red pottery (a few with Megalithic Graffiti Symbols), micaceous red and the coarse red ware. These finds are identical to similar finds from other locations in the region such as from Kaundinyapura, Paunar, Takalghat and Khapa, west of Nagpur; the last two sites were excavated in 1968 on both banks of the Krishna River. TIFR studies (including mapping) have so far covered 56 stone circles and most of them are found to be in a good state of preservation; they are of a few meters diameter. Cup marks have been recorded on 20 of these circles, with seven having marks on the sides. From an analysis of the location of these cup circles, it has been noted that the cup- marks with parallel lines or orthogonal sequences are seen either in a straight line or with a ‘+’ sign form, and also that the ‘+’ sign lines are aligned radially or tangentially within or around the circle with a definite orientation.

The area of modern Dorset has only a "thin scatter" of stone circles, with nine possible examples known within its boundaries. The archaeologist John Gale described these as "a small but significant group" of such monuments, and all are located within five miles (eight kilometres) of the sea. All but one—Rempstone Stone Circle on the Isle of Purbeck—are located on the chalk hills west of Dorchester. The Dorset circles have a simplistic typology, being of comparatively small size, with none exceeding 28 metres (92 feet) in diameter.

It was also not the site of any cremation deposits, unlike some stone circles in Northern Britain. Burl suggested that the Hampton Down Stone Circle may never have been part of the prehistoric stone circle tradition, but that the stones were actually once the kerbstones of a round barrow. To support this suggestion, he noted that round barrows were known at Poole, around 20 miles (32 kilometres) to the east of the site. The excavation yielded no finds, and thus it produced no means of reliably dating the construction of the site.

In his view, the stones had been left close to the site by earlier glaciers and then exploited by the monument's builders Burl, Aubrey. The Stone Circles of the British Isles. Others have argued that the bluestones have been traced to only the Preseli Hills through their chemical signature and that they could not have come from elsewhere. Additionally, it has been claimed that there was no known glacier with a course linking the hills with Salisbury Plain or a glacier from anywhere that reached far enough south.

It is traversed by the South Dorset Ridgeway, part of the South West Coast Path. There are over five hundred ancient monuments along the chalk hills that form the ridgeway, including barrows, stone circles and hillforts; many archaeological finds from the area are on view at the Dorset County Museum in Dorchester. The geology of the town comprises bedrock formed in the Coniacian, Santonian and Campanian ages of the Late Cretaceous epoch, overlain in places by more recent Quaternary drift deposits. The bedrock is chalk of various formations.

Archaeological records for the area in and around Tockholes reveal the presence of Tribal communities as early as 2,000BC."Sites and Finds Record", 1986, Central Lancashire Archaeological Research Unit The area is thought to have been inhabited by both Celtic and Anglo-Saxon settlers. Artifacts found in the area to support early settlement include a stone axe head, bronze spear head and later coins. There is a strong connection with early settlers nearby with Bronze Age barrows, stone circles, settlements and a variety of objects all being found over the surrounding countryside.

They are most densely concentrated in south-western Britain and on the north-eastern horn of Scotland, near Aberdeen. The tradition of their construction may have lasted for 2,400 years, from 3300 to 900 BCE, with the major phase of building taking place between 3000 and 1,300 BCE. These stone circles typically show very little evidence of human visitation during the period immediately following their creation. This suggests that they were not sites used for rituals that left archaeologically visible evidence, but may have been deliberately left as "silent and empty monuments".

As noted by the archaeologist Aubrey Burl, these examples have left behind "only frustrating descriptions and vague positions". Most of the known Wiltshire examples were erected on low-lying positions in the landscape. There are four smaller stone circles known from the area surrounding Avebury: The Sanctuary, Winterbourne Bassett Stone Circle, Clatford Stone Circle, and Falkner's Circle. Archaeologists initially suggested that a fifth example could be seen at Langdean Bottom, although further investigation has reinterpreted this as evidence for a late prehistoric hut circle or a medieval feature.

According to the Order's account, Long joined the ONA in 1973 - the first to have done so in five years - and became the Grand Mistress' heir. He later recalled that at that time the group held rituals at henges and stone circles around the solstices and equinoxes. This account further states that when the Order's Grand Mistress migrated to Australia, Long took over as the group's new Grand Master. The group claimed that Long "implemented the next stage of Sinister Strategy - to make the teachings known on a large scale".

The start of the Bronze Age in Britain was signalled by the introduction of bronze, an alloy of copper and usually tin. Ideologically, there is no evidence for a change in Brittany and the British Isles at this time, with communities continuing to construct megalithic stone circles. The archaeologists J.M. Coles and A.F. Harding noted that across western Europe, the Bronze Age was "closely and logically connected" with the Late Neolithic which preceded it, and that the marker that is applied between the two by contemporary archaeologists is "arbitrary".

When first discovered in 1788, the site was simply described as an "ancient structure" without a name. After it was depicted in paintings by Charles Frederick de Brocktorff in the 1820s, the site was commonly referred to as the Brochtorff Circle, although it is not known who came up with this name. The site eventually became known as the Xagħra Stone Circle or the Gozo Stone Circle. According to the archaeologist David Trump, these names are misnomers because 'Stone Circles' in northern Europe and the British Isles refer to a different type of Neolithic structure.

Model of the Ménec alignment Stones in the Ménec alignment Eleven converging rows of menhirs stretching for . There are what Alexander Thom considered to be the remains of stone circles at either end. According to the tourist office there is a "cromlech containing 71 stone blocks" at the western end and a very ruined cromlech at the eastern end. The largest stones, around high, are at the wider, western end; the stones then become as small as high along the length of the alignment before growing in height again toward the extreme eastern end.

Coire Fhinn ("Fionn's cauldron") was used to cook the deer that he and his fellow hunters had killed. Of the several stone circles on the island, Pobull Fhinn is the most conspicuous. It is located on the south side of Ben Langass, and it possibly dates from the second millennium BC. It is technically an oval rather than a circle, measuring about 120 feet from east to west and 93 feet from north to south. Although situated on a natural plateau, the north side of the enclosed area has been excavated to about four feet.

Evidence of the occupation of Fanad during the Bronze Age (2,000 – 500 BC) continues in the form of tombs and related monuments. Three possible stone circles probably belonging to the Bronze Age have been identified near Rathmullan. Several cist burial sites which are thought to date from the Bronze Age were discovered in Fanad including a now destroyed group at a cairn at Killycolman near Rathmullan.National Monuments Service – Archaeological Survey Database Ring forts (Cashels) and ornately carved stonework are features of Iron Age Donegal (500 BC – 400 AD) including such major monuments as Grianan Aileach.

The mountain and the surrounding area, besides being dotted with abundant prehistoric vestiges (stone circles, menhirs, etc.), is home to numerous fairy tales and rich mythological beliefs. The first one refers to the very creation of the mountain. According to a recurrent account in Basque mythology (e.g. Aballarri in Adarra), it is made up of a stone kicked by mythological character Sanson (Basque development of biblical Samson) from Jaizkibel, while another suggests that it fell down from a pocket of his when he was bombing the valley with huge rocks.

CNRS - ORS TO M (Excerpt) (Retrieved : 10 July 2012)Gravrand, Henry, "La Civilisation Sereer - Pangool", Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines du Senegal, 1990, p 77, and form part of the Serer tumulus of Baol (see also Senegambian stone circles). They are some of the most sacred sites in Serer religion. The Département of Mbacke also includes Murid Islamic Sufi order's holy city of Touba. The installation of this order in Serer country is a controversial one, especially among those Serers who adhere to the tenets of Serer religion (see Serer history (medieval era to present).

These engravings are unusual in the United Kingdom, though they can also be observed on some of the stones at Stonehenge. The rock art is only fully illuminated around the summer solstice sunrise, although there is partial illumination around the summer sunset. The circle has been aligned with the rising winter solstice sun from the Lamorna Gap.Carolyn Kennett, (2018) Celestial Stone Circles of West Cornwall: Reflections of the sky in an ancient landscape The central stone There is a wide gap in the west of the circle, which suggests the loss of stones.

Another claim to fame for the town is Alford Oatmeal, ground at Montgarrie, just outside the town. Alford also sports the Alford Community Campus, with a library and pool. The Alford Valley Railway, Grampian Transport Museum, Alford Heritage Museum and Craigievar Castle are popular visitor attractions, with a range of other archaeological sites, stone circles, and castles (including Balfluig Castle, Castle Fraser and Drum Castle) being within easy reach by road. One stone circle, originally believed to be prehistoric, turned out to be a 20-year-old replica.

The village, mentioned in the Domesday Book and of probable Saxon origin, is situated close to several prehistoric monuments, including Doll Tor and Nine Ladies Bronze Age stone circles and numerous Bronze Age burial cairns on Stanton Moor. They have no connection to Druids, who were an Iron Age culture. There is also the Earl Grey Tower, raised as a monument to the passing of the 1832 Electoral Reform Act and much evidence of ancient and modern sandstone quarrying. C19 lead mines are evident lower down the village.

If no stone circle is there already, one is created out of Gorsedd stones, usually taken from the local area. These stone circles are icons all across Wales and signify the Eisteddfod having visited a community. As a cost-saving measure, the 2005 Eisteddfod was the first to use a temporary "fibre-glass stone" circle for the druidic ceremonies instead of a permanent stone circle. This also has the benefit of bringing the Gorsedd ceremonies onto the maes: previously they were often held many miles away, hidden from most of the public.

As Burl noted, these examples have left behind "only frustrating descriptions and vague positions". Most of the known Wiltshire examples were erected on low-lying positions in the landscape. There are four smaller stone circles known from the area surrounding Avebury: The Sanctuary on Overton Hill, Winterbourne Bassett Stone Circle, Clatford Stone Circle, and Falkner's Circle. Archaeologists initially suggested that a fifth example could be seen at Langdean Bottom near the village of West Overton, although further investigation has reinterpreted this as evidence for a late prehistoric hut circle or a medieval feature.

The relationship between Falkner's Circle and other aspects of the built prehistoric landscape around Avebury is not clear. Although it is inter-visible with a large stretch of the West Kennet Avenue, it does not directly connect to the latter. From Falkner's Circle, it is not possible to see the Avebury henge and stone circles, due to the gentle rise of the land to the north of it. Compared to many other built structures in the area, such as the Avebury henge, Silbury Hill, and West Kennet Avenue, it is diminutive.

The site also included a ritual area with stone circles, which also contained ritual objects (included over 200 human-shaped clay figurines), earrings, and human bone fragments. The presence of 138 lower jaws from wild boar indicates that these animals were used as some form of sacrifice, perhaps similar to the iomante ceremony conducted by the Ainu people with black bears. From Site B district, more than 10 buildings with pillar hole rows, surrounded by a moat were discovered. The site included a water reservoir and 49 underground structures which were probably tombs.

Burl called the Winterbourne Bassett monument "the most problematical of the Wiltshire rings", but also "the most impressive of the lesser" stone circles found in the area around Avebury. The circle was located 5.5km to the north of Avebury, and thus would have been approximately an hour's walk from Avebury itself. The Winterbourne Bassett Stone Circle would have been approximately two-thirds the size of the Avebury Stone Circle. The circle was located on an eastern spur of a low ridge that was leading to Winterbourne Bassett village.

They are most densely concentrated in south-western Britain and on the north-eastern horn of Scotland, near Aberdeen. The tradition of their construction may have lasted for 2,400 years, from 3300 to 900 BCE, with the major phase of building taking place between 3000 and 1,300 BCE. These stone circles typically show very little evidence of human visitation during the period immediately following their creation. This suggests that they were not sites used for rituals that left archaeologically visible evidence, but may have been deliberately left as "silent and empty monuments".

As noted by the archaeologist Aubrey Burl, these examples have left behind "only frustrating descriptions and vague positions". Most of the known Wiltshire examples were erected on low-lying positions in the landscape. There are four smaller stone circles known from the area surrounding Avebury: The Sanctuary, Winterbourne Bassett Stone Circle, Clatford Stone Circle, and Falkner's Circle. Archaeologists initially suggested that a fifth example could be seen at Langdean Bottom near the village of West Overton, although further investigation has reinterpreted this as evidence for a late prehistoric hut circle or a medieval feature.

They are most densely concentrated in south-western Britain and on the north-eastern horn of Scotland, near Aberdeen. The tradition of their construction may have lasted for 2,400 years, from 3300 to 900 BCE, with the major phase of building taking place between 3000 and 1,300 BCE. These stone circles typically show very little evidence of human visitation during the period immediately following their creation. This suggests that they were not sites used for rituals that left archaeologically visible evidence, but may have been deliberately left as "silent and empty monuments".

As noted by the archaeologist Aubrey Burl, these examples have left behind "only frustrating descriptions and vague positions". Most of the known Wiltshire examples were erected on low-lying positions in the landscape. There are four smaller stone circles known from the area surrounding Avebury: The Sanctuary, Winterbourne Bassett Stone Circle, Clatford Stone Circle, and Falkner's Circle. Archaeologists initially suggested that a fifth example could be seen at Langdean Bottom near the village of West Overton, although further investigation has reinterpreted this as evidence for a late prehistoric hut circle or a medieval feature.

They are most densely concentrated in south-western Britain and on the north-eastern horn of Scotland, near Aberdeen. The tradition of their construction may have lasted for 2,400 years, from 3300 to 900 BCE, with the major phase of building taking place between 3000 and 1,300 BCE. These stone circles typically show very little evidence of human visitation during the period immediately following their creation. This suggests that they were not sites used for rituals that left archaeologically visible evidence, but may have been deliberately left as "silent and empty monuments".

Day House Lane Stone Circle, also known as Coate Stone Circle, is a stone circle near the hamlet of Coate, now on the southeastern edge of Swindon, in the English county of Wiltshire. Five partly buried stones remain at the site. A circle of sarsen megaliths, Day House Lane Stone Circle probably had an original diameter of about 69 metres and possibly contained over thirty stones. It was one of at least seven stone circles that are known to have been erected in the area south of Swindon in northern Wiltshire.

They are most densely concentrated in south-western Britain and on the north-eastern horn of Scotland, near Aberdeen. The tradition of their construction may have lasted for 2,400 years, from 3300 to 900 BCE, with the major phase of building taking place between 3000 and 1,300 BCE. These stone circles typically show very little evidence of human visitation during the period immediately following their creation. This suggests that they were not sites used for rituals that left archaeologically visible evidence, but may have been deliberately left as "silent and empty monuments".

It presents 530 ancient remains, including dolmens and cobble-clad graves in various forms, especially large triangular ones. The dominating graves are large barrows from the Iron Age with the addition of stelae, stone circles and a large stone ship. A farm with the name Hof reveals that it was once a pagan blót temple (see Temple at Uppsala). In the Hervarar saga, it is related that Arngrim and his twelve wild sons, who fought against Hjalmar, lived on Bólmr and it is believed to refer to Bolmsö.

They are most densely concentrated in south-western Britain and on the north-eastern horn of Scotland, near Aberdeen. The tradition of their construction may have lasted for 2,400 years, from 3300 to 900 BCE, with the major phase of building taking place between 3000 and 1,300 BCE. These stone circles typically show very little evidence of human visitation during the period immediately following their creation. This suggests that they were not sites used for rituals that left archaeologically visible evidence, and may have been deliberately left as "silent and empty monuments".

The local myth about the creation of the stones suggests that nine maidens were turned into stone as punishment for dancing on a Sunday. The Fiddler, a megalith some distance north of the row, is said to be the petrified remains of the musician who played for the dancers. These petrifaction legends are often associated with stone circles, and is reflected in the folk names of some of the nearby sites, for example The Hurlers and The Pipers on Bodmin Moor. The stone row was first noted by historian Richard Carew in 1605.

Dartmoor is said to be one of the last remaining areas of wilderness in Britain,Steen, Anthony. 2003, Hansard "Dartmoor National Park (Military Exercises)" HC Deb 15 October 2003 vol 411 cc129-36WH but it has been a managed landscape since the late Neolithic (3,000-2,500 BCE). The Bronze Age inhabitants (from 2,500 to 750 BCE) cleared ancient forest and developed farming. They made extensive use of surface moorstone in the construction of roundhouses (their remains now seen as "hut circles"), enclosures, land-dividing reaves, stone rows, stone circles, menhirs and kistvaens.

Easter Aquorthies stone circle showing the recumbent stone and two flankers The particular characteristic of recumbent stone circles is that, as well as being a ring of upright stones (orthostats), they have a large stone lying on its side along the perimeter of the circle towards south to southwest. On both sides are particularly tall orthostats. The recumbent stone and flankers, as they are called, together form the recumbent setting. Around the ring the orthostats get progressively lower in height and more closely spaced until they reach the opposite side from the setting.

Prehistoric Cumbria describes that part of north-west England, subsequently the county of Cumbria, prior to the coming of the Romans. Barrowclough puts the archaeological record of the county (as of 2010) at '443 stone tools, 187 metal objects and 134 pots', plus the various monuments such as henges, stone circles, and the like. The survival of these objects has been influenced by processes such as the rise in sea levels on the west coast, erosion, deposition practices, industrial and agricultural development, and the changing interests and capabilities of antiquarians and archaeologists.Barrowclough (2010), p.

As well as providing focal points for the gathering of people for the purposes of trade, of ritual, and, in the Late Neolithic, for more 'tenurial' settlement and ownership of land, the stone circles probably had cosmological uses as well. For example, the Long Meg stone itself, which stands outside its accompanying circle, is aligned with the circle's centre on the point of the midwinter sunset. The use of different coloured stones here is possibly linked to observations made at the times of equinoxes and solstices.Barrowclough (2010), pp. 126-131.

More impressive remains include stone circles, such as Birkrigg stone circle, Long Meg and Her Daughters, Swinside, and Little Meg. 32 bronze artefacts have been discovered in the Furness district covering a long period of time (c. 2300 - 500 BC), suggesting that this region was held to have special meaning to the people there. In the Late Bronze Age, defended hilltop settlements along the northern shore of Morecambe Bay, with metalworking, special functions and long-term deposition of artefacts associated with them, were probably precursors to later Iron Age hill-forts.

Loanhead of Daviot Up to 99 recumbent stone circles are known to exist in an area of Aberdeenshire spanning about north to south by east to west. They are clustered in areas characterised by low hills, away from the mountains and alongside patches of fertile and well-drained soil, which would indicate that they were built by local farmers. They were normally constructed on sloping hillsides, aligned towards the southern moon. A few sites were deliberately levelled before construction of the circle; one, at Berrybrae, was built on an artificial clay platform.

Michael Tellinger in 2014 Michael Tellinger is a South African author, politician, explorer and founder of the Ubuntu Party which supports the supply of free resources across society. He has led a campaign against banks and central banks. He is also a promoter of pseudoarchaeology influenced by Zecharia Sitchin's ideas of ancient astronauts. presenting the Blaauboschkraal stone ruins, interpreted by mainstream archaeology as 16th century boundary markers, as 'Adam's Calendar', an alien-built structure at the center of a network of stone circles across Southern Africa which purportedly channeled energy in ancient times.

The prehistoric stone circle at Loanhead of Daviot Daviot (Gaelic: Deimhidh) is a village in Aberdeenshire. It is the birthplace of theologian William Robinson Clark. Daviot has one of the best examples of Neolithic stone circles in the north east of Scotland, Loanhead of Daviot stone circle, which comprises 10 stones plus one recumbent stone. Other interesting features are the House of Daviot, a disused old people's home recently bought and refurbished privately, a Schlumberger explosives facility (on a nearby hill), and the first GM crop field in Scotland.

The principal relics of antiquity - mainly stone circles, cairns and forts - appear in the eastern district. A vitrified fort crowns the hill of Knockfarrel in the parish of Fodderty, and there is a circular dun near the village of Lochcarron. Some fine examples of sculptured stones occur, especially those that, according to tradition, mark the burial- place of the three sons of a Danish king who were shipwrecked off the coast of Nigg. The largest and handsomest of these three crosses - the Clach a' Charraidh, or Stone of Lamentation - stands at Shandwick.

The site is located 3.5 kilometers from the confluence of the Omi River with the Kamo River and covers approximately 3 hectares. The site contained the foundations of pit dwellings from 3000 to 4000 years ago and an indeterminate number of tombs. Of note were a number of stone circles, one of which was 12 meters in diameter and contained elongated stones in its center which may once have been upright monoliths. Smooth river rocks were mostly used; however, some of the stones in the structure were polished to a flat surface.

Another type can be found in the Horn of Africa. Stone circles are usually grouped in terms of the shape and size of the stones, the span of their radius, and their population within the local area. Although many theories have been advanced to explain their use, usually related to providing a setting for ceremony or ritual, there is no consensus among archaeologists as to their intended function. Their construction often involved considerable communal effort, including specialist tasks such as planning, quarrying, transportation, laying the foundation trenches, and final construction.

In the municipality of Korpo, on the village island of Jurmo, are some of the most studied antiquities in Southwestern Archipelago: so called monk rings. Interpreting these four stone circles has been tried already in the 18th century, when it was suspected that they were made by monks from the village of Kökar. It has been found that Franciscans really lived on Kökar Island from the end of the 14th century to the 1530s. So it might well be the case that the monks built these stone rings on their fishing trips, for example.

The necropolis of Pranu Muttedu is one of the most important funerary areas of pre-Nuragic Sardinia and is located near Goni, a small village in the province of South Sardinia. The complex has the highest known concentration of menhirs and megaliths in Sardinia (about sixty, variously distributed in pairs, groups or arrays), two megalithic tombs and a Domus de Janas surrounded by stone circles. The complex has been excavated by Enrico Atzeni, on several occasions since 1980. The site was used from the Ozieri culture period to the early Copper Age.

For example, the stone arrangement at Wurdi Youang consists of about 100 stones arranged in an egg-shaped oval about 50m across. Each stone is well-embedded into the soil, and many have "trigger-stones" to support them. The appearance of the site is very similar to that of the megalithic stone circles found throughout Britain (although the function and culture are presumably completely different). Although its association with Indigenous Australians is well-authenticated and beyond doubt, the purpose is unclear, although it may have a connection with initiation rites.

A site where stone circle structures were found by Lorraine Copeland and Peter Wescombe. They were located at the east end of the runway of Beirut Airport covering a site of approximately . Preliminary excavations were carried out by M.R. Saidah in 1964. The site contained two areas, one of red sand where human burials were discovered and another of modern sand where six stone circles were observed in 1964 around to from the runway, these were bulldozed in 1965 to make a golf course, leaving only one standing.

The site is located on an underwater plateau approximately 2 km off the coast of St. Julian's. The plateau is 900 by 500 metres long, and its highest point seems to be man-made, and is 19 metres below sea level. The site contains large boulders which Zeitlmair believed to be man-made and not natural, and which are covered in vegetation. Zeitlmair describes it as consisting of a cluster of three stone circles with 'rooms' with a diameter of 9 to 11 metres, with parts having a height up to 6 to 10 metres.

Only a few Basque dolmens have clear stratigraphies, due to the usage of removing older remains to make room for new burials. In spite of this difficulty, it's known that megalithic burial customs arrived to the Basque Country in the late Neolithic being very frequently used in the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, and, in the case of some mounds, as late as the Iron Age. Other megalithic structures, such as standing stones (menhirs) and stone circles (cromlechs) seem to belong to later periods, specifically the Iron Age.

Whereas Stukeley claimed that Avebury and related prehistoric monuments were the creations of the druids, Twining thought that they had been constructed by the later Romans, justifying his conclusion on the fact that Roman writers like Julius Caesar and Tacitus had not referred to stone circles when discussing the Iron Age Britons, whereas Late Mediaeval historians like Geoffrey of Monmouth and Henry of Huntingdon had described these megaliths in their works, and that such monuments must have therefore been constructed between the two sets of accounts.Burl 1979. p. 51 and 57.

In the near vicinity of Lake Leśno Dolne is an archaeological site called Kamienne Kręgi (English: "Stone Circles") which contains numerous barrows and cists. Some are dated back as far as the Bronze Age. Other, later, barrows are dated back to the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, and are connected with Gothic settlement.Leśno Barrow Cemetery The village of Leśno first appears in the records for the year 1342, in which Winrich von Kniprode, master of the Teutonic Knights, granted it to one "Dytryk" for services to be rendered.

The archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson suggested that in Neolithic Britain, stone was associated with the dead and wood with the living. Other archaeologists have suggested that the stone might not represent ancestors, but rather other supernatural entities, such as deities. The area of modern Dorset has only a "thin scatter" of stone circles, with nine possible examples known within its boundaries. The archaeologist John Gale described these as "a small but significant group" of such monuments, and all are located within five miles (eight kilometres) of the sea.

They are usually more than , and up to , in diameter and the posts that constituted them were generally more than wide. Technically, they always consist of at least two concentric circles or ovals of timbers although there are variations on the rule such as the monuments of Seahenge and Arminghall, both in East Anglia which are often described as being timber circles. Wider gaps between the posts are thought to have served as entrance routes. The builders replaced the posts as they decomposed and in some cases stone circles were adopted instead during later phases.

They are most densely concentrated in south-western England and on the north-eastern horn of Scotland, near Aberdeen. The tradition of their construction may have lasted for 2,400 years, from 3300 to 900 BCE, the major phase of building taking place between 3000 and 1,300 BCE. These stone circles typically show very little evidence of human visitation during the period immediately following their creation. This suggests that they were not sites used for rituals that left archaeologically visible evidence, but may have been deliberately left as "silent and empty monuments".

They are most densely concentrated in south-western Britain and on the north-eastern horn of Scotland, near Aberdeen. The tradition of their construction may have lasted for 2,400 years, from 3300 to 900 BCE, with the major phase of building taking place between 3000 and 1,300 BCE. These stone circles typically show very little evidence of human visitation during the period immediately following their creation. This suggests that they were not sites used for rituals that left archaeologically visible evidence, but may have been deliberately left as "silent and empty monuments".

Gray accompanied Hamilton on a visit to the site in August 1905, when he made a complete survey of the ring. Gray published his findings in a 1906 volume of the Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, in which he drew comparisons between the site and two Cornish stone circles that he had recently surveyed, Fernacre and Stannon Stone Circle. He suggested that the circle had been the site of cremations, the cremated human remains then being buried within the nearby tumuli. In August 1915, Gray returned to the site.

The largest of the stone ships in Gnisvärd The stone ships in Gnisvärd (the Gnisvärds skeppssättningar) date to the later Bronze Age and are some of the best preserved stone ships on the island. Located just south of the north road to the fishing village, one of them is the largest on Gotland, measuring in length and in breadth. Consisting of about 100 closely packed, erected stones, the bow and stern stones are the largest at approximately . The stone ship is located between two smaller, round stone circles.

The field of archaeoacoustics uses acoustic techniques to explore prehistoric sounds, soundscapes and instruments, and has included the study of ringing rocks and lithophones, of the acoustics of ritual sites such as chamber tombs and stone circles, and the exploration of prehistoric instruments using acoustic testing. Such work has included acoustic field tests to capture and analyse the impulse response of archaeological sites; acoustic tests of lithophones or 'rock gongs'; and reconstructions of soundscapes as experimental archaeology. An academic research network, the Acoustics and Music of British Prehistory Research Network, has explored this field.

Retrieved 4 February 2011. There are also numerous standing stones dating from prehistoric times, including six stone circles on Machrie Moor, Arran and other examples on Great Cumbrae and Bute."Great Cumbrae Island, Craigengour" Scotland's Places.Retrieved 4 February 2011.Cowie, Trevor "The Bronze Age" in Omand (2006) pp. 27–30 Bronze Age settlers also constructed megaliths at various sites, many of them dating from the second millennium BC, although the chambered cairns were replaced by burial cists, found on for example, Inchmarnock. Settlement evidence, especially from the early part of this era is however poor.

However, it has been suggested that the site is not a stone circle at all, but is instead made up of kerbstones from a Bronze Age round barrow. A number of stone circles were built in the area around modern Dorset, typically being constructed from sarsen stone and being smaller than those found elsewhere. The Hampton Down ring was erected on an open downland ridge overlooking the coast. It originally contained either eight or nine sarsen stones and had a diameter of 20 feet (6.5 metres) across with a track leading to it from the north.

This was the only monument to be moved, with the dam leading to the disappearance of prehistoric engravings and the Roman Castelo da Lousa. Although it has much in common with megalithic stone circles, the Xerez cromlech is, in fact, square. There has been some dispute about the authenticity of the square layout or even whether it is a cromlech at all. When first discovered, the stones had been widely dispersed due to agricultural work and an initial topographical survey only identified 12 stones that could be part of a cromlech, although the present layout has 55.

Senemut's tomb, 18th dynastyFull version at Met Museum Egyptian astronomy begins in prehistoric times, in the Predynastic Period. In the 5th millennium BCE, the stone circles at Nabta Playa may have made use of astronomical alignments. By the time the historical Dynastic Period began in the 3rd millennium BCE, the 365-day period of the Egyptian calendar was already in use, and the observation of stars was important in determining the annual flooding of the Nile. The Egyptian pyramids were carefully aligned towards the pole star, and the temple of Amun-Re at Karnak was aligned on the rising of the midwinter Sun.

The cairn and stone circle is situated 3 miles north of Blackwaterfoot on the west side of the Isle of Arran.Moss Farm Road Stone Circle, Historic Scotland, accessed 1 May 2014 Around 1 kilometre to the east are the Machrie Moor Stone Circles, and this circle is sometimes known as Machrie Moor Circle 10. The cairn has been robbed for stone, and a modern fence and a farm track have cut through the north side of the site. It was once surrounded by a complete circle of stones with a diameter of 23 metres, but many have been removed.

The sun rising over Stonehenge in southern England on the June solstice Many ancient civilizations observed astronomical bodies, often the Sun and Moon, to determine times, dates, and seasons.Chobotov, p. 1 The first calendars may have been created during the last glacial period, by hunter-gatherers who employed tools such as sticks and bones to track the phases of the moon or the seasons. Stone circles, such as England's Stonehenge, were built in various parts of the world, especially in Prehistoric Europe, and are thought to have been used to time and predict seasonal and annual events such as equinoxes or solstices.

Other prehistoric monuments to be found in the uplands include stone circles, standing stones and rock art. The presence of standing stones at altitudes suggests they may have served route-marking purposes. The largest complex of hill forts in Ireland is to be found on the hills near Baltinglass. The earliest known tribes to have controlled the Wicklow Mountains include the Dál Messin Corb, the Uí Mail, the Uí Theig and the Uí Briúin. One member of the Dál Messin Corb was Saint Kevin, who founded the monastery at Glendalough in the latter part of the 6th century.

Céide Fields There is evidence of human occupation of what is now County Mayo going far back into prehistory. At Belderrig on the north Mayo coast, there is evidence for Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) communities around 4500 BC. while throughout the county there is a wealth of archaeological remains from the Neolithic (New Stone Age) period (ca. 4,000 BC to 2,500 BC), particularly in terms of megalithic tombs and ritual stone circles. The first people who came to Ireland – mainly to coastal areas as the interior was heavily forested – arrived during the Middle Stone Age, as far back as eleven thousand years ago.

Carew was aware of the tradition at Stonehenge, comparing it with that found at The Hurlers, a group of three stone circles near Liskeard in Cornwall. The next textual appearance of the story dates from 1604, and can be found in the Scottish poet Alexander Craig's book The Poetical Essays of Alexander Craige Scotobritane. Here, it features in reference to Stonehenge as part of the poem "To His Calidonian Mistris". The Stonehenge countless stones story is again mentioned in William Rowley's play The Birth of Merlin, which was published in 1662 but probably authored forty of fifty years previously.

Based on his research in this region, in 1925 he published his book Long Barrows and the Stone Circles of the Cotswolds and the Welsh Marches. As part of his job, he travelled around Britain, from Scotland in the north to the Scilly Isles in the south, often conducting his fieldwork by bicycle. At archaeological sites he took photographs and stored them in his archive, and he also obtained aerial photographs of archaeological sites taken by the Royal Air Force. In this he was aided by regional antiquarian societies and by his correspondents, whom he called his "ferrets".

Burl 1981. pp. 61-97. The fifth chapter, "Rings around the Moon", explores the monumental architecture of the Late Neolithic period in Britain, discussing the development of large earthworks known as henges, as well as the construction of the early wooden and stone circles, many of which contained celestial alignments. Proceeding to focus on the Late Neolithic society of Orkney, he discusses the village of Skara Brae and the various ceremonial monuments in the region, such as Maes Howe and Stenness, arguing for the existence of an ancestor cult and totemistic beliefs.Burl 1981. pp. 97-126.

King Arthur's Hall thumb 10,000 years ago, in the Mesolithic period, hunter-gatherers wandered the area when it was wooded. There are several documented cases of flint scatters being discovered by archaeologists, indicating that these hunter-gatherers practised flint knapping in the region. During the Neolithic era, from about 4,500 to 2,300 BC, people began clearing trees and farming the land. It was also in this era that the production of various megalithic monuments began, predominantly long cairns (three of which have currently been identified, at Louden, Catshole and Bearah) and stone circles (sixteen of which have been identified).

Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi ( deiro d-mor mūše kūšoyo; , ALA-LC: dayr mār Mūsá al-Ḥabashī), literally the Monastery of Saint Moses the Abyssinian, is a monastic community of the Syriac Catholic Church located near the town of Nabk, approximately north of Damascus, on the eastern slopes of the Anti- Lebanon. The main church of the monastic compound hosts precious frescoes dating to the 11th and 12th century. Fresco depicting Saint Bacchus at the monastery. An ancient building, stone circles, lines and tombs were recently discovered near the monastery in 2009 by archaeologist Robert Mason of the Royal Ontario Museum.

These include not only stone circles, but also earthen henges and timber circles. This transition toward circular monuments had symbolic associations. As the archaeologist Aubrey Burl stated, "There was a change from the cramped, gloomy chamber of a tomb to the unroofed, wide ring, a change from darkness to light, from the dead to the living, from the grave to the sky." Similar observations were made by the historian Ronald Hutton, who commented that the circular shape of the rings "mirrors the sun, the full moon and the bounds of the horizon" and that such a shape can also be "profoundly egalitarian".

Bren gun carriers of the 9th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders pass between the prehistoric standing stones 18 June 1941 The Ring of Brodgar (or Brogar, or Ring o' Brodgar) is a Neolithic henge and stone circle in Orkney, Scotland. It is the only major henge and stone circle in Britain which is an almost perfect circle. Most henges do not contain stone circles; Brodgar is a striking exception, ranking with Avebury and Stonehenge among the greatest of such sites.Ritchie 1985, p. 119 The ring of stones stands on a small isthmus between the Lochs of Stenness and Harray.

1823 woodcut, the Ring of Brodgar & surroundings Invaders from Scandinavia reached Orkney by the 9th century, bringing a complex theology that they imposed on the preexisting Orcadian monuments; at least according to local legend. For example, the Ring of Brodgar and the Standing Stones of Stenness were allegedly known as the Temple of the Sun and Moon respectively.Hedges 1984, p. 13 Young people supposedly made their vows and prayed to Wōden at these "temples" and at the so-called "Odin Stone" that lay between the stone circles until it was destroyed by a farmer in 1814.

Keallkill five-stone circle (axial stone on left) Associated standing stones Kealkill stone circle is a bronze age axial five-stone circle located just outside the village of Kealkill, County Cork in southwest Ireland. When it was excavated in 1938 it was thought the crucial axial stone indicated an alignment to the north, contrary to the general alignment of such stone circles to the southwest. However, later archaeologists have thought it is the comparatively insignificant stone to the southwest that is the axial stone. There are two associated standing stones nearby, one of which had fallen and was re-erected in 1938.

The story begins with the destruction of the dragon settlement, South Point, home to Fortune, a young Natural dragon. Fleeing, he joins with the Charmed dragon Cumber on a desperate quest to reach the fabled citadel of the Charmed at Covamere. As they journey, the two dragons witness the growing conflict between the Charmed and the Naturals, which threatens to culminate in all-out war between the two species. They encounter signs everywhere that magic is leaving the world: trolls lie dying beneath the landscape, giants build enigmatic stone circles and faeries are evolving into proto-humans.

English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a registered charity that looks after the National Heritage Collection. English Heritage is steward of over 400 significant historical and archaeological sites. It has direct ownership over some historic sites and also liaises with private owners of sites that are managed under guardianship arrangements. In Somerset there are twelve sites, ranging from Neolithic sites such as Stanton Drew stone circles and Stoney Littleton Long Barrow through medieval castles and religious sites such as Farleigh Hungerford Castle and Cleeve Abbey to the most recent, Sir Bevil Grenville's Monument, which was erected in 1720.

The Complex consists of three Bronze Age mounds of which only two (Church Lawton II and Church Lawton III) survive. Church Lawton III is the more important of the two, having been excavated in the early 1980s. It seems to have been built in two phases; the first phase consisted of one of the few stone circles found in Cheshire, which was roughly 22.5 metres (73 ft 9 in) in diameter, with a turf and daub platform in the centre, on which dead bodies were probably placed as part of an excarnation ritual prior to burial.

They are most densely concentrated in south-western Britain and on the north-eastern horn of Scotland, near Aberdeen. The tradition of their construction may have lasted 2,400 years, from 3300 to 900 BCE, the major phase of building taking place between 3000 and 1,300 BCE. These stone circles typically show very little evidence of human visitation during the period immediately following their creation. The historian Ronald Hutton noted that this suggests that they were not sites used for rituals that left archaeologically visible evidence, but may have been deliberately left as "silent and empty monuments".

All were associated with pieces of fragmented, burnt sarsen. Projecting this arc into a circle, and considering the location of the five known stone holes, would suggest that – if the stones were evenly spaced – there would have been ten megaliths in the circle, not twelve, as Falkner had claimed. From other surviving examples of stone circles it is nevertheless known that the stones are not always spaced at even intervals throughout the whole circle, indicating that the ring could have once contained twelve megaliths. That excavation also recovered 1074 pieces of worked flint, much of it from the topsoil.

Birchover is near a number of features of geologic and historic interest: a rock formation called Rowtor Rocks, consisting of numerous tunnels, carvings and caves; several prehistoric monuments, including Doll Tor; and a number of stone circles on Stanton Moor. The area was once used by Druids as a ceremonial worship site, hence the stone circle and carvings found in the rock formation by the village. Birchover is mentioned in the Domesday book as belonging to Henry de Ferrers,Henry was given a large number of manors in Derbyshire including Doveridge, Linton, Breadsall and Great Longstone. and being worth eight shillings.

In an investigation for the Royal Academy Kendall concluded that there was evidence of a uniform unit in Scottish circles but not in English circles, and that further research was needed. Statistician P. R. Freeman reached similar conclusions and found that two other units fit the data as well as the yard. Douglas Heggie casts doubt on Thom's suggestion as well, stating that his careful analysis uncovered "little evidence for a highly accurate unit" and "little justification for the claim that a highly accurate unit was in use". In his book Rings of Stone: The Prehistoric Stone Circles of Britain and Ireland.

In a 1946 paper published in the Folklore journal, John H. Evans recorded a Kentish folk belief which had been widespread "up to the last generation". This held that it was impossible to successfully count the number of stones in the Medway Megaliths. The countless stones motif is not unique to Kent, having been recorded at other megalithic monuments in Britain and Ireland. The earliest textual evidence for it is in an early 16th-century document, where it applies to Stonehenge in Wiltshire, although an early 17th- century document also applied it to The Hurlers, a set of three stone circles in Cornwall.

The site features a group of circles including one with 41 small stones and a fallen stone 150 cm high at the south, with another of the same height outside the circle to the north. There are three other circles (or parts of circles) with alignments, one of which stretches for 18m. Aubrey Burl considers the site to be typical of Irish Bronze Age ritual sites around the Sperrins, the local range of hills. He argues that the layout of the stone circles and rows indicates connections with circle builders in England, Scotland and elsewhere in Northern Ireland.

The earliest parts of the present house were probably built after William Dunch of Little Wittenham in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire) purchased the estate in 1551. It was some way from most of his lands which centred on Wittenham, but he appears to have purchased it because of an interest in ancient monuments such as the Avebury stone circles. Around that time, a stone dovecote was erected in the grounds. In the 1580s, Dunch passed it on to his younger son, Walter, whose daughter, Deborah, Lady Moody, grew up at the manor before emigrating to America and founding Gravesend in Brooklyn in 1645.

The Significance of Monuments: On the Shaping of Human Experience in Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe is an archaeological book authored by the English academic Richard Bradley of the University of Reading. It was first published by Routledge in 1998. Adopting a chronological approach from the Mesolithic through the Neolithic and into the Early Bronze Age, Bradley discusses the various different types of monuments that were constructed in Europe during this period, from the passage tombs and causewayed enclosures to the later stone circles. Throughout, he offers new interpretations of the evidence, often criticising older viewpoints.

The building of such stone circles, burial mounds and monuments throughout the British Isles seems to have required a division of labour. Builders would have needed to dedicate themselves to the task of monument construction to acquire the required skills. Not having time to hunt and farm would make them rely on others to such an extent that specialised farmers would emerge who provided not only for themselves but also for the monument builders. There are many changes in culture seen in prehistoric and later times such as the Beaker people, the Celts, the Romans and the Anglo- Saxons.

London Stukely also failed to see the significance of recording the stones in such detail. However, using Wood's original dimensions it has been possible to re- draw his work on a computer and compare the record with the modern plan of Stonehenge. His survey has immense archaeological value, for he recorded the stones fifty years before the collapse of the western trilithon (which fell in 1797 and was not restored until 1958). In the same year Wood surveyed and mapped the Stanton Drew stone circles, noting the different stones used and suggesting the layout was based on the Pythagorean planetary system.

He also noticed that the pigs which did this did not suffer from skin diseases as others did, and on trying the mud bath himself found that he was cured of his leprosy. He was then restored to his position as heir-apparent to his father, and founded Bath so that others might also benefit as he had done. Wood also writes about Neo-Druidism which had been popularised in the 17th and 18th centuries by writers such as John Aubrey, John Toland and William Stukeley in conjunction with exploration of the stone circles at Stonehenge and Stanton Drew.

Nearby and to the north east is a smaller ring of eight stones in the centre of which the geophysical work identified four further pits. A third ring of twelve stones, measuring wide, stands to the south west. The Cove A fluxgate gradiometer survey in July 2009 investigated standing stones in the garden of the Druids Arms public house known as The Cove, which showed that the stones date from nearly a thousand years before the stone circles. The conclusion from the study was that these upright stones are likely to have been the portals or façade of a chambered tomb.

The exact age of the henge monument at Stanton Drew stone circles is unknown, but it is believed to be Neolithic. There are numerous Iron Age hill forts, some of which, like Cadbury Castle and Ham Hill, were later reoccupied in the Early Middle Ages. On the authority of the future emperor Vespasian, as part of the ongoing expansion of the Roman presence in Britain, the Second Legion Augusta invaded Somerset from the south-east in AD 47\. The county remained part of the Roman Empire until around AD 409, when the Roman occupation of Britain came to an end.

This site was developed by nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes, as evidenced by the lack of permanent housing in the vicinity, and may be the oldest known human-made place of worship. At least seven stone circles, covering , contain limestone pillars carved with animals, insects, and birds. Stone tools were used by perhaps as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9500–9000 BC have been found in Tell es-Sultan (ancient Jericho), Israel (notably Ain Mallaha, Nahal Oren, and Kfar HaHoresh), Gilgal in the Jordan Valley, and Byblos, Lebanon.

The ecoregion is relatively young with regard to human settlement, due to glaciation during the most recent ice age, less than 10,000 years ago. Mesolithic peoples were certainly in evidence circa 9000 to 8000 years ago throughout the present day Irish portion of the ecoregion, as well as somewhat later in the western Scotland areas of the North Atlantic moist mixed forests. Neolithic farming ensued, as grain farming technologies developed, along with advancing forms of livestock tending, along with appearance of some of the early Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological monumental sites in the region including standing stones and stone circles.

Swinside stone circle, England Bryn Cader Faner, North Wales A stone circle is a circular alignment of standing stones. They are commonly found across Northern Europe and Great Britain, and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age eras, with most concentrations appearing from 3000 BCE. The best known examples include those at the henge monument at Avebury, the Rollright Stones, and elements within the ring of standing stones at Stonehenge. Ancient stone circles appear throughout Europe, with many existing in the Pyrenees, on the Causse de Blandas in southern France in the Cevennes, in the Alps, Bulgaria, and Poland.

At a number of sites in southeastern Turkey, ceremonial complexes with large T-shaped megalithic orthostats, dating from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN, 9600–7000 cal BC), have been discovered. At the most famous of these sites, Göbekli Tepe, parts of the oldest level (III) have been C14-dated as far back as to the mid-10th millennium BC (cal). On this level, 20 great stone circles (up to 20 meters in diameter) with standing stones up to 7 meters high have been identified. At least 5 of these circles have so far (as of 2019) been excavated.

They are most densely concentrated in south-western Britain and on the north-eastern horn of Scotland, near Aberdeen. The tradition of their construction may have lasted for 2,400 years, from 3300 to 900 BCE, with the major phase of building taking place between 3000 and 1,300 BCE. These stone circles typically show very little evidence of human visitation during the period immediately following their creation. The historian Ronald Hutton noted that this suggests that they were not sites used for rituals that left archaeologically visible evidence, but may have been deliberately left as "silent and empty monuments".

At Avebury and West Kennet Avenue in Wiltshire, the tall pillar and broad diamond shape stones were used alternately in the stone circles, possibly symbolising males and females at these famous pagan ritual sites. At Boscawen un stone circle in Cornwall, a leaning central standing stone and a large white quartz boulder may represent the male and female elements of nature. The Maypole is often considered a phallic symbol, coinciding with the worship of Germanic phallic figures such as that of Freyr. Phallic fertility symbols were carved for good luck, and they were also a powerful antagonist to the evil eye.

The Windmill Hill culture was a name given to a people inhabiting southern Britain, in particular in the Salisbury Plain area close to Stonehenge, c. 3000 BC. They were an agrarian Neolithic people; their name comes from Windmill Hill, a causewayed enclosure. Together with another Neolithic tribe from East Anglia, a tribe whose worship involved stone circles, it is thought that they were responsible for the earliest work on the Stonehenge site. The material record left by these people includes large circular hill-top enclosures, causewayed enclosures, long barrows, leaf-shaped arrowheads, and polished stone axes.

Bellandur is home to the Bellandur Lake that was built during the reign of the Western Ganga dynasty in the 10th century CE. Historical artifacts excavated along the bed of the Bellandur lake shows evidences of early human settlement in the region. Dolmens, standing stones, stone circles, tools and other artifacts tracing their origin to the Megalithic Period have been discovered in Bellandur. Another excavation carried out by historian D.R. Gordon in 1945 unearthed ancient Roman coins in the region. During the reign of the Chola dynasty in the 11th century CE, Bellandur was called Vikrama Chola Mandala.

Stanton Drew stone circles There is evidence of Exmoor's human occupation from Mesolithic times onwards. In the Neolithic period people started to manage animals and grow crops on farms cleared from the woodland, rather than act purely as hunter gatherers. It is also likely that extraction and smelting of mineral ores to make tools, weapons, containers and ornaments in bronze and then iron started in the late Neolithic and into the Bronze and Iron Ages. The caves of the Mendip Hills were settled during the Neolithic period and contain extensive archaeological sites such as those at Cheddar Gorge.

Monuments included cairns and stone circles; churches; grave slabs; castles; a water-mill; and wall paintings. Monuments were stabilised and in many cases cleared and laid out for public viewing, and guide-books published for many of the sites (see below). As well as preserving and presenting ancient monuments, Richardson planned and designed the Museum in the Commendator's House at Melrose Abbey. Richardson was also involved in scheduling ancient monuments, enabling the protection of sites that were not in public ownership Richardson carried out a number of archaeological excavations, both of monuments in public care and of other sites.

The three henge types are as follows, with the figure in brackets being the approximate diameter of the central flat area: # Henge (> 20 m). The word henge refers to a particular type of earthwork of the Neolithic period, typically consisting of a roughly circular or oval-shaped bank with an internal ditch surrounding a central flat area of more than in diameter. There is typically little if any evidence of occupation in a henge, although they may contain ritual structures such as stone circles, timber circles and coves. Henge monument is sometimes used as a synonym for henge.

They are most densely concentrated in south-western Britain and on the north-eastern horn of Scotland, near Aberdeen. The tradition of their construction may have lasted for 2,400 years, from 3300 to 900 BCE, with the major phase of building taking place between 3000 and 1,300 BCE. One of the recumbent stones These stone circles typically show very little evidence of human visitation during the period immediately following their creation. This suggests that they were not sites used for rituals that left archaeologically visible evidence, and may have been deliberately left as "silent and empty monuments".

Map of ancient sites on the Beara Peninsula The peninsula was glaciated during the quaternary period; evidence from this era survives in the form of striae around Hungry hill, and erratics on the western road into Glengarriff. The first signs of human activity date to c 3000 BC, and consist of traces of Early Bronze Age settlements. The landscape is rich in megalithic monuments and other prehistoric archeological sites, including over 70 standing stones, 22 stone rows, 38 dolmens, as well as wedge tombs, stone circles. Later the area became a Viking settlement, as evident in place names such as Longhart.

The building stones of Wales are many and varied reflecting the diverse geology of the country. Some of the earliest known use of natural stone for building purposes was the sourcing of Ordovician dolerite in the Preseli Hills for the 'bluestone' lintels of Stonehenge. Other early use was in the construction of dolmens, burial cairns and stone circles in the late Stone Age and Bronze Age. The tradition of building in stone was continued into Iron Age with the establishment of such hill forts as those at Tre'r Ceiri in North Wales and Garn Goch in the south.

The main fortification has a secondary rampart within it that divided it into two sections, lower part of the 400 x 250-meter contained some sort of "acropolis". One of the original gates of the castle opens to the west of the acropolis. The other gate is on the south-east side. In front of the castle, at the site of a former Bronze Age settlement, the graveyard of the Iron Age settlement was discovered, which is still recognizable under the trees of the forest with its stone-laid tombs and the cremation rituals with stone circles surrounding them.

Cardiff is unique in Wales in having two permanent stone circles used by the Gorsedd of Bards during Eisteddfodau. The original circle stands in Gorsedd Gardens in front of the National Museum while its 1978 replacement is situated in Bute Park. Since 1983, Cardiff has hosted the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, a world-renowned event on the opera calendar which is held every two years. The city also hosts smaller events such as The Cardiff Design Festival, which began showcasing the best of Welsh design during the summer of 2005, and has since grown into a diverse range of designers exhibiting their work.

Maen Llia a prehistoric standing stone There are many extant prehistoric monuments in the area, and especially two famous standing stones, Maen Llia and Maen Madoc, both of which stand near to the Roman road of Sarn Helen. There are also remains of hut circles, stone circles, stone rows and other traces of habitation such as hut platforms and pillow mounds. The mounds are the large remains of former attempts to farm rabbits or cuniculture on the moorland. There are also round barrows visible usually as cairns sometimes on the peak summits, such as that on Fan Gyhirych but also elsewhere on what is now wild moorland.

After the film, Martin wandered around for a bit, staying at communes with hippie friends, looking for stone circles and ancient sites before settling in Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland with his wife Lou, daughter Wynne, and son Rufus Bodie (named after Lewis Collins' character in The Professionals). Martin has played in various bands, written a Tank Girl novel (Armadillo) published in March 2008 by Titan Books, as well as various screenplays and scripts. He wrote the first new Tank Girl limited series in over ten years: Tank Girl: The Gifting with award-winning Australian artist Ashley Wood. Published by American publishers IDW, the first issue was released in June 2007.

Little Meg (also known as the Maughanby circle) is a small circle of large kerb stones which probably surrounded a Bronze Age kerb cairn. It is close to the village of Langwathby to the north-east of Penrith in the English county of Cumbria and is 650 metres north-east of the more famous stone circle of Long Meg and Her Daughters. It forms part of a complex of stone circles and cairns around the Long Meg site that includes the circle at Glassonby, Old Parks, and other sites since lost. Two of the stones (only one remaining) were decorated in antiquity with a series of concentric circles and a spiral.

Ray Norris was born in London and grew up in Brookmans Park, Hertfordshire, England in 1953. He attended high school at St. Albans School and then went to Cambridge University, where he received an honours degree in theoretical physics. He then went to the Jodrell Bank Observatory of the University of Manchester where he received his PhD in radio-astronomy in 1978, working on astrophysical masers. At the same time, he started to develop an interest in the archaeoastronomy of Stonehenge and other megalithic observatories, joined a group of students led by Clive Ruggles and spent several years surveying the stone circles of the British Isles.

Long Meg and Her Daughters, the largest example of Alexander Thom's Type B Flattened Circle The archaeologist and stone circle specialist Aubrey Burl noted that the stone circle builders would have had to undertake "careful planning" before they erected these monuments. There was much that they had to take into consideration: the choice of location, the size of the ring, the transport of the heavy stones, the laying out of the circle or ellipse, and the preparation of stone holes. They may have also had to plot astronomical alignments, making the task more difficult. Most stone circles were constructed upon flat ground, although some were instead built on a slope.

Laport et al. 2012, p. 421 A 2008 excavation was conducted on the double circle at Wanar, and two types of burials were distinguished: simple burials that consisted of large pits sealed with a mound, and more complex burials that were deep with narrow mouths. There was also a presence of perishable materials found in the burials, such as brick and plaster, that suggests the existence of funerary houses built at the time of burial.Laport et al. 2012, p. 411 Stone circles at Wassu. Two types of stones were found at Wanar: tall and slender stones that tended to be cylindric; and shorter, squatter, trapezoidal shaped stones as well.

The term "axial stone circle" has since become frequently used leaving it unclear whether both types or only the multiple type is meant. has published a comprehensive catalogue of stone circles in the two counties and Burl followed with two books, and , covering a much broader area but still including this type of circle. Ireland's National Monuments Service, part of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, operates a database of archaeology sites and the list in this article covers the sites classified as "stone circle – multiple-stone". The NMS definition is: Included are 41 sites in County Cork, 15 in County Kerry and a single one in County Clare.

The hill fort, which is approximately , and in height, covering , consists of a fairly large flat open area, roughly triangular in shape, that has been fortified by ramparts and shaping of the steep-sided hilltop around the northern, eastern and southwestern sides of the hill. It rises to an altitude of above sea level, and provides views over the lands it would have once commanded. From here, there are clear views north to Bristol, east to Bath and the Cotswold Hills, and south over Stanton Drew stone circles to Chew Valley Lake and the Mendip Hills. The underlying rocks are Inferior Oolite of the Jurassic period.

While the transition from the Early Neolithic to the Late Neolithic—which took place with the transition from the fourth to the third millennium BCE—witnessed much economic and technological continuity, it also saw a considerable change in the style of monuments erected, particularly in southern and eastern England. By 3,000 BCE, the long barrows, causewayed enclosures, and cursuses which had predominated in the Early Neolithic had ceased being built, and were instead replaced by circular monuments of various kinds. These include earthen henges, timber circles, and stone circles. These stone rings are found in most areas of Britain where stone is available, with the exception of the island's southeastern corner.

Some of the oldest are Neolithic including the Stanton Drew stone circles and several tumuli. The Great Circle at Stanton Drew is the second largest stone circle in Britain (after Avebury); it is considered to be one of the largest Neolithic monuments to have been built. The date of construction is not known but is thought to be between 3000 and 2000 BCE which places it in the Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age. There are also several Iron Age hill forts such as the one at Maes Knoll, which is connected to the Wansdyke a medieval defensive earthwork, several sections of which are included in this list.

As noted by the archaeologist Aubrey Burl, these destroyed examples have left behind "only frustrating descriptions and vague positions". Most of the known Wiltshire circles were erected on low- lying positions in the landscape. In the area south of Swindon, as many as seven possible stone circles are reported as having existed: Fir Clump Stone Circle, Swindon Old Church Stone Circle, Broome Stone Circle, Day House Lane Stone Circle, Coate Reservoir Stone Circle, Hodson Stone Circle, and Winterbourne Bassett Stone Circle. Often, these circles were only a few miles distant from one another; for instance, Fir Clump Stone Circle was a mile south of the Broome Stone Circle.

They are most densely concentrated in south-western Britain and on the north-eastern horn of Scotland, near Aberdeen. The tradition of their construction may have lasted for 2,400 years, from 3300 to 900 BCE, with the major phase of building taking place between 3000 and 1,300 BCE. Falkner's Circle is located near to the Avebury stone circle (pictured), the largest known example of such a structure These stone circles typically show very little evidence of human visitation during the period immediately following their creation. This suggests that they were not sites used for rituals that left archaeologically visible evidence, but may have been deliberately left as "silent and empty monuments".

They are most densely concentrated in south-western Britain and on the north-eastern horn of Scotland, near Aberdeen. The tradition of their construction may have lasted for 2,400 years, from 3300 to 900 BCE, with the major phase of building taking place between 3000 and 1,300 BCE. Sheep grazing around some of the stones in the Day House Lane Circle These stone circles typically show very little evidence of human visitation during the period immediately following their creation. For this reason the historian Ronald Hutton suggested that the circles were not used for rituals that left archaeologically visible evidence, but may have been deliberately left as "silent and empty monuments".

As noted by the archaeologist Aubrey Burl, these examples have left behind "only frustrating descriptions and vague positions". Most of the known Wiltshire examples were erected on low-lying positions in the landscape. In the area south of Swindon, a town in northern Wiltshire, at least seven stone circles are reported as having existed, often only a few miles distant from one another; the Day House Lane Stone Circle is for instance 2km north-east of the (now destroyed) Fir Clump Stone Circle. Although the vestiges of the Day House Lane Stone Circle survive, all of the other known northern Wiltshire circles have been destroyed.

The small town museum recognises that this is the birthplace of James Scott Skinner and supports many local traditional musicians and singers and also has a fine selection of local archaeology. Local landmarks include Scolty hill; a hill topped by a tower monument, a memorial to General Burnett who fought alongside Wellington. Until 1966 Banchory had a railway station on the Aberdeen to Ballater line The immediate area is rich in Pictish archaeological sites with numerous stone circles being present in woodlands surrounding the town. Localised excavations of such sites have yielded numerous artefacts including jewellery made from polished local granite and early rudimentary forms of bottle openers.

The stone circles and rows apparently suggested circular and linear dances to their namers, reflecting the popularity of mediaeval rondes and farandoles.M. J. O'Connor, Ilow Kernow 4 (Lyngham House, St. Ervan, 2007) Church statutes The earliest documentary account which may refer to dancing in Cornwall is the statute banning (inter alia) round dances in churchyards issued in 1287 by Bishop Peter Quinel of Exeter.R. Hays & C. McGee, S. Joyce & E. Newlyn eds., Records of Early English Drama, Dorset & Cornwall (Toronto, 1999) pp. 463-65 (text) and 579-80 (translation)) Cornish verse dramas The Cornish-language Ordinalia of 1375 contains invocations to dance at the end of Origo Mundi and Resurrectio Domini.

In 2001's Decalogue, Coutts emblazoned a set of tenpins with each of the Ten Commandments. 2002's Cult beckoned onlookers to squeeze between a configuration of rectangular columns and peer into the eyes of a black cat looped in semi-stillness on nine video monitors. Artforum said that, "Cult evokes prehistoric standing stone circles as well as hieratic Egyptian cat sculpture-in ancient Egypt, the cat goddess Bastet was the patroness of family happiness." First installed at London's Chisendale Gallery, the gallery describes the work: > The viewer first experiences the group from a distance, the monitor screens > providing the only source of light.

Tomnaverie recumbent stone circle Recumbent stone circles are found in Aberdeenshire in northeast Scotland. Their most striking characteristic is that in the general direction of south-southwest there is a large stone lying on its side with its length lining up with the perimeter of the circle. Thought to have been from the Bronze Age, their unusual design, and the possibility of being associated with astronomical observations, has attracted several surveys starting at the beginning of the 20th century. In 2011 the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland published an authoritative book on this type of monument and produced an online gazetteer.

Balnauran of Clava cairn The recumbent stone circles of Scotland have been linked to an earlier type of monument erected around 3000 BC, the Clava cairns near Inverness. The type example of the monument is the three circular cairns at Balnuaran of Clava, which are surrounded by a ring of standing stones rising in height from the northeast to the southwest. The cairns have burial chambers in the interior, each one reached by a passageway that leads in from the southwest side. An analysis published by Burl in 1981 revealed that the tomb passages all lay within the arc of the moon during its eighteen-and-a-half year cycle.

Clapper bridge at Wycoller, Pendle, East Lancashire Some larger clapper bridges, such as at Dartmeet and Bellever, have collapsed – their slabs swept away by floods, or raided for building or wall construction - and have since been rebuilt. However, there are many other smaller examples in existence on Dartmoor and still in use, such as those at Teignhead Farm (close to Grey Wethers stone circles), Scorhill and across the Wallabrook stream. While the term "clapper bridge" is typically associated with the United Kingdom, other "clapper-style" bridges exist throughout the world. One example is the Anping Bridge in China, which is over two kilometres long.

Carnassarie Castle, near Kilmartin Kilmartin Glen is the location of several important Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age sites, including Temple Wood (a henge monument), several burial cairns, chambered cairns, standing stones and cup and ring marked rocks. Kilmartin's is one of the finest concentrations of prehistoric sites in Scotland, and almost all are within an easy walk of the roads which criss-cross the valley. One of the burial cairns has been rebuilt, with access through an opening in the top down stairs to the base of the cairn and a stone burial cist. The two stone circles in Temple Wood have also been re-erected by archaeologists.

The size of the site, and the fact that it was built on a slope which needed to be partially leveled, indicates that it required a great amount of labor to construct, and that its construction took a long period of time. In addition to the stone circles, the site includes pit dwellings, and middens . More than 100 earth pit tombs (both burrows and burial burial tombs) containing pottery coffins and grave goods with strong religious connections, such as miniature pottery and clay animal and human- shaped figures have been found on the gentle slope on the east side adjacent to the ring-shaped stones.

There are numerous Iron Age Hill Forts, which were later reused in the Dark Ages, such as Cadbury Castle, Worlebury Camp and Ham Hill. The age of the henge monument at Stanton Drew stone circles is unknown, but is believed to be from the Neolithic period. There is evidence of mining on the Mendip Hills back into the late Bronze Age when there were technological changes in metal working indicated by the use of lead. There are numerous "hill forts", such as Small Down Knoll, Solsbury Hill, Dolebury Warren and Burledge Hill, which seem to have had domestic purposes, not just a defensive role.

The henge, although clearly forming an imposing boundary to the circle, could have had a purpose that was not defensive as the ditch is on the inside (this is the defining characteristic of a Henge). Being a henge and stone circle site, astronomical alignments are a common theory to explain the positioning of the stones at Avebury. The relationships between the causewayed enclosure, Avebury stone circles, and West Kennet Long Barrow to the south, has caused some to describe the area as a "ritual complex" – a site with many monuments of interlocking religious function.Pryor, Francis (2004) Britain BC: Life in Britain and Ireland before the Romans, Harper Perennial, London, p.

Ring cairn near Mains of Moyness The cairns look like flat variants of the significantly higher Clava cairns, which are often called ring cairns by laymen. The situation is rather different on the gritstones of the Eastern Uplands. Here it is more common to find smaller stone circles and ring cairns. The patterned relationship of these smaller monuments to cairnfield systems throughout the Eastern Moors suggests that they were built and used by specific communities, probably in the centuries around 2000 BC. Although details vary from one site to another, nearly all comprise a ring of small upright stones set on the inner edge of a roughly circular bank.

Porlock Stone Circle is a stone circle located on Exmoor, near the village of Porlock in the south-western English county of Somerset. The Porlock ring is part of a tradition of stone circle construction that spread throughout much of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, over a period between 3,300 and 900 BCE. The purpose of such monuments is unknown, although archaeologists speculate that the stones represented supernatural entities for the circles' builders. Although Exmoor witnessed the construction of many monuments during the Bronze Age, only two stone circles survive in this area, the other being Withypool Stone Circle.

Plan of Luchon in 1914 View of Luchon in 1908 (Eugène Trutat) Ferruginous spring, in Bagnères-de-Luchon, by Joseph Latour The town has existed for more than 2,000 years. The presence of a population has been attested since Neolithic times at least in the Saint-Mamet Cave. The presence of Stone circles also attests to an ancient occupation.Bagnères-de-Luchon official website In 76 BC Pompey, returning from a policing expedition in Spain (where he founded the city of Pamplona named after him), stopped in the area and founded the new city of Lugdunum Convenarum where he brought together the scattered Convènes tribe: this was the future Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges.

Menhir and stone circles of megalithic Iron Age at Bhairavapada (Junagarh), Ruppangudi, Sagada, Bileikani, Themra, Bhawanipatna etc. Iron smelting zone and cemetery Juxtaposed to the settlement is discerned in some of the above sites, which reveal iron tools of war and peace, slages, ceramics, Terra-cottas, firebaked brick, furnace, semi-precious stone beads and micro beads. Beginning of early Iron Age Kalahandi may be placed in the first millennium BC in which black and red ware was the diagnostic pottery type. Next phase of Iron Age represents to early history that was concomitants with state formation and urbanization and technological break through besides voluminous trade, agriculture surplus and heterogeneous social complex in ancient Kalahandi.

Some of the Pilane grave markers viewed from the neighbouring hill. Zhang Huan's "Spread the sunshine over the earth", installed at Pilane, 2012 "Armour Boys", by Laura Ford, installed at Pilane, 2006 Pilane in Klövdal, Tjörn, Bohuslän, Sweden, is an Iron Age settlement site and grave field, dated to 1-600 AD. The grave field consists of approximately 90 ancient monuments, including stone circles, burial mounds, circular stone grave markers and standing stones. The site is under the care of the Swedish National Heritage Board and the land is leased as sheep pasture. In the summer of 2007 the Pilane site started to be used for a seasonal outdoor sculpture exhibition: Skulptur i Pilane (Sculpture in Pilane).

While the transition from the Early Neolithic to the Late Neolithic—which took place with the transition from the fourth to the third millennium BCE—witnessed much economic and technological continuity, it also saw a considerable change in the style of monuments erected, particularly in what is now southern and eastern England. By 3000 BCE, the long barrows, causewayed enclosures, and cursuses which had predominated in the Early Neolithic had ceased being built, and were instead replaced by circular monuments of various kinds. These include earthen henges, timber circles, and stone circles. These latter circles are found in most areas of Britain where stone is available, with the exception of the island's south-eastern corner.

Plan of a stone circle at Nabta, Egypt Egyptian astronomy begins in prehistoric times. The presence of stone circles at Nabta Playa in Upper Egypt dating from the 5th millennium BCE show the importance of astronomy to the religious life of ancient Egypt even in the prehistoric period. The annual flooding of the Nile meant that the heliacal risings, or first visible appearances of stars at dawn, were of special interest in determining when this might occur, and it is no surprise that the 365-day period of the Egyptian calendar was already in use at the beginning of Egyptian history. The constellation system used among the Egyptians also appears to have been essentially of native origin.

Chapter one, "Ritual and the archaeologist", begins by describing the ritual deposits from the pre-Roman Iron Age sites of Cadbury Castle and Danebury, hillforts in southern Britain. Merrifield laments the fact that the majority of archaeologists, particularly those studying literate, historical periods, have avoided ritual explanations for unusual phenomenon in the archaeological record; he believes that they exhibit a "ritual phobia". He contrasts this view with that of those archaeologists studying the Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain, who have widely accepted the ritual uses of chambered tombs and stone circles. He specifies particular definitions for words such as "ritual", "religion" and "superstition", arguing that such terms must be used with precision by archaeologists.

Very little is known about the process of quarrying the stone and transporting it to the sites of the circles. One exception is at Vestra Fiold in Orkney, where Colin Richards led an excavation that determined that the stones used for the Orcadian stone circles were cut from a horizontal seam of bedrock that was located just below the surface. These had been eased over a large pit and supported on stone trestles, after which wooden rollers and a sled were likely positioned underneath, allowing the megalith to be moved. One of these stones, which weighed over 10 tonnes, had been left in its original position poised on stone supports, to be discovered by the archaeological excavators.

Around 1,300 of them are recorded, the others having been destroyed. Although stone circles have been erected throughout history by a variety of societies and for a variety of reasons, in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages, this particular tradition was limited to Britain, Ireland and the neighbouring area of continental Europe now known as Brittany. The rings were not distributed equally across this area, but were concentrated in several highland regions: north-eastern and central Scotland, the Lake District, the south-west peninsula of England, and the north and south-west of Ireland. Sparser groupings can also be found in Caithness, the Outer Hebrides, the Peak District, the Wicklow Mountains, Wales and Wessex.

Exactly for what purpose prehistoric Britons originally constructed stone circles is a question that continues to elude archaeologists. Despite this, many suggestions have been put forward, most of which argue that they were a form of a church. Based on his study of those examples found at Orkney in northern Scotland, the archaeologist Colin Richards suggested that the stone and wooden circles built in Late Neolithic Britain might have represented the centre of the world, or axis mundi, for those who constructed them,Richards 1996. p. 206. an idea adopted by fellow archaeologist Aaron Watson as a possibility in his discussion of why Late Neolithic peoples constructed the great ring at Avebury in southern England.

Moreton-in-Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold, Northleach, Cirencester, Tetbury, Chipping Sodbury, Wick. River Chew The Monarch's Way enters Somerset, having crossed the River Avon at Keynsham, where it diverts from the route taken by Charles II into Bristol and instead runs alongside the River Chew, where it shares the route with the Two Rivers Way, through the Chew Valley to Chewton Keynsham, Compton Dando and Woollard.Landranger Map 172: Bristol & Bath. Published in 2006 by the Ordnance Survey It then crosses the river at Pensford and turns north to Norton Malreward, skirting the prehistoric henge monument of Stanton Drew stone circles, the second largest stone circle in Britain, and travels along Dundry Down to the village of Dundry.

The discovery of a possible cist covered by a capstone at the centre of the circle indicates that there may once have been a cairn there, but only a conspicuous bump now remains. The ring of stones is not quite circular and has a somewhat "squashed" aspect, measuring along a WNW–ESE axis by . As is the case with other recumbent stone circles in the region, opposing pairs of stones have been erected on either side, increasing in height from a single low stone on the NNE side with the tallest stones, the flankers, opposite on the SSW side. The flankers are each about high, while the recumbent is long by high.

The name Hebden may be derived from either heope, Old English for a rose-hip or heopa, Old English for a bramble, and dene, Old English for a valley, or from the Scandinavian Hebban, a topographical description of a ridge forming an elevated site above a small valley. Two Bronze Age stone circles and remnants of huts on the moors above the village show that the area has been settled since earliest times, Joy (2002), pp. 14-15. and a hoard of 33 silver dinari dating from 30 to 170 AD found in a local field indicates that the Romans had a presence. The hoard is now on display at the Craven Museum & Gallery.

Bronze Age cairn on the summit of Corndon Hill Roundton Hill looking towards Corndon Hill There is a large Bronze Age cairn near the hill summit, and several more exist in the area around the summit. Such circular stone burial cairns are common on most summits in Wales and they commonly date from ca 2500 BC up until ca 700 BC, when iron slowly started to displace bronze for tools and other goods. Such cairns usually contain one or more cremation urns, and are often placed within a stone cyst or box within the mound. The Bronze Age stone circles of Mitchell's Fold and the now largely destroyed The Whetstones lie at the foot of the hill within Shropshire.

This disparity between the sizes of the megaliths is unparalleled among the other surviving stone circles in the Dorset area, and may have been a deliberate choice by the circle's builders, perhaps reflecting sexual symbolism. There are a number of similar circles in southwestern Scotland, for example the Loupin' Stones, Ninestane Rig, and Burgh Hill, all of which share the architectural feature of having two taller stones on their perimeters. Potentially supporting this link between Dorset and southwestern Scotland is the fact that the Grey Mare and her Colts—a chambered long barrow located two and a half miles southwest of the Nine Stones—displays architectural similarities with the Clyde-Solway tradition of chambered long barrows.

"The Wandlebury-Hatfield Heath Astronomical Complex" described his surveying and discovering what he calls the Wandlebury Enigma or Line A Loxodrome, a claim which has not gained much acceptance.Price, Simon "The Gog Magog Hills Fortean Times May 2006 "The Megalithic Odyssey" presents evidence for an astronomical complex on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, England, dated no later than c. 2500 BC. In the book he presents his view that 13 stone circles and 86 ridge-top cairns were designed and built for complex observational astronomy by a group of itinerant sages with links to Sumer. A review in the journal Archaeostronomy describes the book as "a mishmash of erroneous statements and poorly conceived and unsubstantiated arguments.

Skara Brae Mainland, as "Pomona" from the not wholly accurate Carta Marina of 1539. Earl's Palace, Birsay The western section of the island contains numerous Neolithic and Pictish constructions. Most of the best known Neoloithic ancient monuments are located in west Mainland, which includes the "Heart of Neolithic Orkney", a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This comprises the large chambered tomb of Maes Howe, the ceremonial stone circles the Standing Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar and the Neolithic village of Skara Brae, together with a number of unexcavated burial, ceremonial and settlement sites. The group constitutes a major prehistoric cultural landscape which gives a graphic depiction of life in the north of Scotland some 5,000 years ago.

The earliest evidence of human habitation in the district are rock-cut caves and megalithic burial sites of the Neolithic age. The Taliparamba-Kannur-Thalassery area abounds in rock-cut caves, dolmens, burial stone circles and menhirs, all of megalithThe district was part of the Chera kingdom, which ruled most of Kerala during the first several centuries CE. Later Kannur was the capital of the Kolattiri Rajas, whose kingdom had trading relations with Arabia and Persia in the 12th century and 13th centuries. In his book on travels (Il Milione), Marco Polo recounts his visit to the area in mid 1290s. Other visitors included Faxian, the Buddhist pilgrim and Ibn Batuta, writer and historian of Tangiers.

While the transition from the Early Neolithic to the Late Neolithic—which took place with the transition from the fourth to the third millennium BCE—witnessed much economic and technological continuity, it also saw a considerable change in the style of monuments erected, particularly in southern and eastern England. By 3000 BCE, the long barrows, causewayed enclosures, and cursuses which had predominated in the Early Neolithic had ceased being built, and were instead replaced by circular monuments of various kinds. These include earthen henges, timber circles, and stone circles. These latter circles are found in most areas of Britain where stone is available, with the exception of the island's south-eastern corner.

Aberdeen was first settled by hunter-gatherers around 6000 BC, who established themselves around the mouths of the river Dee and river Don. Around 2000 BC the Beaker People, who built the mysterious stone circles that can be found in the Aberdeenshire area, arrived from the Rhine lands. 400 BC saw Celtic migration to the area from the north of Scotland. The Romans arrived in Aberdeenshire in the first century AD. Agricola, the Roman governor of Britannia, led a force of some 40,000 men into Caledonia in 84 AD. They fought and defeated the united armies of the Picts in the Battle of Mons Graupius, near the peak of Bennachie in Aberdeenshire.

Aerial video of the south west circle at Stanton Drew stone circles In 1740 the site was surveyed and mapped by architect, freemason and antiquarian John Wood, the Elder, who noted the different stones used. He suggested the layout was based on the Pythagorean planetary system, and thought it was used as the Druid's "University". The number and positioning of the stones according to Wood, corresponded to the Pythagorean planetary system of worlds, with three of the circles corresponding to the solar, lunar and Earth cycles. This deeply influenced his plans for a circle of 30 houses called The Circus in Bath, an ambitious architectural project completed by his son John Wood, the Younger.

There are several local traditional stories about the megalithic complex. The best known tells how a wedding party was turned to stone: the party was held throughout Saturday, but a man clothed in black (the Devil in disguise) came and started to play his violin for the merrymakers after midnight, continuing into holy Sunday morning. When dawn broke, everybody had been turned to stone by the Demon: so the stone circles are the dancers, the avenues are the fiddlers and The Cove is the bride and the groom with the drunken churchman at their feet. They are still awaiting the Devil who promised to come back someday and play again for them.

The earliest textual evidence for it is found in an early 16th- century document, where it applies to the stone circle of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, although in an early 17th-century document it was applied to The Hurlers, a set of three stone circles in Cornwall. Later records reveal that it had gained widespread distribution in England, as well as a single occurrence each in Wales and Ireland. The folklorist S. P. Menefee suggested that it could be attributed to an animistic understanding that these megaliths had lives of their own. Several modern Pagan religions are practiced at the Medway Megaliths, with Pagan activity having taken place at the Coldrum Stones from at least the late 1980s.

They also include a variety of enclosures, hut sites and Raths, a wide range of burial sites and other ritual and religious sites listed as barrows and chambered tombs, stone circles and standing stones. The county's 182 Roman, medieval and post-medieval sites include only 3 sites from Roman times, but from the Early Medieval period there are many inscribed stones, stone crosses, and holy wells. Also scheduled are many Medieval castles, mottes and baileys, priories, chapels and churches, houses, town walls and a Bishop's palace, along with a wide variety of post-medieval sites from coalmines, kilns and dovecotes through to 19th and 20th century coastal defenses. Scheduled Ancient Monuments (SAMs) have statutory protection.

The Unexplained: Mysteries of Mind, Space, & Time was a popular partwork magazine published by Orbis Publishing in the United Kingdom, between 1980 and 1983. It ran to 156 issues, with issue 157 being an index to the collection, and dealt with the paranormal and mysteries such as UFOs, the Bermuda Triangle, ghosts, spontaneous human combustion, the Cottingley Fairies, ancient knowledge, sea monsters, the Yeti, weird coincidences, stone circles,@emlie sagee contact with the dead, and notable historical characters linked to the occult. The magazine was published as a journal, with page numbering continuing from one edition to the next. When the magazine ceased publication, a refund was offered if the consumer returned the covers.

Balfarg Henge Glenrothes is home to the remains of ancient stone circles which can be seen at Balbirnie and Balfarg in the northeast of the town. The Balfarg henge was constructed around 3,000BC and contains the remnants of a stone circle which has been partly reconstructed.Ferguson, 1982, pp. 2–3. The henge was excavated between 1977 and 1978 prior to the development of a new housing estate. The Balbirnie henge which is only located approximately 500m away from Balfarg was excavated between 1970 and 1971. In order to allow widening of the A92 the stones were moved a short distance to a new location at North Lodge and reconstructed as nearly as possible in the original way.

Illustration by William Copeland Borlase 1872 Position of the stones Stone circles such as that at Boskednan, were erected in the late Neolithic or in the early Bronze Age by representatives of a Megalithic culture. The first mention of the stone circle in modern times, in 1754, is found in the work Antiquities, historical and monumental, of the County of Cornwall by William Borlase, who reported 19 upright standing stones. William Copeland Borlase, a descendant of the earlier Borlase, conducted excavations and found a cist and a funerary urn near the stone circle, dating from the early Bronze Age. Borlase described his discoveries in 1872 in his work Naenia Cornubiae, which concerns prehistoric monuments of Cornwall.

Hawkins claimed to observe numerous alignments, both lunar and solar. He argued that Stonehenge could have been used to predict eclipses. Hawkins’ book received wide publicity, in part because he used a computer in his calculations, then a novelty. Archaeologists were suspicious in the face of further contributions to the debate coming from British astronomer C. A. ‘Peter’ Newham and Sir Fred Hoyle, the famous Cambridge cosmologist, as well as by Alexander Thom, a retired professor of engineering, who had been studying stone circles for more than 20 years. Their theories have faced criticism in recent decades from Richard J. C. Atkinson and others who have suggested impracticalities in the ‘Stone Age calculator’ interpretation.

While Gothic influence may well have played a part, the identical geographical extent and persistent use of Oksywie cemeteries suggest that the Weilbark Culture emerged from previous human settlements in the area, with new groups of Scandinavian immigrants making contributions to it as they arrived. The cemeteries may give some indication in evidence as to which settlements could have been established directly by Goths. Barrow cemeteries on the Baltic Sea in today's Poland, which have raised stone circles, and solitary stelae next to them, reflect Scandinavian burial customs with a concentration in Gotland and Götaland. Appearing in the later 1st century, this type is found between the Vistula and the Kashubian and Krajenskian lakelands reaching into the Koszalin region.

As noted by the archaeologist Aubrey Burl, these destroyed examples have left behind "only frustrating descriptions and vague positions". Most of the known Wiltshire circles were erected on low-lying positions in the landscape. In the area south of Swindon, a town in northern Wiltshire, at least seven stone circles are reported as having existed, often only a few miles distant from one another; the Fir Clump Stone Circle was for instance a mile south of the Broome Stone Circle. All of these northern Wiltshire circles have been destroyed, although the vestiges of one survives: the stones at the Day House Lane Stone Circle in Coate, Swindon remain, albeit in a fallen state.

Stanton Drew is a small village and civil parish within the Chew Valley in Somerset, England, situated north of the Mendip Hills, south of Bristol in the Bath and North East Somerset Unitary Authority. The village is most famous for its prehistoric Stanton Drew stone circles, the largest being the Great Circle, a henge monument consisting of the second largest stone circle in Britain (after Avebury). The stone circle is 113 m in diameter and probably consisted of 30 stones, of which 27 survive today. The village also has a range of listed buildings, dating from the 13th to 15th centuries, including the church of St Mary the Virgin, the Round House (Old Toll House) and various farmhouses.

The circle While the transition from the Early Neolithic to the Late Neolithic—which took place with the transition from the fourth to the third millennium BCE—witnessed much economic and technological continuity, it also saw a considerable change in the style of monuments erected, particularly in southern and eastern England. By 3000 BCE, the long barrows, causewayed enclosures, and cursuses which had predominated in the Early Neolithic had ceased being built, and were instead replaced by circular monuments of various kinds. These include earthen henges, timber circles, and stone circles. These latter circles are found in most areas of Britain where stone is available, with the exception of the island's south-eastern corner.

The site consists of two large stone circles located on an artificially flattened plateau on the left bank of the Oyu River, a tributary of the Yoneshiro River in northeastern Akita Prefecture. The site was discovered in 1931, with detailed archaeological excavations taking place in 1946, and in 1951-1952. The larger circle, named the “Manza” circle has a diameter of 46 meters, and is the largest stone circle found in Japan. A number of reconstructions of Jomon period dwellings have been built around the site. The slightly smaller circle, named the “Nonakado” circle, is 42 meters in diameter and is located around 90 meters away, separated from the “Manza” circle by Akita Prefectural Route 66.

Withypool Stone Circle, also known as Withypool Hill Stone Circle, is a stone circle located on the Exmoor moorland, near the village of Withypool in the southwestern English county of Somerset. The ring is part of a tradition of stone circle construction that spread throughout much of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, over a period between 3300 and 900 BCE. The purpose of such monuments is unknown, although archaeologists speculate that the stones represented supernatural entities for the circle's builders. Many monuments were built in Exmoor during the Bronze Age, but only two stone circles survive in this area: the other is Porlock Stone Circle.

He was more concerned than many other ley hunters with finding objective evidence for the idea that unusual forms of energy could be measured at places where prehistoric communities had erected structures. He was one of the founding members of the Dragon Project, launched in London in 1977 with the purpose of conducting radioactivity and ultrasonic tests at prehistoric sites, particularly the stone circles created in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. The Dragon Project continued its research throughout the 1980s, finding that certain prehistoric sites did show higher or lower than average rates of radiation but that others did not and that there was no consistent pattern. Professional archaeologists, whose view of the ley hunters was largely negative, took little interest in such research.

The stone circles, henges, cairns and other standing stones in the area are often grouped at nodes of communication routes. The Shap Stone Avenue to the south of Penrith, forms an 'avenue' running to the east of the River Lowther along a main route to the north; the Long Meg complex runs alongside the River Eden; Mayburgh and the other henges run alongside the River Eamont near its confluence with the River Lowther. Among the many questions related to this site, one concerns why Little Meg was not aligned with the midwinter or midsummer line to Long Meg. Clare suggests that maybe that line was considered too 'sacred', or that the existing vegetation precluded seeing the line, or that there was already another monument there.

Brooks has concentrated on theorizing upon the layout and geometry of ancient sites in Britain and has published three books on the subject; The Hand of Man, Prehistoric Geometry in Britain and 'Seeing Around Corners' – Geometry in Stone Age Britain – The Proof. In a survey of over 1500 ancient sites in Britain, Brooks claims that many were constructed by prehistoric man on a connecting grid of isosceles triangles spiraling outwards from Silbury Hill (pictured) with each triangle pointing to the next site. Monuments that comprised the grid included hillforts, standing stones, churches and stone circles such as Stonehenge. Archaeologists have made the criticism that many such patterns can be easily found as Britain is so rich in ancient sites of different types from different periods.

There are 13 to be found on Dartmoor, including Brisworthy stone circle and Scorhill, and numerous examples to be found in Cornwall such as The Merry Maidens, The Hurlers and Boscawen-Un. In contrast to the over 70 stone circles known from Dartmoor, there are only two known from Exmoor: Porlock Stone Circle and Withypool Stone Circle. The contrast between the number of rings on the two moors may be because Dartmoor has abundant natural granite while Exmoor has none, instead having Devonian slates and Hangman Grits, both of which easily break up into small slabs, resulting in a general shortage of big stones on Exmoor. The two Exmoor stones are made from smaller stones, which archaeologists have termed miniliths.

Harvie Brown noted the "highly polished surface of these nine stones when I first saw them in situ .... as if done by human hands (or feet)". On his second visit he found the stones gone, and on his fourth visit, in 1903, he searched for the stones in the surrounding area, collected nine he was fairly sure were the originals, and placed them in a new location but in the original plan. His drawing of the time shows a feature of circa 4 m in diameter. He also noted that there were "at least two, if not more, similar stone circles ... which were not far removed in distance from this principal circle, but these were of smaller dimensions and not formed with so perfectly flat stones".

Part of the stone circle The stones used in the construction of Swinside were porphyritic slate collected from the adjacent fells, and are of the type that was known locally as 'grey cobbles' by the 20th century. The ring has a diameter of about 93 ft 8ins (26.8m), and currently contains 55 stones, although when originally constructed there probably would have been around 60. Swinside's builders included a "well defined" entrance, 2.1 m (7 ft) wide, at the south-eastern side, which was signalled by the placing of two large portal stones outside the circumference of the circle. Such portal openings can also be found at other stone circles in the Lake District, such as Long Meg and Her Daughters.

The current settlement can trace its origins back thousands of years to the pre-Christian era. The area is steeped in history and legend, many tales connected with Saint Colmcille and the village, including the saint's well, chair and bed which are still in existence. A wide range of historic monuments can be found in the Carrickmore area, including cairns, stone circles, standing stones and raths.. The Dean Brian Maguirc College, a second level education school, is named for Dean Brian McGurk who was Vicar-General to St Oliver Plunkett during the Penal Times and died in Armagh Gaol, aged 91. Carrickmore holds the annual Tyrone County Commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising and a remembrance ceremony for all republicans killed in The Troubles since 1969.

Detail of some of the emblems used by Wood in The Circus Many of the buildings he designed are littered with icons and symbols associated with Freemasonry, leading many people who have studied his work to believe that he was a member of the organisation, even though there is no documentary proof. Wood wrote extensively about sacred geometry, and argued that the myths of the supposed founder of Bath, King Bladud, were based on truth. He claimed that ancient British stone circles were the remains of once more elaborate buildings designed by Bladud. It has been suggested that Wood (and his son, also John) were connected to Freemasonry either via one of their building partnerships and/or via symbolism in their architecture.

The lands to the north and east of the gorge are moorland with relics of stone circles, for example the Stoke Flatt stone circle on Froggatt Edge and Bronze Age field system at Swine Sty. The valley is part of the Yarncliff Wood, Padley Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), designated in 1972 as "the best example of the remnant oak-birch woodland that once covered much of the edges of the gritstone uplands of the Peak District". The citation mentions three species of Umbilicaria lichen said to be very rare in the Midlands, and describes the site as a breeding site for pied flycatcher, wood warbler and hawfinch. Padley Gorge is a popular tourist spot, and has a five-star rating on TripAdvisor.

The area around Littlebredy is rich with evidence of early human occupation, including stone circles, strip lynchets, tumuli (long and round barrows) and a probable hill fort.Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Pathfinder Series of Great Britain, Sheet SY 49/59 Bridport, published 1977 North and east of the village the density of barrows is as great as the area around Stonehenge. One mile north of the village and just outside the parish is a group of 44 Bronze Age round barrows of various sizes, known as Winterbourne Poor Lot Barrows or just Poor Lot. On a hill immediately south of the village are the earthworks of Old Warren (or Danes' Camp), which most likely was a univallate (single rampart) Iron Age hill fort.

During the Later Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, the landscape around West Kennet Long Barrow was subject to the widespread construction of ceremonial monuments, among them the Avebury henge and stone circles, the West Kennet Avenue, The Sanctuary, and Silbury Hill. During the Romano-British period, a small coin hoard was buried in the side of the long barrow. The ruin attracted the interest of antiquarians in the 17th century, while archaeological excavation took place in 1859 and again in 1955–56, after which it underwent reconstruction. Now under the guardianship of English Heritage, it is classified as part of the "Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites" UNESCO World Heritage Site and is open without charge to visitors all year around.

This includes hill forts, promontory forts on both coastal headlands and inland locations. It also includes a variety of enclosures, hut sites and Raths, a wide range of burial sites and other ritual and religious sites listed as barrows and chambered tombs, stone circles and standing stones. There is a matching list of 233 prehistoric sites in north Pembrokeshire The county's 182 Roman, medieval and post-medieval sites are all included in the third Pembrokeshire list, which covers inscribed stones, stone crosses, holy wells, castles, mottes and baileys, priories, chapels and churches, houses, town walls and a Bishop's palace, along with a wide variety of post-medieval sites from coalmines, kilns and dovecotes through to World War II defensive structures. Scheduled Ancient Monuments (SAMs) have statutory protection.

They include hill forts, promontory forts on both coastal headlands and inland locations. It also includes a variety of enclosures, hut sites and Raths, a wide range of burial sites and other ritual and religious sites listed as barrows and chambered tombs, stone circles and standing stones. The list of 113 prehistoric sites in south Pembrokeshire contains a similar range. The whole county's 182 Roman, medieval and post- medieval sites are all included in the third Pembrokeshire list, which covers inscribed stones, stone crosses, holy wells, bridges, castles, mottes and baileys, priories, chapels and churches, houses, town walls and a Bishop's palace, along with a wide variety of post-medieval sites from coalmines, kilns and dovecotes through to World War II defensive structures.

The Kallerup Stone was discovered in 1827 by a stonemason in a field with several stone circles near a church in Hedehusene. It was then restored in 1851 by raising it near its original position. This granite runestone, which is 1.6 meters in height, is among the oldest in Denmark and is believed to date from about 700 to 800 CE. The elder futhark inscription is somewhat unusual in that it uses text bands, the inscribed lines above and below the runic text, which is a practice that did not become common on runestones until later with the use of the younger futhark. The Kallerup Stone is classified as being carved in runestone style RAK, which is considered to be the oldest classification.

This includes hill forts, promontory forts on both coastal headlands and inland locations. It also includes a variety of enclosures, hut sites and Raths, a wide range of burial sites and other ritual and religious sites listed as barrows and chambered tombs, stone circles and standing stones. There is a matching list of 113 prehistoric sites in south Pembrokeshire. The county's 182 Roman, medieval and post-medieval sites are all included in the third Pembrokeshire list, which covers inscribed stones, stone crosses, holy wells, castles, mottes and baileys, priories, chapels and churches, houses, town walls and a Bishop's palace, along with a wide variety of post-medieval sites from coalmines, kilns and dovecotes through to World War II defensive structures.

The archaeological monuments found in the area surrounding Sittanavasal village are the architectural features of the Arivar Kovil (Sittanvasal Cave), on the western side of the hill towards the north and the painting and sculptures found within its precincts, the Jaina beds, also known as Ekadipattam or Ezhadippattam in a natural cavern on the eastern side of the hill, the Samavasarana, a place of assembly of a tirthankara in the form of mural paintings on the roof of the cave temple, megalithic burial urns, stone circles, cairns, dolmens, cists from the Iron Age called mudu-makkal-thaazhi, and a submerged tarn called the Navach-chunai to the north of the natural cavern in the hill. The Archaeological Survey of India is responsible for the maintenance of the Arivar Kovil and the Jaina beds.

Burl, Aubrey. Great Stone Circles: Fables, Fictions, Facts In Prehistoric Avebury Burl proposed that Circles and Henge monuments, far from being astronomical observatories for a class of "astronomer priests" were more likely used for ritualistic practices, connected with death and fertility rites, and ancestor worship, similar to practices observed in other agricultural cultures (in particular the rituals of Native North American Tribes such as the Algonquin and the Pawnee). Rituals would have been performed at key times of the year, such as the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice, to ensure a successful harvest from the land. His approach led him to question what he saw as the over-romanticised view that Stonehenge was built from bluestones hauled by hand from the Preseli Hills in south west Wales to Salisbury Plain.

Jean Guesdon, the Creative Director for Origins, noted that a holistic approach is essential in order to create an authentic in-game world, and remarked that "small details help make it feel real". This meant that every team involved in the development of Origins, including but not limited to audio, animation, narrative, level design teams, had to learn as much as possible about the history of ancient Egypt, which informs their approach in integrating the culture into more than just the environment. One of the ways this is accomplished is through the quest system for Origins, which allows players to learn more about ancient Egyptian civilization through intimate moments with other characters. For example, the "Bayek's Promise" quest involving finding twelve different stone circles throughout the in-game world.

Following the Christianisation of Britain in the Early Medieval period, various Christian clergyman denounced those pagans who continued to venerate at stones in the landscape, which in some cases perhaps implied stone circles. By the Late Mediaeval period, references to prehistoric monuments in the British Isles were rare, and were usually only to note down practical matters, such as that a judicial court would be held near to one or that a farmer's land lay near to one. A rare exception is found in the fictionalised History of the Kings of Britain (c.1136), in which the chronicle's author Geoffrey of Monmouth claimed that Stonehenge had once been the Giants' Ring, and that it had originally been located on Mount Killaraus in Ireland, until the wizard Merlin moved it to Salisbury Plain.

The earliest textual evidence for it is found in an early sixteenth-century document, where it applies to the stone circle of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, although in an early seventeenth-century document it was being applied to The Hurlers, a set of three stone circles in Cornwall. Later records reveal that it had gained widespread distribution in England, as well as a single occurrence each in Wales and Ireland. The folklorist S. P. Menefee suggested that it could be attributed to an animistic understanding that these megaliths had lives of their own. The archaeologist Leslie Grinsell reported that in the mid-1970s, he learned of a folk tale that the stones had once been children who were turned to stones as punishment for playing Five-Stones on a Sunday.

Whilst close to its location as a boundary marker its current site is unlikely to be the exact location of the Craibstone boundary as it would have been moved during the construction of Union Street and the surrounding infrastructure. Prior to this the stone was probably part of a stone circle,Wyness, 1966 the conclusion taken as the base has been carved into a keel shape- common of recumbent stone circles found in Aberdeenshire, which usually date to approximately 3000BC. The stone has dimensions of 1.8m height, 0.68m breadth and approximately 0.3m thickness. On Paterson's Map of the Burgh of Aberdeen printed in 1746 prior to the construction of Langstane Place, the stone can be seen in approximately its current location, though it does not appear as part of a stone circle.

Petrification is associated with the legends of Medusa, the basilisk, the Svartálfar and the cockatrice, among others. In fairy tales, characters who fail in a quest may be turned to stone until they are rescued by the successful hero, as in the tales such as The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body, The Water of Life and The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird, as well as many troll tales. In Cornish folklore, petrifaction stories are used to explain the origin of prehistoric megalithic monuments such as stone circles and monoliths, including The Merry Maidens stone circle, The Nine Maidens of Boskednan, the Tregeseal Dancing Stones, and The Hurlers. The supposedly petrified Cardiff Giant was one of the most famous hoaxes in United States history.

Aberdeenshire has a rich prehistoric and historic heritage. It is the locus of a large number of Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological sites, including Longman Hill, Kempstone Hill, Catto Long Barrow and Cairn Lee. The area was settled in the Bronze Age by the Beaker culture, who arrived from the south around 2000–1800 BC. Stone circles and cairns were constructed predominantly in this era. In the Iron Age, hill forts were built. Around the 1st century AD, the Taexali people, who have left little history, were believed to have resided along the coast. The Picts were the next documented inhabitants of the area, and were no later than 800–900 AD. The Romans also were in the area during this period, as they left signs at Kintore.

It then goes on to look at the great reverence held for ancestors in Early Neolithic society, with the construction of chambered tombs for the dead, in doing so discussing examples such as West Kennet Long Barrow in Wiltshire and Maeshowe in Orkney.Clarke, Cowie and Foxon 1985. pp. 15-34. Chapter three, 'From Ancestors to Gods', looks at the Late Neolithic transition from a society dominated by tombs and ancestors to one that instead focused on the construction of causewayed enclosures, henges, cursus monuments and stone circles. In that chapter, the authors also examine decorative art from the period, for instance examining the curvilinear designs that are found on the tombs at Newgrange and Gavrinis, before then looking at the monument at Stonehenge, the most famous prehistoric site in Britain.

In the south of the parish is the Valley of Stones, which in 1906 was described by Sir Frederick Treves as "a mysterious glen among the downs, on whose grassy slopes many huge stones are scattered." In prehistoric times it was used as a source of building material for nearby constructions such as tombs and stone circles, and within 4 miles are two-thirds of all such structures in the county. Folklore attributes the origin of the stones to have been two giants playing stone-throwing games, but they are the result of conditions at the end of the last ice age, when freezing and thawing caused sandstone on surrounding hilltops to break up and slump downhill. They form one of the best British examples of a sarsen stone boulder train.

The local area has been known to have had human activity for around 4000 years; there are many burial places, standing stones, stone circles and graves in the area around Fintona. The current village is developed from an Uí Néill fortress built in 1431 and is one of Tyrone's oldest settlements. Some time after the Plantation of Ulster, by 1668 the dominant landowners in the area was the Eccles Family and their Manor House, which was located in what is nowadays Fintona Golf Club and Ecclesville Park on the Ecclesville Demense, was built in 1703.Fintona Town Centre Action Plan, April 2010, Omagh District Council As in many other parts of Ireland during the 19th Century, the expansion of the railway network saw the village connected with the rest of the country.

The Long Meg monolith and accompanying circle () forms one part of a complex of monuments in the Penrith area that includes, as well as the nearby Little Meg circle, a smaller circle seen by William Stukeley in 1725 to the south-west, no longer extant, plus the impressive henge at Mayburgh, a partly destroyed henge at nearby King Arthur's Round Table, and a third, completely destroyed, henge just a few yards to the south of King Arthur's Round Table. The terrace upon which Long Meg and the circle sit extends along the River Eden to also include, besides Little Meg, the Glassonby Circle and Old Parks, all of which are decorated with rock art.Barrowclough, 2010, p.129 The stone circles, henges, cairns and other standing stones in the area are often grouped at nodes of communication routes.

The Cleaven Dyke The area around Blairgowrie has been occupied continuously since the Neolithic, as evidenced from the Cleaven Dyke, a cursus monument south-southwest of the town, as well as a Neolithic long mortuary enclosure west-southwest at Inchtuthil. Several stone circles of this age can also be found in the area, notably the circle bisected by the road at Leys of Marlee, west of Blairgowrie. Numerous Neolithic and Bronze Age artifacts have been found in the immediate area, including a number of flint arrowheads, spearheads, knives and scrapers found at Carsie, south of Blairgowrie, and which are now displayed at Perth Museum, and bronze axes, and a bronze sword now in Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow. The remains of a Roman legionary fort can be found west-southwest of Blairgowrie at Inchtuthil, dating from the decade 80-90.

Hex is a fictional computer featured in the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. First appearing in Soul Music, Hex is an elaborate, magic-powered, self-building computer (not unlike the 'shamble', a kind of magical device used by the Witches of the Discworld) featuring ants and cheese as part of its architecture, and is housed in the basement of the High Energy Magic Building at the Unseen University (UU) in the twin city of Ankh-Morpork. Hex is a computer unlike any other the Disc has ever seen, which is not particularly exceptional since previously all other "computers" on the Disc had consisted of druidic stone circles. Programmed via 'Softlore', Hex runs and evolves under the watchful eyes of wizard Ponder Stibbons, who becomes the de facto IT manager at UU because he's the only one who understands what he's talking about.

When Thomas Wright investigated the site in about 1850, he was aided by a local man who believed that a crock of gold would be unearthed there. In a 1946 paper published in the Folklore journal, John H. Evans recorded a Kentish folk belief which had been widespread "Up to the last generation"; this was that it was impossible for any human being to successfully count the number of stones in the Medway Megaliths. The countless stones motif is not unique to Kent but has been recorded at other megalithic monuments in Britain and Ireland. The earliest textual evidence for it is found in an early 16th-century document, where it applies to Stonehenge in Wiltshire, although an early 17th-century document also applied it to The Hurlers, a set of three stone circles in Cornwall.

The Druid Network was created in 2003 to help its members and those in society understand and practice Druidry as a religion. "Its practitioners revere their deities, most often perceived as the most powerful forces of nature (such as thunder, sun and earth), spirits of place (such as mountains and rivers), and divine guides of a people (such as Brighid, Rhiannon and Bran)." "Although many see them as robed, mysterious people who gather every summer solstice at Stonehenge — which predates the Druids — believers say modern Druidry is chiefly concerned with helping practitioners connect with nature and themselves through rituals, dancing and singing at stone circles and other sites throughout the country believed to be "sacred."" A major project of The Druid Network is called Honouring the Ancient Dead, a programme developed in cooperation with the Manchester Museum (U.

However, like all the others—with the exception of the circle at Litton Cheney—it does not display evidence of any outlying stones or earthworks. The archaeologists Stuart and Cecily Piggott believed that the circles of Dorset were probably of Bronze Age origin, a view endorsed by the archaeologist Aubrey Burl, who noted that their distribution did not match that of any known Neolithic sites. It is possible that they were not all constructed around the same date, and the Piggotts suggested that while they may well be Early Bronze Age in date, it is also possible that "their use and possibly their construction may last into the Middle and even into the Late Bronze Age". Their nearest analogies are the circles found on Dartmoor and Exmoor to the west, and the Stanton Drew stone circles to the north.

About every eighteen and a half years, the moon would make a closer approach in which it would appear to be "framed" between the two flanking stones above the recumbent; this was presumably a peak time for ceremonies. The nature of the ceremonies is unknown, but Audrey Burl suggests that "the rites enacted in the rings were closely connected with the flourishing and dying of plants, crops, animals and human beings in the short-lived world of four thousand years ago." The interiors of some excavated recumbent stone circles have been found to contain pits filled with charcoal, sherds of pottery and the cremated remains of human bones (sometimes those of young children). However, they were not funerary monuments in the ordinary sense; the remains appear to have been merely "tokens" representing a few individuals and a small portion of the bodies.

However, they could not have been used for observations as their sightlines were too restricted. The cairns fell into disuse after about 2500 BC, but the lunar astronomical tradition reflected in their structures appears to have been transferred east to the Neolithic farmers of central Aberdeenshire. The gradation in height of the stone rings at Clava is replicated in the recumbent stone circles which appeared across Aberdeenshire during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, from around 2700–2000 BC. Their alignment with the southern moon is more precise than that of the Clava cairns; whereas the cairns encompass the entire arc of the moon, the orientation of most of the recumbent stones focuses on a much shorter arc. The degree of precision is limited, however, and the circles were clearly not observatories nor meant for precise knowledge of the moon's movements.

The restoration required the team to move some of the stones, and it was found that the most efficient non-mechanical means of doing so was to drag the stones along a slippery path of wet straw using logs as a kind of sledge. Unlike the more grandiose Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments found elsewhere in Scotland, the recumbent stone circles of Aberdeenshire do not appear to have been intended to overshadow or overawe other more modest works. Even considering their geographical clustering, they are also well-spread out. Clive Ruggles and Aubrey Burl suggest that this indicates that they were constructed to serve as local ritual centres for groups of subsistence farmers each inhabiting territories of about , living on an egalitarian basis without powerful leaders and possibly numbering no more than about twenty or thirty people per group.

The main communication routes of the time - "from Shap, from the Upper Eden, and down the Petteril valley to Carlisle and the Solway all converge at Eamont Bridge, which, as the name implies, is a natural and historic crossing point for the two rivers."Barrowclough, 2010, p.119 The stone circles, henges, cairns and other standing stones in the area are often grouped at nodes of communication routes. The Shap Stone Avenue to the south of Penrith, (including the Goggleby Stone, the Thunder Stone, Skellaw Hill, as well as Oddendale to the east), forms an 'avenue' running to the east of the River Lowther along a main route to the north; the Long Meg complex runs alongside the River Eden; Mayburgh and the other henges run alongside the River Eamont near its confluence with the River Lowther.

Burl noted that archaeologists assumed that for every stone circle that survived to the late 20th century, there would have been two lost. From the 1300 surviving examples, Burl calculated that there might have originally been around 4000 stone circles across Britain, Ireland and Brittany. Since the 1950s, archaeologists have been able to use radiocarbon dating of the material around the stones in order to accurately date their original construction. As of 2000, the earliest known radiocarbon dating of a stone circle was from the Lochmaben Stone in Dumfriesshire, which was dated to 2525 ± 85 BCE, whilst the latest examples came from Sandy Road in Perth (1200 ± 150 BCE), from Dromberg in County Cork (790 ± 80 BCE), and from the Five-Stone ring of Cashelkeety in County Kerry (715 ± 50 BCE). Burl said that, the calibration of these dates indicated that the stone circle tradition existed between 3300 and 900 BCE.

According to Liddell's initial 1974 claims, since the eleventh century the Pickingill family had been priests of a pre-Christian, pagan religion devoted to the worship of the Horned God. In this, his claims fitted within the historical framework of the discredited witch-cult hypothesis as propagated in the works of Margaret Murray. Later he added that the "medieval witch cult" was influenced by the "tenets" of the Iron Age druids, in particular their knowledge of ley lines which were marked out by the stone circles erected in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Conflicting with these ideas, in 1998 Liddell personally informed Hutton that the witch-cult did not derive from ancient pre-Christian religion but that it instead had been founded in fifteenth-century France, emerging from a union between Christian heretics, cunning lodges, and a cult of Lucifer founded by Islamic Moors with the intent of undermining Christianity.

Nevertheless, financial cutbacks delayed the appearance of the Pembrokeshire inventory, and the Commission itself did not meet formally for two and a half years. The fundamental nature of the inventories was bound to lead the Commission into other areas concerned with the historic sites and monuments it was recording, and this has characterised the Commission throughout its life. As early as 1916 Owen was allowed to make representations to the town clerk of Chepstow about the proposed destruction of a stretch of medieval town wall, and in 1926 the Commission was represented on the committees running the excavations at the Roman fort at Kanovium (Caerhun). Owen himself was in constant demand to give talks to national and local societies, and a steady stream of requests for information came in - for example on the Roman fort at Tomen-y-mur, Whitland Abbey, stone circles, place names and, especially, genealogy.

In his review for Allmusic, Ned Raggett wrote that the album has the same "rough but right feeling" as Cope's previous album Autogeddon, with "plenty of detours into tribal psych, feedback madness, even quirky synth-pop." Lyrically, the album covers a wide variety of topics as opposed to the general concept albums of Cope's previous releases. Cope continues to pursue many of the same themes as he had on his albums since Peggy Suicide: Mother Earth on "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", described by Cope as "a pagan love song about screwing the Mother Earth in her divine maiden form"; religion on "1995", which challenges the “ignorance of the standard Judeo-Christian One God way of thinking”; megalithic monuments on "Stone Circles ’n’ You"; and "the automobile defined landscape" in "Adam and Eve Hit the Road".Fitzgerald, Jeff. " The S.P.A.C.E.R.O.C.K.E.R.’s Guide to Julian Cope". Aural Innovations magazine #23.

Shap Stone Avenue is one of three major complexes of megalithic monuments to be found in east Cumbria. The stone circles, henges, cairns and other standing stones in the area are often grouped at nodes of communication routes - the monuments around Shap form an 'avenue' running to the east of the River Lowther along a main route to the north; the Long Meg complex runs alongside the River Eden; Mayburgh Henge and the other henges run alongside the River Eamont near its confluence with the River Lowther. The OS grid reference of the Shap Avenue site can be given as , but the actual boundaries of the complex remain in doubt. Some stones have been lost, some natural erratics may have been added to the monument in historical times, and the various early accounts of the setting by William Stukeley, Thomas Pennant, Lady Lonsdale and George Hall are not easy to reconcile.

A distant view of the Inn giving an idea of its isolation The Inn is the subject of much folklore - probably exaggerated over the generations. For example, one traveller is said to have stayed there overnight and found a body in a chest in his room. When he mentioned this to the landlord, he was told: "'tis only fayther! … the snaw being so thick, and making the roads so cledgey-like, when old fayther died, two weeks agon, we couldn't carry un to Tavistock to bury un; and so mother put un in the old box, and salted un in…" Another relates to a visitor who was persuaded to buy a flock of sheep, after consuming copious quantities of cider. The following morning he discovered that the "flock" that he’d been shown by the locals that night was actually the prehistoric stone circles of Grey Wethers.

David continued south into England where he was taken captive in Durham for what turned out to be a period of eleven years. While David was imprisoned, Earl William undertook additional measures that ultimately would alienate the king, as evidenced by court records showing that he seized all the proceeds of the court in 1348. However, in 1349, David, while still in captivity, was still relying on William in his role as justiciar of Scotland north of the Forth, by asking him to attend to a matter involving William de Deyn, Bishop of Aberdeen, in his conflict with William of St. Michael, who had seized some property of the Church. This case was resolved in Aberdeenshire at one of the courts which were still being held at the ancient Stone Circles of northern Scotland. Nonetheless, William's behavior at the priory of Elchor, combined with his less than honorable behavior in 1348, had eroded the king's trust in him, and by 1355 he had been replaced as justiciar.

In the Books of Kings, "Gilgal" is mentioned as the home of a company of prophets. The text states that Elijah and Elisha came from Gilgal to Bethel, and then onward to Jericho and to the Jordan, suggesting that the place was in the vicinity of Bethel, and far from Joshua's Gilgal near Jericho. Since "Gilgal" means a "circle of standing stones", it is quite plausible for there to have been more than one place named Gilgal, and although there are dissenting opinions, it is commonly held to be a different place from the one involved with Joshua; it has been identified with the village Jaljulia, about north of Bethel. It is significant that the Books of Kings treat it as a place of holiness, suggesting that stone circles still had a positive religious value at the time the source text of the passages in question was written, rather than having been condemned as heathen by religious reforms.

Outer cairn circle Inner cairn circle Oddendale has a stone circle nearby, (), part of the complex of cairns, stone circles and standing stones that includes the 'Shap Stone Avenue' of monuments. The site has benefitted from an extensive and relatively recent (1997) excavation that revealed various stages in the monument's history: firstly, two concentric circles of oak wooden posts (dating to the Neolithic, c. 2,872–2,350 BC); followed by their removal and replacement with stone cappings of pink granite; followed by an Early Bronze Age ring cairn built over the inner circle surfaced with blue/gray stones and yellow/white pieces of flat limestone, with cremated bone, pottery and other 'token' grave goods; and then a fourth stage which saw the addition of a pink granite platform on to the side of the cairn, which itself had a kerb of red stones around it. The colouring of the stones may have had ritualistic significance.

The Society's foundation was no doubt influenced by the general revival of interest in ancient Irish antiquities and history which the Ordnance Survey had sparked off. George Petrie (1790–1866), who had been actively involved in the OS was also revitalising the Antiquities Committee of the Royal Irish Academy, and opening up critically sound debate on early Christian buildings in Ireland with the publication of his book The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland: An Essay on the Origins and Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, in 1845. Nevertheless, it was a time of increasing danger for the heritage of Ireland, as the Irish language suffered severe setbacks after the Famine of the 1840s, and was vanishing from County Kilkenny even around the time the Society was establishing itself. As superstitious beliefs died out, people became less cautious of destroying the field monuments such as raths and stone circles, which hitherto had been avoided in cultivation of the land.

Sovereign Mercia was founded in Birmingham in 2008, having previously been the Midlands branch of the Ordo Anno Mundi, established in 1985 with the aim of promoting Anglo- Saxon paganism, taking its inspiration from texts such as the Prose Edda and Oera Linda Book.Central News, Central Independent Television, 25 April 1994Hex Files, Mike Mercer, , Penguin Putnam Inc, 1997Water Witches, Tony Steele, , Capall Bann Publishing, 1998Pagan Paths: A Guide to Wicca, Druidry, Asatru Shamanism and Other Pagan Practices, Peter Jennings, , Rider Publishing, 2002Pagan Resurrection: A Force for Evil or the Future of Western Spirituality?, Richard Rudgley, , Century Publishing, 2006 It was also involved in the campaign for access to ancient sacred sites, such as stone circles, following the Battle of the Beanfield at Stonehenge.Prediction Magazine, July 1985Birmingham Evening Mail, 3 November 1989Solihull Times, 30 August 1991 Like its predecessor, Sovereign Mercia initially held its annual conference during the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance each September in Staffordshire, and from 2015 at the Middle Earth Festival, Sarehole Mill, Birmingham.

Gallery graves are rectangular gallery-like spaces, where the entrance at one end is the width of the gallery. These were sometimes lined or roofed with slabs and then covered with earth.F. Somerset Fry and P. Somerset Fry, The History of Scotland (London: Routledge, 1992), , p. 8. Among the most impressive surviving monuments of the period are the first sets of standing stones in Scotland, such as those at Stenness on the mainland of Orkney, which date from about 3100 BCE, of four stones, the tallest of which is in height.C. Wickham-Jones, Orkney: A Historical Guide (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2007), , p. 28. The Callanish Stones, one of the finest stone circles in Scotland In contrast to the Highlands and Islands where stone was extensively used, in the south and east the most visible architectural survivals of the Neolithic are mainly earthen barrows, the earliest probably dating from the beginning of the fourth millennium BCE.

The Merry Maidens The local myth about the creation of the stones suggests that nineteen maidens were turned into stone as punishment for dancing on a Sunday. (Dans Maen translates as Stone Dance.) The Pipers, two megaliths some distance north-east of the circle, are said to be the petrified remains of the musicians who played for the dancers. A more detailed story explains why the Pipers are so far from the Maidens – apparently the two pipers heard the church clock in St Buryan strike midnight, realised they were breaking the Sabbath, and started to run up the hill away from the maidens who carried on dancing without accompaniment. These petrification legends are often associated with stone circles, as is reflected in the folk names of some of the nearby sites, for example, the Tregeseal Dancing Stones, the Nine Maidens of Boskednan, as well as the more distant Hurlers and Pipers on Bodmin Moor.

South Africa have the lead with ten sites; followed by Ethiopia, Morocco being home to nine sites; then Tunisia with eight sites; and Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Senegal, and Tanzania at seven. Ten countries have only a single site each. Four sites are shared between two countries: Maloti- Drakensberg Park (Lesotho and South Africa), the Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve (Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea), the Stone Circles of Senegambia (the Gambia and Senegal), and the Mosi-oa-Tunya / Victoria Falls (Zambia and Zimbabwe). Two sites are shared among three countries, Sangha Trinational (Central African Republic, Cameroon, and Congo) and W-Arly-Penjari Complex (Benin, Burkina Faso, and Niger).. The first sites from the continent were inscribed in 1978, when the Island of Gorée of Senegal and the Rock-Hewn Churches of Ethiopia were chosen during the list's conception. As of September 2017, Somalia has no official World Heritage Sites since the Somali government is not party to the 1972 World Heritage Convention.

At Avebury and West Kennet Avenue in Wiltshire, the tall pillar and "broad diamond shape" stones were used alternately in the stone circles, possibly symbolising males and females at this famous pagan ritual site. Stoney Littleton Long Barrow near Bath has been likened to a "womb-tomb" of the Great Goddess who awaited the return of the sun. Tolmen stones, such as the example on the North Teign river on Dartmoor, England, are said to derive their name from the Cornish tol ("hole") and maen ("stone") and were thought to have been used by Druids for purification and that the wrongdoer was lowered through into the water for lustration, a purification rite or cleansing ritual. The hole in the stone represented the female birth canal in the Druid or pagan mind, and by passing through it, a person was symbolising the act of rebirth and therefore regaining innocence or being cleansed of post-parturition illness, etc.

He surveyed the Persian Gulf in 1902 (), and Ceylon and the Indian Ocean between 1904 and 1907 with . In the summer of 1905, Somerville and HMS Sealark were assigned to the Indian Ocean expedition sponsored by the Percy Sladen Trust, which was led by J. Stanley Gardiner. Somerville took part in the scientific work of the expedition, as well as making oceanographic and magnetic observations. From 1908-1914 he surveyed British coastal waters in . He was promoted to Captain in 1912 and Vice Admiral on 1 August 1919. G.S. Ritchie, Hydrographer of the Navy from 1966–71, described him as a "surveyor of distinction". Shortly before World War I he developed a steam-operated sounding machine for determining ocean depth from a ship that was under way. Somerville's plan of the Callanish stones on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland In 1908, while surveying in British waters, he read a book suggesting stone circles and standing stones might have astronomical significance.

The mountain and the whole area show several examples of megalithic art, for the most part small monuments which are common on the Atlantic basin of the Basque Country, dating from the Neolithic and Bronze Age. 34 stone circles, four dolmens, three cists and two menhirs can be found locally, dating from the megalithic era. The menhir of Eteneta on the rear slopes of Adarra According to the anthropologist Jose Miguel Barandiaran, legend states that the Basque mythological giant Sanson got angry with a crowd of people dancing in Arano, so he intended to kill them. Yet when he was about to hurl a stone at them from the mountain Buruntza, he slipped on cow dung and the stone fell short on this spot, resulting in the current stone of Eteneta The ancient remains of a man buried with a dog and lamb were unearthed in a local cavern, dating from around 4,000 BC. The surroundings of the cavern are currently somewhat in a poor condition due to a polluted stream nearby.

Macaulay's work was posthumously collated, edited and published in 2006 by Vivian T. Linacre, a Perth based surveyor who is president of the British Weights and Measures Association (an advocacy group for Imperial units and Richard A. Batchelor, an honorary Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews, geologist and investigator into the geometry of Fife. The book contains a critical re-assessment of the geometry used in over one hundred and eighty of the stone circles surveyed by Alexander Thom (who surveyed over two hundred) along with their mensuration using the megalithic yard and the megalithic rod. From Professor Fernie's 1981 studies of the Metrological Relief in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (which Macaulay gives by its previous name The Arundel Stone) she claimed a similarity between the Greek Fathom and the megalithic rod of 2.072 m. She also suggested that many of the megaliths had been designed using a "third yardstick" length of one Greek Foot, depicted on the Metrological relief at 0.296 m, or one seventh of a megalithic rod.

Gameplay of Darkened Skye. The game begins on a path in the forest of Lynlora near a village and moves to many settings, such as the gloomy Ogmire Archipelago and the drowned city and dungeon of the same name; Tikniki Swamp, which has a maze and a scene of riding shotgun on a giant turtle which you cannot steer; a fleet of balloons called the Sky Pirates' Camp; the Chinese-style land of Zen'Jai with lava rivers, three dragon lairs, of various elemental affinities, and the Warlord's Palace, which is like a maze; Stone Heath, with three combination-lock puzzles located in ancient stone circles; a multi-story dungeon called the Goblins' Lair; the Bone Lands, which surround a lava lake; a vampires' necropolis called the Gargoyle Cemetery, which leads to a Cathedral taken over by the enemy and a giant collapsed staircase in the Bell Tower; and a sky full of floating stones leading to Necroth's Realm and his Lair. There is a short puzzle in a miniature village along a stream, called Twell Country. Skye's overwhelming debility is drowning, so the game involves much jumping over water hazards, especially prevalent in Ogmire.

Vertical stones set into the ground and now almost disappeared into the blanket bog are particularly obvious on a site in Graghil townland in the north of the Dún Chiortáin peninsula of Kilcommon (see Gallery) and await further investigation. Pictured is one of the marker stones in Faulagh which had all but disappeared under the bog and there are many signs of the trail across the intervening landscape for at least nine kilometres to Graghil townland on the Broadhaven Bay coast. Remnants of this way-marked trail are to be found from the townlands of Glengad, through Graghil and Gortbrack, through Knocknalower and across to Faulagh and Muingerroon, a trail running at a mid level up the mountainsides along which a myriad of suspected megalithic tombs and prehistoric stone circles are to be found also. Cnoc Nansai in particular has lots of cap stones (an isolated very large slab of rock, usually flattened in shape) at ground level which when one sticks their arm underneath, it can be felt and seen (using a torch) that there are orthostats and a hollow space or a water or mud filled space beneath the large flagstones.