Why are stone circlessouniversal? The British Isles are dotted with them…from the famous Stonehenge to Isleof Jura, there are lots and lots of htese things. You find them in Brittany as well, and a surprising number are found in the USA (Mystery hill in Salem NH). There are even examples found in the American West (the so-called “Medicine Wheels”).
Why were these things built? I know that there are theories that suppose STonhenge was builtas an astronomical calculator/calendar, but these theories are unproven. Or, was Carl Jung correct, in that the circle/mandela is a universal archetype.
Are there any newer threories as to why aour ancestors sweated and labored to makethese things? And, do the stone circles found in NY,New England have any plausible connection to those of the old world?
Only insofar as humans like simple geometric shapes and variations on them. They are not, in and of themselves, evidence of cultural linkage. Just to take one example, the stone circles found in England and Brittany show definite similarities in design and construction, the medicine wheels in the American West do not.
As to why humans invest symbols like circles with mysticism, well, Jung’s got as good an explanation as any. You might also like to read some Joseph Campbell.
Calling Mystery Hill in Salem, N.H. a “stone circle” is pushing things. I’ve been there many times, and the irregular closed-form curve those stones describe is emphatically not a circle.
If Mystery Hill was, in fact, aligned with astronomical points (as Stonehenge apparently is, and as “medicine wheels” are suppesd to be), then the fact that they are all closed-form curves is a functional result. If you look at sunrises and sunests, moonrises and moonsets, then you’re going to go to several points around a circle, and connecting the dots must be irresistable. But if you look at the functional forms, there’s a worldf of difference. It’s hard not to think that Stonehenge is made for such observations – the huge monumental stones sometimes force views upon you (as Hawkins noted). Between siome of the trilithons it’s impossible not to look in the right direction. The midsummer sunrise over the heelstone is pretty dramatic. At Mystery Hill, on the other hand, the stones are big enough to step over. You don’t have that sense that they are necessarily aligned.
In addition, a circle is the obvious form for gathering around, say, a campfire, or a meeting with a focal point. Some stone rings (not of huge boulders) form naturally by the processes of ice formation and melting pushing stones outward, which may have helped suggest the idea to people.
It seems to me that there are plenty of ways for the idea to get suggested to people around the world. It seems likely to me that all those stone circles are the results of individual discovery, not cultural diffusion.
I have not been to Mystery Hill, but from what I have read the majority, if not all, archaeologists do not think Mystery Hill is that old. I would like to make the trek myself, but I don’t believe it to be ancient.
Is Stonehenge concidered a stone circle? I have been to Stonehenge before, but now I can’t remember if it is classified as a stone circle or not. I’m guessing it is but I would have to look it up. Though it is totally different from any other stone circle I have seen or know about.
Can I ask where you heard this from? I can see a semi-circle but not a full circle from an end moraine.
I have seen a good number of stone circles around Ireland and England and most look the same, large stones in a circle. They do vary in size though from just 30-40 feet to hundreds of feet in radius. They are also very circular and not oblong.
To expand on paperbackwriter, there are many shapes that are seen around the world in ancient art, circles, triangles, zig-zags, and even pryamid type buildings. That doesn’t mean that they were all connected to the net and sending emails when they found something new.
There is a Stone Circle web page, as well as a stone circle web ring. The majority of them though are more mystical in nature and I don’t like much.
Cal is entirely correct. See for yourself.
And thanks for the amplification.
I see we were thinking different things. I was talking about the huge 2+ ton stones that typically are used in stone circles. I have never heard of anything like that, quite interesting.
I must also say that I looked up Stonehenge in my Stone Circle book last night, not only do they include things that are not true circles, but they had places that were squares and lines of stones.
No, we’re not. I mentioned that naturally-occurring stone circles might have given the inspiration for man-made stone circles. But I didn’t mean that those atural stone circles were the same size – just the same configuration.
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Is Stonehenge concidered a stone circle? I have been to Stonehenge before, but now I can’t remember if it is classified as a stone circle or not. I’m guessing it is but I would have to look it up. Though it is totally different from any other stone circle I have seen or know about.
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This is a surprising statement – I would’ve thought that many people view Stonehenge as the best-known stone and “canonical” circle, even if most others don’t have those “capstones” bridging the uprights.
Incidentally, there are a lot of stone circles in Ireland the continental Europe. Pepper Mill and I made a point of visiting some of the Irish stone circles when we were over there. As far as I know (and I haven’t looked into it), no one has made any attempt to correlate the positions and oruientations of these very large and impressive stone circles with astronomical events (rising and setting suns, moons, and stars). There’s a potential lifetime worth of work in that.
Why is it so mysterious that ancient peoples built things to observe the sun/stars? That’s how they kept time and planted crops. No real mysticism there. Circles are the symbol for damn near anything you can think of, as well as being a practical shape to base designs on. No mystery there, either.
Well I still don’t see any of the places in the link above to be in Europe and to me is seems that going from small stones to larger stone circles is a bit of a stretch. I have to say though that I know very little of many of the stone structures outside of Western Europe.
Reguarding Stonehenge, I still don’t think it is a typical stone circle at all. The capstones are to the best of my knowledge not found on any other stone circle, dolmens yes. There are henges around Stonehenge, the inner U shape and other features are all unique for Stonehenge. Should we also include Newgrange as a stone circle since it has the rements of a stone circle around it? I personally always though of Stonehenge as its own thing.
This I know, and the Irish at least are a bit strange. I tried to enter college at UCC years ago and was told no because I would have to be in college for five years. UCC is the largest Archaeology dept in Ireland and even they don’t seem to do much in the way of digs and such. I don’t know how many circles there are in Ireland, but there are 400-500 stone tombs and all of one book on the subject that I have been looking for for years. Hell I would do it if I could get paid 30k a year.
It’s not, but why build so damn many of them? A few here and there, but why hundreds of them? Would you build one to study the stars if there was one a few miles away, or in some cases like at Lough Gur there are three near each other? Especially with stones weighting upto 40 tons. I know I’m not going to be building more then one.
Personally I’m begining to think that the people who built Stonehenge were a bit like the French knights in Month Python and the Holy Grail, Hey I’ve got an idea, lets build a stone circle here, put a bunch of extra stones in the middle, build some henges around it and confuse those British in a few thousand years.
Sez you.
Depends on your definition, I guess. To most people, I reiterate, I think Stonehenge is the most famous example od a stone circle. I’d wager that a lot of people don’t know of any stone circles besides Stonehenge. When Gerald Hawkins (who just died a few days ago) wrote his book about medicine wheels and other astronomically aligned stone circles, he titled it Beyond Stonehenge.
I’ve been to Newgrange. Until you mentioned it, I’d forgotten the standing stones around the front. But in my photos there are only four or so. I’m not sure I’d broaden that to a “circle”.
It’s not clear to me that the stone circles were built to “study” the stars. I don’t really know why they’re there. It could be a religious devotion, for all I know. There are Roman Catholic Churches all over Rome, after all. One could argue that all you need is St. Peter’s, so why would they build all the others.
I’ve been to Lough Gur, and have pictures and plans of the Big circle there. It’s impressive, but it’s not clear to me if anyone ever studied it for astronomical alignment. There’s another, smaller circle nearby that’s not open to the public. Not far away, on private lands, are other circles, but they’re not open to the public, either (I’m told that they can’t be opened unless the landowners get special insurance, in case anyone gets hurt, and no one wants to go to that expense).
yep sez me! 
I have not read his book, at least I do not think I have. I know I have a copy of it but I have many other books in front of it. I may have to put it further up if he talks about medicine wheels though since I know nothing about them.
[quoteI’ve been to Newgrange. Until you mentioned it, I’d forgotten the standing stones around the front. But in my photos there are only four or so. I’m not sure I’d broaden that to a “circle”.[/quote]
I have just finished reading M O’Kelly’s book on Newgrange. He did the excavations in the late 60s-70s. There are 9-10, maybe a few more, standing stones around Newgrange. They did find a few other holes where they think stones were placed, and possibly at one time there was a complete circle, though it is impossible to tell.
I hadn’t thought of it like that, but there was not that many people in the ancient world so a “church” on every corner wasn’t needed. Still there is very little done at these sites, which is sad really.
I’ve been out to Lough Gur twice now. I’m not sure which stone circle I’ve been to. I do not think I have seen the large one, though I might have. I do know I have seen one of the smaller ones, there is a fence around it with a donation box. I have heard that recently they do not like people because of insurance, but as of yet no one has asked me not to be there. I also walked to a couple of tombs on people’s land and not had any problems.
I will look up, if I remember, tonight the stone circle in Lough Gur to see what, if any kind of study has been done. There was a book written about Lough Gur, but that is OOP as well and impossible to find.
If you can wait I submitted a staff report on stonehenge to the SD-SAB (science advisory board or Dex for short). I worked with the English Heritage society and Wessex Archaeology onsite at Stonehenge. Fascinating place. As for the Cap Stones, which are actually called carved lintels. They were placed on top of pairs of upright stone blocks, held in place by the use of ball and socket joints called trilithons. Quite magnificent if you consider the radiocarbon results of when the structure was supposedly first constructed. Spanning millennia, the generally accepted date range for phase one - the digging of the first ditched before the heel stone was placed - is 3500-3700 cal bc. cite . You’ll notice in the cite the probability distributions provided show various degrees of acceptable results. A 92% credibility rate would be an outstanding find. However, high credibility ratings for data at stonehenge is not a normal occurance. Had Aubrey been as diligent as we are now, findings may have been more accurate.
Study the stars most likely not. Using the stones as a utility with the stars is more probable. A lot of the theories kicking around go from a celestial time peice to a method for predicting crop rotation, cultivation and seasonal changes. The Stonehenge predicts almost precisely the summer solstice. On June 21st of each year (or there about) the sun comes up and rests atop the heal stone. The entire structure could have been built from that one focal point. But as the structure took so lone to build there were most likely other phases and utilities for the stones as they were being gnawed off the Prescelly(sp?) Mountains and brought round by raft up to the Henge. The man power alone to accomplish such a task is enormous. I would have loved to see how they actually moved them. Sure there is speculation, but I would have really liked to see it for myself.
And I did hear about Hawkins passing away. I enjoyed his book.
I’ve never done any professional work at Newgrange but I have been there on several ocations whilst at uni. I’m intregued by the amount of megalithic art going on at the site. As opposed to Stonehenge, it raises a few eye-brows needless to say. I mean they were supposedly constructed around the same millennia.
Oh, WHY make 'em wait, Antiquarian. Just use a little Stonehenge magic and anyone can read What’s the real story on Stonehenge?
12-Aug-2003
Very nice job it was. Do another.
Since this came back up, Cal just for you.
After I got home last night, after midnight, I went digging through my Stone Circle books, both by Aubrey Burl, said that at Lough Gur one stone was aligned with the rise of the moon in November of 2000BC. That was all it really said. There maybe more but out of the two books that I have very little was said about Lough Gur. I have a few other books I will skim though, but I don’t think there will be any more info in those as they are general Irish Archaeology books.
Wow! Thanks Sam - Ok so the new guy got Wooshed. And I am already researching another.