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Sacred stone veneration is a global mythical phenomenon historically practiced by many groups, including ancient Semitic-speaking peoples. In their physical capacity, sacred stones themselves are not the object of worship or veneration. Their sanctity comes from the divine spirit believed to dwell within them. The common denominator among the mythological traditions of sacred stones veneration is the belief that they possess enormous spiritual powers that enable them to act as mediators between the worshipper and the gods. Stones were employed as tools in the rituals of veneration in many types of sanctuaries, such as stone circles. This study highlights this type of religious folklore in Palestine, representing one of the bridges linking the Palestinian present to its distant Canaanite past. It traces the various patterns of sacred stones in the central region of Palestine, the rituals that were practised using them, and the remnants of these practices found in oral folklore traditions. To these ends, the researchers relied on religious and historical primary and secondary sources, including oral interviews where available and possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are two competing hypotheses for the origin of megaliths in Europe. The conventional view from the late 19th and early 20th centuries was of a single-source diffusion of megaliths in Europe from the Near East through the Mediterranean and along the Atlantic coast. Following early radiocarbon dating in the 1970s, an alternative hypothesis arose of regional independent developments in Europe. This model has dominated megalith research until today. We applied a Bayesian statistical approach to 2,410 currently available radiocarbon results from megalithic, partly premegalithic, and contemporaneous nonmegalithic contexts in Europe to resolve this long-standing debate. The radiocarbon results suggest that megalithic graves emerged within a brief time interval of 200 y to 300 y in the second half of the fifth millennium calibrated years BC in northwest France, the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic coast of Iberia. We found decisive support for the spread of megaliths along the sea route in three main phases. Thus, a maritime diffusion model is the most likely explanation of their expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main body of the site of Huahaizi No. 3 in Qinghe (Qinggil) County, Xinjiang, is a stone cairn surrounded by a stone circle with cross-shaped spokes. Around it, stone circles and stone cairns for sacrifices are located. In addition to two deer stones, shieldshaped stones, a simple wooden frame structure and fragments of human bones and sheep teeth used as sacrifices were found. The scientific data and the style of the deer stones show that this site was in use from around the 9th century BCE. The archaeological remains and artifacts show that this site and similar remains are for sacrificial activities, which might be related to the worship of sun, the moon and other celestial bodies or phenomena. The Sandaohaizi Site and similar remains found nearby as well as at the Arzhan kurgans in Tuva, Southern Siberia would have been left by the same people; Sandaohaizi was the summer ritual center of this early nomadic society and Arzhan was its royal necropolis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the many characteristics of the Senegalese and Gambian megalithic phenomenon, the deposition of pottery on the eastern edge of funerary structures is a recurrent practice present throughout the excavated sites. In the western part of the megalithic area, ceramics are generally located between the standing stone-circles and one or more frontal stones erected east of monuments. With the exception of morphological and decorative aspects, no technological studies have ever been conducted on the pottery from these deposits. Such an approach has now been taken to the analysis of around forty ceramics from deposits at the site of Wanar — about as many as are available from the deposits of all other Senegambian megalithic sites. The results demonstrate the range of technical choices mobilized in the shaping process. The high degree of finish on the vessels also suggests an important added value to the material culture which participated in the monuments’ ritual function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stone circles are a common monumental feature of the Mongolian Bronze Age (c. 1500-800BC), frequently occurring in association with other monument types, especially khirigsuurs. Until now the content of the stone circles has not been identified, a fact which has hampered our understanding not only of khirigsuurs and their related cosmology but also of the contemporary economy, owing to a research paradigm that was monument-focused until very recently. The identification of domestic bovids in these features thus has profound implications for our approach to studying the society of this period and region. These implications, including a well-developed cosmology and economy which included the ritual sacrifice of at least three different kinds of livestock, are introduced here. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the results of faunal analyses from the recently excavated site of Kuidas Spring in north-western Namibia. The site includes rock shelters, stone circles and stone cairns. Stone circles, which were built during the last 1500 years, are widely distributed over much of Namibia and parts of the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. Current interpretations suggest that after the introduction of livestock 2300 years ago, hunter-gatherers who became herders built stone circle settlements. However, our results based on the faunal remains indicate that Kuidas Spring was exploited as a hunting resource, and whether or not herders with (or without their) livestock occupied or visited the site remains unconfirmed. We also found that gemsbok made use of stone circles at Kuidas Spring when these features were not inhabited and show how such activity might impact the interpretation of archaeological material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale beneficial use of recycled and waste materials for civil engineering applications can provide an attractive way to reduce the wastes to be disposed of and it may also provide fiscal benefits. Scrap tyres are one such waste material which has many properties that can be effectively utilised for civil engineering applications. In this study, the scope for using tyre chips as an aggregate for stone columns was investigated. Experiments were conducted using tyre chips 10 mm in size and stone aggregate passing through a 12·5 mm Indian standard (IS) sieve and retained on a 10 mm IS sieve. Fifteen model experiments were carried out on stone columns made of different mix proportions of stone aggregate (S) and tyre chips (T), in a kaolinite clay bed of uniform consistency. It was found that the mixtures 60%T + 40%S and 40%T + 60%S provided a load-carrying capacity in stone columns similar to the load-carrying capacity of stone column made using only stone aggregate (100%S). This clearly shows that waste tyre chips can be used as a partial replacement for stone aggregate up to about 40-60% in the construction of stone columns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarises the distribution of patterned ground phenomena in Tasmania. It presents observations of low altitude sorted stone circles forming on glacial and alluvial deposits in the vicinity of Queenstown, Western Tasmania. Evidence suggests that freeze-thaw derived patterned ground could develop in most inland valleys in Tasmania where cold air drainage causes sub-zero ground temperatures in winter and permits the formation of ground and segregation ice to low elevations. Field observations suggest that patterned ground can only develop where freeze-thaw processes are not inhibited by vegetation. The occurrence of patterned ground below altitudes of 900 m asl in Tasmania is largely a result of anthropogenic disturbance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous scholarship on Paganism and archaeology has considered Pagan engagements with prehistoric 'sacred sites' as 'new folklore', examining how Pagan meanings are inscribed and constituted. Earlier work has also highlighted the importance of respect, dialogue and working together, to promote understanding and resolve tensions between Pagans and archaeologists. But antagonism endures: the 'Avebury Consultation' on reburial, for instance, resulting from certain Druid calls for the reburial of ancient human remains kept in the Alexander Keiller Museum; and heated exchanges between a group of Druids and archaeologists during excavations of cremated human remains from Aubrey hole 7 at Stonehenge. I focus on the latter case in which a new Pagan folklore of 'the Stonehenge Guardians' has emerged, partly based on archaeologists' recent interpretations of Stonehenge, used by this minority of Pagans in protests against the longterm retention of human remains and to argue for their reburial. I conclude by reiterating how Pagans and archaeologists should and can work together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stone circles and various other features belonging to the different branches of the Sámi cultures in both northern Norway and Sweden have long since been known and discussed by scholars. That similar archaeological features are to be found in the county of Västernorrland, an area customarily considered to lie outside that which is traditionally associated with the Sámi in Sweden, is compelling and requires a reassessment of previous held notions concerning the historical record. It is here suggested that these features are relics of a vanished Sámi culture that once existed in this county. It is further suggested that the stone circles are the material remains of their religious practices that were performed in order to help maintain social solidarity in the face of both ideological and economic suppression by the Royal Kingdom and later by the nation-state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From early antiquarian investigations, through Seán P. Ó Ríordáin's pioneering excavations to more recent investigations, the sites clustered around Lough Gur, Co. Limerick, have always held a prominent place in the study of Irish prehistory. The most visually impressive of these, the embanked stone circle at Grange, has been of particular interest to both antiquarians and archaeologists. Presented here is a critical review of the history of investigation and interpretation at Grange, followed by an account of the most recent investigations at the site: an excavation in 2012 designed to establish the construction date of the earthen bank that encloses the stone circle. The review of antiquarian accounts suggests that the site was remodelled in the late nineteenth century, when soil was added to the bank, the interior was levelled up and the circle stones were straightened. Three samples from the 2012 excavations and three from residues on pottery excavated by Ó Ríordáin in 1939 returned radiocarbon dates that range from 3020 to 2574 cal. BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Techniques are described for extracting circular rock features from landscapes dominated by clasts of the same type from which cultural features are composed, using as a test case a large stone circle residential site in western Wyoming, USA. Methods consist of point plotting all relevantly-sized culturally and naturally-deposited clasts in the field and identifying potential cultural features using point density analyses tools in ArcGIS. Potential rings are either accepted or rejected as cultural features by comparing clast frequency, density and distribution in internal, feature-ring, and external spatial buffers to ethnoarchaeological data recording stone circle size and morphology and to similar data generated from a control sample of off-site, naturally-occurring clasts. The results of the analysis are used to discuss group size, mobility type, and duration of site occupation and to explore problems of assessing such at surface archaeological sites resulting from palimpsest-type site formation processes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Despite containing one of the largest stone and timber circles in Britain, the Late Neolithic monument complex at Stanton Drew, Somerset, has seen surprisingly little archaeological work. This paper presents the results of new fieldwork, which included excavation around a recently discovered recumbent stone, test-pitting on the floodplain of the River Chew and fleldwalking close to the monuments. The excavations revealed that the recumbent stone had been deliberately buried in the medieval period and also uncovered other archaeology of this date. The test-pitting exposed thick deposits of alluvium and from this it is argued that the landscape has changed dramatically since the monuments were constructed. The fieldwalking revealed a relatively low density of lithics which may indicate that activities around the monuments were carefully controlled. Also considered is the siting of the Stanton Drew monuments and their intimate relationship with the River Chew. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A unique circular feature of uncertain origin lies above the tree line on the eastern flanks of the Coast Range of British Columbia, Canada. It is composed of white, fractured, angular cobbles to boulders predominantly under 1 m across, arrayed in a slightly flattened circle nearly 50 m in diameter with the ring mostly about 4 m in width. The felsic granitoid lithology of the circle is unlike any in the immediate region, and no clasts of this composition occur within the circle. The debris rests on soliflucted soil containing rounded pebbles to cobbles of granodiorite that forms the regional lithology. The age of the circle is deglacial with post-glacial modification. Given the absence of similar lithologic units in the region and no obvious symbolic purpose for such a feature, an anthropogenic origin for the circle is improbable. Mechanisms for transporting the foreign rock unit to its final location, distributing fragments into a circle, and preserving it include flow of alpine and fringing continental ice masses, deglaciation, freeze-thaw cycles, and post-glacial solifluction and erosion. One large slab was either entrained within or fell onto a flowing glacier from some unknown outcrop at least 2 km from the site of the circle. During deglaciation, the insulating cap preserved the ice beneath it forming an isolated stagnant mass of ice. Freeze-thaw cycles likely affected the slab when it was on the surface of the ice, but it remained coherent, otherwise glacial flow or meltwater streams might have scattered loose clasts. Once the ice became stagnant, continued freeze-thaw cycles eventually created a rubble pile, which slid off the presumably symmetrical mass of ice to become arranged in a roughly circular ring. Having lost its protective cover, the ice melted and subsequent solifluction slightly modified the ring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This short note describes unusual acoustic properties of two stone circles on Dartmoor, southwest England, observed by the authors in October 2010. It is suggested that this observation adds to the increasing number of accounts of acoustic phenomena found in some prehistoric monuments in the British Isles and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Recent research suggests that contemporary human social groups are structured according to principles of fission and fusion that are also observed in some of our primate relatives, raising the possibility that such social systems have been a feature of hominin society throughout prehistory. The current paper examines the possibility of identifying archaeological signatures of multi-level social structures through the examination of site size distributions. Data on the sizes of Irish Bronze Age stone circles and predictions for the size of aggregations they could accommodate are compared with simulations parameterized using data on modern human groups. The results suggest that the presence of hierarchically inclusive, multi-level social structures provides a better explanation for the data than more traditional archaeological accounts based on the rank-size rule and related inferences concerning the emergence of political elites. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Analyses of modern human societies have consistently demonstrated the presence of recurrent grouping levels forming a nested, hierarchical structure. That this structure exists in both hunter-gatherer and western industrialized societies suggests that it may be a fundamental organizing principle of considerable antiquity. Stone circles are perceived as being foci of aggregation for prehistoric groups and thus provide a proxy for the sizes of those aggregations. Combining an empirical analysis of a sample of 140 stone circles with a Monte Carlo simulation model that derives expectations for a continuous size distribution based on the nested hierarchy concept, the current paper suggests that similar organizing principles were already in place during the Bronze Age. Furthermore, it is suggested that findings traditionally attributed to the operation of the ‘rank-size rule’ may in fact reflect the basic underlying structure of human society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The possibility that a comparison of the size of all stones in megalithic monuments might contribute to an understanding of the societies which built them is explored. Although a number of interpretational problems are recognized, the results appear meaningful. They show that there is no simple relationship between the diameter of a stone circle and the numbers of people involved in its construction, and that larger numbers contributed to the erection of some individual standing stones. Previous suggestions that individual families consisted of four to five active adults are supported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stonehenge is one of the world's iconic prehistoric sites and was inscribed as part of a wider prehistoric landscape as the World Heritage Site of Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites in 1986. However, the landscape is dissected by two roads that cut through this part of the World Heritage Site and pass within metres of the stone circle. Over the last twenty years some fifty different options for the upgrading and/or removal of these roads have been discussed. The UK Government is on the verge of making a final decision about the roads that will affect the site for ever. Some argue that this decision will be made without taking either the wider responsibilities enshrined in the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage or the full economic implications of the decision into full consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saami circular sacrificial sites have been known for many years in northern Norway and northern interior Sweden. Oral or written sources regarding their origins are nevertheless lacking outside reindeer-herding areas. These circular features have now been documented in Swedish Bothnian coastal environments together with site complexes at elevations, suggesting that they were used during the Iron Age, medieval and historic periods. It is argued that these coastal features, stone circles or ring-shaped enclosures, are Saami sacrificial sites of the same character as documented in North Norway and in the mountains and the forest lands of northern Sweden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering that the solstitial orientation of the sarsen monument at Stonehenge is arguably the most famous manifestation of ancient astronomy in the entire world, and that the practice of solstitial alignment is widely reported as being repeated at a number of contemporary monuments in the vicinity, it is extraordinary that the basic evidence relating to the orientations and alignments of these monuments has never been consistently assessed and clearly presented. This article aims to address this shortcoming and to make some modest inferences that are broadly in tune with current thinking in interpretative archaeology. We conclude that the principal known timber and stone monuments within 3 km of Stonehenge were indeed solstitially aligned, although not in a consistent manner, but the earthen enclosures (henges) around them fail to reflect a similar concern with the Sun. New evidence from the southern timber circle at Durrington Walls, in particular, bears significantly upon the much-discussed question of the intended directionality of the solstitial axis at Stonehenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stone circle complex at Copney, County Tyrone is a key Bronze Age site that forms part of the Mid-Ulster stone circle complex. This site was excavated in 1995 and since then, deterioration of the archaeological stonework has been a serious problem. Deterioration is visible as splitting/fracturing of stones, the development of a bleached outer margin, surface scaling and granular disintegration, and, in some cases, complete disintegration of individual stones to sandy regolithic material. Environmental conditions at this site exacerbate the deleterious action of weathering processes, with periodic waterlogging and sub-zero temperatures during winter months.The Copney stones comprise two igneous lithologies: quartz porphyry and porphyritic andesite, both Lower Ordovician (470 Ma) in age. Both rock types show extensive alteration by hydrothermal processes resulting in weakened stone fabrics exploited by weathering processes during burial and subsequent exposure. Mineralogy of buried and exposed material indicates that approximately 2500 years of burial in a peat bog has produced secondary porosity comprising extensive microfracture networks and dissolution voids, which permitted further ingress of moisture and acidic waters, thus, promoting chemical alteration of mineral constituents. The occurrence of completely grussified stones and arenisation of boulder surfaces at Copney indicates that the processes of grussification are not solely restricted to deep weathering environment but can be achieved by burial in a shallow, aggressive environment over periods measured in thousands of years. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article reports on the result of small-scale excavations designed to assess whether any material of archaeological interest survived on site and reviews the evidence previously reported and that of stray finds of axes from the vicinity of Keswick and Castlerigg in England. One claimed site occurs at Portinscale, west of the Castlerigg stone circle in the English Lake District, where a number of stone axes and other artefacts were found in 1901 and were reported to consist of four unpolished stone axes, a number of chippings of similar stone and a log. The site is considered important in any discussion of the production of stone axes in the district.

In the light of the contemporary resurgence of Druidism, this article explores the heyday of the invention of Druidism in the West during the Romantic period. It demonstrates the way in which the construction of Druidism, as the heir of the Patriarchal tradition of the Old Testament and of Primordial religion, played a significant role in the construction of British self-identity from 1750-1850, in contrast to the marginal role which neo-Druidism plays in contemporary British self-understanding. The article explores the perceived connection between Druidism and the great stone circles of Stonehenge and Avebury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs that according to a study led by University College London archaeologist Michael Parker Pearson and published in the journal "Antiquity," Stonehenge is a dismantled stone circle from Wales.

Presents research which discovered megalithic alignments and stone circles near Middle and Late Neolithic communities at Nabta, Egypt. Sahara in southern Egypt during the Late Pleistocene era; Dimensions of the Nabta Playa depression; Early development of a complex society in region; Impact of monsoons on settlements; Ceremonial complex; Organization of megaliths; Culture in pre-dynastic upper Egypt.

The application of stone dust for coal dust explosion prevention has been practiced in South African coal mines in the 1970s. By late 1990s, improvements in its method application were resulted in new regulations on the application of stone dust to freshly exposed coal face areas came into effect in 1998. However, the implication of frequent stone dusting of freshly exposed coal faces has resulted in contamination of the personal and engineering dust samples meant for exposure assessment in mines. In a continued effort to identify and reduce the dust problem and informed exposure assessment in the coal mines, influence of stone dust on the personal coal dust exposure levels was determined. This was determined on the basis of the collected real-time personal dust data and the time study in the continuous miner (CM) section. From the data analyses of the three personal dust samples it is noted that, on average, 26.43% of the dust samples were contaminated with stone dust (mass basis), with an average exposure level of 12 mg/m3 for a period of just 12 minutes. The amount of stone dust in the sample appears to be small, but it must be noted that the actual exposure to stone dust at the waiting place is a significant underestimation of the exposure closer to the stone dust source. Similarly, fallout of stone dust analyses indicated that to avoid the influence of stone dust in the personal dust samples require no stone dusting during the shift, or at least 5 hours before the start of the morning shift. Problem is relevant to all underground coal mines and there are no easy solutions to the mine operators to overcome this unavoidable situation. However, there are efforts to develop alternate to dry spraying of stone dust, which is currently being trialed in South Africa and Australia. In the meantime, greater administrative control of stone dusting well before the start of the shift would alleviate the situation or documenting the stone dust contamination in dust sampling results so that personal dust samples submitted specifically to regulators were not contaminated with the stone dust, which could skew the exposure values towards non-compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study about megaliths, which are structures or monuments constructed from large stones and exist throughout Europe.