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Henge
There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork that are all sometimes loosely called henges. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ditches would have served defensive purposes poorly, henges are not considered to have been defensive constructions (cf. circular rampart). The three henge types are as follows, with the figure in brackets being the approximate diameter of the central flat area: # Henge (> ). 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. Henges sometimes, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connecting horizontal lintel stones. Inside is a ring of smaller bluestones. Inside these are free-standing trilithons, two bulkier vertical sarsens joined by one lintel. The whole monument, now ruinous, is aligned towards the sunrise on the summer solstice. The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the densest complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred '' tumuli'' (burial mounds). Archaeologists believe that Stonehenge was constructed from around 3000 BC to 2000 BC. The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the first bluestones were raised between 2400 and 2200 BC, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls is the site of a large Neolithic settlement and later henge enclosure located in the Stonehenge World Heritage Site in England. It lies north-east of Stonehenge in the parish of Durrington, just north of Amesbury in Wiltshire. The henge is the second-largest Late Neolithic palisaded enclosure known in the United Kingdom, after Hindwell in Wales. Between 2004 and 2006, excavations on the site by a team led by the University of Sheffield revealed seven houses. It has been suggested that the settlement may have originally had up to 1,000 houses and perhaps 4,000 people, if the entire enclosed area was used. The site was settled for about 500 years, starting sometime between 2800 and 2100 BC. The site may have been the largest settlement in northern Europe for a brief period. From 2010 to 2014, a combination of new technology and excavations revealed a -diameter henge constructed largely of wooden posts. Evidence suggests that this complex was a complementary mon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avebury Stone Circles
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. Its original purpose is unknown, although archaeologists believe that it was most likely used for some form of ritual or ceremony. The Avebury monument is a part of a larger prehistoric landscape containing several older monuments nearby, including West Kennet Long Barrow, Windmill Hill and Silbury Hill. By the Iron Age, the site had been effectively abandoned, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avebury
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. Its original purpose is unknown, although archaeologists believe that it was most likely used for some form of ritual or ceremony. The Avebury monument is a part of a larger prehistoric landscape containing several older monuments nearby, including West Kennet Long Barrow, Windmill Hill and Silbury Hill. By the Iron Age, the site had been effectively abandon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thornborough Henge
The Thornborough Henges are an unusual ancient monument complex that includes the three aligned henges that give the site its name. The complex is located near the village of Thornborough, close to the town of Masham in North Yorkshire, England. The complex includes many large ancient structures including a cursus, henges, burial grounds and settlements. They are thought to have been part of a Neolithic and Bronze Age 'ritual landscape' comparable to Salisbury Plain and date from between 3500 and 2500 BC. This monument complex has been called 'The Stonehenge of the North'. Historic England considers its landscape comparable in ceremonial importance to better known sites such as Stonehenge, Avebury, and Orkney. In recent decades, there has been public concern about the impact on the ritual landscape of quarrying by Tarmac. Cursus The cursus is the oldest and largest ancient monument at Thornborough. It is almost a mile in extent and runs from Thornborough village, unde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thornborough Henges
The Thornborough Henges are an unusual ancient monument complex that includes the three aligned henges that give the site its name. The complex is located near the village of Thornborough, close to the town of Masham in North Yorkshire, England. The complex includes many large ancient structures including a cursus, henges, burial grounds and settlements. They are thought to have been part of a Neolithic and Bronze Age 'ritual landscape' comparable to Salisbury Plain and date from between 3500 and 2500 BC. This monument complex has been called 'The Stonehenge of the North'. Historic England considers its landscape comparable in ceremonial importance to better known sites such as Stonehenge, Avebury, and Orkney. In recent decades, there has been public concern about the impact on the ritual landscape of quarrying by Tarmac. Cursus The cursus is the oldest and largest ancient monument at Thornborough. It is almost a mile in extent and runs from Thornborough village, unde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Timber Circle
In archaeology, timber circles are rings of upright wooden posts, built mainly by ancient peoples in the British Isles and North America. They survive only as gapped rings of post-holes, with no evidence they formed walls, making them distinct from palisades. Like stone circles, it is believed their purpose was ritual, ceremonial, and/or astronomical. British Isles Timber circles in the British Isles date to the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. The posts themselves have long since disappeared and the sites are identified from the rings of postholes that they stood in. Aerial photography and geophysical survey have led to the discovery of increasing numbers of the features. Often a postpipe survives in the posthole fill aiding diagnosis. They are usually more than , and up to , in diameter and the posts that constituted them were generally more than wide. Often they consist of at least two rings or ovals of timber posts, although some consist of only one ring. Wider gaps ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Knowlton Circles
Knowlton Circles (also known as Knowlton Henges or Knowlton Rings) are a complex of henges and earthworks in Knowlton, Dorset, England. The henge enclosing Knowlton Church is the best known and best preserved, but there are at least two other henges in the vicinity as well as numerous round barrows. Overview The Knowlton Circles are a cluster of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments near Knowlton. There are four enclosures, three are of normal henge form, Church Henge, Knowlton North and Knowlton South, and the fourth is a squarish enclosure known as Old Churchyard. Church Henge is the best preserved of these monuments and encloses the ruins of Knowlton Church. Nearby is the large round barrow known as Great Barrow and a number of other round barrows are also focused on the area. Church Henge Church Henge (also known as the Central Circle, ) is the best preserved of the three henges at Knowlton. It is an oval enclosure surrounded by a ditch and earthwork bank. The enclosure is o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mayburgh Henge
Mayburgh Henge is a large prehistoric monument in the county of Cumbria in northern England. The henge is in the care of English Heritage and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It is 400 metres from King Arthur's Round Table Henge. Location The Ordnance Survey grid reference for Mayburgh Henge is . The henge is situated on a knoll just outside the village of Eamont Bridge close to the confluence of the Rivers Eamont and Lowther around 1 mile south of Penrith, just a few hundred yards from the M6 motorway. The henge sites are "to be seen as components in a landscape dominated by steep sided valleys and fast flowing streams...focused on a spring which lay between Mayburgh and King Arthur's Round Table, and which connected them to the River Eamont...on the other side of the Eamont are two less well known burial mounds." (The presence of the spring was noted by William Stukeley). The main communication routes of the time – "from Shap, from the Upper Eden, and down the P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ring Of Brodgar
The Ring of Brodgar (or Brogar, or Ring o' Brodgar) is a Neolithic henge and stone circle about 6 miles north-east of Stromness on Mainland, the largest island in Orkney, Scotland. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Heart of Neolithic Orkney. General information The Ring of Brodgar (or Brogar, or Ring o' Brodgar) is a Neolithic henge and stone circle in Mainland, 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. The ring of stones stands on a small isthmus between the Lochs of Stenness and Harray. These are the northernmost examples of circle henges in Britain. Unlike similar structures such as Avebury, there are no obvious stones inside the circle, but since the interior of the circle has never been excavated by archaeologists, the possibility re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arbor Low
Arbor Low is a well-preserved Neolithic henge in the Derbyshire Peak District, England. It lies on a Carboniferous Limestone plateau known as the White Peak area. The monument consists of a stone circle surrounded by earthworks and a ditch. Description The monument includes about 50 large limestone blocks, quarried from a local site, which form an egg-shaped circle. There were probably 41-43 stones originally, but some are now in fragments. They range in size from , with monoliths of between . One stone is partially upright; the rest are lying flat. Although it is often stated that the stones have never stood upright, it is possible that they had originally been set upright in shallow stone holes. In the centre of the circle lie at least six smaller blocks known as the cove, originally believed to have been set in a rectangle. The stones are surrounded by an earth bank, approximately at the outside edges and high, with an interior ditch about 2 metres deep and wide. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wormy Hillock Henge
Wormy Hillock Henge, also known as The Dragon's Grave, is a small henge in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument located in the Clashindarroch Forest. It is a low, circular bank in diameter which almost surrounds a wide platform in the centre. There is one gap in the bank at the southeast end of the henge. History In 1891, James Macdonald, thinking that this mound was a "round for sheep", excavated the mound. However, this did not bring any archaeological finds. Legend According to legend, Wormy hillock henge was the location of a buried dragon or monster. In the legend, the dragon had been attacking villages in the neighbourhood, and the villagers eventually succeeded in killing the dragon. They then half-buried its corpse and mounded dirt over it, making a mound. This legend is the source of the names of the mound: ''Wormy Hillock Henge'' and ''The Dragon's Grave''. The site The henge is located to the south of the mound known as Wormy Hillock, on a hau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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