A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany

A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany PDF Author: Aubrey Burl
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300114065
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
This practical and knowledgeable guidebook deals comprehensively with the stone circles of Britain and Ireland and with the cromlechs and megalithic "horseshoes" of Brittany. This new edition includes a section on "Druidical" circles, romantic creations of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. "This book is not only an elegant and practical guide, it is also the best single-volume study of this extraordinary phenomenon, embracing 500 monuments from Shetland to Brittany. . . . Confident, erudite, pleasurable, this volume can be recommended as travel guide, archaeology, literature, and sheer good company."--Ian Sheperd, British Archaeology "This is a wonderful book and is a must for anyone remotely interested in things megalithic."--Paul Walsh, Archaeology Ireland

A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany

A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany PDF Author: Aubrey Burl
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300114065
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 310

Get Book

Book Description
This practical and knowledgeable guidebook deals comprehensively with the stone circles of Britain and Ireland and with the cromlechs and megalithic "horseshoes" of Brittany. This new edition includes a section on "Druidical" circles, romantic creations of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. "This book is not only an elegant and practical guide, it is also the best single-volume study of this extraordinary phenomenon, embracing 500 monuments from Shetland to Brittany. . . . Confident, erudite, pleasurable, this volume can be recommended as travel guide, archaeology, literature, and sheer good company."--Ian Sheperd, British Archaeology "This is a wonderful book and is a must for anyone remotely interested in things megalithic."--Paul Walsh, Archaeology Ireland

The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany

The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany PDF Author: Aubrey Burl
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300083477
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 492

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Book Description
The spectacular stone circles of western Europe, some nearly 6000 years old, have intrigued viewers through the ages. This beautiful book about these megalithic rings explores their ancestry, methods of construction, and eventual desertion. A substantially revised version of Aubrey Burl's highly praised work The Stone Circles of the British Isles, it offers new insights into the purpose of stone circles. It also provides a new interpretation of Stonehenge and of Callanish in Scotland, the first overview of the cromlechs in Brittany, a discussion of the problems of archaeoastronomy as related to stone circles, a greatly expanded Gazetteer, and an up-to-date list of radiocarbon dates and recent excavations.

From Carnac to Callanish

From Carnac to Callanish PDF Author: Aubrey Burl
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300055757
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
This book discusses the lines of standing stones that until now have been the neglected wonders of prehistoric Europe, rows that were foci of rituals in Britain, Ireland and Brittany for over two thousand years. Places such as Carnac in Brittany and Callanish in the Hebrides are visited by many visitors each year, but before now there has been no book that seriously explains the history, significance and background to these impressive sites. Aubrey Burl shows that the settings vary from pairs of isolated stones in the far south-west of Ireland to networks of long lines in Scotland, Dartmoor and Brittany, and describes the types in a sequence of architectural chapters that stress the increasing social and commercial connections between regions hundred of miles apart. He uses information from a wide variety of sources - excavation reports, megalithic art, astronomical analyses and legends - to provide explanations of why the rows were erected, when, and what they may have been used for.

Great Stone Circles

Great Stone Circles PDF Author: Aubrey Burl
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780300076899
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 199

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Book Description
Archaeologist Aubrey Burl, for more than thirty years a specialist in the study of stone circles, selects a dozen attractive and evocative rings for close examination. Each of the twelve sites illuminates a particular archaeological question - the purpose of stone circles, their construction, age, distribution, design, art, legend and relation to astronomy. Burl asks, and offers sometimes surprising answers to questions about Stonehenge: how were its bluestones transported from south-west Wales, why was its Slaughter Stone not used for sacrifice, and why is Stonehenge - the most British of stone circles - not a stone circle and not British? To conclude his account of the strange subtleties of stone circles, Burl reconstructs the social history of Swinside in the Lake District, describing the builders, their way of life, and the ceremonies they performed inside their lovely ring.

Rings of Stone

Rings of Stone PDF Author: Aubrey Burl
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description


Prehistoric Avebury

Prehistoric Avebury PDF Author: Aubrey Burl
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300090871
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
This magnificent book is a fascinating account of the prehistoric stone circles at Avebury, which not only II date from an earlier era but are also larger than the more famous sarsen stone circle of Stonehenge. Written by a leading archaeologist, the book considers every aspect of Avebury's history and construction and discusses the probable purpose of these massive structures, in the process creating a vivid and moving picture of their creators -- a primitive people whose lives were brief, savage, and fearful.

Stone Rows and Standing Stones

Stone Rows and Standing Stones PDF Author: Alexander Thom
Publisher: British Archaeological Reports
ISBN:
Category : Archaeoastronomy
Languages : en
Pages : 596

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Book Description
(BAR-S560, 1990)

The Stone Circles of the British Isles

The Stone Circles of the British Isles PDF Author: Aubrey Burl
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780300023985
Category : Great Britain
Languages : en
Pages : 410

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Book Description
Synthesizing pertinent archaeological data, the author details the origins, structural features, and significance of Britain's ancient megalithic monuments

The Moon and the Bonfire

The Moon and the Bonfire PDF Author: Richard Bradley
Publisher: Society Antiquaries Scotland
ISBN: 0903903334
Category : Aberdeenshire (Scotland)
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
Whilst a report on excavations at three stone circles and two fieldwalking projects in north-east Scotland may not seem very appealing this book does much to heighten public awareness and interest in such sites and re-connects us with the mysterious monuments of the past. This study of the sites of Tomnaverie (Deeside), Cothiemuir Wood (Donside) and Aikey Brae (Buchan) is written in an engaging and approachable style with plenty of illustrative material. Whilst the project was geared towards investigating the character, chronology, structural development and wider context of the stone circles, its results go much further in revealing how people used and perceived such sites and the landscape around them. Here, contextual information, discussion of methodology and objectives are combined with factual data and interpretation as the project members examine various aspects of the sites such as the characterisation (shape, colour and texture) of the stones used, construction techniques, evidence of burning, the presence of human remains and possible solar and lunar alignments. The proffering of new insights into the use and symbolism of the monuments is highly valuable, for example, the suggestion that we should perhaps consider the use of these stone circles during the hours of darkness rather than daylight, an idea first proposed by Aubrey Burl, requires us to re-think our preconceptions about monuments in the past. The rewards of painstaking excavation and trudging through muddy fields are evident in a publication such as this.

Prehistoric Henges

Prehistoric Henges PDF Author: Aubrey Burl
Publisher: Shire Publications
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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Book Description
"Stonehenge is only one of almost a hundred vast circular earthworks built in Britain and Ireland over five thousand years ago. Known as henges, they remain one of the mysteries of prehistoric Britain. With their overgrown banks and weathered ditches they attract few visitors. Yet discoveries have revealed fascinating glimpses of the beliefs of their builders. Excavations have unearthed grim evidence of forgotten rituals: a child's sacrifice at Woodhenge; a human burial at the centre of Arbor Low; winter moonlight at Stonehenge. Such things hint at the power and importance that these huge enclosures once had. The effort needed to raise these spacious rings of earth or chalk, the careful planning of their entrances, the settings of stone or timber inside them and the avenues leading uphill from nearby rivers all make henges among the most exciting and intriguing of the ancient monuments of the British Isles." --Back cover.