All  

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ Mobile

stone circles

Turkana stone beads. Credit: Carla Klehm

Turkana Stone Beads Tell a Story of Herder Life in East Africa 5,000 Years Ago

On the shores of Lake Turkana in east Africa, about 5,000 to 4,000 years ago, pastoralists buried their dead in communal cemeteries that were marked by stone circles and pillars. The north-west Kenya...
Callanish Henge, Isle of Lewis, Scotland.  Source:  swen_stroop / Adobe Stock.

Stonehenge-like Structures Have Been Found All Over the World (Video)

Throughout history, our world has witnessed the emergence of colossal stone circles reminiscent of Stonehenge, dispersed across the globe. These megalithic structures , numbering around 50,000 solely...
The Carnac Stones, Brittany, France. Source: guitou60 / Adobe Stock

Unraveling the Mystery of the Carnac Stones: An Ancient Puzzle of Epic Proportions

The Carnac stones are an exceptionally dense collection of megalithic sites around the French village of Carnac, in Brittany, consisting of more than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones and erected by...
Men an Tol small formation of standing stones in Cornwall, UK. Source: Sacredsites.com

Stunning Sacred Megalithic Sites of Britain

More than nine hundred stone circles exist in the British Isles and twice that number may originally have been built. These megalithic structures are more accurately called rings rather than circles...
Majestic sunrise at Castlerigg Stone Circle in the Lake District, one of many sites located on ley lines. Source: Danoz/Adobe Stock

Ley Hunters: Were Bronze Age Britons Really Following Ley Lines?

Google Earth is an amazingly useful tool for investigators to explore the sacred landscapes of prehistoric Britain. For sure, its accuracy cannot be denied. Indeed, one can even survey and measure...
An aerial view of Castilly Henge, a classic horseshoe henge that had long been hidden in dense vegetation in a lonely landscape.		Source: Cornwall Archaeological Unit / Historic England

Cornwall’s Newly Revealed Castilly Henge Had Its Own Stone Circle Too!

Archaeologists from Historic England and the Cornwall Archaeology Unit (CAU) have uncovered proof that a standing stone circle once stood inside Castilly Henge, a Neolithic-period earthwork found...
Callanish Stones (spanishjohnny72 / Adobe Stock)

The Great British Archaeoastronomical Megalithic Structure Myth

In 1637 AD, John Greaves, the English mathematician, astronomer, antiquarian and professor of geometry at Gresham College in London, England, measured and studied famous ancient monuments in Italy...
Collage of various measures of unit of length.	Source: Andrey Armyagov / Adobe Stock

A Rediscovered Unit of Length and Implications for the Neolithic

Following work which began in the 1970s and spanned nearly 40 years, Peter Harris and Norman Stockdale identified a “new” unit of length in 2015. They called it the Harris and Stockdale Megalithic...
In this 17th-century depiction of Stonehenge from the Atlas van Loon one wonders where the Scotsman Stonehenge architect of Dr John Hill’s convincing theory is working and on what. 	Source: Blaeu, J / Public domain

The Scottish Stonehenge Architect and His Aberdeenshire Stone Circles

Sooner rather than later I hope that my fellow archaeologists will accept the fact that Stonehenge was designed by a very small number of exceptional Neolithic architects and one of those Stonehenge...
Stephen Childs theorizes that Gobekli Tepe was once a site for dramatic funerals and corpse exposure, where vultures and carnivores circled awaiting to play their part. Source: Ezume Images / Adobe Stock

Corpse Recycling at Gobekli Tepe: The True Purpose of its Ancient Stone Circles?

The following essay is an extract from Stone Circles Explained by Stephen Childs, in which the author offers some original theories regarding the purpose of stone circles. Covering sites from around...
Dunnideer Hill in Scotland. Source: Scott K Marshall / Adobe Stock

Data Testing Julian Cope’s Dunnideer Hill Alignments Theory

In his popular guidebook to British prehistoric monuments, The Modern Antiquaria n, rock musician and poet Julian Cope proposed that a distinctive Aberdeenshire hill in Scotland , the 264 meter (866...
Castlerigg Stone Circle, Cumbria, England     Source: grahammoore999 / Adobe Stock

Stone Circles Explained: How Maypoles and Lintels Lead to Stone Houses

The following essay is extracted from “ Stone Circles Explained ” by Stephen Childs. This book offers some alternative and less explored theories of the purpose of stone circles. Not all stone...
While exploring the Argimusco Plateau, you’ll come across the Eagle. Is it the work of an ancient megalithic culture? Or one of nature's spontaneous works of art? Source: ildiora / Adobe Stock

The Enigmatic Argimusco Plateau: A Glimpse into Sicily’s Distant Past

Sicily is well known for its rich and unique history. The largest island of the Mediterranean Sea, it hides a turbulent story and hosted some very distinctive ancient cultures. Before the age of...
Four famous stone circles in the British Isles: Callanish Standing Stones (Fredy Jeanrenaud /Adobe Stock), Merry Maidens in Cornwall (Newlands Aerial /Adobe Stock), Castlerigg (Y. Jorzik-Brzelinski /Adobe Stock), and the Ring of Brodgar. (David Woods /Adobe Stock)

6 of the Most Magnificent Stone Circles of the British Isles

The enigmatic tradition of Europe’s Neolithic and Bronze Age stone circles, megaliths, and henges is by far the most mysterious glimpse into the lives of our ancestors. Today, stone circles dot...
Five carved stone spheres from Scotland held at the Ashmolean Museum

Geometric Stone Spheres of Scotland: Part 2 – Explanations From Platonic Solids to Sexual Healing

The purpose of these, predominantly Scottish in origin, spheres is unknown, although simple theories range from projectiles to predictive devices and more. But the sophistication of their design and...
Figure 1. Geometric stone spheres. (Photo Credit: Martin Morrison, taken at Hunterian Museum, Glasgow)

Geometric Stone Spheres of Scotland: Part 1 – More Than A Projectile - What Possible Purpose 5,000-years Ago?

“O nly in the period when Megalithic Man was setting out the sophisticated stone rings has a sufficiently high standard of mathematical knowledge and skill ever been reached before the fifteenth...
Archaeologists hope to learn more about pre-contact Aboriginal Australians from this skeleton and from architectural features in the landscape where it was found

Remote Australian Archaeological Site Provides More Evidence to Refute Traditional Theory of Entirely Nomadic Aborigines

Were the Australian Aborigines of years ago really hunter-gatherers, or did some have settled lives in villages with agriculture and architectural features? Some archaeologists are exploring this new...
Adam’s Calendar

Adam’s Calendar: Oldest Megalithic Site in the World?

Adam’s Calendar is controversially suggested to be the oldest man-made structure in the world. Sometimes referred to as "African Stonehenge", it predates both Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid of Giza...
Senegambian Stone Circles

The incredible Senegambian Stone Circles

Throughout human history, mankind has been passionate about building impressive monuments. Very often, this is achieved by building something that is the largest, highest, longest, most expensive,...