Prehistoric Stone Circles

Description

Stone circles have excited the imagination of their visitors ever since the time of John Aubrey, the seventeenth century antiquarian who was the first person to study them seriously. For three hundred years archaeologists, astronomers and anthropologists have aruged about the purpose of these abandoned rings. Modern excavations have showsn that the earliest circles were erected over five thousand tyears ago and that often sightlines were built into them towards the sun or moon. This book describes these rings, including Stonehenge, explains their history and the facts known about them, and shows how we are gradually coming to an understanding of the significance these gaunt, grey circles had to their builders.

Aubrey Burl is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and an Honorary Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. He has directed the excavation of several monuments, including two strange recumbent stone circles of Aberdeenshire. Formerly Principal Lecturer in Prehistory at Hull College of Higher Education, he now lives in Birmingham.