The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Get the TMA Images feed
Michael's Latest Posts

Latest Posts

Roughting Linn (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art) — Fieldnotes

Went to this site last week. Was really quite amazed by the earthworks surrounding the rock.

Seems like a strange place for the 'fort' mentioned by another visitor. It didn't strike me as an easy piece of land to defend. Could there be another explaination for these earthworks?

Cairnpapple (Henge) — Fieldnotes

The highest point in Central Scotland provides a viewpoint to Arran in the West and the Bass Rock in the East. The logic of the landscape provides much of the atmosphere at this place. 1940s reconstructions and 1990s communications towers cannot remove the sense of place. Historic Scotland provide an overview of the confusing, crowded and much used hilltop. Everyone has buried someone here at some point - Neolithic to Christian - when I go, this is where I want to be!

Lundin Links (Standing Stones) — Fieldnotes

A visit to Lundin Links is also a visit to the cover shot for `Rite`. These three are big. This is the kind of setting that conjures images of people turned to stone. Look carefully as you approach from the west, and they loiter around beyond the modern housing. Approached along the fairway, they stand and lean like hopeless golfers. Up close they are seriously intimidating, imposing themselves upon you as they direct the clouds across the wide open Fife sky.

Hully Hill Monument (Artificial Mound) — Fieldnotes

I regularly drive past this monument, although I haven`t visited it for at least two years. I did see it from the air when I landed at Edinburgh Airport recently. The other gazeteer entries describe its sorry modern context, but within two miles of this site there are carved rocks, standing stones, burial cairns and a recently unearthed Iron Age chariot burial, unique to Scotland. 200 metres east from the circle stands the massive Gogar Stone. Beyond that looms the mass of the Castle Rock. If you look West you can see the hill on which Cairnpapple stands. Ignore the modern rubbish, the city, the noise, and imagine this circle in its rightful place in the landscape, and roll back the years...
Michael hasn't added a profile


My TMA Content: