Oldest stone circle?

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nigelswift N
nigelswift Oct 13, 2008 09:33:35

Anyone know which is the oldest known circle?
It now seems there was a very old one at Stonehenge -
http://www.newkerala.com/fs/f/a-6588.htm

C CianMcLiam
CianMcLiam Oct 13, 2008 10:10:02
Replying to nigelswift

Aubrey Burl reckons in The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany that the boulder circles at Carrowmore could be the ancestors of free standing stone circles, as the megalithic complex extended eastwards the boulder rings were looser and lost their central chamber. He also reckons Beltany could have been one of the first intentional rings that was not associated with burials or chambers.

T tiompan
tiompan Oct 14, 2008 16:12:06
Replying to nigelswift

nigelswift wrote:
Anyone know which is the oldest known circle?
It now seems there was a very old one at Stonehenge -
http://www.newkerala.com/fs/f/a-6588.htm
Dating is fine when you have a deposit like a cremation under a stone but not all circles have been excavated or deposits found .That leaves association and architecture which may lead to mistakes . A good example is Croft Moraig which was always considered to be Neolithic but we now know it was Late Bronze age .

M Mortimer
Mortimer Oct 14, 2008 16:19:42
Replying to nigelswift

We simply do not know which is the oldest stone circle. Why would you need to know anyway?

T ToneStone
ToneStone Oct 14, 2008 16:42:30
Replying to nigelswift

nigelswift wrote:
Anyone know which is the oldest known circle?
It now seems there was a very old one at Stonehenge -
http://www.newkerala.com/fs/f/a-6588.htm
The Carrowmore sites in Ireland are dated at 7500 BCE and Kercarno in France has a circular stone setting dated to 7500 BCE around a burial chamber

F fitzcoraldo
fitzcoraldo Oct 14, 2008 19:22:41
Replying to nigelswift

smartarse sez
Callanish
60 million years old.

V Vybik Jon
Vybik Jon Nov 6, 2008 16:51:25
Replying to nigelswift

Come on!

None of them are older than 6000 years, because that's when god made the earth.

I mean - duh!!

F FourWinds
FourWinds Nov 6, 2008 21:19:33
Replying to nigelswift

nigelswift wrote:
Anyone know which is the oldest known circle?
It now seems there was a very old one at Stonehenge -
http://www.newkerala.com/fs/f/a-6588.htm
If you class the boulder circles at Carrowmore in Sligo as 'stone circles' then they could be amongst the oldest, especially if the dates of other things in the area is anything to go by.

There's a couple of these boulder circles up in the Ox Mountains that look really old (somehow). I was not too far from these at what is alledgedly the oldest structure in Europe the other day. Very nice it was too.