#StandingStoneSunday a #Neolithic human-shaped stela with a necklace and a belt, carved in limestone. Found in Montagnac, #France. Dating 3200-2400 BC. In the late neolithic period several cultures living between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caucasus erected human-shaped stone sculptures showing clothing, weapons and jewellery. The stelae were symbols of power and status and were used for ancestor worship and rituals.
Another for #StandingStoneSunday: while I was there a skylark flew down and lit on a stone at Scotland's Tomnaverie stone circle. I was thrilled because Shelley's To a Skylark was one of my favorite poems when I was young but we don't have them in the States. I got to see and hear them plenty during my visit. #Scotland#bird#birds#skylark#tomnaverie
Printed colour postcard showing the Devil's Den near Marlborough in Wiltshire. Published by Tomkins & Barrett of Swindon in The Famous Series. Not numbered. Postally used in 1911. One for @thesweetcheat#Dolmens#Postcards#StandingStoneSunday
Off to Wiltshire and a Neolithic chambered tomb for today's #StandingStoneSunday
Devil's Den below Fyfield Down is a reconstructed chamber, originally it would have been covered by an earthen mound. It's a lovely walk here from Avebury or The Ridgeway, taking in the stone river of the Mother's Jam.
Ever wondered how you date a standing stone? This one fell down.
Excavation of the stone hole yielded organic material that was dated to 1090BCE +/-100years #StandingStoneSunday (and then it was re-erected. )
That’s late Bronze Age. A fairly typical date for many single stones. So nothing like as ancient as much that we share on here. But why though? What were they for?
Morning visit on the way somewhere. If you like your stones standing, they have plenty in circles round the big cairns. This place is wow and one of my favourite megalithic sites.
The best preserved dolmen in west Cornwall. Dates from the early. Neolithic period.
Probably used as a repository for the bones of the dead and as a place where the living could honour and/or seek guidance from the dead. Considering it’s mushroom-like appearance, maybe there was some psychedelic trance work happening? 😄
The term quoit comes the folklore that these ancient monuments were made by giants playing quoits.
Le menhir d'Ussano à Cavallino di Lecce, en Italie. On trouve une tripotée de menhirs dans la province de Lecce, tout au bout des Pouilles. De façon intéressante, beaucoup ont été resculptés par la suite en forme de colonne.
Une pierre à cerfs dans le nord de la Mongolie, près de Mörön.
Les pierres à cerfs sont des stèles mégalithiques mongoles, souvent gravées de cerfs bondissants. Datant vraisemblablement de l'âge du bronze ou du fer, leur signification est, comme toujours, méconnue.