Talk:Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany

UK geography Mid‑importance

	United Kingdom portal This article falls within the scope of WikiProject UK geography, a user-group dedicated to building a comprehensive and quality guide to places in the United Kingdom on Wikipedia. If you wish to participate, share ideas or merely get tips you can join us at the project page where there are resources, to do lists and guidelines on how to write about settlements.UK geographyWikipedia:WikiProject UK geographyTemplate:WikiProject UK geographyUK geography articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Architecture Mid‑importance

	Architecture portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Architecture, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Architecture on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ArchitectureWikipedia:WikiProject ArchitectureTemplate:WikiProject ArchitectureArchitecture articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Museums Low‑importance

	museums portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Museums, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of museums on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.MuseumsWikipedia:WikiProject MuseumsTemplate:WikiProject MuseumsMuseums articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Archaeology Mid‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Archaeology, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Archaeology on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ArchaeologyWikipedia:WikiProject ArchaeologyTemplate:WikiProject ArchaeologyArchaeology articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Historic sites Top‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Historic sites, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of historic sites on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Historic sitesWikipedia:WikiProject Historic sitesTemplate:WikiProject Historic sitesHistoric sites articles
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Ireland Low‑importance

	Ireland portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Ireland, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Ireland on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.IrelandWikipedia:WikiProject IrelandTemplate:WikiProject IrelandIreland articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article has been marked as needing immediate attention.

France Low‑importance

	France portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject France, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of France on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.FranceWikipedia:WikiProject FranceTemplate:WikiProject FranceFrance articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

vs 'Stone Circle' article[edit]

The Stone circle article contains a lot of fine details which are specific to British Isles and Brittany. I have been tidying up that article to make it more global to match its title. I've not touched these details though, perhaps an expert in British details could help by moving some of them from there to this page? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.30.195.234 (talk) 10:59, 3 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Categorisation of Stone Circles[edit]

Stone circles should be categorised into at least two types.

Agricultural circles primarily used to determine the seasons for planting and harvesting. These are found in fertile areas away from Copper and Tin Mines. These are older dating to the neolithic and the oldest ones are found in the fertile areas of the Middle East.

Navigational circles. These are used to determine when the winds change to allow sailors to ship copper and tin to the middle east. They are found in Tin and Copper mining areas like Cornwall, Brittany and Wales. They can be based on constellations like the Plaides..the Sailors constellation. These circles are associated with the Bronze age and the industrial scale extraction of metals in that age.

Stone Henge is the only stone circle that can be categorised as being primarily for ritual. Clearly, if studying the stars one does not need stones that weigh hundreds of tonnes.92.10.54.236 (talk) 08:50, 18 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

And where are your reliable sources for such information ? Wikipedia is designed to present the academic consensus on any given issue, and should thus not be used to push your own pet theories. Midnightblueowl (talk) 14:34, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Rankings[edit]

The article states: "Burl calculated that the largest stone circle in terms of both diameter and area was Stanton Drew in Somerset, with a diameter of 112.2m and an area of 9,887m². Second came the Ring of Brodgar in Orkney at 103.6m in diameter and 8,430m² in area, whilst third was Avebury in Wiltshire, which had a diameter of 102.4m and an area of 8,236m²". But the largest stone circle at Avebury has a diameter of 331.6 m, so the rankings are 1) Avebury, 2) Stanton Drew, 3) Ring of Brodgar. Why had Burl ignored this larger ring at Avebury? The para quoted above would probably confuse people. Aarghdvaark (talk) 05:46, 11 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

"north-east to south-east orientation"?[edit]

Under "Early Neolithic", we read that the chambered tombs were built in a "north-east to south-east orientation". One of these "easts" must surely be "west" - but which one? --User:Haraldmmueller 16:33, 8 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

"archaeologists do not know their exact purpose" .. or their purpose at all?[edit]

Under "Early Neolithic", we read for "causewayed enclosures": "archaeologists do not know their exact purpose" - and then a number of suggestions: "camps, markets, cattle kraals or occasional settlements, or perhaps ritual centres for the celebration of seasonal festivals or cemeteries". I would argue that the archaeologists do not only not know their exact purpose, but have actually no clue at all about their purpose; and thus I suggest to drop the "exact" in the sentence mentioned. --User:Haraldmmueller 16:40, 8 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Contradiction in the Regional Distribution/South-West Britain section[edit]

In the first paragraph of this section, it mentions (without source) that there are 13 stone circles on Dartmoor; the next paragraph claims Dartmoor has over 70. Which is it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.75.91.43 (talk) 11:04, 15 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]