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Cover of British Archaeology

Issue 81

March/April 2005

The great stone circles project

In 1899 the British Association formed a committee for the age of stone
cirlces. There has never since been such a grandly conceived circle
excavation programme - until Colin Richards and colleagues went to Orkney.

The great stone circle is one of Britain?s most spectacular classes of
archaeological monument. Throughout the north and west rings often
cluster in discrete groups ? to name a few, Stenness-Brodgar (Orkney),
Callanish (Lewis), Machrie Moor (Arran) and Stanton Drew (Somerset) ?
where they dominate the landscape. Not surprisingly, more people visit
stone circles than any other prehistoric site.

Their appeal lies not only in the striking imagery of a ring of massive
stones ? monoliths ? but also in the curiosity of the apparently
intangible labour and practices that gave rise to them. We may stand in
awe at their scale, but we also want to know how and why these
magnificent circles were erected. As Aubrey Burl wrote in The Stone
Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, "The most important question
about stone circles, of course, is what they were used for, what
happened in them, and this can still not be answered completely".

Working with Manchester archaeology students, we have begun a new
research project, surveying and excavating stone circles and wondering
why they are there. Were they really all places in which to hold
ceremonies ? prehistoric "temples"? Would their builders have wanted to
make them as cheaply as possible, as most experiments in moving and
erecting stones assume? Perhaps their very mystery lies in the way we
think about them. We wanted to focus not on what happened after they
were "finished" ? "what they were used for" ? but on how they came to be.

We started in Orkney in 2002. Allan Hall of Glasgow University had
discovered that many of the stones of the two spectacular circles, the
Stones of Stenness and Ring of Brodgar, were derived from different
sandstone strata. It seemed they had been brought from different
sources, and places, across Orkney.

There is a neglected entry in the Royal Commission Inventory for the
Northern Isles, published in 1946, in which a quarry for these two
circles was tentatively identified at Vestra Fiold in western Mainland.
Interestingly, it lies on a hillside just north of the contemporary late
neolithic (3000-2500BC) village at Skara Brae.

Funded by Historic Scotland, the Orkney Islands council and the
University of Manchester, we excavated at Vestra Fiold. We found clear
evidence for methods of quarrying and moving the monoliths. The first
excavation centred on two large stones similar in shape and size to
those in the circles, lying in a hollow on the hillside. It seemed they
had been quarried upslope and dragged down to the level ground within
the hollow. The eastern monolith had then been pulled over a rock-cut
pit onto two masonry trestle supports, one at each end of the stone.
Unfortunately, during the manoeuvre the trestles had collapsed and the
stone slipped sideways.

Most of the many students of stone transport agree that stones were
likely supported on a sled running on wooden rollers. The Vestra
monoliths could have been pushed downslope with relative ease directly
onto rollers. Mounting the stone onto a wooden sled without damage would
have been more difficult. JE Garfitt, a forestry adviser writing in
Antiquity in 1979 (p190), suggested this would have been done with
"levers probably aided by partial cutting away of the earth below".
Perhaps this is what people had been attempting at Vestra, before
calamity struck. Though undamaged, the stone had been abandoned where it
fell.

A second excavation was undertaken in 2003, higher up. We uncovered a
quarry, but here too disaster had struck. A massive monolith had been
partially removed from the bedrock, but had broken into pieces during
attempts to drag it onto stone supports. Though the area investigated
was relatively small, we found evidence for the entire quarrying process
and an answer as to why Vestra Fiold was chosen for monoliths.

Narrow sandstone beds with fault lines periodically produce monoliths
5-6m long, with characteristic angled tops. Not only were these beds of
sufficient quality, but, with enough labour to wedge and lever stones
from their bedding planes, quarrying would have been relatively
straightforward.

So perhaps Vestra was simply a place that through an unusual geological
formation produced "ready made" monoliths? What we do know is that the
Fiold took on "sacred" qualities because an unusual long cairn was built
next to the quarry.

We examined this mound at the same time as the quarry, expecting it to
be an early neolithic (4000-3000BC) "stalled cairn", in which the burial
chamber is divided into compartments by pairs of uprights slabs. We
found instead a standing monolith and a ruined burial chamber which may
have stood well before the cairn was added. Although difficult to
interpret, it seems that cairn "horns" encircled the monolith and chamber.

Stacking large slabs on one another against a spine of uprights within a
revetment wall, seems a very effective way to create an illusion of a
well built and solid cairn. No other chamber was present within the
cairn ? the whole thing was to direct attention to the monolith and
"chamber". If today archaeologists have mistaken the monument for an
early neolithic stalled cairn, so in the past it may have been built to
fabricate a "history" and ritual tradition. If so, we may expect
construction to lie within the late neolithic, when monoliths were being
quarried. Particularly significant is the association between the
standing stone and a possible burial chamber, suggesting that monoliths
were commemorative, perhaps directly associated with remains of the dead.

If the Vestra Fiold quarry is typical, we can say the Stones of Stenness
and Ring of Brodgar are composed of stones from different places
throughout Mainland, Orkney. They would have been brought to the circles
by different groups probably occupying these different areas, implying
competition between villages and communities. Rather than a harmonious
joint effort, as suggested by archaeologist Colin Renfrew, we may be
witnessing a ritualised and risky strategy to obtain high social status
by competitively dragging massive stones to a partially formed circle.

A further aspect involves the actual role of the standing stones. If
monoliths commemorated the dead, as at Vestra Fiold (possibly named
individuals), then we can begin to understand why the Ring of Brodgar
has groups of similar types of stone. By slowly adding to discrete
sections, were not social groups composing their own genealogies in
stone, that could be recalled simply by moving around the circle?
"Completion" is immaterial, because the circle is an ideal construct,
not an entity that must be fully built before use. Support for this idea
comes from the Stones of Stenness: they were never finished (stone 12
was not erected within the circle), but excavating in the early 1970s
Graham Ritchie found much feasting evidence.

So much for Orkney. What of circles in other areas of Britain?

In September 2002 we went to Callanish, on the west coast of Lewis,
possibly the most famous group of stone circles in northern Britain.
There are at least five rings, with another yet to be confirmed
(Callanish XI). The stones seem to have been quarried (as opposed to
glacial erratics) and, as with Orkney, show different types in each
ring, in this case of Lewisian gneiss.

Many stones in the main circle (Callanish I), renowned for its long
avenue and projecting lines of monoliths, are distinguished by black
hornblende "eye" inclusions (which could be a form of rock art, albeit
natural). These were almost certainly obtained from one place. So far
the only suitable outcrop identified is the natural knoll at the end of
the ridge on which the circle and avenue lie.

So at Callanish we immediately see a difference with Orkney. There are
more smaller circles. Different gneisses are represented amongst the
stones, but each ring tends to be of one particular type.

We spent four days with Joffy Hill looking for quarry sites. In
particular, we examined a supposed quarry and "ruined" stone circle
(Callanish X) at the southern end of Na Dromannan, a high ridge north of
Callanish.

The "quarry", a rock cliff forming the western side of the ridge, was
not a source for monoliths at the four definite circles, as the gneiss
was of different colour and grain size. However, the angled stones
projecting through the peat (the ruined circle) may have been propped up
for removal after quarrying nearby. A so-called standing stone lying on
a parallel ridge, 150m east of Na Dromannan, was clearly a monolith
wedged on its side, presumably in transit.

We went back to Na Dromannan for four weeks? excavation in late summer
2003. We removed the peat and saw that each monolith rested on a pile of
stones resembling a small cairn (hence the tilts). While some blocks
were clearly displaced, others resembled the packing commonly seen
around standing stones, holding them in their sockets. That the
monoliths had all originally stood upright was quickly confirmed when
broken upper sections were revealed beneath the peat. Stones must have
snapped when they fell. The hard bedrock prevented deep sockets being
excavated, so the stones were supported by boulders. This raised the
intriguing question of why the circle was on the rock surface, causing
the instability which led to its collapse.

Two features perhaps hold the key. First, Na Dromannan stone circle is
on the hillside overlooking the Callanish circles: when viewed from
below it appears on the immediate skyline to the east. It is a highly
visible, almost dramatic location.

The narrow north-south ridge is extremely similar to those upon which
the lower stone circles are positioned, particularly Callanish I, II and
III, where the end of each ridge is marked by a large glacial knoll.
Thus each circle marks a transit point in a passage to the knoll,
formalised at the main Callanish circle by the impressive avenue.

Secondly, in contrast to Stenness and Brodgar, at the Callanish main
circle and avenue and the Na Dromannan stone circle, monoliths appear to
come from adjacent outcrops ? the knoll itself (Callanish I) or on the
ridge (Na Dromannan ? Callanish X). Here the ?sacred? nature of the
stone and the place may well be determining the composition and location
of each circle. The other three circles seem more variable in
composition; these require further investigation.

In Orkney, massive monoliths are dragged many miles from different
sources to compose a circle. In Lewis people may be coming from a
distance and gradually constructing different circles. However, they may
also be dragging stones from distant sources to complement the monoliths
quarried from the place of the circle.

One of the most spectacular locations for a stone circle complex is
Machrie Moor, Arran. Here six rings stand on a bleak moor enclosed by
mountains and hills, often snow covered. There was at least one other
circle, identified by a single standing monolith, now destroyed,
sketched by James Skene in 1832. Unlike circles in Orkney and Lewis,
these are grouped a few paces apart.

Each is different, prompting Aubrey Burl to describe them as "the best
group of architecturally varied stone circles in western Europe". The
rings are also distinguished by their raw materials: apart from VI
(which combines both types), each appears composed only of quarried red
sandstone slabs or white granite boulders, mostly glacially derived.

In May 2003 we found the broken stump of Skene?s stone north of circles
II and III. It was a substantial piece of red sandstone, and if
consistent with most of the other circles (and if indeed this does
represent a complete circle), the ring will have been exclusively tall
red monoliths.

Surviving sandstone monoliths stand over 5m high, some fine grained and
others coarser with large inclusions. Aubrey Burl identifies a possible
source for them at Auchencar, some 5km to the north. While granite
boulders may have been collected from the immediate vicinity, they may
also have been dragged to Machrie Moor from the mountains to the north
and east.

Typically, we wonder about the rituals performed at finished stone
circles. We believe it is important to consider their construction,
particularly the social relations and physical resources needed to drag
a stone. Important too are the places where stones came from, the
qualities attached to such places and the change in a stone quarried,
dragged and erected in a slowly forming ring. Nor should we neglect
materiality ? how the stones look and feel, and how different stones
would have been spoken of and understood by neolithic people. Seen thus,
we find circles differ enormously between areas, and offer huge
potential for a new understanding of social diversity in the late neolithic.

Our project is in its infancy. This year we will go to the undated Ring
of Brodgar on Orkney, and conduct further fieldwork on Arran. We also
plan to examine the circles of Cumbria and Somerset over the next few
years. We expect each group of circles to provide quite different stories.

Also taking part in the project are George Demitri, Lee Wellerman and
Joanna Wright (students at Manchester University), Adrian Challands
(freelance geophysicist), Mairi Robertson (UCL Institute of Archaeology)
and Kate Welham (Bournemouth University).