The two newly discovered circles were created about 5,000 years ago. It is the most recent findings that testify that Stonehenge was not the only circular structure built as a stone circle arch.
The new findings, according to Alan Endacott, the archaeologist who discovered them, support the idea that prehistoric people built a “sacred arch” of stone circles around the highlands in southwest England during the Neolithic Period.
Endacott, a PhD candidate in archeology at the University of Exeter, has been conducting studies on the uplands of Dartmoor, Devon, for decades. He used scientific techniques to verify the discoveries, which he made months ago, while a volunteer excavation team worked at the sites in September and October.
Endacott told Live Science that the newly discovered circles are similar, both in size and construction, to the central point of Stonehenge, which was built around the same time but about 100 miles (160 km) away. towards the northeast.
Analyzes show that many bricks at Stonehenge came from other places. Endacott believes that some of the builders of Stonehenge may have also built the circle he discovered on Dartmoor.
«It is clear that, the people who built the Stonehengethey covered long distances,” observes. “It is possible that they had contacts with the people in his circle Dartmoorif they were not the same ones who were traveling”.
Endicott gave this cycle its name “Metheral,” from the hill on which it stands. It consists of 20 upright stones up to one meter high, arranged in an oval shape measuring 40 meters by 33 meters – although there is evidence that there were more stones in the past, with many of the remaining stones having either fallen or become hidden in the vegetation , he explains.
The “Sacred Arch” of the Stone Age
The other stone circles are located approximately 1.6 km. of Metheral’s cycle. Endacott, has named them “Irishman’s Wall”, because of the peculiar form of the ground in the area. There, only six plinths remain, which are barely visible. For this reason, Endacott used resistivity and hydrometry tools to map them, in order to determine the points of intervention in the ground, in the past.
Most significant of all is the fact that Metheral’s circle is at the southernmost end of an 8 km long Neolithic stone circle arch, built in an almost perfect semi-circle to the east and south.
In 2008, Endacott, near a hill, brought to light a Neolithic stone circle, known as Sittaford Tor, at the southernmost end of the arch. He considers it to be a complete stone circle, extending between the circle of Metheral and Sittaford perfectly enclosing part of the highest point of Dartmoor.
However, the Irishman’s Wall circle is almost a mile north of the arch. Endicott believes that it formed part of the entrance to an area considered, in the Neolithic Age, sacred.
Neolithic setting
Dartmoor is known for the River Dart, which originates there, while the addition of the English word “moor,” refers to moorland. The south-west of England is rich in finds of Neolithic monuments, including stone circles, burial mounds and burial chambers, as well as other, enigmatic structures that are not fully understood.
Endacott said the sacred arch of stone circles on Dartmoor is a relatively early archaeological find, however, around 50 years of site study and research suggests it is older than first thought.
Independent archaeologist Tom Greeves, a Dartmoor-based expert who was not involved in the discoveries, told Live Science that the findings confirm the existence of Neolithic people in the area.
University of Exeter archaeologist Susan Greaney, who is also an independent, told Live Science that Endacott’s discoveries highlight the potential for more archaeological finds to be discovered.
“This circle arch, more than 8km in diameter, is extraordinary and suggests that the upland area of north Dartmoor it encloses was particularly special to prehistoric people“, the archaeologist said in an email.
Source: www.enikos.gr
