Are there stone circles even more mysterious than Stonehenge? The megalithic assemblage on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England has long fascinated scientists. However, many megalithic structures exist in the U.K., including two more stone circles recently discovered in Dartmoor National Park that may be part of what's been theorized as a "Sacred Arc" of these prehistoric constructions.
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Whether this solves or deepens some of the mysteries associated with Stonehenge remains to be seen, but a link between the sites has already been established. The archaeologist who identified the newly uncovered but extremely ancient stone circles at Dartmoor notes that one is similar in some respects to Stonehenge and that the builders may have been in contact with one another.
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What Was Discovered At Dartmoor National Park
Two new Neolithic stone circles confirmed by excavations
Archaeologist Alan Endacott has been exploring the moorlands for which Dartmoor is famous for half a century. In 2007, he unearthed the Sittaford stone circle, the first monument of this type found in the area for over 100 years. More recently, he excavated two more examples destined to be considered among the best Neolithic stone circles and ancient sites.
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The first, called Metheral for the hill it lies at the foot of, would be the northernmost of the stone circles comprising what has been termed the "Sacred Arc." This site contains about 20 mostly fallen stones and covers an area of 40 x 33 meters. The second site, near Irishman's Wall, is even further north but occupies a prominent position outside the series of monuments arrayed around the central high ground of the moor. It has been theorized as a gateway for travelers to the other stone circles.
Endacott announced the excavation of the finds, which he first identified in 2011, on November 14 via Facebook. The age of these sites cannot be known with any certainty until carbon dating is done, but they are thought to be about 5,000 years old and thus contemporaneous with Stonehenge and the legends, lore, and myth associated with it.
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What was discovered:
Two Neolithic stone circle monuments
Where the discoveries were found:
Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England
Age of the discoveries:
Approximately 5,000 years
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What Is The Theory Of The "Sacred Arc"
Ancient stone circles were arranged in a larger concentric pattern
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the recent discoveries is that they reinforce Endacott's "Sacred Arc" theory of a series of stone circles that formed a larger pattern around the moor's central high ground. To date, the stone circles discovered describe an arc, but Endacott believes the stone circles were arranged in Neolithic times in the shape of a larger circle. Why? The archaeologist isn't sure, but as he told The Guardian:
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"Dartmoor would have been very different then. There would have been a lot more forest cover. So possibly they were markers in the landscape, they recognized the higher ground and wanted to kind of enclose it for some reason".
Endacott isn't the only one who has contributed to the "Sacred Arc" theory. In a recent Facebook post, he noted that the phrase was first used by Tim Sandles of the Legendary Dartmoor website and that Jeremy Butler of the Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities was the first to suggest in print a comprehensive design plan for the area's many stone circles. However, in both cases, these contributions came well after Endacott started looking for continuations to the arc shape of stone circles at Dartmoor in the late 1970s.
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The Similarities Between The Dartmoor Discoveries And Stonehenge
Several things suggest a link between these Neolithic stone circles
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Explorations of the prehistoric landscape of Salisbury Plain have helped scientists finally solve Stonehenge's ancient mystery. Well, parts of it, anyway. The recent discoveries in Dartmoor could also prove illuminating. After all, there are several points of connection.
The stone circles at Metheral and near the Irish Wall in Dartmoor were built about 100 miles from Stonehenge at about the same time. One of the Dartmoor sites is said to be similar - dimensionally and in building technique - to the central area of Stonehenge. This is an important distinction since all three sites were originally built in the Neolithic period but show evidence of further modifications during the Bronze Age.
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One of the things now known about Stonehenge is that the stones used to build it were often quarried over long distances. So it's not impossible, Endacott points out to The Guardian, that the sites in Dartmoor may have been built by the same people who built Stonehenge. At the very least, the populations in these areas may have known each other and engaged in trade.
"People moved long distances in that period, so the people who built the stone circle at Metheral might also have been to Stonehenge and even possibly to Orkney. They traveled quite widely; there were lots of contacts between them with trading and so on".