Andy Burnham's Blog, page 119

Lyneham Long Barrow

This impressive old prehistoric stone, erroneously described by James [1992] as only four feet tall, stands at the northern end of this collapsed chambered tomb in Oxfordshire. When Grinsell [1936] described his visit here there was another "large upright stone" in the centre of the great mound. The field in which the stone stands now lies fallow and the long barrow bears the scars of 19th century excavations. The stone may have been a blocking stone, or as James Dyer [1970] proposes, part of a southern false entrance. There is a smaller one-and-a-half foot tall stone six feet to the south-east of the six-foot monolith. Well worth visiting.

Wisht Maen, Devon Earth Mysteries Magazine

A reminder about this run of folklore small press magazines we first made available in 2013. I've improved the PDFs and added embedded text (which is mostly readable but a bit flaky in places). Tracey Ramsbottom (nee Brown) writes: I produced and edited the Devon earth mysteries magazine Wisht Maen between 1993-1996. I have now scanned and made all the issues available to download via the Megalithic Portal. The issues feature some fantastic artwork by Anna Clarke and some very interesting articles by Paul Broadhurst, Cheryl Straffon, Andy Norfolk, Jeremy Harte, Pete Glastonbury and others.

Brackenbury Ditches

Brackenbury Ditches is a promontory fort in woodland on the Cotswold Edge above North Nibley. It consists of two banks and a ditch with an entrance at each end and an enclosed area of about 8 acres. The walk around the camp is about 750m long. There are reputed to be some 'pit dwellings' in the area (supposedly upwards of 600 (yes 600!) have been found). Some are very close to the earthworks but none are within the enclosed area.

Jabal Fatouma Dolmen

Bruce A writes:I was taken to a site on top of Jabal Fatouma on the ad-Deir plateau in Petra, southern Jordan, where I was shown this dolmen. Despite research, I can find no reference to it. This spot is extremely difficult to get to and while the Bdoul Bedouin seem to find it easy, I struggled along a ledge less than the width of my boot, high up on the cliff face along Wadi Fatouma. I'm sure you could get to it if you started from the north-east, off the Baydah road; it would be a much easier, but longer, stroll.

Baitokaike Temple of Zeus

Visited in 2006, a Helenistic/Roman Temple precinct of Zeus with earlier foundations for a Temple of Baal in valey. A little to the north there are the remains of a smaller temple which was used as a monastery in the 4th Century CE. 807 meters altitude and in perfect north - south orientation.

Lanyon Quoit

Lanyon Quoit after sunset on the Winter Solstice 2022
. In the care of the National Trust this burial chamber composing three uprights and a capstone is one of the most famous in Cornwall and one of the easiest to reach. The chamber was once covered by a long barrow approximately 25m long by 12m wide. The structure fell in 1815, breaking some of the stones. It was re-erected in 1824, but is now significantly less high. Old drawings show people on horseback below the capstone.

Floegeln Steingrab 1

A chambered tomb in a pleasant setting in Lower Saxony. The postcard dates to around the year 1900. Then the megalithic tomb had not yet been restored to its current state and was very different to its present condition. However, wall stones and capstones can be distinguished very well due to the very good quality of the photo. The site as part of the “Vorgeschichtspfad Flögeln” prehistoric walk, see the other nearby sites on our page.

Drombeg Stone Circle

Winter solstice at Drombeg!. Thirteen out of the original 17 stones of this impressive circle survive, the most westerly of which is the fine axial, which has 2 egg-shaped cup-marks, one with a surrounding ring. The 2 portal stones (1.8 meters high) are as usual on the NE side. Radiocarbon tests on the cremated burial found in the centre of the circle nave a date between 150 BC and 130 AD, though the circle itself is almost certainly Bronze Age.

Empuries

Shortly after 600 BCE Greeks from Phokaia established a trading settlement here on an island near the coast (now Sant Martí d’Empúries). They called it Emporion (=market). When this became too small they also settled on the mainland and called this Neapolis (= New Town). At the beginning of the 2nd Punic War (218 BCE) the Romans landed here and established a military camp, which later developed into the Roman town of Empuriae. The site has been excavated since 1908 and hosts a museum.

Nazca Lines

More than 100 new designs discovered in Peru’s ancient Nazca plain. Geoglyphs in Ica State, Peru. The Nazca culture (200BC - 700AD) created large figures in the desert floor. Many can only be seen from the air. The lines were made by removing stones and pebbles coated with iron oxide (sometimes called "desert varnish") to reveal a lighter colored layer of ground beneath.