Andy Burnham's Blog, page 157

Wadi Maghareh

A valley in Sinai. Its main attraction in ancient times was its turquoise mines. There are a number of monuments and steles, and some settlement remains.

L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site

Solar storm confirms Vikings settled in North America exactly 1,000 years ago. Analysis of wood from timber-framed buildings in Newfoundland shows Norse-built settlement 471 years before Columbus. More in the comments on our page
. L'Anse aux Meadows is (so far) the only known Viking site in North America and the earliest evidence of Europeans in the western hemisphere. It is recognized as both a National Historic site and a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Llethr Waun-lwyd Cairns

A large cairn of scattered stones about 30' across and 2' at its highest point, set in a slight hollow on the S facing mountainside.

Lleethr Waun Llywd Cairns

A large cairn of scattered stones about 30' across and 2' at its highest point, set in a slight hollow on the S facing mountainside. Llwyd means grey in Welsh and viewed close up the large stones do indeed appear grey. This impressive site is visible from a distance. Nearby we the Llanwrtyd Wells Walking Group believe we have found a previously unrecorded cairn.

Tawe valley Triangle

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A new find as part of Cerrig's research centring on Cerrig Duon stone circle and the surrounding Tawe valley in Powys, There is more in our forum and see also our interactive map of the area.. The Tawe valley Triangle is a new find, as of July 2021. It comprises three stones, set up as a right angled triangle, with the apex stone shaped into an isosceles triangle to match the setting. It is aligned with Maen Mawr standing stone to the South, Maen Leuci standing stone to the East, the Black Mountain to the West and Bwlch y Cerrig Duon barrow to the North. Nearby is the Tawe valley Quincunx. This would appear to be a unique monument.

Death's Head Carving (Askwith Moor)

This carving is found near the end of a lengthy line of prehistoric walling that runs east-west over this part of the moor, it looks uncannily like a skull or screaming face, or possibly a pig. There are currently no references to this stone on the Historic England site or the (currently offline) England's rock art pages, even though it is close to the Tree of Life stone.

Snowdon Half Moon Stone

A new discovery revealed by recent heather burning, a good candidate for a cup marked rock, what do you think?. A semi circular shaped rough gritstone rock projecting from the ground, natural weathering striations on the curved upper surface which also has four cup shaped depressions clustered together in a triangle formation.

Sonnenstein Beckstedt

A "Sun-Stone" with concentric circles carved. It is assumed to be of Neolithic / Bronze Age origin. This stone is a replica. The original is in Schloss Gottorf museum in Schleswig. It is still worth the journey so see this replica!

Gamelands

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Gamelands embanked stone circle in Cumbria has an oval enclosure of 40 large stones, all fallen, and three additional smaller stones. This view is from just up the hill, where you can also see the cairns at Raisbeck (see nearby site list). All of the Gamelands stones are shap pink granite apart from one which is limestone. None exceed 0.9m in height and their circumferences at ground level vary between 1.9m and 3.8m. The stones are set into a slight bank approximately 2.5m wide and up to 0.2m high.

Kealkil

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This impressive and splendidly-situated monument, overlooking Bantry Bay and Kealkill village comprises a fine 5-stone, 2.44m (8ft) diameter circle of large stones, with 6.4m (21ft) away, two standing stones, the higher of which is now about 4m (13ft) high (originally over 6m 20ft) and the smaller is 2.44 (8ft) high. This is one of the few circle sites to have been excavated, inside the circle was found a setting of crossed timber sleepers which may perhaps have held an upright of stone or wood - possibly a sighting-upright.