Andy Burnham's Blog, page 159

Kiftsgate Stone

A stone with a hole in it, standing just by the side of the Willersley to Mickleton road on the Cotswold Way. It was probably a moot stone and might it have once been part of a longbarrow chamber?

Broby Vesterskov Langdysse 1

There are six megalithic sites here with a walk of around 2.5 km.
Pictured is the most impressive long barrow with 159 kerbstones. It is 88m long by 8m wide and was restored in 1936. The chamber has 5 uprights and a capstone.

Zennor Hill and Carn Zennor

This extraordinary set of stone outcrops holds many unusual features, from rock basins to zoomorphic forms - deep fissures, runnels, voids, chamber-like enclosures and holed stones, that it would be difficult not to believe that it would have held an important place in pre-historic cosmologies. Some rock formations are uncannily like the quoits that occupy the flat land between zennor hill, carn zennor and sperris croft.

Lalum Barrow

This huge round barrow in Hedmark, Norway is located in the middle of a grain field and on top of a small ridge overlooking the lake Mjøsa. The barrow is around 3 metres in height and 22 metres in diameter with steep sides and a flat area on top around 10 metres in diameter. Four maple trees are growing on the sides.

Daskyleion

Archeologists in northwestern Turkey have discovered a relief depicting a war between the Greeks and Persians from the fifth century BC, more in the comments on our page. A 7th century BCE Lydian city founded by King Gyges. It was under Persian rule from the 6th to 4th centuries BCE.

Lärbro Kyrka Bildsten

Pagan stones in Christian Churches, and a new project to create a digital record of the Gotlandic picture stones. More in the comments on our page.. Situated in the tower room of Lärbro church on Gotland are the fragments of a picture stone. The stone fragment was found underneath the tower floor in 1953 and restored at the museum of Gotland in Visby before returning to its current position in 2016. The earliest carving on the stone is a boat with seven oars which is believed to have been carved sometime between 300-400 AD.

Africa Museum, Tervuren

Formerly called the Royal Museum for Central Africa / Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika. Although the museum concentrates on 19th and 20th century Central Africa, it also has rooms dedicated to prehistory. Top photo: Axes from the Ubangi River region (northern Congo) made from layered sandstone.

Llanfechell 1

Three approximately 1.8m (6 feet) tall and very impressive stones. Lichen and bird poo abound. With commanding views of North-West Anglesey, on a sunny day this would no doubt be a great spot.

Backa Brastad Hällristningar

Backa, just outside Brastad, is the densest area in Sweden for rock carvings and must have been an important religious centre during the Late Bronze Age. The outcrops are covered with various motifs such as ships, sun wheels, cup marks, human figures, carriages, footprints and a variety of other shapes.

Heinschenwall Ringwall

Circular rampart (German: Ringwall) of 140m in diameter. The stones seen in the top photo were probably added to the ramparts from destroyed megalithic tombs from the forest in the 20th century.