Andy Burnham's Blog, page 167

Announcing the Megalithic Portal photo competition winners for Jan to June 2019

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Continuing our photo competition catch-up, we are delighted to announce the winners for the best images submitted to the Megalithic Portal in the first half of the year 2019 - voted for by you our visitors and contributors. Votes are still being counted on all photos submitted since then and we will be announcing more winners soon.
1st Prize: Gwal y Filiast by Lee (Horatio) Walker
2nd Prize: Down Tor circle by Jean Fry
3rd Prize: Auchquhorthies by Sandy Gerrard (SandyG)

Broch of Steiro

The sea-eroded remains of a broch on Shapinsay, Orkney. Part of the north-east arc of the wall is preserved. To the west of the broch there are remains of probable outbuildings.

Håvesten

A stone circle in Västergötland, Sweden with groups of standing stones nearby.

Järvensuo I

Neolithic snake sculpture unearthed in Finland, details in the comments on our page. The wetland site of Järvensuo 1 in south-west Finland was a chance discovery during the digging of a ditch in the 1950s. The discovery, in 2020, of a unique wooden snake figurine broadens the understanding of the worldview of northern peoples 4400 years ago.

Sandby Runesten

A rune stone from the Viking Age (dated 970-1020 AD) in Sjælland, Denmark.
Made of granite with a height of approx. 110 cm, and width approx. 65 cm.
The fragment sat in Sandby church as the cornerstone in the south-east corner with the lower part facing upwards, so that only 3-4 runes were visible. The stone was removed in 1931.
Today the stone stands in the Sandby Cemetery right next to the church.

White Moor Down

A truly lovely 20 metre diameter stone circle, miles away from any signs of modern life in the middle of the desolate Dartmoor. A difficult, and potentially dangerous, 4km (two-and-a-half-mile) mostly uphill walk rewards the circle devotee with one of the most impressive sites in England, if not the entire islands. Reconstructed in 1896 after being robbed by stonemasons, farmers and turfcutters, it retains eighteen of its original nineteen stones, although one is leaning and one has fallen.

Lackaduv enclosure

A bank topped by a stone wall of upright slabs set radially. In pasture, towards top of hill, on south-east facing slope. Circular area (14.4m N-S; 14.4m E-W) enclosed by earth and stone bank which has an 8m break to the ENE. There is a wedge tomb (6421) in the adjoining field to the north-west.

Gaer Fach (Merthyr Cynog)

An elongated enclosure, 135m by 44m, defined by scarped natural slopes on the SE, elsewhere by a bank, with a ditch and counterscarp at the SW end, and a further bank and ditch, c.32m distant, to the NE.

Cupstone Menhir Viggar Valley Tyrol

Prehistoric Cupstones in Tyrol-Austria. More details on this page, and see the nearby sites list for some more examples of the discoveries. This Cupstone-Menhir is in good shape, it was originally standing about 50m higher on an old path to the south. Nearby is the biggest monolith in the Alps, "The Written Stone", weighing about 60 tonnes. This seems to have been an old Sun cult place with a nearby Abri (shelter), where archaeologists found Silex working tools and arrowheads.

Legananny

An old stamp I chanced upon which has Legananny dolmen in the background. More megalithic stamps in our gallery. Do you know of any more from around the world?. Portal Tomb in Co. Down. By the side of a lane leading from a by-road on the flanks of Slieve Croob, this "tripod-dolmen" is one of the most striking in Ireland, commanding superb views of the Mountains of Mourne. The capstone (at the typical angle) is over 3 metres long supported on fine orthostats 1.5metres high, one of which has a distinctive L-shaped bite in it, significant if not artificial.