Andy Burnham's Blog, page 56

Black Hill Cross (Glaisdale Rigg)

Labelled a 'standing stone' on the OS map, this is actually a wayside cross. The base of the cross is a roughly hewn block of stone with an obviously more modern shaft inserted into it - the shaft is wedged upright by a couple of smaller rectangular stones. The cross stands 1.5m above the roadside and is 1.8m from the road edge.

The King and Queen Stones

The King and Queen Stones lie on the southwestern slopes of Bredon Hill. It is thought that the stones are the remains of a collapsed long barrow. Local legend tells that if you pass between them you will be cured of illness.

Mendota Mental Health Institute Effigy Mounds

Stonetreacker has created video walkarounds of some of these mounds in the comments below. The land on the northwest shore of Lake Mendota in Madison WI used to be home to over 50 Indian mounds in three groups. Today, it is home to the Mendota Mental Health Institute. The central group (also known as the Mendota State Hospital Group) contains some of the finest effigy mounds that still exist. Included are three very large bird effigies, including one with an original wingspan of over 190m (624 feet), likely the biggest bird effigy mound in the world.

Menhir de Prat-Leach

A menhir moved into the entrance of the yard of a farm. Its current height is 2.50 m, width 1.80 m, thickness 0.80 m. The name of the farm is engraved on the stone (!)

Eski Kermen

Eski Kermen (Old fortress) is a spectacular rock-cut medieval fortress town in the western part of Crimea in Ukraine. Built on top of a table mountain 1km long and 170m wide, with 30m high cliffs, it was before the war one of the most visited rock cities of Crimea. Ivan visited in 2016.

Loschbur

Large rock formation in Luxembourg - the burial place of Loschbour Man (and another) who died around 8000 years ago. Analysis of his DNA helped to establish that Europeans’ ancestors probably can be traced back to three separate historic migrations: the first around 40,000 years ago, who mated with Neanderthals and eventually outlived them; the second around 7-9,000 years ago, who were the first generation of Europeans to develop agriculture; and the third, most recent wave, coming from Russia around 5,000 years ago.

Bonvillars Menhir

A standing stone situated in a vinyard, but signposted from the road with access to the field and easy parking opposite . In the Kanton (County) of Waadt / Vaud, district de Grandson.

Cut Hill Cairn

A cairn on Cut Hill, close to a stone row (see the nearby sites list on our page for more details of the stone row). Archaeologists have recently unearthed a "stunning" Bronze Age cist here on one of Dartmoor’s most isolated hills. There was a three-day dig earlier this month. The exact location is not confirmed but is believed to be close to this cairn. More details of the dig are below on our page.

Tyra Stone

This rare and unusual archaeological site in the Moravian-Silesian region was quite recently discovered in the beautiful valley of the Tyra stream. The so called "Celtic Stone" can be found on the top of a hidden forest plateau completely apart of any established paths. Up to fourteen holes of different sizes can be recognized on the surface of this surprisingly large altar-like boulder.

Doubler Stones Allotment 04

This rock art panel in West Yorkshire was reported to be massively covered in lichen which made it difficult to pick out the carvings, however as Bonirex shows in this new photo this is not now the case. It consists of around 6 cups, 1 double and 3 single rings plus a curved groove. This rock is located on Open Access land.