Stone row

Down Tor stone row on Dartmoor in South Devon, UK

A stone row (or stone alignment), is a linear arrangement of upright, parallel megalithic standing stones set at intervals along a common axis or series of axes, usually dating from the later Neolithic or Bronze Age.^[1] Rows may be individual or grouped, and three or more stones aligned can constitute a stone row.

Description

Stone rows can be few metres or several kilometres in length and made from stones that can be as tall as 2m, although 1m high stones are more common. The terminals of many rows have the largest stones and other megalithic features are sometimes sited at the ends, especially burial cairns. The stones are placed at intervals and may vary in height along the sequence, to provide a gradated appearance, though it is not known whether this was done deliberately. Stone rows were erected by the later Neolithic and Bronze Age peoples in the British Isles, parts of Scandinavia and northern France.

Part of the Kerlescan alignment in Carnac (Brittany, France)

The most famous example is the Carnac stones, a complex of stone rows around Carnac in Brittany. There are a number of examples on Dartmoor including the row at Stall Down and three rows at Drizzlecombe and the Hill O Many Stanes in Caithness. In Britain they are exclusively found in isolated moorland areas. The term alignment is sometimes taken to imply that the rows were placed purposely in relation to other factors such as other monuments or topographical or astronomical features. Archaeologists treat stone rows as discrete features however and alignment refers to the stones being lined up with one another rather than anything else. Their purpose is thought to be religious or ceremonial perhaps marking a processual route. Another theory is that each generation would erect a new stone to contribute to a sequence that demonstrated a people's continual presence.

Examples

Beenalaght - Six stones, (one fallen) County Cork, Ireland
Eightercua - Four stones, County Kerry, Ireland
Knocknakilla - Four stones (one fallen), County Cork, Ireland

Notes

↑ Power (1997), p.23

Sources

Denis Power (1997). Archaeological inventory of County Cork, Volume 3: Mid Cork, 9467 ColorBooks. ISBN 0-7076-4933-1
Lancaster Brown, P. (1976). Megaliths, myths, and men: an introduction to astro-archaeology. New York: Taplinger Pub. Co.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stone rows.

Neolithic Europe (including the Chalcolithic)

↑ Mesolithic Europe ↑

Horizons	Cardial Ware Corded Ware culture First Temperate Neolithic Linear Pottery culture (LBK)

Cultures	Baden Beaker Boian Cernavodă Cerny Chasséen Cortaillod Coțofeni Cucuteni-Trypillian Decea Mureşului Dudești Funnelbeaker Gaudo Globular Amphora Gorneşti Gumelnița–Karanovo Hamangia Horgen Karanovo Körös Lengyel Narva Petreşti Pit–Comb Ware Pitted Ware Pfyn Rössen Seine-Oise-Marne Sesklo Starčevo-Kőrös-Criş Tisza Tiszapolgár Varna Vinča Vučedol Wartberg Windmill Hill

Monumental architecture	Bank barrow Causewayed enclosure Cursus Dolmen Dolmen entrance Great dolmen Guardian stones Henge Long barrow Megalith Menhir Passage grave Polygonal dolmen Rectangular dolmen Rondel Round barrow Simple dolmen Standing stone Statue menhir Stone circle Stone cist Stone row Timber circle Tor enclosure Unchambered long barrow

Technology	Grooved ware Lithic industries Metallurgy Neolithic long house Unstan ware

Concepts	Danubian culture Secondary products revolution Old Europe Proto-Indo-Europeans

↓ Bronze Age Europe ↓

Prehistoric technology

Tools

Farming

Food processing

Hunting

Arrow Boomerang throwing stick Bow and arrow history Nets Spear Spear-thrower baton harpoon woomera Schöningen Spears

Projectile points	Arrowhead Bare Island Cascade Clovis Cresswell Cumberland Eden Folsom Lamoka Manis Site Plano Transverse arrowhead

Toolmaking

Other tools

Architecture

Ceremonial	Göbekli Tepe Kiva Standing stones megalith row Stonehenge Pyramid

Dwellings	Neolithic architecture British megalith architecture Nordic megalith architecture Burdei Cave Cliff dwelling Dugout Hut Quiggly hole Jacal Longhouse Mud brick Mehrgarh Neolithic long house Pit-house Pueblitos Pueblo Rock shelter Blombos Cave Abri de la Madeleine Sibudu Cave Stone roof Roundhouse Stilt house Alp pile dwellings Wattle and daub

Water management	Check dam Cistern Flush toilet Reservoir Water well

Other architecture	Archaeological features Broch Burnt mound fulacht fiadh Causewayed enclosure Tor enclosure Circular enclosure Goseck Cursus Henge Thornborough Oldest buildings Megalithic architectural elements Midden Timber circle Timber trackway Sweet Track

Arts and culture

Material goods	Baskets Beadwork Beds Chalcolithic Clothing/textiles timeline Cosmetics Glue Hides shoes Ötzi Jewelry amber use Mirrors Pottery Cardium Grooved ware Linear Jōmon Unstan ware Sewing needle Weaving Wine Winery wine press

Prehistoric art	Art of the Upper Paleolithic Art of the Middle Paleolithic Blombos Cave List of Stone Age art Bird stone Bradshaw rock paintings Cairn Carved Stone Balls Cave paintings painting pigment Cup and ring mark Geoglyph Golden hats Guardian stones Megalithic art Petroform Petroglyph Petrosomatoglyph Pictogram Rock art Stone carving Sculpture Statue menhir Stone circle list British Isles and Brittany Venus figurines

Burial	Burial mounds Bowl barrow Round barrow Mound Builders culture U.S. sites Chamber tomb Severn-Cotswold Cist Dartmoor kistvaens Clava cairn Court tomb Cremation Dolmen Great dolmen Funeral pyre Gallery grave transepted wedge-shaped Grave goods Jar burial Long barrow unchambered Grønsalen Megalithic tomb Mummy Passage grave Rectangular dolmen Ring cairn Simple dolmen Stone box grave Tor cairn Tumulus Unchambered long cairn

Other cultural	Astronomy sites lunar calendar Behavioral modernity Origin of language Prehistoric medicine trepanning Evolutionary musicology music archaeology Prehistoric music Alligator drum flutes Divje Babe flute gudi Prehistoric numerals Origin of religion Paleolithic religion Prehistoric religion Spiritual drug use Prehistoric warfare Symbols symbolism

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