Boskednan stone circle
The Boskednan stone circle located near the town Boskednan in the former District Penwith the county Cornwall in England . The stone circle , also known as The Nine Maidens , is around 3,000 to 4,000 years old and dates from the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age .
location
The stone setting is in southwest Cornwall north of the Madron to Morvah road and 1 km northwest of the village of Boskednan and can only be reached on foot. There are other megalithic sites in the area :
- Boscawen-ûn stone circle
- Merry Maidens stone circle
- Tregeseal stone circle
- Mên-an-Tol
- Tregiffian
- Chûn Quoit
- Lanyon Quoit
- Mulfra Quoit
- Zennor Quoit
construction
The stone circle once consisted of probably 22 granite blocks , 10 of which are still preserved. Six stones stand upright, one stone protrudes half a meter from the ground, the rest are in the ground. The menhirs are all over 1 m high, the highest is approximately 2 m and stands on the northern edge of the circle. The stone setting originally described a circle about 22 m in diameter. The stone circle probably part like the nearby hill grave (engl. Barrow ) to an expanded cult area.
history
Contrary to popular belief, stone circles like that of Tregeseal were not erected by the Celts , but much earlier in the late Neolithic or the early Bronze Age by representatives of the megalithic culture. The stone circle was first mentioned in modern times in the work Antiquities, historical and monumental, of the County of Cornwall by William Borlase , which reports 19 upright menhirs. William Copeland Borlase , a descendant of the elder Borlase, carried out excavations in the area and found a stone chest and burial urn dating from the Early Bronze Age near the stone circle . Borlase described his discoveries in 1872 in his work Naenia Cornubiae , which deals with the prehistoric monuments of Cornwall.
literature
- John Barnatt: Prehistoric Cornwall. The Ceremonial Monuments . Turnstone Press Limited, Wellingborough 1982, ISBN 0-85500-129-1 .
- Robin Payne: The Romance of the Stones . Alexander Associates, Fowey 1999, ISBN 1-899526-21-8 .
- Aubrey Burl: The stone circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany . Yale University Press 2000, ISBN 0300083475 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.megalithics.com/england/boskedan/boskmain.htm
- ↑ http://www.historic-cornwall.org.uk/a2m/bronze_age/stone_circle/boskednan/boskednan.htm
- ↑ http://www.historic-cornwall.org.uk/a2m/bronze_age/stone_circle/boskednan/boskednan.htm
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 9 ′ 37.8 " N , 5 ° 35 ′ 37.3" W.