Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Stone Circles

  • Reference work entry
Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion

  • 129 Accesses

Stone Circles: Mysterious Skeletons of Stone-Age Culture

Stone circles are ancient purpose-built rock structures found all over the world. Their origins and uses are a source of continuing research and debate. The number of standing stones in a circle can range from 4 to 60. Some stone circles are concentric. Some are elliptical or oval. Others are recumbent, in which a single stone is laid flat between the highest two upright pillars. The elements of stone circles and stone monuments include a variety of terms including dolmen, cairn, menhir, tumuli, barrow, cromlech, and center stone (Stone Circles of the Gambia). Symbolically they can have many meanings, including the broad Jungian theory of the mandala, an archetypal image of psychological divinity, and the archetypal Self that regulates and balances the various archetypal dynamics (Jung 1959). This appears in many ways, such as reference to stars, the afterlife, and divinities.

The term “henge” refers to Neolithic circular or oval...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Ashliman, D. L. (1996–2012). Stone monument legends. Retrieved from http://www.pitt.edu/∼dash/folktexts2.html#s. Accessed 7 Sept 2012.

  • Bennett, C. (1996). In search of the sacred: Anthropology and the study of religion. London: Cassell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briard, J. (1997/2007). The megaliths of Brittany (trans: Perre, J.-P.). Paris: Editions Jean-Paul Gisserot.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burl, A. (2005a). Prehistoric astronomy and ritual. Buckinghamshire: Shire.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burl, A. (2005b). Prehistoric stone circles. Buckinghamshire: Shire.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burl, A. (2005c). A guide to the stone circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corio, L. N., & Corio, D. (2003). Megaliths: The ancient stone monuments of England and Wales. London: Jonathan Cape.

    Google Scholar 

  • Curry, A. (2008). Göbekli Tepe: World’s oldest temple? Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/gobekli-tepe.html. Accessed 7 Sept 2012.

  • David, I., & Davidson, P. (1925/1988). The old straight track. London: Abacus/Little Brown.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davidson, D. P., Davidson, I., & Davidson, P. B. (2010). Navigation in the neolithic. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 39(2), 433–435.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eliade, M. (1958). Patterns in comparative religion. New York: Sheed and Ward.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson, A., & Simpson, D. (Eds.). (1998). Prehistoric ritual and religion. London: Sutton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Göbleki Tepe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6bekli_Tepe. Accessed 7 Sept 2012.

  • Hardy, C. (2011). The sacred network: Megaliths, cathedrals, ley lines and the power of shared consciousness. Rochester: Inner Traditions.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins, G. S. (1965). Stonehenge decoded. Garden City: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Humphrey, C., & Vitebsky, P. (2005). Sacred architecture: Symbolic form and ornament, traditions of east and west, models of the cosmos. New York: Barnes and Noble.

    Google Scholar 

  • Interactive Map of Megalithic Monuments in Europe. Retrieved from http://www.megalithic.co.uk. Accessed 7 Sept 2012.

  • Jung. C. G. (1959). Concerning mandala symbolism. In G. Adler & R. F. C. Hull (Ed. & trans), The collected works of C. G. Jung: Archetypes and the collective unconscious (Vol. 9, Pt 1, para. 627–718). Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kine, A. O. (2003). Metaphysical cavemen: A refreshing new look at ancient history. Bloomington: First Books Library.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis-Williams, D. (2009). Inside the neolithic mind: Consciousness, cosmos and the realm of the gods. London: Thames and Hudson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockyer, N. (1909). Stonehenge and other British stone monuments astronomically considered. London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malone, C., & Stone Bernard, N. (2002). Stonehenge. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mason, P. (2008). The mystery of stone circles. Chicago: Heinemann Library.

    Google Scholar 

  • Megalith. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalith. Accessed 8 Sept 2012.

  • Megalithic portal. http://www.megalithic.co.uk. Accessed 7 Sept 2012.

  • Mitchell, J. (1989). Secrets of the stones: New revelations of astro-archaeology and the mystical sciences of antiquity. Rochester: Inner Traditions.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, J. (2009). The sacred center: The ancient art of locating sanctuaries. Rochester: Inner Traditions.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prehistoric sites of Great Britain. Retrieved from http://www.stone-circles.org.uk. Accessed 8 Sept 2012.

  • Ruggles, C. (2000). Ancient astronomies – Ancient world. Archaeoastronomy, 25, 65–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruggles, C. (2006). Interpreting solstitial alignments in Late Neolithic Wessex. Archaeoastronomy: The Journal of Astronomy in Culture, 20, 1–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scham, S. (2008). The world’s first temple (abstract). Archaeology, 61(6). Retrieved from http://www.archaeology.org/0811/abstracts/turkey.html. Accessed 7 Sept 2012.

  • Sèbillot, P. (1902). The worship of stones in France (trans: McGuire, J.). American Anthropologist, 4(1), 76–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict and Violence. www.peacepsych.org. Accessed 7 Sept 2012.

  • Soskin, R. (2009). Standing with stone: A photographic journey through megalithic Britain and Ireland. New York: Thames and Hudson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stone circles of the Gambia. Retrieved from http://www.gambia.dk/stones.html. Accessed 8 Sept 2012.

  • Stonehenge Riverside Project (SRP). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge_Riverside_Project. Accessed 7 Sept 2012.

  • Thom, A. (1971). Megalithic lunar observatories. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wace. (14th Century). Roman de Brut illuminated manuscript. (Egerton Collection 3028). London: British Library.

    Google Scholar 

  • Webring Inc. http://www.webring.org/. Accessed 8 Sept 2012.

  • Wendorf, F., & Malville, J. M. (2001). The megalith alignments: Holocene settlement of the Egyptian Sahara (Vol. 1, pp. 489–502). New York: Academic/Plenum.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. San Francisco, CA, USA

    Susan Easton

Authors
  1. Susan Easton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susan Easton .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    David A. Leeming (Emeritus Professor) (Emeritus Professor)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this entry

Cite this entry

Easton, S. (2014). Stone Circles. In: Leeming, D.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6086-2_9297

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6086-2_9297

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6085-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6086-2

  • eBook Packages: Behavioral Science

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation