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Two new prehistoric stone circles have been discovered in the U.K.’s Dartmoor National Park.
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One of the structures is noted to have “similar features to Stonehenge,” and lends credence to one archaeologist’s “sacred arc” theory.
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Alan Endacott, the archeologist who made the discovery, previously made the area’s first stone circle discovery in more than a century.
The mystery of the UK’s many megalithic structures has entranced scholars and archaeologists for centuries. While the most famous megalithic assemblage (megalith being a term for collections of large stones used in the building of prehistoric monuments or structures) is undoubtedly Stonehenge, the UK boasts an array of these towering artifacts, including two newly discovered stone circles that might help confirm a popular theory regarding their original purposes.
The Guardian reported that two neolithic stone circles were discovered within Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England. The circles—one of which is said to have “similar features to Stonehenge”—appear to lend credence to the “sacred arc” theory put forward by archaeologist Alan Endacott, who made this discovery.
Endacott—who previously discovered a stone circle in Dartmoor back in 2007 that was the first such discovery in more than a century—believes all of the structures within Dartmoor formed a “sacred arc” upon the high ground at the center of the moor.
“Dartmoor would have been very different then, there would have been a lot more forest cover,” Endacott explained to The Guardian, “So possibly they were markers in the landscape, they recognised the higher ground and wanted to kind of enclose it for some reason.”
The second of the two stone circles Endacott recently discovered, however, was not part of this arc. Rather, Endacott contends that given its placement north of the sweep of the arc, “it was an entrance point [to the arc] from the north.”
Beyond the structures themselves, Endacott also relied on observations of the surrounding area to interpret the purpose of these particular megaliths. In noting an external bank near the circle, Endacott said that it was “suggestive of a Neolithic henge monument of a similar form to the Stripple Stones on Bodmin Moor [in Cornwall], the Ring of Brodgar on Orkney or even the earlier phase of Stonehenge.” He even went so far as to suggest that it’s possible the builders of this particular set of stone circles may have come across the famed Stonehenge in their travels.
“These excavations exceeded my expectations and brought new evidence to light that will help with our understanding,” Endacott summarized to The Guardian, “but inevitably they have also raised more questions about why they were built.”
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