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There are countless megalithic sites around the world , but whileStonehengemay be the most noted , know this : it is not the old or bountiful . The site of Göbekli Tepe , in Turkey , date back about 11,000 year , making it more than twofold Stonehenge ’s historic period . Additionally , Stonehenge is not the biggest megalithic repository , with the site of Avebury in southwestern United States England having a Harlan F. Stone band with a larger diameter . Read on to take a flavour at seven megalithic sites around the world that rival Stonehenge .
Related : Ancient people lived at German ' Stonehenge , ' site of brutal human sacrifices
Stonehenge is about 5,000 years old.
Göbekli Tepe
At more than 11,000 old age old , Göbekli Tepe lie in of a serial of megalithic enclosures that were build near together . The internet site is located in southeastern Turkey , a spot that was once part of UpperMesopotamia , and was built at a sentence when people in the surface area survive as hunter - gatherers .
deoxythymidine monophosphate - shaped stone pillar that were up to 18 substructure ( 5.5 meter ) grandiloquent were used to build the enclosures . The column check carvings of animals such as Fox , Sus scrofa , gazelles , snake and piranha . The carving also include depictions of nonfigurative symbolisation and figures that look like humans .
precisely why Göbekli Tepe was build is a source of debate . It ’s potential that it was used for spiritual observance or assembly . The site was built long before write was invented , so no historical records subsist .
Avebury
The web site ofAveburyoriginally had a stone set with a diameter of about 1,378 human foot ( 420 metre ) making it the longest have sex Harlan Fiske Stone circle in the creation , a squad of scientists wrote in a 2019 paper bring out in the journalAntiquity . Inside this stone circle there are the remains of two smaller stone circles , each of which was about 328 feet ( 100 m ) across .
Avebury was created around 2500 B.C. , at around the time Stonehenge was in use . The land site appears to have been part of a larger megalithic landscape painting . At the clip hoi polloi in Britain practiced a mix of agriculture , hunting and gathering . research worker have noted that two boulevard of copulate standing Stone leave from Avebury and go toward other megalithic sites in the region .
Ring of Brodgar
The Ring of Brodgar is located on the large of the Orkney Islands in Scotland . Dating back to around 2500 B.C. , it has a Harlan Fiske Stone band that originally consisted of 60 stones , of which 36 surviveHistoric Environment Scotlandnotes . The stones range from 6.9 foot to 15.4 feet ( 2.1 to 4.7 m ) magniloquent , make a circle with a diameter of 341 feet ( 104 m ) . In plus to the Edward Durell Stone traffic circle , there are 13 prehistorical sepulture pitcher’s mound locate tight to the site , indicating that ceremonies commemorating the dead may have ingest place at the web site .
Ale’s stones
Ales Stenar ( a name which means " Ale ’s Stones " in Swedish ) consists of 59 boulders , weigh up to 4,000 pounds ( 1,800 kilo ) , that were arranged in the shape of a ship . turn up by the side of a cliff near the Swedish sportfishing village of Kåseberga , the date of the structure is a source of argumentation , with estimation ranging from 1,000 to 2,500 year ago . Its use is also unsure . One estimate is that the sitemay have been used as a solar calendar .
Rujm el-Hiri
Rujm el - Hiri is located in Golan Heights ( a region take both by Israel and Syria ) and see back around 6,000 years . It consists of a serial of stone circles with a tumulus , or mound , in the center . Other tumuli are located nearby . The website is known by a few different names include the " Wheel of Giants " and the " Levantine Stonehenge . "
It ’s unclear what exactly the site was used for . The tumuli paint a picture it was used for inhumation , perhaps for of import mass who lived in the area during prehistorical times . It has also been proposed as a internet site for astronomical observance , butrecent research suggests that this is unlikely .
Spanish Stonehenge
Dating back around 7,000 years , the " Dolmen of Guadalperal , " also known as the " Spanish Stonehenge , " is located in what is now a human - made lake in westerly Spain . It comprise of about 150 place upright Stone that are dress around a central oval area . Some of the stand stones are more than 6 feet ( 1.8 m ) tall . A large stone appears to strike out the entrance to the site , and is engrave with an epitome of a homo and what could be a river or serpent . The archeologic site wascovered with waterafter a serial of dams were work up in the 1960s .
Carnac stones
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The Carnac Stone , located in Brittany in northwesterly France , date back around 6,000 years . They lie of about 3,000 gemstone , the with child of which is about 21 feet ( 6.5 m ) tall , according to theCentre de Monuments Nationaux . They are arranged into lap and linear rows , while a few , like the Oliver Stone that is 21 feet improbable , are located away from the others and seem to stand alone .
The determination and accurate dates of the stones are uncertain , but it appears that some of them mark the locations of grave . What kind of spiritual or ritual practices occur at the site is also unsealed , but people appear to have gathered at the stone for G of years .
