Rings of Stone - The Prehistoric Stone Circles of Britain and Ireland by Burl, Aubrey - 1979

London, UK: BCA, 1979. Hardcover. Very Good/Good. 8" x 10.75. H/B 280 pages, condition is very good. minor edge wear to the DJ. More than 900 prehistoric stone circles still stand throughout the British Isles. Some are huge megaliths set stark against wild moorland landscape, others small but perfect rings protected by remote valleys. Whatever their form, wherever their situation, their great antiquity has excited the imagination of layman and scholar since the time of John Aubrey - and given rise to some extravagant theories about their builders and the way they were used-but today only the well-known sites at Stonehenge and Avebury attract many visitors. In this book Aubrey Burl has selected fifty of the most significant and the loveliest stone circles in the British Isles. His vivid descriptions bring the sites sharply to life, while Edward Piper's magnificent photographs capture the enigmatic quality and power of these four thousand-year-old monuments. Of great archaeological interest, well preserved and often beautifully situated, these circles represent a wide variety of design and belief. Aubrey Burl describes the physical characteristics of each stone circle, how and by whom it was built, its possible astronomical purpose, evidence of sacrifice and burial, its carved symbols and the legends and folklore that have grown up around it. His account incorporates previously unpublished material based on his most recent excavations. Each site has been specially photographed, and its description includes a detailed plan. These stone circles are witnesses of man's early endeavours to cope with his unstable world. They were built by small groups of people as a means of communicating with those dreadful powers whose forces of thunder, drought and disease could not be withstood by man's ordinary abilities .To reach these powers he carved on the stones of the circles, laid quartz among them, and buried - perhaps sacrificed - children and young women there in an attempt to join his world with the Other World. Stone circles are enduring evidence of an ancient civilization and, as such, they are striking and disturbing reminders of our own mysterious past.