Tisbury Stone Circle and Henge

Tisbury Stone Circle and Henge was a stone circle and henge in Tisbury, Wiltshire. Archaeologists believe that it was likely erected during the Bronze Age.

Tisbury Stone Circle and Henge was part of a tradition of stone circle construction that spread through much of Great Britain, Ireland, and Brittany between 3,300 and 900 BCE, during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. The stone circle tradition was accompanied by the construction of timber circles and earthen henges, reflecting a growing emphasis on circular monuments. The purpose of such rings is unknown, although archaeologists speculate that the stones represented supernatural entities for the circle's builders.

Nothing of the monument remains.

Location

The site was 12 miles west/south-west of Stonehenge,^[1] and was positioned just north of the River Nadder.^[1] From the available descriptions, the Tisbury monuments appears to have combined a stone circle with a henge.^[1] The placement of an inhumation burial near the centre stone has also been found at other monuments in the British Isles, such as at the Longstone Rath henge in County Kildare, Ireland.^[1]

Nothing remains of the Tisbury Stone Circle in situ though a small decorative stone circle at Wardour Castle grotto incorporates three of the standing stones.^[1]^[2]

Context

While the transition from the Early Neolithic to the Late Neolithic in the fourth and third millennia BCE saw much economic and technological continuity, there was a considerable change in the style of monuments erected, particularly in what is now southern and eastern England.^[3] By 3000 BCE, the long barrows, causewayed enclosures, and cursuses which had predominated in the Early Neolithic were no longer built, and had been replaced by circular monuments of various kinds.^[3] These include earthen henges, timber circles, and stone circles.^[4] Stone circles are found in most areas of Britain where stone is available, with the exception of the island's south-eastern corner.^[5] They are most densely concentrated in south-western Britain and on the north-eastern horn of Scotland, near Aberdeen.^[5] The tradition of their construction may have lasted for 2,400 years, from 3300 to 900 BCE, with the major phase of building taking place between 3000 and 1,300 BCE.^[6]

These stone circles typically show very little evidence of human visitation during the period immediately following their creation.^[7] This suggests that they were not sites used for rituals that left archaeologically visible evidence, but may have been deliberately left as "silent and empty monuments".^[8] The archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson suggests that in Neolithic Britain, stone was associated with the dead, and wood with the living.^[9] Other archaeologists have suggested that the stone might not represent ancestors, but rather other supernatural entities, such as deities.^[8]

In the area of modern Wiltshire, various stone circles were erected, the best known of which are Avebury and Stonehenge. All of the other examples are ruined, and in some cases have been destroyed.^[1] As noted by the archaeologist Aubrey Burl, these examples have left behind "only frustrating descriptions and vague positions".^[1] Most of the known Wiltshire examples were erected on low-lying positions in the landscape.^[1]

References

Footnotes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Burl 2000, p. 310.
^ Drury, Jill; Drury, Peter (1980). A Tisbury History. Tisbury, Wiltshire: Tisbury Books. ISBN 0-9509596-0-X.
^ ^a ^b Hutton 2013, p. 81.
^ Hutton 2013, pp. 91–94.
^ ^a ^b Hutton 2013, p. 94.
^ Burl 2000, p. 13.
^ Hutton 2013, p. 97.
^ ^a ^b Hutton 2013, p. 98.
^ Hutton 2013, pp. 97–98.

Bibliography

Burl, Aubrey (2000). The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-08347-7.
Gillings, Mark; Pollard, Joshua; Wheatley, David; Peterson, Rick (2008). Landscape of the Megaliths: Excavation and Fieldwork on the Avebury Monuments, 1997–2003. Oxford: Oxbow. ISBN 978-1-84217-313-8.
Hutton, Ronald (2013). Pagan Britain. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-19771-6.
Pollard, Joshua; Reynolds, Andrew (2002). Avebury: The Biography of a Landscape. Stroud: Tempus.

External links

Tisbury Circle Stone Circle at The Megalithic Portal

[FOOTNOTEBurl2000310-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Burl 2000, p. 310.

[2] Drury, Jill; Drury, Peter (1980). A Tisbury History. Tisbury, Wiltshire: Tisbury Books. ISBN 0-9509596-0-X.

[FOOTNOTEHutton201381-3] Hutton 2013, p. 81.

[FOOTNOTEHutton201391–94-4] Hutton 2013, pp. 91–94.

[FOOTNOTEHutton201394-5] Hutton 2013, p. 94.

[FOOTNOTEBurl200013-6] Burl 2000, p. 13.

[FOOTNOTEHutton201397-7] Hutton 2013, p. 97.

[FOOTNOTEHutton201398-8] Hutton 2013, p. 98.

[FOOTNOTEHutton201397–98-9] Hutton 2013, pp. 97–98.

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v t e Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age stone circles of Ireland, Britain, and Brittany
Northern Ireland	County Londonderry: Aughlish Ballynoe stone circle Beaghmore Corick Drumskinny
Republic of Ireland	County Cork: Ardgroom Stone Circle Breeny More Stone Circle Carrigagulla Carrigaphooca Stone Circle Drombeg stone circle Knocknakilla Glantane East Templebryan Stone Circle County Donegal: Beltany stone circle
Southern England	Cornwall: Boscawen-Un Boskednan stone circle Craddock Moor stone circle Duloe stone circle Emblance Downs stone circles Fernacre Goodaver stone circle The Hurlers Leaze stone circle The Merry Maidens Nine Stones, Altarnun Stannon stone circle Stripple stones Tregeseal East stone circle Trippet stones Devon: Brisworthy stone circle Grey Wethers Ringmoor stone row and cairn circle Scorhill Shovel Down Yellowmead stone circle Dorset: Hampton Down Stone Circle Kingston Russell Stone Circle Nine Stones, Winterbourne Abbas Rempstone Stone Circle Oxfordshire: Devil's Quoits Rollright Stones Stonor Park Stone Circle Somerset: Porlock Stone Circle Stanton Drew stone circles Withypool Stone Circle Wiltshire: Avebury Broome Stone Circle Clatford Stone Circle Day House Lane Stone Circle Falkner's Circle Fir Clump Stone Circle Hodson Stone Circle The Sanctuary Stonehenge Tan Hill stone circle Tisbury Stone Circle and Henge Winterbourne Bassett Stone Circle
Wales	Anglesey: Bryn Gwyn stones Denbighshire: Moel Tŷ Uchaf Gwynedd: Bryn Cader Faner Powys: Whetstones
English Midlands	Derbyshire: Arbor Low Barbrook One Doll Tor Hordron Edge stone circle Nine Ladies Nine Stones Close Shropshire: Hoarstones Mitchell's Fold
Northern England	Cumbria: Birkrigg stone circle Burnmoor stone circles Castlerigg stone circle Gamelands stone circle Grey Croft stone circle Kinniside Stone Circle Little Meg Long Meg and Her Daughters Oddendale stone circle Shap Stone Avenue Swinside Lancashire: Cheetham Close Northumberland: Duddo Five Stones The Goatstones Yorkshire: Blakey Topping standing stones Grubstones Twelve Apostles
Scotland	Aberdeenshire: Auld Bourtreebush Balquhain Blue cairn circle Cullerlie stone circle Daviot, Aberdeenshire Easter Aquhorthies stone circle Kirkton of Bourtie stone circle Sheldon stone circle Strichen Stone Circle Sunhoney Yonder Bognie Angus: Colmeallie stone circle Argyll and Bute: Temple Wood Dumfries and Galloway: Easthill stone circle Girdle Stanes Glenquicken stone circle Loupin Stanes Torhouse Twelve Apostles Stone Circle Whitcastles stone circle Scottish Borders: Ninestane Rig Shetland: Hjaltadans Stirling: Killin Stone Circle Moray: Knock of Alves North Ayrshire: Auchagallon Stone Circle Grannie stone Machrie Moor Stone Circles Moss Farm Road Stone Circle Orkney: Ring of Brodgar Perth and Kinross: Croft Moraig Stone Circle
Brittany	Er Lannic Kercado