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I wonder if they were somehow used by the Neolithic tribes together.

So do you know if Cefn Coch, near Penmaenmawr and Moel Ty Uchaf near Llandrillo are ring cairns or stone circles? After watching this I'm guessing ring cairn.

Firstly, amusing though it is i was pleased you lost the 'gentleman antiquarian' voice. Second, if your grammar is bad that's surely between her and your granda, nowt' do wi me.

Agree. In my lifetime I have seen so many reports on Stonehenge, enough to make you giddy. It has got progressively older. The use of it changed 20 times. How it was constructed, done to death. The stones have come from all over everywhere. But are supposedly now tied down. Yet one is meant to come from a Scottish Island I think. The stones have been transported over 500 routes. By every means except Boing 747. But are they sure about what they think now, or will it keep changing. Just recently it went from ritual only site to Milton Keynes, with all sorts of accommodation and living activity in the vicinity. Dig something else. Develop a few more ideas. Come back in another 50 years with a new theory.

Makes me want to go to an ancient stone and play bagpipes. Actually this doesn't, i want to do that every day anyway, but this video definitely reminds me again.

So in modern Welsh (related to Cumbric) Rhug or Rug) (pro. Rigg) means something like rushy or heathy. Obviously in the Germanic a rig comes from the word for a ridge as you say. I guess its possible they both come from PIE and have something to do with early farming. By the way I've discovered and binge watched a few of your videos today, subbed. I'm going to have a few hours in Cumbria (near Shap in fact, yes I've watched the Shap avenue video) later this month and wondering if, after a nice hike i could visit an ancient site. Wondering i should see shap sites or make a D tour to Castlerigg?

True. I grew up near what only recently, 2006, was confirmed as a bronze age earth works and within a short drive of Arbor Low and Nine Ladies stone circles. You can't go anywhere without tripping over some sort of ancient work.

Well, like in this case the endless stream of words separated from any work in the field manage to entertain audiences on YT and sell popular books with insignificant content - helping people who otherwise had to dig, messure and document based on scientific methods to stay alive.

"Stonehenge has a SERIOUS Problem" Could this delay completion?

I think we can all agree that archaeologists and others use the word ritual wrt sites, where it isn’t clear what the purpose is. Its annoying, but does have a foundation in human behaviour. It is also not unreasonable to think that many of these things will be religious in nature for the same reason (think cathedrals and churches, although we should allow the possibility of other alternatives. The problem is we know zero about their religion, which hampers our ability to analyse the site and objects found their ( An offering of great real world value (langdale pike axe) or something of symbolic value to them (the equivalent of a cross). Within all that there is then other human motivations (our stone circle if bigger or more complex than yours or we have a special hill we made which can be seen from boundary hills of our land etc etc). We and archaeologists are also not very self critical and tend to carry on believing early ideas regardless of evidence. As an example here, in-would site the YT channel “History for Granite” idea that the 4th dynasty Pyramids were designed ti be kept open to allow the plebs to go (well be led by the priests) on a physical and symbolic journey (my idea) to worship at the King’s burial chamber and see the site where he is daily resurrected to visit the sky gods (if In understand Egyptian religion at that point). No current professional archaeologist could have that leap of imagination, which he bases on the physical evidence that can be observed rather than the idea if a sealed mausoleum of the past. What can you say about stone circles other than they were probably used for hundreds or thousands of years by the people who lived around them, most probably for some form of physical worship or for a special (?) gathering of the community in a place deemed to be important in some unknowable way (for us today). In a thousand years, would the remains of Old Trafford or Anfield be deemed to be a ritual site ? Would our future selves be entirely wrong if they concluded that ?

why does your voice change so much in your videos?

👍

Oh my god… we’re the pagans time travellers who were trolling the future…. Look at the image at 6:28 and tip your head to the right. It’s a big smiley face lol.

Moon landing deniers, globe earth deniers and now Stonehenge deniers? When are we going to add denier deniers to that list.

You think something built in the 1940s would last longer.

Wales..81 (known) stone circles. England..316(known)stone circles. Ireland..343(known) stone circles. Scotland..508(known) stone circles. OVER 1,000.

How did they move the stones in winter after harvest Samhain on sledges on the snow and ice

So, might you say, Stonehenge is becoming unhinged?

The color of the stones is just beautiful. I am glad it is still around, considering it is sooo old. I cannot imagine the time gone by. Since there is no “language” , we will always try to figure it out. Always makes it interesting.

Could not take your silliness and audio tricks. Sober up.

I wish my father were alive to see this video. I live in Kentucky; and, we have burial mounds here. Daddy studied his own people; because he was half Cherokee. The burial mounds found here were not built by his people. They were already here. Burial mound builders in England and in the U.S.A. are something we have in common. I wonder if Continental Drift had something to do with this. We have blue stone here also.

In ancient times, Hundreds of years before the dawn of history Lived a strange race of people, the Druids No one knows who they were or what they were doing But their legacy remains Hewn into the living rock, of Stonehenge

Sadly, fake history, like fake news, fake science, fake nutrition, and so is, is much easier and more popular than the real thing!

I would take issue with your definition as a bit too narrow. There are enough secular rituals that we can point to today that hinging the definition on a religious entity is too limiting. In an American context, for example, there is ritual surrounding secular holidays like Thanksgiving: family gathering at the dining table, specific foods, etc. We also have quite a lot of rituals surrounding major societal sporting events like the Super Bowl: specific foods, specific clothings. There is good reason why scholars tend to recognize ritual by its societal function rather than its connection to religion: then we would have to define religion, which is impossible. The only thing that all religions have in common that all non-religions don’t have in common is that at some point someone called them a religion. The term “religion” is a changeable discursive construct, very similar to words like “ritual.”

7:09 - not "the Langdale Valley". Just "Langdale" (or Great Langdale to be precise).

Your point about volume I thought quite good. It reminds one of the "mystery" of the Bermuda triangle. That area has a larger number of shipping lanes that cross it compared to other areas of ocean. And a higher volume of shipping quite naturally means that there will be a higher number of ships lost to storms, equipment failure, foundering on uncharted reefs, etc. In truth, there is no mystery there at all. Unfortunately, most people wouldn't know reason if it walked up and took them by the hand.

Pyramids were used for grain keeping. Wake up sheeple

The internet allows boarderline paranoics and self deluded fools to pass off crackpot guesswork as acknowledged fact. Self-appointed "experts" are the bane on modern life.

Adam, i fear you are very thirsty...?

Stonehenge was flat for hundreds of years until the 19th century.

I loved the shameless plug at the end of the video. But, to the point of do we overuse the word 'ritual'?- I would say this: I live in a medium size state in the US. There are almost 4,000 places or worship in my state. I can WALK to 100 places of worship in 20 minutes or less. Most of these places are built of stone and/or brick. In 2,000 years archaeologists will uncover these ritual centers and they will be correct in calling them that.

I always take a ritual dump each morning. It amazes me how you are able to impose thinking upon a subject nothing is know about.

Yes.

Don't be so quick to judge the conspiracy theorists. After all, everyone knows that Stonehenge was built by aliens from outer space. And since there were few sightings of aliens prior to the 1950s (or near then), it follows that the building of Stonehenge actually dates from the 1950s. This is proof positive that Stonehenge is not of ancient origin. If you doubt this, why not travel over the flat earth to Roswell, New Mexico where any number of witnesses will inform you of the truth. If you travel to Roswell by air, don't leave chemtrails or you'll erase the memories of alien sightings altogether. This has been confirmed by a former Soviet spy.

We have been to Long Meg a few times. really enjoyed listening to your video

Well done. It is a reminder to use our clitical brain . What passes as truth deserves to be examined and evaluated. What we believe to be true at one time, often evolves, changes complitely, or is proven. Blind faith is a trap.

they stick to a few catch all magic words. temple is one of their favorites, tombs, ritual or ceremonial, pyramid

In our logic-free, non-evidence-based "Modern Archaeology(tm)", everything is a "possible ritual site"......possibly......or possibly not. ONLY more funding can shed light on the matter ;)

I ritually clicked on LIKE

Thank you. So, the answer to your question has to be ‘yes’. I always thought it odd that the only buildings and objects that survive millennia are religious or ritualistic. Maybe that stone circle was an Amazon warehouse or a nightclub!

I don't wish to ritualise my TH-cam activity by subscribing to a channel! I appreciate this overview of a vexing subject. I can't help feeling that future archaeologists will look back at the millions of toothbrushes scattered over the planet and declare, 'Ah, a ritual landscape!'

I became very distrustful of the word "ritual" when a certain eminent & senior archaeologist who used to appear on TV fairly often used it for _any_ object or site whose purpose was not immediately apparent, and often even when it clearly had a practical but unknown use. That he delivered the word in a tone of voice that said "I am right, and don't you dare contradict me !" made me even more suspicious.

HOORAY!! At last, A plea for Stonehenge to be only considered in its temporal and geographical context. Any monument requiring the transportation and manipulation of tons of stones was obviously important and by definition unique, although possibly stemming from a common requirement. Apart from its ability to cause stupendous traffic jams, what makes Stonehenge more important than, say Avebury?

It sounds to me like someone has Stonehenge envy.

I can’t believe I only just found this channel! I am only half way through “Prehistoric Plague” and I am absolutely riveted! Historical monuments of all kinds from all ages seem to have never been more devalued than today. Whether sleepy Danby or my home in bustling New York City, regrettably, it is a global trend. Your research and insight brings the distant past on to our laps. I can’t wait to dive into the rest of your monumental work, no pun intended. Thank you for sharing it all with us.

What a stunning shame! To destroy something so precious for no better reason than that.💔😞🐝

I still think it's used in a lazy way to lump everything archeologists don't know into a single category. The criticism about everything being either a tomb or a temple still stands 🤔

My Copy of "Yorkshire's Prehistoric Monuments" was deeply affected by your ritual of finding it a Sacred Wife from Cumbria, so it can seperate itself from between the nuturing breasts of Janet & Colin Bord's Mysterious Britain and Aubrey Burl's Stonehenge, and desired me to invoke the Sky God Bezos to undertake this act. It'd be quite happy if you set up a affiliate links to your books too, it said.

Everything is surrounded by other things. Speculating on the meaning is pointless unless it's obvious.

from my layman view of archaeology, it does seem awfully like archaeologists observing the ruins of today's society - say, for example, london - would conclude that heathrow covers an absolutely huge area, so must have been an important religious site; the shard is the tallest structure around, reaching far toward the heavens, so was clearly a monument to their god or god(s); westfield could accomodate many thousands of people and shows a huge range of food remains and jewellery type trinkets - clearly a place for ritual feasting and offerings. it's so exasperating watching time team or whatever and any building that's somewhat unusual, large or distinctive is ascribed to religion instead of eating, shopping, travelling, or anything else. I always sit there thinking, why couldn't it have been a neolithic westfield instead of automatically a neolithic st pauls cathedral? explaining that they may be using 'ritual' in a broader sense that encompasses everyday habits of a not necessarily sacred nature reduces my irritation at that theist presumption somewhat, but it seems to me to dilute the meaning of the word to a point of all-encompassing vagueness that it's not terribly useful anymore