Swinside stone circle in England
Lisseviggen Stone circle, in county Kerry, in Ireland. Locally, this is known as the Seven Sisters. It is outside Killarney

A stone circle is an ancient monument. It is made of several standing stones, usually menhirs that are arranged in a certain way. Very often those stones form circles or ellipses. The number of stones can vary between four and 60.[1] Very often, burial sites are in the circle, or nearby. There are about 1,000 stone circles and 80 stone henges in the Great Britain and Ireland.[2] Most likely stone circles were used for rituals. They might also have been used as calendars; some stone circles are arranged so that certain stones are lit on special dates, such as the summer solstice.

References

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  1. "A brief guide To Irish archaeological sites". www.iol.ie. Retrieved 21 January 2006.
  2. Oliphant, Margaret. 1992. The Atlas of the Ancient World. p. 81.