What Was The Purpose Of The Ancients In Building Stone Circles?

Stone circles are now generally considered to be the time pieces/observatories of ancient astronomer priests. There are more than 900 stones circles throughout Britain and a large number in Brittany in northern France.

The precise reasons for their construction and their functions are not fully known. However, the conjecture is that astronomer priests wielded considerable power over their people by accurately foretelling the seasons for planting and harvesting etc. The huge stone circles were the hardware for predicting events such as the summer and winter solstices, important points in the agricultural calendar.

What is certain is that the stone circles had massive religious significance as well for Neolithic and Bronze Age people. The intertwining of religion and time occurred because the Moon, the Sun and stars were regarded as gods. It can be no accident that astronomical alignments are found at so many stone circles. Their siting appears to be precise and, given the amount of labour required to erect them, there must have been compelling reasons to do so.

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The truth is that we'll never know what thought went behind building these monuments.
The only way we archaeologists can guess at the function and thought processes is from archaeological excavations and analysis but even then we may be way off the mark.
The buliding of permenent monuments in the UK and Ireland began after what we call the Neolithic period had begun here. The neolithic is a label for a period in which farming and domestication of crops and animals accelaerated. People tended to develop a more settled lifestyle. Some of the deposits found in stone circles hint atthe functions. For example at Penmeanmawr in North Wales they discovered human bone and a babies ear bone. Was it that they thought the new born child was nearer to their earth gods ? We'll never know. Some of the stones making up stone circles have what are called 'deposits' at their base including human burials so we need to look at the circles as having many purposes over long periods of time. It's also suggested that festivals for the seasons took place in them as well what is said about astronomical uses. Most of these monuments are seen to have at least some sort of ritual significance and were probably part of the religious life of the people although they may have been used at significant times of the year and for a variety of functions.
One way archaeologists say they don't really know is to give the stone circles a ritual function!

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