What is the Ring of Brodgar?
Q: What is the Ring of Brodgar?
A: The Ring of Brodgar is a Neolithic henge and stone circle on Mainland, the largest island in Orkney, Scotland. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Heart of Neolithic Orkney.
Q: How large is the ring?
A: The stone circle is 104 metres (341 ft) in diameter, and it is the third largest in the British Isles.
Q: How many stones were originally part of the ring?
A: The ring originally comprised 60 stones, of which only 27 remained standing at the end of the 20th century.
Q: What type of henge does it constitute?
A: Technically, this ditch does not constitute a true henge as there is no sign of an encircling bank of earth and rock. However, many archaeologists refer to this structure as a henge. Aubrey Burl classifies it as a Class II henge; one that has two opposing entrances, in this case on the north-west and south-east.
Q: What other features are located nearby?
A: Within 2 square miles (5.2 km2) there are two circle-henges, four chambered tombs, groups of standing stones, single stones, barrows, cairns, and mounds. A number of flint arrowheads and broken stone mace-heads were found nearby which seem to date from Bronze Age times.
Q: What makes Ring Of Brodgar so important?
A: The Ring Of Brodgar's importance comes from its location within such an important ritual landscape with all these features nearby along with Standing Stones Of Stenness and its Maeshowe tomb making it even more significant than before.
