The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany: New Revised Edition

by Aubrey Burl

The spectacular stone circles of western Europe, some nearly 6000 years old, have intrigued viewers through the ages. This beautiful book about these megalithic rings explores their ancestry, methods of construction, and eventual desertion. A substantially revised version of Aubrey Burl's highly praised work The Stone Circles of the British Isles, it offers new insights into the purpose of stone circles. It also provides a new interpretation...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300083475
• ISBN13: 9780300083477
• Release Date: August 2000
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 4.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 7.9" x 10.4"
• Age Range: 13 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 8 to 12

Customer Reviews

an excellent reference

Just what it says on the box - an excellent reference, whether planning your trip or on the road. Complete with location maps and National Grid references.

a great work made better

Aubrey Burl's previous works were showing a wee bit of dating. As carbon dating become more accurate, you are seeing these ancient rings grow older in age instead of younger as they anticipated. While Burl's previous works were amazing, this long awaited "update" of this information, as well as addition information on more recent excavations make this is must. Yes, it expensive. But it's worth every penny. There are new insight in the the purpose of the rings of stone, a new interpretation of Calanais (sorry, as a Scot I refuse to call it Callanish!) and Stonehenge The beautiful book is loaded with hundreds of photos, explores the ancestry, methods of construction and why they were abandoned after thousands of years of use. Marvelous work made even better by bringing the information up to date.

An essential resource

I recently returned from a vacation over in Ireland/Scotland/Wales where for 4 weeks I and 2 of my friends researched and visited stone circles throughout the Isles. Aubrey Burl definitely has written an essential resource you should pick up if you have the intentions of going to see them. He touches on a great number of "out of the way" stone circles not widely known in areas and gives precise directions on how to get to them. It is almost like a treasure hunt, you never knwo what is around the corner in Aubrey's book! A definite must get for the stone circle enthusiast. Don't even think about putting this book down. Get a map, get this book, and go hunting for these great spiritual centers.

Indispensible to understanding what you see

This very informative guidebook will bring to life your understanding of what otherwise might appear to be some big rocks in a field. I recently viewed a very important megalithic site, Stanton Drew, without this book. Even though I am somewhat well-read in this area, the site really was uninterpretable on its own. When I read the commentary in this book, my experience of the site changed and I was able to peer back through the millenia to see the site as the builders would have. This book is indispensible.

A superb guide to the stones of Great Britain and Brittany.

Burl, an expert on the subject of stone circles, has created an essential and portable guide to all of the major sites in Great Britain and Brittany. The sites listed in the book are numbered and keyed to useful maps which offers visitors to a given area the opportunity to avoid missing anything of interest. Each site has a thorough description which often includes interpretations, a "condition code", and practical instructions as to how to find it. Also included is a good index and bibliography, and, for most sites, reference to published literature. This is not a book of photographs or site maps, although there are quite a few of each, especially for the better sites. Rather, this is an exceptional and really practical little guidebook, one anyone headed for the field will certainly want to carry along.