On 2013-02-18 10:53:51 -0600, S Viemeister said:

On 2/18/2013 11:06 AM, Erilar wrote:

What is your favorite megalithic in Europe? And why? Other than
Stonehenge, that is -- that could be an easy choice already.

The Ring of Brodgar, in Orkney.
It's approachable, and doesn't feel at all touristy.

I replied to this part, then had other thoughts. Tarxien in Malta is also
fascinating. So is the Taula Sanctuary on, I think, Minorca. Sicily has
some great sites, but a bit later. Back in Orkney, there are so many sites,
but trying to stick to megalithic keeps the list shorter. Skara Brae is
stone. . .

Yes, I _loved_ Skara Brae!

A smaller farmstead, but older (5500 years old) is Knap of Howar on
Papa Westray. I took the short flights from Kirkwall.

Overall I was very impressed with the megalithic density in Orkney. I
am curious if that is because it intrinsically had a high density -
perhaps due to isolation as an island, it grew stronger than the
mainland, or if due to being an island, it was less encrouched-on by
farmers tilling fields or stones robbed for cottages.

Another megalithic-dense area is Kilmartin, in Scotland. I stayed at a
B&B right across the road from the main sites: several stone circles
and alignments, and several tombs of all kinds. And there are several
megalithics in the immediately vicinity. I used the stonepages.com web
site for research to find all these places.

The first seven pages are from the Kilmartin area:

http://stepheda.com/Scotland_2004_Me...ics_Index.html

Now that I check my sources, I see the Isle of Lewis has a lot of
magnificant megalithics, too.



--
Dan Stephenson
http://stepheda.com
Travel pages for Europe and the U.S.A. (and New Zealand too)