Monument Distributions

MONUMENT DISTRIBUTION ACROSS WESTERN EUROPE

Cursuses and Henges are thought to be unique to the British Isles.

Only the British Isles and Brittany have significant concentrations of stone rows and large open stone circles.

Causewayed enclosures are found in France, Germany, the Low Countries, Denmark and Sweden as well as in the British Isles.

Standing stones/menhirs are even more widespread, found for example in Norway, France, Germany, Italy and Portugal. However, their age is very difficult to determine.

In the British Isles, the number of large cairns/barrows proven to be without a primary burial is very low because few large cairns/barrows have been fully excavated to modern standards. Conversely the number of large cairns/barrows which exist is very high and it is unknown what proportion of them never had a primary burial.

Barrows are widespread across Western Europe, but this project has yet to research whether there are examples proven to be non-burial outside of the British Isles.