Ten Mysterious Stone Circles from Around the World

Stone circles of all sizes exist all over the world, most dating from the Stone and Bronze Ages. Since many of their builders did not leave behind any written accounts of them, they stand as silent witnesses to the great unknowns of our antiquity. Who built them? How? And most importantly, why? In most cases, we will probably never know.

Related: Top 10 Mind-Bending Unsolved Mysteries of the Universe

10 Stonehenge, Amesbury, UK

The most well-known megalithic structure on Earth and one of the best studied. It consists of two rings of standing stones surrounded by a ditch embankment about 360 feet (109 meters) wide. The stones of the outer ring are sandstone petrified by silica; each stands about 13 feet (3.9 meters) high, 7 feet (2.1 meters) wide, and weigh about 25 tons (22.7 metric tons).

Some pairs of these stones are topped by lintel stones that are permanently fixed to them using mortise and tenon joints. The mortise is a hole carved into the standing stone. The tenon is a plug of the same shape and size carved out of the end of the lintel stone and fitted into the hole, the same way an electrical cord plugs into an outlet.

The inner ring consists of diabase stones, nicknamed bluestones for their color, without lintels. The third and innermost ring is of standing sandstones with lintels like those of the outer ring. The entire structure is oriented toward sunset on the winter solstice and sunrise on the summer solstice. The exact function of Stonehenge may never be fully known. Still, it is believed to have been used either for astronomical observations, religious ceremonies, or as a burial site. It was most likely used for all three.

The people who constructed it, popularly thought of as druids, left no written language. Carbon dating of the entire site indicates that the outermost ditch is the oldest part and was dug around 3100 BC. Construction occurred in about seven distinct phases from 3100 to 1600 BC, with the megalith itself being erected from about 2600 to 2400 BC.

The largest stones were quarried from the West Woods area of Marlborough, about 20 miles (32 km) north. The bluestones were transported about 180 miles (290 km) from the Preseli Hills of Wales, but as of August 2024, the central altar stone, now partially buried under a fallen standing stone, was discovered to have been quarried in northeastern Scotland, some 460 miles (740 km) away and either rolled on logs or floated down rivers to the site.^[1]

9 The Medicine Wheel, Bighorn National Forest, Wyoming, USA

The Crow Indians claim this stone circle was already erected when they first settled in the area. However, no group of people has ever claimed to have constructed it, and no one knows who did. It lies on a ridge just below the peak of Medicine Mountain and is about 80 feet (24 meters) wide, with 28 spokes radiating out from a central stone circle.

This circle is about 10 feet (3 meters) wide, and there are six smaller circles in places around the wheel. There are about 70 known medicine wheels in North America, most in Alberta, Canada. The Bighorn Medicine Wheel is the southernmost circle that has yet to be discovered. The oldest known wheel, in Bassano, Alberta, was built by the Blackfoot Nation in about 3200 BC.

Dating the Bighorn wheel is difficult since the only object that has been carbon-dated was a piece of wood about 220 years old. Possible dates for the wheel’s construction go back as far as AD 1050. The various stone circles were discovered in 1972 to align with the summer solstice sunrise and sunset and the heliacal rising points of Aldebaran, Rigel, and Sirius. The alignment of Aldebaran would have been very precise between 1200 and 1700.^[2]

8 Carisbrook Stone Arrangement, Carisbrook, Australia

This circle is roughly shaped like a boomerang, with several smaller round circles and a cairn nearby. It is known to have been built by the indigenous Aborigines, possibly of the Djadjawurrung tribe. However, no one, not even among the Djadjawurrung, can say with certainty who constructed it or when.

The main boomerang shape measures about 200 feet (61 meters) long by 16 feet (4.9 meters) wide. It was discovered in 1963, and its purpose is unknown. The phallic shape of the main feature may indicate that it was an initiation ground for Aboriginal boys. The ends of the boomerang point precisely to the north and east.^[]

7 The Hurlers, Minions, UK

There are a great many stone circles in the Cornwall area of England, and the Hurlers are three circles of about 115 feet (35 meters), 108 feet (33 meters), and 138 feet (42 meters) wide, with two standing stones nicknamed “pipers” about 300 feet (91 meters) southwest of the circles. These pipers may have been an entranceway to the circles. No one knows who constructed them, but they were first written about by John Norden in 1584.

Dating them has proven difficult since the stone itself cannot be carbon-dated. Thus, possible astronomical alignments have been proposed for the circles’ age. Alexander Thom, in 1967, argued that one alignment from a single stone to another circle matches the positions of Vega and Arcturus in the night sky, and two other alignments also correspond to Arcturus. This gives a possible dating, using the declinations of those two stars, of 2100 to 1500 BC. It is unknown what the circles were used for, but very little evidence of human habitation has yet been excavated near them.^[4]

6 The Merry Maidens, St. Buryan, UK

This circle is about 80 feet (24 meters) wide and consists of nineteen granite stones 4 to 4.5 feet (less than 1.5 meters) tall, spaced evenly about 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5 meters) apart. There was a second circle about 700 feet (213 meters) away, but this eroded to ruin by the end of the 1800s.

The circle is so named from a legend that 19 women were dancing on a Sunday, and for this sin, God turned them to stone. There are two large standing stones about 1,000 feet (304 meters) to the northeast of the circle, and they stand in line with the circle’s center. These “piper” stones are said to have been the musicians playing for the maidens to dance to and who ran away upon realizing that it was the Sabbath but could not escape God’s punishment. It is unknown who constructed the circle or when.^[4]

5 Oyu Stone Circles, Kazuno, Japan

These two large circles were discovered in 1931, and the Manza circle is the largest one in Japan, at 150 feet (45 meters) wide. The slightly smaller one is about 300 feet (91 meters) away, and they are comprised of smooth river stones. Apart from Stonehenge, these two circles are among the comparatively rare examples whose function is known with any certainty.

Each circle consists of two concentric rings about 26 feet (8 meters) between them. Smaller stone circles within them are oriented to match the summer solstice sunset. They can predict some of the Sun’s movements, the vernal equinox, and the winter solstice. Carbon dating and the discovery of stone swords and other tools have enabled archaeologists to date the site to between 2000 and 1500 BC.^[6]

4 Dolni Glavanak Cromlech, Bulgaria

“Cromlech” comes from the Welsh for “arched flat stone.” The term used more often is “dolmen,” which probably comes from the Cornish for “hole of stone.” There are dolmens all around the world, and most of them were used as tombs, probably for important people. In Indonesia, they are still commonly constructed for this purpose.

This cromlech is located on a wooded hilltop about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of Dolni Glavanak and comprises 12 rhyodacite stones, nine still standing, in a ring with a diameter of about 30 feet (9.1 meters). The standing stones are about 4 to 5 feet (1.2 to 1.5 meters) tall and trapezoidal in shape, the bases about 3 to 4 feet (1 meter) wide, and horizontal stones are laid between them. It was only discovered in 1998, and excavations have found bronze tools, which date the site’s construction back to about 700 to 500 BC. Burned human bones indicate that the circle was probably used for the disposal and consecration of loved ones.^[7]

3 Boscawen-Un, St. Buryan, UK

Located only about 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of the Merry Maidens, this circle resembles a sundial, with 19 standing stones in a rough ellipse surrounding a long, leaning central stone. The circle has a diameter of about 75 feet ((23 meters), and 18 of its stones, including the central one, are granite.

One stone in the southwestSW of the circle, and which the central stone points to, is made of quartz, and it is believed this stone marks the position of the Sun on the first day of winter. The summer solstice sunrise is the only moment of the year when the Sun fully illuminates every stone. It is unknown who constructed it, but bronze tools excavated from the site indicate it was built sometime during the Bronze Age.^[8]

2 Rujm el-Hiri, Golan Heights, Israel

This circle is located about 10 miles (16 km) east of the Sea of Galilee, so it is quite possible that Jesus visited it (most modern historians agree that Jesus probably existed). It is comprised of five concentric rings of about 42,000 basalt rocks, most of them small enough to be carried by hand, surrounding a central mound of stones and dirt. The outermost ring is about 520 feet (158 meters) wide and 8 feet (2.4 meters) tall, so only an aerial view can see the whole thing.

It is in the center of a vast plateau of hundreds of stone tombs and is thus likely the center of an ancient cemetery. The mound at the center is 65 feet (19.8 meters) wide and about 15 feet (4.6 meters) tall. There are two entrances, in the northeast and southeast, and the northern one follows a 20-foot-long (6-meter) path to the center. This path follows an approximate line to the summer solstice sunrise. Still, this approximation is so loose that astronomical purposes have been ruled out. Funerary purposes seem the most likely, but no human remains have yet been found anywhere in the circle.^[9]

1 Solstice Archaeological Park, Calcoene, Brazil

This circle is about 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Calcoene, on the bank of the Rego Grande in the Amazon rainforest, and was only discovered in 2006. It was quickly nicknamed “the Amazonian Stonehenge.” There are 127 stones of various heights, up to 15 feet (4.5 meters), in a circle about 100 feet (30.5 meters) wide.

Its purpose is generally believed to be astronomical. However, cremated human remains have been found in central burial pits and inside urns, thus indicating that important people were buried within the circle. One of the stones has a hole carved in it, allowing the Sun to shine through onto another rock, but this only happens on the winter solstice. Another rock is oriented so that on the same day of the year, December 21, its shadow disappears when the Sun is directly overhead.

The stones are all granite, and it is not known who constructed the circle or where the stones originated, but there are no other granite stones in the vicinity. The irregular shapes of the stone also have not been explained. Carbon dating of potsherds puts its construction anywhere from 2000 BC to 500 AD.^[10]