4,000-year-old stone circle found on Dartmoor

The first stone circle for more than a century has been discovered on Dartmoor. The set – at least 4,000 years old – is the highest circle in southern England and the second-largest on Dartmoor.

A view over Dartmoor, a region of moorland in the south of England 
[Credit: WikiCommons/lostajy]

Thirty-four metres (111 feet) in diameter and at 525 metres (1,722 ft) on the northern part of the moor near Sittaford Tor, the circle would have been “very impressive” and dominated the surrounding landscape, the researchers say.

The circle was discovered in 2007 by independent academic researcher Alan Endacott. Now geophysical investigations are revealing more about the ancient site.

“It is fantastic, very exciting,” said Andy Crabb, an archaeologist for the national park and Historic England.

“Most of them were pretty well researched by antiquarians and early archaeologist in Victorian times. To be able to investigate one now is really exciting.”

The first radio-carbon testing ever carried out on a Dartmoor circle, analysing the soil beneath stones, shows they fell about 4,000 years ago.

The newly discovered stone circle is the second largest on the moor 
[Credit: Dartmoor National Park]

Investigators are sure the stones were once upright because of packing material discovered around their bases.

The discovery fits a pattern of a “sacred” arc of similar stone circles, located in the north-eastern part of Dartmoor.

Eight separate circles form the crescent, from Whit Moor running south to Grey Wethers.

The layout of the arc suggests there was planning and liaison between the communities living on Dartmoor in the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age 5,000-4,000 years ago, researchers say.

Thirty of the stones in the Sittaford circle are lying flat. One is in a gap outside the circle and is incorporated into an unfinished enclosure wall.

Archaelogists say the stone circle provides an exciting opportunity to apply 
modern scientific methods to a previously unexamined circle 
[Credit: Dartmoor National Park]

Geophysical surveys have so far also revealed a wide ditch running in a line outside the circle.

Archaeologists think the stones probably came from Sittaford Tor, about a mile west of Fernworthy Reservoir.

Mr Crabb said the circle was discovered by Mr Endacott after undergrowth was destroyed in a controlled burn by commoners, exposing the stones.

The site is now being investigated thanks to a Heritage Lottery Funded scheme, Moor Than Meets The Eye. The information released so far comes from preliminary results.

Moor Than Meets The Eye, a partnership involving 12 bodies including the national park, Dartmoor commoners, Devon County Council, the Duchy of Cornwall and conservation organisations, has been given £1.9million from the National Lottery and will run for five years.

Source: The Plymouth Herald [May 10, 2015]