This Ancient Land Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bluestone and sarsen

Stonehenge has baffled archaeologists for centuries and they are still none the wiser as to who placed the stones in their circular arrangement, and why. Several theories have made the rounds, and these include Stonehenge being erected as a place of healing, a place for human sacrifice, a temple to the sun, an astronomical time piece, and even an old legend where the devil stole the stones from an old lady's garden in Ireland. We do know that the first set the stones were placed approximately 5,000 years ago, and it was built in different stages over a 1,500 year period. Several artifacts have been found which give a date stamp to the Neolithic period. We do know they are made from bluestone and sarsen stone. We can only guess at how the stones were transported to the site; either by sea from where the bluestone was quarried from the Preseli Hills in Wales, or over land where the sarsen stone was quarried from several locations in the south of England. Stonehenge today attracts just under a million visitors a year, and along with the nearby Avebury stone circle, has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Answer: Orkney

"On the far curving shore of the bay lies Skara Brae, hazy through the sea-haar" is an excerpt taken from "Rockpools and Daffodils", a collection of short stories written by Scottish poet George Mackay Brown (1921-1996). Skara Brae dates back to approximately 2000 BC. Situated on top of the Bay of Skaill, eight Neolithic dwellings have survived centuries of coastal erosion. They lay underneath sand dunes until a great storm in 1850 unearthed part of their remains. As a result of archaeological excavations, a whole community was discovered including foundation walls, stone furniture and a distinct style of pottery known to have been manufactured in the region. As part of its preservation, new protection measures are being carried out for future generations. A Victorian glass roof proved problematic as moisture from the glass had penetrated the walled structure. Since then, a green roof membrane has covered the worst affected area.

Skara Brae is part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney, a collective group of historic sites which also includes Maeshowe, the Ring of Brodgar, and the Standing Stones of Stenness.

Answer: Castlerigg

The ever changing landscape gives the stone circle at Castlerigg an extra mysticism. One day they can be shrouded in mist or fog, and the next day their stones stand proudly in bright sunlight below blue skies. Situated close to Keswick in the Lake District National Park, the site is believed to be the oldest stone circle in Britain, possibly dating back 4000 to 5000 years ago.

There are 40 stones still at the site in an oval shaped ring, the tallest being 2.3 metres high. Rock art has been found on one of the stones, but centuries of natural ageing has eroded the spiral circles so that only a faint line still remains.

It is possible the site was used as trading place to buy and exchange axes, as remains have been located during archaeological excavations.

There is also speculation that some of the stones are aligned to the nearby Thelkeld Knott hill when the sun rises during the autumn equinox, making people believe the site was used by ancient astronomers.

Answer: Janiform

Janiform is being Janus-faced, or having a face on two sides, which aptly describes the larger of the stones. Boa Island was named after an Irish deity called Badhbh, who along with her sisters Morrigan and Macha, were Celtic Goddess associated with war. Caldragh Cemetery, where the stones are located, dates back to an early Christian era, but the stones are believed to be Iron Age or earlier.

They may signify an Irish deity such as Badhbh, or they could represent the fact that heads had a great significance in Celtic culture as they were believed to have contained their spirits after death. Made from sandstone, the janiform figure stands at 73cm high with interlaced markings between both faces, believed to represent their hair. With pointed chins and tongues sticking out, they are not the most attractive looking statues, but their historic value is priceless.

The less defined Lustymore figure was located in a Christian graveyard on nearby Lustymore Island and transferred to Boa Island in 1939. Both figures have not stood the test of time very well. Steps have been made by placing a canopy over them to reduce damage caused by frost erosion.

Answer: Men an Tol

Legends and old wives tales have always passed down from children to children. I remember as a child walking along shingle beaches on the south coast of England, looking for small stones with holes worn away by erosion, supposedly bringing good luck to whoever found them. I still look for the stones today, as well as four-leafed clovers on grassy meadows! Old legends say that the holed stone at Men-an-Tor was supposed to bring luck and heal illnesses. An old custom was to pass a naked child with rickets through the hole three times towards the sun and then dragged through the grass afterwards.

The child would then be cured. Believed to date back to the Bronze Age, Men-an-Tor, which simply means 'holed stone', is a set of two standing stones made of granite with a central stone which has a doughnut-shaped hole.

The original alignment of the stones is believed to have been in a triangular shape, possibly part of a stone circle with the holed stone as an altar piece.

Answer: Dolmen

Another word used for this type of burial chamber is dolmen, quoit or cromlech. Pentra Ifan, or Ivan's Village, is an imposing megalithic dolmen that was used for ancient burials. Providing a ghostly silhouette on the side of the hill, it has a commanding view over the Nevern Valley overlooked by the Preseli Mountains. Dating back to approximately 3500 BC, the dolmen consists of three tall shards of stone supporting a massive capstone, believed to weigh over 16 tons. Next to these are three other stones, two of which were believed to be upright portal stones, and the third possibly used for blocking the entrance.

The whole structure would have been built up in to a mound using earth and smaller stones. Welsh fairy folk called Tylwyth Teg have sometimes been seen frolicking around the stones.

They have been described in folklore as "Little children in clothes like soldiers' clothes with red caps".

Answer: Cairn

A cairn is a man made mound, or stack of stones, and can either be modern or ancient. The ancient cairns are located all over the world, some built by the Inuit in Alaska, the Norse in Greenland, the Buddhists in Mongolia, and the Quechuan in South America. Balnuaran of Clava, or Clava Cairn, is a set of three burial mounds, two of which have an entrance and walkway passage through to the central chamber.

Not only was it a prehistoric cemetery, but in all probability a celestial marker because of the location of where the stones were placed. According to researchers who decipher megalithic astronomy, the meaning of the name Balnuaran is taken from 'bal' meaning pole and 'nuaran' meaning Milky Way. Clava Cairn was built in around 2500 BC, and was used for the burial of only one or two people.

They are surrounded by standing stones and some of the stones in the cairn have circular depressions marked into them. Megalithic art of this nature has appeared at other sites all across Europe.

The recommended times of day to visit are near sunset or sunrise to appreciate the full atmospheric conditions.

Answer: The mound in a dark grove

Surrounded by a circle of kerb stones alongside a narrow bank and ditch, the site was originally built as a henge in approximately 3000 BC. Around 1000 years later, a burial chamber was constructed over the henge out of dry stone walling and with an entrance portal made of larger stones.

Inside the chamber was a free-standing carved stone with a spiral inscription, but it is uncertain what purpose this served. A replica stands outside the mound today and the original has since been moved to its new home at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff. Excavations carried out in 1865, and later 1927, discovered charred human remains, a stone bead, flint arrowheads and mussel shells. Visitors flock to Bryn Celli Ddu during the summer solstice to carry out their pagan rituals and to watch the sun shine directly through the entrance to the back of the chamber.

Answer: Picts

In 1781, the foundations of the church were being dug when the discovery was made. There are conflicting stories on the naming of the stone. Some say that the gravedigger was called Rotteny and the stone was named after him. Others claim that the stone was named after Admiral Lord Rodney, in honour of his victory in 1782 over the French fleets during the American War of Independence. Romans called the Picts the 'painted ones', and this name is certainly apt due to the intricately made carvings on stones that still remain in evidence today. Rodney's Stone is believed to have been carved during the 8th century. Made out of sandstone, the slab of grey is inscribed with a cross with interlacing, and two fish monsters on the reverse. Below the fish monsters is another design called the 'Pictish beast', which is said to resemble a sea horse or dragon, and some even say the Lock Ness Monster.

Answer: Ogham

The old Irish form of writing called Ogham was used predominantly between the 5th and 6th centuries. As paper had not yet reached Europe from China, stones were used to record letters of the alphabet by scoring deep ridges with a sharp implement. These were read from bottom to top, and when scored into stone, resembled horizontal, vertical and angled strokes of one or more lines.

The Ogham alphabet consisted of 20 letters and five additional letters called forfeda. The 20 letters were associated with trees as they were sacred to the druids.

They included B for Beithe (Birch), S for Sail (Willow), L for Luis (Rowan) and D for Dair (Oak). Approximately 400 stone monuments remain with the Ogham inscription today, the majority located in Ireland, but others have been found in Wales, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and to a lesser degree, England.

It is believed the alphabet was also scored into trees to mark boundaries of ownership, but proof of this has died along with our ancestors.