Temple Wood Stone Circles
Temple Wood (Half Moon Wood) · Temple Wood North and South
Late Neolithic – Early Bronze Age·Kilmartin Late Neolithic / Early Bronze Age·🇬🇧 Kilmartin Glen, Argyll & Bute, Scotland, United Kingdom
About
About Temple Wood Stone Circles
Two stone circles at south end of Kilmartin Glen's linear cemetery: South Circle 13 m diameter ring of 13 standing stones (five remaining) enclosing central cist and 10 m round cairn with timber-to-stone transition (pit ring c.3000 BCE replaced by stone circle c.2600 BCE); North Circle 12 m diameter oval of 10 stones plus central cist. Between them Bronze Age cairn rows. Shows 2000-year monumental evolution from wood to stone with jet, beaker and food vessel burials. Excavated by Scott and Mercer.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Double spiral carving on east stone meaning
Theories
- 012000-year sequence as ancestor-focus evolving with metallurgy
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- Timber c.3000 BCE; stone c.2600–1000 BCE
- Period
- Late Neolithic – Early Bronze Age
- Culture
- Kilmartin Late Neolithic / Early Bronze Age
- Purpose
- Ceremonial circles and burial precinct
- Abandoned
- Iron Age
- Rediscovered
- Excavated 1954–58 (Scott), 1970s (Mercer)
- Excavation
- Excavated
Timber c.3000 BCE; stone c.2600–1000 BCE
Initial construction
c. 1375 CE
Abandonment
On the ground
Structures & features
56.1329° N · 5.4854° W · 40 m · 3 mapped features
South Circle
stone circle13 m ring of 13 stones with central cairn and cist
56.1329° N · 5.4854° WNorth Circle
stone circle12 m oval of 10 stones with central cist
56.1331° N · 5.4853° WEast decorated stone
decorated stoneStone with faint double spiral rock art
56.1329° N · 5.4853° W
Gallery