Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

One facet of this thread that hasn’t really been addressed in any detail is how stone circles might have been delineated. The rope and stake method is the one usually sited but that’s a very simple way of delineating a circle and rules out other ways and other considerations. The circle builders were quite capable of using the method of course (and probably did) but did they always use it. The method is neat and effective but it lacks one very important element - the element of ritual participation by all those who might be using the circle. Surely, when a circle the size of Avebury was being considered, the ritual aspect of marking it out would have been important. Off the top of my head I can think of three or four methods that would produce a reasonable circle - none of which involves a stake and a rope but would non-the-less be fairly effective while, more importantly, involving a greater degree of group participation.