Stone 12
Also known asAvebury Stone 12 · ST12 · Stone no. 12
DatedEst. 3470–2760 BCE
Photo JimChampion · CC BY-SA 3.0Photo taken at this location (Wikimedia Commons)Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
Stone 12 is a megalith in Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is also known as Avebury Stone 12, ST12, Stone no. 12. It lies at 51.4273° N, 1.8550° W.
Catalogue recordSources and licences
Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
Stone 12
ContextSources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
A megalith is a large stone used to build a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified in Europe, from Sweden in the north to the Mediterranean in the south, and megaliths are found worldwide. The word was first used in 1849 by the British antiquarian Algernon Herbert for Stonehenge, and comes from the Greek for "great stone". Most extant megaliths were erected between the Neolithic, with some earlier Mesolithic examples, and the Bronze Age. The oldest known ceremonial structures in the world, Göbekli Tepe and Nevalı Çori in Turkey, are dated to about 9000 BCE. The regional background, “Megalith (type not specified)”, is given below.
DatingSources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
No scientific date has been published for this site. Monuments of this type in Kingdom of the Netherlands are generally dated 3470 BCE to 2760 BCE; the site itself may fall inside or outside that range.
Dutch hunebedden were built between 3470 and 3250 BC and were used until about 2760 BC.
Setting
249 other recorded monuments lie within 10 km (79 within 1 km, 172 within 5 km), 77 of them of the same type. The site belongs to a dense concentration of monuments. In Kingdom of the Netherlands, 87 of the 93 recorded monuments are of this type.
The nearest recorded monuments are Stone 14 (0.0 km north-west, megalith); Stone 10 (0.0 km south-east, megalith); Stone 9 (0.0 km south-east, megalith); Stone 16 (0.0 km north-west, megalith).
ProtectionSources for this section
Sources for this section
No heritage designation is recorded for the site.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Megalith (type not specified)
A megalith is a large stone used to build a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified in Europe, from Sweden in the north to the Mediterranean in the south, and megaliths are found worldwide. The word was first used in 1849 by the British antiquarian Algernon Herbert for Stonehenge, and comes from the Greek for "great stone". Most extant megaliths were erected between the Neolithic, with some earlier Mesolithic examples, and the Bronze Age. The oldest known ceremonial structures in the world, Göbekli Tepe and Nevalı Çori in Turkey, are dated to about 9000 BCE.
The most widely known megaliths are not tombs. The main kinds are single stones, such as menhirs and monoliths; multiple stones, such as stone circles (cromlechs) and alignments; dolmens; cists; and megalithic walls, also called cyclopean walls. Megalithic art, painted or carved on kerbstones, orthostats or capstones, is found in many parts of Western Europe, with the main concentrations in England, Malta, Ireland, Brittany and Iberia, and it is highly abstract.
Megaliths were used for a variety of purposes, from boundary markers of territory to reminders of past events, to being part of the religion of a society. Contemporary megalith-building cultures exist in Indonesia, among the Toraja and in the Marapu tradition. In the Atlas, a record marked only "megalith" lacks a more specific type, usually because the source did not say, and it receives a broad date range.
Dating relies on associated finds when a monument is excavated; otherwise it depends on shape and comparison.
When visiting, look first at the setting, and at whether the stone looks worked or natural.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Megalith, Wikipedia: Menhir, Wikipedia: Dolmen, Wikipedia: Megalithic art · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photographs
4 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
JimChampion · CC BY-SA 3.0Photo taken at this location (Wikimedia Commons)
Trevor Rickard · CC BY-SA 2.0Photo taken at this location (Wikimedia Commons)
Gazimoff · CC BY-SA 3.0Photo taken at this location (Wikimedia Commons)
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 3470–2760 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for megaliths in Kingdom of the Netherlands; this site has not been dated itself. Dutch hunebedden were built between 3470 and 3250 BC and were used until about 2760 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
Kingdom of the Netherlands
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 51°25′38″ N, 1°51′18″ WFor a GPS or map app: 51.42732, -1.85498
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q131296626wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
Report a correctionWrong date, name, photograph or source? Tell us and it will be put right.
Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Compiled from open records (Wikidata, CC0; OpenStreetMap, ODbL) and a regional background article based on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Wikidata Q131296626CC0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0