GLOSSARY
Mystifying, atmospheric, incredible... it’s hard to describe the experience of encountering an ancient stone circle or monoliths, dolmens and other curious structures (see overleaf for a glossary) while roaming around a megalithic site. Derived from the Greek words megas (large) and lithos (stone), the term was first used in 1849 by British antiquarian Algernon Herbert to describe the prehistoric stones that pepper the world’s surface. And there are a surprisingly large number of them. In his gazetteer The Stone Circles, archaeologist Aubrey Burl lists 1,303 in Britain, Ireland and Brittany, of which 508 are found in Scotland. Europe has 35,000 known megaliths and experts estimate there are a staggering 200,000 across North and South Korea. It’s believed that there are more to be discovered.