Editing Stone row

{{short description|Linear row of standing stones}}
[[File:Down tor circle & row 5.JPG|right|thumb|200px|alt=Line of upright, angular stones receding into rolling, grassy terrain|[[Down Tor]] stone row on Dartmoor, UK]]

A '''stone row''' or '''stone alignment''' is a linear arrangement of [[megalith]]ic [[standing stone]]s set at intervals along a common axis or series of axes, usually dating from the later [[Neolithic]] or [[Bronze Age]].<ref>Power (1997), p.23</ref> Rows may be individual or grouped, and three or more aligned stones can constitute a row.

==Description==
[[File:Alignement Kerlescan Carnac.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Parallel rows of upright, flat-sided stones set in a grassy field with trees in the background|Part of the [[Kerlescan]] alignment in Carnac, Brittany]]

The term alignment is sometimes taken to imply that the rows were placed purposely in relation to other factors such as other monuments or topographical or astronomical features. Archaeologists treat stone rows as discrete features however and alignment refers to the stones being lined up with one another rather than anything else. Their purpose is thought to be religious or ceremonial perhaps marking a processional route. Another theory is that each generation would erect a new stone to contribute to a sequence that demonstrated a people's continual presence.

Stone rows can be few metres or several kilometres in length and made from stones that can be as tall as 2m, although 1m high stones are more common. The terminals of many rows have the largest stones and other [[megalithic]] features are sometimes sited at the ends, especially burial [[cairn]]s. The stones are placed at intervals and may vary in height along the sequence, to provide a graduated appearance, though it is not known whether this was done deliberately. Stone rows  were erected by the later [[Neolithic]] and [[Bronze Age]] peoples in the British Isles, parts of [[Scandinavia]] and northern France. 

[[File:Castlenalacht3.jpg|thumb|[[Castlenalacht Stone Row]], [[County Cork]], Ireland]]
A well known example is the [[Carnac stones]], a complex of stone rows in [[Brittany]]. There are a number of examples on [[Dartmoor]] including the row at [[Stalldown Barrow]] and three rows at [[Drizzlecombe]] and the [[Hill O Many Stanes]] in Caithness. In Britain they are exclusively found in isolated moorland areas.

==Examples==
* [[Beenalaght]] - Six stones (one fallen), [[County Cork]], Ireland
*[[Coolcoulaghta Standing Stones]] - two stones, County Cork, Ireland
*[[Eightercua]] - Four stones, [[County Kerry]], Ireland
*[[Knocknakilla]] - Four stones (one fallen), County Cork, Ireland
*[[Maughanasilly Stone Row]] - five stones (one fallen), County Cork, Ireland

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==Sources==
* Ó Nualláin, Seán. "Stone Rows in the South of Ireland". ''Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature'', volume 88C, 1988. {{jstor|25516044}}
* Power, Denis. ''Archaeological inventory of County Cork, Volume 3: Mid Cork''. Stationery Office, 1992. {{ISBN|978-0-7076-4933-7}}
* Lancaster Brown, P. (1976). ''Megaliths, myths, and men: an introduction to astro-archaeology''. New York: Taplinger Pub. Co.
* [[Clive Ruggles|Ruggles, Clive]].  "[https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1994JHAS...25....1R The Stone Rows of South-west Ireland: A First Reconnaissance]".  ''Journal for the History of Astronomy, Archaeoastronomy'', Supplement, volume 25, 1994

==External links==
{{commons category|Stone rows}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20041217175906/http://www.eng-h.gov.uk/mpp/mcd/sa.htm English Heritage Monument Description Thesaurus listing]
*[http://www.megalithic.co.uk/mapserv/frames.html?layer=scr&zoomsize=2&map=%2Fsrv%2Fwww%2Fhtdocs%2Fmapserv%2Fmegp.map&program=%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmapserv40&root=%2Fmapserv&map_web_imagepath=%2Fsrv%2Fwww%2Fhtdocs%2Fmapserv%2Ftmp%2F&map_web_imageurl=%2Fmapserv%2Ftmp%2F&map_web_template=itasca_adds_frames.html Megalith Map of Stone Circles and Rows]

{{Neolithic Europe}}
{{Prehistoric technology|state=expanded}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stone Row}}
[[Category:Megalithic monuments]]
[[Category:Types of monuments and memorials]]
[[Category:Bronze Age Europe]]
[[Category:Stone Age Europe]]
[[Category:Stone monuments and memorials]]