Tradition guide
Prehistoric
Prehistoric sites connect places through shared lineage, practice, story, and pilgrimage across the global atlas.
112 sacred places share this lineage. Use the country and site-type filters to narrow in.
Atlas summary
Prehistoric sacred sites overview
Prehistoric sacred sites connect places through shared lineage, ritual use, memory, and pilgrimage practice across the Pilgrim Map atlas.
Use this page to compare country clusters, common place types, UNESCO-tagged landmarks, and the map distribution before exploring individual site pages.
| Coverage | 112 Prehistoric sacred places in the current atlas. |
|---|---|
| Country clusters | |
| Common place types |
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Search within Prehistoric sites
Showing 1-48 of 112 sites in this tradition guide
Achnabreck Rock Art Sites
Lochgilphead, Argyll and Bute, United Kingdom
On a series of natural rock outcrops in a forest above Kilmartin Glen, the most extensive prehistoric carvings in Scotland lie open to the sky....
Altare prenuragico di Monte d’Accoddi
Sassari, Sardinia, Italy
In the plains of northern Sardinia, a stepped pyramid rises—the only ziggurat-style structure in all of Europe....
Auchagallon Curved Cairn
Machrie, North Ayrshire, United Kingdom
On the west coast of the Isle of Arran, on a shelf of hillside above Machrie Bay, fifteen upright stones form a circle around the remains of a Bronze Age burial cairn....
Auchencar Standing Stone
Machrie, North Ayrshire, United Kingdom
On the west coast of the Isle of Arran, where the coastal road runs between the mountains and the sea, a tall blade of red sandstone rises from a sheep field near...
Ausevika Rock Carvings
Floro, Vestland, Norway
On a hillside above Hoydalsfjorden in western Norway, more than three hundred figures carved into slate tell the story of a Stone Age world....
Backies Broch
Golspie, Sutherland, United Kingdom
On a rocky hillock above the village of Golspie, the remains of Backies Broch look out over the Moray Firth and the North Sea....
Ballygowan Rock Art
Kilmartin, Argyll and Bute, United Kingdom
On a natural rock outcrop above Kilmartin Glen, more than seventy cup and ring marks dimple a surface that has not changed in five thousand years....
Ballymeanoch Neolithic site, Kilmartin Glen
Kilmartin, Alba / Scotland, United Kingdom
In Kilmartin Glen, where more than 350 ancient monuments cluster within six miles of a quiet village, Ballymeanoch holds its ground with particular intensity....
Ballynoe Stone Circle, Downpatrick, Ireland
Downpatrick, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Rising from the green fields of County Down, Ballynoe Stone Circle holds five thousand years of accumulated silence....
Baluachraig Cup and Ring Marks
Kilmartin, Argyll and Bute, United Kingdom
On exposed rock outcrops in Kilmartin Glen, Neolithic hands pecked cup-shaped hollows and concentric rings into the stone some five thousand years ago....
Banks Chambered Tomb
South Ronaldsay, Orkney Islands, United Kingdom
On the windswept southern tip of South Ronaldsay, a Neolithic community quarried a tomb from solid bedrock and used it for three centuries to bury their dead....
Blackhammer Chambered Cairn
Rousay, Orkney Islands, United Kingdom
On Rousay's southern coast, a short walk from the road, Blackhammer Chambered Cairn sits beneath its modern protective shelter....
Bodowyr Dolmen
Llangaffo, Cymru / Wales, United Kingdom
In a quiet farmer's field on Anglesey, three standing stones bear a mushroom-shaped capstone that has marked this hilltop for over five thousand years....
Bølareinen
Steinkjer, Trøndelag, Norway
On a vertical rock face beside the Bøla River in central Norway, a reindeer stands in stone as it has for more than five millennia....
Broch of Borwick
Sandwick, Orkney Islands, United Kingdom
The Broch of Borwick stands on a crumbling headland above the Atlantic on Orkney's west coast, a stone tower built around 500 BC and occupied for over a thousand years....
Broch of Burrian
North Ronaldsay, Orkney Islands, United Kingdom
At the southernmost tip of North Ronaldsay, Orkney's most remote inhabited island, the remains of an Iron Age broch stand on a low rocky promontory....
Broch of Gurness
Evie, Orkney Islands, United Kingdom
The Broch of Gurness rises from a rocky promontory on Orkney's northwest coast, overlooking the turbulent waters of Eynhallow Sound....
Broch of Mousa
Mousa, Shetland, United Kingdom
On the small, uninhabited island of Mousa in Shetland, a stone tower has stood for over two thousand years almost exactly as its builders left it....
Brora Pictish Cairn
Brora, Sutherland, United Kingdom
On the hills above the coastal town of Brora in Sutherland, a cairn attributed to the Pictish period stands as one of the least-documented monuments in a landscape dense...
Bruan Broch
Lybster, Caithness, United Kingdom
On a low rise beside the A99 in Scotland's far north, a grass-covered mound conceals the remains of an Iron Age broch....
Burraland Broch
Trondra, Shetland, United Kingdom
On the eastern coast of Mainland Shetland, the ruins of Burraland Broch stand on a promontory above Mousa Sound....
Burroughston Broch
Shapinsay, Orkney Islands, United Kingdom
At the northeastern corner of Shapinsay, far from the island's small settlement, Burroughston Broch stands on a hillock above the sea....
Cairn of Get
Ulbster, Alba / Scotland, United Kingdom
On a windswept hillside in Scotland's far north, a stone chamber has held its silence for over five thousand years....
Camster Cairns
Lybster, Alba / Scotland, United Kingdom
On the windswept peatlands of Caithness, two stone cairns rise from the heather as they have for over five thousand years....
Camster Cairns - The Long Cairn
Lybster, Caithness, United Kingdom
Camster Long rises from the open peatland of Caithness like a stone vessel set down on the moor and forgotten by all but the wind....
Camster Cairns - The Round Cairn
Lybster, Caithness, United Kingdom
On the peatlands of Caithness, a circular mound of grey stone rises from the heather....
Carn Liath Broch
Golspie, Sutherland, United Kingdom
Where the A9 hugs the coast between Golspie and Brora, a circular stone tower rises from a low headland overlooking the North Sea....
Carrol Broch
Brora, Sutherland, United Kingdom
Above Loch Brora in Sutherland, where the strath opens between hills of heather and birch, the ruins of Carrol Broch stand on a raised clearing surrounded by forest....
Chun Quoit
Bojewyan, England, United Kingdom
Rising from the West Penwith moorland, Chun Quoit is Cornwall's best-preserved Neolithic chambered tomb....
Coddu Vecchiu Grave
Alzachèna/Arzachena, Sardinia, Italy
In the Sardinian countryside near Arzachena, a granite stele rises four meters into the sky. Carved into its face is a doorway—not for the living, but for the dead....
Complesso Nuragico di Malchittu
Alzachèna/Arzachena, Sardinia, Italy
A 1.5-kilometer path climbs through granite landscape to a temple older than the Parthenon by a millennium....
Complesso Nuragico Romanzesu
Bitzi/Bitti, Sardinia, Italy
In a forest near the source of the river Tirso, a seven-hectare sanctuary complex speaks of Bronze Age pilgrimage on a grand scale....
Complesso Prenuragico di Monte Baranta
Alghero, Sardinia, Italy
On a hilltop three kilometers from Olmedo, a Copper Age complex challenges assumptions about prehistoric purpose....
Corrimony Cairn
Drumnadrochit, Alba / Scotland, United Kingdom
Hidden in a quiet Highland glen, Corrimony Chambered Cairn has kept watch over its buried dead for four thousand years....
Croft Moraig Stone Circle, Aberfeldy
Aberfeldy, Alba / Scotland, United Kingdom
On the shores of Loch Tay, three concentric rings of stone mark a place held sacred for five millennia....
Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn
Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, United Kingdom
On Cuween Hill, a few miles west of Kirkwall on Mainland Orkney, a low passage leads into the earth and opens into a chambered tomb five thousand years old....
Dolmen Ciuledda
Luras, Sardinia, Italy
In a valley northeast of Luras, a small megalithic structure has kept its chamber dry for nearly five millennia....
Dolmen di Billella o Bilella
Luras, Sardinia, Italy
Among the vermentino and nebiolo vines that cover the hillsides near Luras, a Neolithic dolmen rises less than a meter from the earth....
Dolmen di Ladas
Luras, Sardinia, Italy
Six meters of gallery. A covering slab nearly five meters long. A polished backing stone of fifteen square meters....
Dolmen Sa Coveccada
Mores, Sardinia, Italy
On a trachyte plateau south of Mores, three massive slabs of grey-pink stone support an 18-tonne capstone....
Domus de janas, Sas Concas
Onieri/Oniferi, Sardinia, Italy
In a red trachyte outcrop near Oniferi, 20 rock-cut chambers hold one of Sardinia's most mysterious collections of prehistoric art....
Drumskinny Stone Circle, Drumskinny, Ireland
County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Rising from drained bogland in County Fermanagh, Drumskinny preserves a complete Bronze Age ceremonial landscape: stone circle, kerbed cairn, and alignment, arranged with...
Duddo Five Stones, Duddo
Duddo, England, United Kingdom
Five ancient stones stand on a windswept knoll above the River Tweed, their surfaces grooved by four thousand years of weather into forms that seem almost alive....
Duloe Stone Circle
Tredinnick, England, United Kingdom
Eight quartz stones rise from a Cornish field, their whiteness still luminous after four millennia....
Dunamuck North Stone Row
Kilmartin, Argyll and Bute, United Kingdom
On the flat ground west of the River Add, where Kilmartin Glen opens into moorland and rough pasture, Dunamuck North Stone Row stands in quiet witness....
Dunamuck South Stone Row
Kilmichael Glassary, Argyll and Bute, United Kingdom
On level ground beside the River Add, two massive stone slabs stand where Bronze Age hands raised them four thousand years ago....
Dunbeath Broch
Dunbeath, Caithness, United Kingdom
Where the Dunbeath Water meets the Houstry Burn in the strath of Caithness, a drystone tower has stood for over two thousand years....
Dunchraigaig Cairn
Kilmartin, Argyll and Bute, United Kingdom
In one of Scotland's most concentrated sacred landscapes, Dunchraigaig Cairn has held the dead for four thousand years....
Showing 1-48 of 112 sites
Key questions
Prehistoric sacred-site questions
- What are Prehistoric sacred sites?
- Prehistoric sacred sites are places connected by shared lineage, practice, memory, ritual use, or pilgrimage tradition.
- Where can I find Prehistoric sacred sites?
- The strongest country clusters in this guide include United Kingdom, Italy, Norway, France, Brazil.
- What kinds of places are included?
- Common place types include stone circle, broch, chambered cairn, dolmen, cairn, rock art site.
- Can I map Prehistoric sacred sites?
- Yes. Compare country clusters and site types first, then open individual pages for coordinates, historical context, and visitor guidance.