Tradition guide
Prehistoric
Prehistoric sites connect places through shared lineage, practice, story, and pilgrimage across the global atlas.
311 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 | 311 Prehistoric sacred places in the current atlas. |
|---|---|
| Country clusters | |
| Common place types | |
| UNESCO heritage | 4 UNESCO-tagged Prehistoric sites appear in this browse view. |
Showing 193-240 of 311 sites in this tradition guide
Merry Maidens Stone Circle
Lamorna, England, United Kingdom
Rising from Cornish farmland near Land's End, the Merry Maidens stands as one of Britain's most complete Bronze Age stone circles....
Midhowe Broch
Rousay, Orkney Islands, United Kingdom
On the western coast of Rousay, where two steep gullies cut into the shoreline, a broch stands within its own small settlement....
Midhowe Chambered Cairn
Rousay, Orkney Islands, United Kingdom
On the western shore of Rousay, sheltered beneath a modern protective roof, lies the largest stalled cairn in Orkney....
Møllerstufossen Rock Carvings
Dokka, Rogaland, Norway
Beside the roar of Møllerstufossen waterfall on the Etna river, Mesolithic hunter-gatherers carved elk into exposed rock some eight thousand years ago....
Monte Santa Trega Hillfort
A Guarda, A Guarda, Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain
Monte Santa Trega rises 341 meters above the meeting point of the Miño river and the Atlantic, carrying two layers of history in one climb: the excavated stone foundations...
Monument torréen de Foce
Argiusta-Moriccio / Corse-du-Sud / Corsica, France
The Monument torréen de Foce is one of Corsica's best-preserved standalone Bronze Age torre structures — a single circular tower of cyclopean dry-stone masonry, standing...
Mor Stein
Shapinsay, Orkney Islands, United Kingdom
On the southeastern shore of Shapinsay, one of the inner Orkney Islands, a single standing stone rises roughly ten feet from the turf....
Moss Farm Road Stone Circle
Machrie, North Ayrshire, United Kingdom
On the western shore of the Isle of Arran, where a farm track leads into the ancient ceremonial moorland of Machrie, seven stones still stand in a broken ring....
Mount Schiehallion, Scotland
Aberfeldy, Alba / Scotland, United Kingdom
Rising like a sentinel at the heart of Scotland, Schiehallion carries one of the most evocative names in Gaelic geography: Sidh Chailleann, the Fairy Hill of the...
Mt. Beinn-na-Greine, Portree, Scotland
Portree, Alba / Scotland, United Kingdom
On the Isle of Skye, a modest peak carries an ancient name: Beinn na Greine, Mountain of the Sun....
Necropoli a Domus de Jana's di Ludurru
Budduso, Sardegna, Italy
A few hundred metres from the village of Budduso, six burial chambers carved from granite five thousand years ago compose the necropolis of Ludurru....
Necropoli di Li Muri
Alzachèna/Arzachena, Sardinia, Italy
On granite landscape near Arzachena, five stone cists surrounded by concentric circles mark the earliest megalithic expression in Sardinia....
Necropolis di Montessu
Sa Baronia/Villaperuccio, Sardinia, Italy
In a natural amphitheater of trachyte rock near Villaperuccio, over forty domus de janas—rock-cut tombs—line the curved face of a hill called the 'silent one.' For 1,500...
Necropolis of Pranu Mutteddu
Goni, Sardinia, Italy
Across 200,000 square meters of the Gerrei countryside near Goni, approximately sixty menhirs stand in pairs, groups, and rows....
Neolithic circular enclosure of Goseck, Germany
Markröhlitz, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
The Goseck Circle is a reconstructed Neolithic enclosure in Saxony-Anhalt, built around 4900 BC....
Ness of Brodgar
Stenness, Orkney Islands, United Kingdom
On the narrow isthmus between two lochs on Mainland Orkney, the Ness of Brodgar lies at the centre of a Neolithic world....
Nether Largie Mid Cairn
Kilmartin, Argyll and Bute, United Kingdom
Nether Largie Mid Cairn stands at the heart of Kilmartin Glen's linear cemetery, a two-kilometer procession of burial monuments stretching across the floor of one of...
Nether Largie North Cairn
Kilmartin, Argyll and Bute, United Kingdom
Nether Largie North Cairn stands second in a line of five burial monuments stretching through Kilmartin Glen in Argyll, Scotland....
Nether Largie South Cairn
Kilmartin, Argyll and Bute, United Kingdom
In the heart of Kilmartin Glen, Nether Largie South Cairn has held its ground for more than five thousand years....
Nether Largie standing stones, Argyll, Scotland
Kilmartin, Alba / Scotland, United Kingdom
Five massive stones stand in an X-shaped pattern at the heart of Kilmartin Glen, mainland Scotland's richest prehistoric landscape....
Newgrange
Donore, County Meath, Ireland
Five thousand years ago, people moved thirty-five hundred tons of stone to build a monument aligned with a single moment of sunrise on the shortest day of the year....
Nine Maidens stone ring, Cornwall
St. Columb Major, Cornwall, United Kingdom
On the high moorland of West Penwith, where Atlantic winds sweep across granite and gorse, the Nine Maidens stand in their ancient circle....
Nine Stones Close Stone Circle, Youlgreave
Derbyshire Dales, England, United Kingdom
Four weathered stones stand sentinel on Harthill Moor, remnants of a Bronze Age circle that once framed the setting Moon between the twin pillars of Robin Hood's Stride....
Numancia
Garray, Garray, Soria, Castile and León, Spain
Numantia is the excavated hilltop stronghold above Soria where the Arevaci, a Celtiberian people, resisted Rome for two decades before a final siege under Scipio...
Nuraghe Arrubiu
Arrolli/Orroli, Sardinia, Italy
In the fourteenth century BC, while Mycenaean ships plied Mediterranean waters, the Nuragic people raised a basalt fortress that would become the largest of its kind....
Nuraghe of Saint Constantine, Sa domo de su re (The house of the king)
Turalva/Torralba, Sardinia, Italy
In the Valley of the Nuraghi, one structure rises above all others. The Sardinians called it Sa Domo de su Re—the House of the King....
Old Scatness Broch and Iron Age Village
Virkie, Shetland, United Kingdom
In 1975, construction workers building a road to Sumburgh Airport cut through what appeared to be a natural grassy mound at the southern tip of Mainland Shetland....
Ousdale Broch
Helmsdale, Caithness, United Kingdom
In a sheltered valley where the Ousdale Burn cuts toward the sea, between the villages of Helmsdale and Berriedale on the Caithness-Sutherland border, a broch stands that...
Palaghju (Palaggiu) Alignment
Sartène, Corsica, France
Deep in the Corsican maquis near Sartene, 258 megaliths rise in seven groups, making Palaghju the largest alignment of standing stones in the entire Mediterranean....
Parque Nacional Serra da Capivara
São Raimundo Nonato, Brazil
Deep in the semi-arid caatinga of northeastern Brazil, over 1,200 rock shelters hold more than 30,000 paintings spanning millennia....
Pena Molexa
Narón, Galicia, Spain
On a hillside above the parish of O Val in Naron, Galicia, a multi-ton granite boulder shaped like a lunar disc rests between boat-shaped supporting stones....
Penedo de Lexim
Mafra, Igreja Nova, Mafra, Lisbon / Lisboa Region, Portugal
Above the Ribeira de Cheleiros, a volcanic rock outcrop formed some seventy-five million years ago rises abruptly from the countryside near Mafra....
Penrhos Feiliw standing stones
Holyhead, Anglesey, United Kingdom
On Holy Island, at the western edge of Anglesey, two standing stones rise in near-identical form....
Pentre Ifan Dolmen
Nevern, Pembrokeshire, United Kingdom
On a hillside in west Wales, a sixteen-ton capstone floats on three slender uprights....
Petroglyphs, Cholpon Ata
Çolpon-Ata, Issyk-Kul Region, Kyrgyzstan
On the northern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul, hundreds of glacial boulders carry carvings of deer, ibex, horses, hunters and solar discs left by Bronze Age herders and Saka...
Piève statue-menhirs
Piève / Haute-Corse / Corsica, France
In the village of Piève in northern Corsica, three Bronze Age granite figures stand before the parish church of San Quilicu....
Pla de Petracos Sanctuary
Castell de Castells, Castell de Castells, Alicante, Valencian Community, Spain
Eight sheltered overhangs on a limestone cliff in the mountains of Alicante hold one of Europe's earliest known sanctuaries....
Praying Hands of Mary
Fortingall, Alba / Scotland, United Kingdom
Deep in Glen Lyon, Scotland's longest and most storied glen, two weathered stones rise from the hillside like hands pressed together in prayer....
Quoyness Chambered Cairn
Sanday, Orkney Islands, United Kingdom
On the Elsness peninsula of Sanday, one of Orkney's northern isles, a chambered cairn of exceptional preservation stands near the shore....
Rathcroghan
Tulsk, County Roscommon, Ireland
Rathcroghan was the sacred heart of Connacht for over 5,500 years. This ancient royal site, spread across the Roscommon plains, contains more than 240 monuments including...
Rehaghiu (Rinaghju) Menhirs
Sartène, Corsica, France
Beneath a grove of trees on Corsica's Cauria plateau, forty-six granite menhirs stand in two parallel rows, creating what feels like a processional path through Bronze Age...
Ri Cruin Cairn
Kilmartin, Argyll and Bute, United Kingdom
Ri Cruin Cairn stands at the southern end of Kilmartin Glen's linear cemetery, a two-kilometre alignment of Bronze Age burial cairns running through the floor of an Argyll...
Ring of Bookan
Stromness, Orkney Islands, United Kingdom
On a windswept rise northwest of the Ring of Brodgar, a broad ditch and raised platform mark where Neolithic people placed a monument at the boundary between the everyday...
Ring of Brodgar
Stromness, Orkney, United Kingdom
On a windswept isthmus between two lochs in Orkney, thirty-six ancient stones stand in an almost perfect circle, remnants of sixty that once marked one of Britain's most...
Sacred pit of Garlo, Bulgaria
Krasava, Pernik, Bulgaria
Near the village of Garlo in western Bulgaria, thirteen stone steps descend into the earth to a round domed chamber built over three thousand years ago....
Sacred Well of Saint Christina
Paulle/Paulilatino, Sardinia, Italy
Every 18.6 years, moonlight descends a perfectly carved staircase to touch the sacred spring at its base....
Sammallahdenmäki
Rauma, Rauma / Lappi – Satakunta, Finland
Sammallahdenmäki is a cluster of 36 granite burial cairns raised on a forested ridge in Lappi, Rauma, between roughly 1500 and 500 BCE....
Sanctuary of Panóias
Vila Real, Vale de Nogueiras, Vila Real, Vila Real / Norte, Portugal
In the late 2nd to early 3rd century CE, the Roman senator Gaius Calpurnius Rufinus inscribed the granite outcrops of Panóias with an unusually explicit sacred law: the...
Showing 193-240 of 311 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, Spain, France, Sweden, Turkey.
- What kinds of places are included?
- Common place types include dolmen, stone circle, archaeological site, broch, rock art site, chambered cairn.
- 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.