Buildings of worship are important places where nowadays we witness ceremonies like weddings and funerals.
Just like us, the ancient settlers of Orkney needed special places, so they built two amazing stone circles. The events which happened here were big, with lots of people standing and watching. Perhaps people came to the stone circles from all over Orkney to watch priests send messages to the gods.
The stone circles were surrounded by an enormous ditch nine metres wide,3 metres deep and filled with water.
Hundreds of people would have been organised by leaders to quarry the stones, move them and raise them. Building the circle would have happened over a long period of time.
Stones might have been put up to help the worshippers remember important people after they had died. You might even think of the stones as ‘stone people’.
