Stone circles in the European Arctic Region: aspects of chronology and attribution

• Published in: OOO "Zhurnal "Voprosy Istorii"
• Main Authors: Kargapoltsev, Sergei, Kazanski, Michel, Lapina, Irina
• Other Authors: ORIENT ET MÉDITERRANÉE : Textes, Archéologie, Histoire (OM), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Collège de France (CdF (institution))-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2024
• Subjects: Kola Peninsula; Arctic Region; stone circles; European Barbaricum; fur trade; Roman Period; Great Migration; [SHS]Humanities and Social Sciences; Arctic; kola peninsula; Subarctic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04529366; https://hal.science/hal-04529366/document; https://hal.science/hal-04529366/file/Kargapoltsev_Alii_Fourrure_Arctique_2024.pdf; https://doi.org/10.31166/VoprosyIstorii202403Statyi11

International audience A rare type of megaliths on the Kola Peninsula, or the so-called stone circles, was investigated near the settlement of Kilp’iavr (Murmansk region). The overall chronology of the objects of the kind in Central and Northern Europe is from the Early Roman Period to the Middle Ages. The connection of stone circles of the Circum-Baltic Area with similar complexes in the Subarctic and Arctic areas of Norway and the north-west of the Kola Peninsula has been suggested. The article supposes that the site in question was a funeral cenotaph. The appearance of the stone circles so far in the North possibly was a result of the emergence of fur trade, with its routes controlled by troops of militarised barbarians of predominantly Germanic and Finnish origin.