Giant's Ring facts for kids
The Giant's Ring is an amazing ancient monument located near Belfast, Northern Ireland. It's a special type of prehistoric site called a henge. Imagine a huge circle made of earth! This place has been important for thousands of years. It's officially protected as a State Care Historic Monument, which means it's a very important historical site. It also has ASAI status, meaning it's an Area of Significant Archaeological Interest.
The Giant's Ring is a massive circular area, about 180 m (590 ft) across. That's like almost two football fields! It covers about 2.8 hectares (6.9 acres) of land. Around this big circle, there's a tall earth bank, about 3.5 m (11 ft) high. This bank has five openings, and at least three of them were probably part of the original design. Inside the circle, a bit to the east, you'll find a small passage tomb. This is a type of ancient burial place.
A Look Back in Time: The Giant's Ring's History
The Giant's Ring is super old! It was built during the Neolithic period, around 2700 BC. To give you an idea, that means it's even older than the famous Egyptian pyramids!
This ancient site has always been used by people in some way. It's close to Shaw's Bridge over the River Lagan, a spot that people have crossed for a very long time, even since the Stone Age. The people who built the Giant's Ring probably used it as a place to meet up or as a special memorial for those who had passed away.
Ancient Beliefs and Uses
Archaeologists, who are like history detectives, believe that the Giant's Ring and other similar tombs in Ireland show that ancient people had strong beliefs about honoring the dead. They might have thought of these places as ways to remember and respect their ancestors. This was just one type of belief in Neolithic Europe. Other ancient monuments might have been built for different reasons, perhaps to honor the sun or other parts of nature.
Later on, in the 1700s, the Giant's Ring was even used for horse racing! More recently, in the early 1990s, experts from the Queen's University of Belfast studied a nearby ritual site to learn even more about its past.
