reppin’ nature (David O’Connor)

Why Were Megaliths Built?
youtube.com/shorts/NZ6hZH4KNq...

3 days ago | [YT] | 82

reppin’ nature (David O’Connor)

I was recently asked what is my favourite megalithic site.

After visiting hundreds of sites, it’s hard to choose one, for me it’s either the Ring of Brodgar or the Callanish Standing Stones.

I would have to say though the Callanish Standing Stones, there’s nowhere else quite like it.

Callanish is one of the most beautiful, complete and impressive megalithic complexes and landscapes on the planet.

This is a site which is thought to be 5,000 years with stones carved from rock that’s almost 3 billion years old. It’s unimaginably ancient, deeply connected to the Earth and before life as we know it.

The stones feel alive. Connected with the land and a reminder from our ancient ancestors that the earth is alive, and we are part of it.

Callanish feels like a layered megalithic site. It unites the major megalithic forms. You have the circle, the rows, the main central standing stone, the cairn, the natural rock formations of Cnoc an Tursa, all set within an incredible landscape.

It doesn’t feel like a monument. It feels like a complete system. A place deeply connected to the earth, the sky, and the people who built it.

I am returning to the Isle of Lewis next month with a group and I can’t wait to show them this incredible place!

~ This is a film I’ve shared of the Callanish Standing Stones. Cheers
https://youtu.be/Ek0ifMD21kc?is=WUqee...

1 week ago | [YT] | 91

reppin’ nature (David O’Connor)

Why are there so many dolmens in Portugal…and so many stone circles in Scotland?

After visiting hundreds of sites across Portugal and Scotland, this is something which has been bugging me a wee bit!

I’ve been to a fair few dolmens now in Portugal and I’ve only really scratched the surface. I don’t know how many dolmens there are in Portugal (or if anyone knows!) but I’d estimate it’s in the late hundreds if not over 1,000.

In Portugal there are many dolmens and yet very few stone circles. We have cromlechs in Portugal, I’m not sure how many cromlechs there are exactly in Portugal but perhaps up to a dozen. And yet Portugal has one of the oldest stone circles in Europe, Almendres Cromlech which I shared a video of recently. There are very few stone circles.

In Scotland, it’s the opposite, there’s well over 500 stone circles. Hundreds of stone circles alongside cairns and standing stones.

So why the difference?

You’ll often see this explained in terms of burial, ritual or astronomy and that may well be part of the story.

But when you’re actually out at these sites, again and again, what stands out more is their placement in the landscape. The choice of stone, the positioning, the relationship to water and the wider environment.

For me, it comes back to the landscape. Scotland is one of the most water-rich places in Europe.

Water is everywhere, lochs, rivers, wetlands, but not always usable.

Portugal is different. Water is more seasonal, tied to rivers, valleys and specific locations, with long dry periods.

The more I look into this the more it feels like it always comes back to water. I discussed this in my recent post on the pyramids and my film The Forgotten Purpose of Megaliths which I’ll link below.

And when you look at the structures themselves, you see that difference.

Stone circles are open and spread out across the landscape.

Dolmens are enclosed, compact, controlled spaces.

In Portugal, the dominant megalithic form is dolmens which are contained.

In Scotland, the systems open out, stone circles spread across the landscape.

But interestingly, Scotland also has cairns. Contained spaces within that wider system.

To me these don’t feel like random monuments or symbolic structures.

They look like what I call Earth-centric technology. Structures built to work with the land itself. Not separate from it but part of it.

They feel like different ways of working with the land.

The same underlying need. A different expression depending on the environment.

~ I go into this in more detail in my film The Forgotten Purpose of Megaliths.
https://youtu.be/s82bhgMsRCI?is=G-PsP...

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1 week ago (edited) | [YT] | 84

reppin’ nature (David O’Connor)

NEW VIDEO | NEW VIDEO | Kintraw Standing Stone | More Than a Marker?
https://youtu.be/C89nrOKidnM?is=nlW6H...

Kintraw Standing Stone sits just north of Kilmartin Glen, overlooking Loch Craignish on Scotland’s west coast.

Often described as a burial site, this monument is part of a wider landscape of cairns and prehistoric structures. But when you look at its placement, scale, and position in the land, it raises bigger questions about purpose.

This is one site within a much larger system.

1 week ago | [YT] | 22

reppin’ nature (David O’Connor)

Anta da Cavada is yet another very impressive dolmen in Portugal.

It’s in the Coimbra district, set in a beautiful landscape and this dolmen is thought to be 6,000 years old.

It was originally covered by a mound of earth and stone. What remains today is the chamber, formed by nine upright stones and a massive capstone.

The chamber is a compact, enclosed space, it’s stood for millennia and being there it’s hard not to appreciate the effort and intent behind it…

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1 week ago | [YT] | 99

reppin’ nature (David O’Connor)

What if the pyramids weren’t built as monuments but as infrastructure?

For thousands of years we’ve been asking the same questions. Why were they built, how were they built, when were they built, and who built them.

But the question that’s always interested me most is why in a practical sense.

After being inside the Great Pyramid, nothing about it felt like it was built for people. It feels functional, clinical, and industrial on a massive scale.

Over the last few years I’ve visited hundreds of megalithic sites across Europe and you start to notice patterns.

The same principles appear again and again. The choice of stone, the placement in the landscape, alignments with light, and a consistent relationship with water.

It all feels very intentional. There’s nothing random about these places.

So instead of seeing the pyramids as isolated monuments, I see them as part of a much bigger system.

In Egypt everything revolved around water. Too much water brought flooding. Too little brought famine.

It was life or death. Survival depended on managing that balance.

And when you look at the design, it suggests interaction with water in some way. Not just symbolic, but physical through movement, flow, pressure, or containment.

When survival is at stake, people don’t build monuments. They build systems.

That’s how I’ve come to see the pyramids. Not just as architecture, but as infrastructure.

Something designed to work with the land, the sky, and water itself. Part of a system built for survival and the continuation of life.

I go into this in more detail in my video Why the Pyramids Were Built as Infrastructure which I’ve linked below. Cheers
https://youtu.be/f01xvz-qiC8?is=X7942...

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 99

reppin’ nature (David O’Connor)

NEW VIDEO | Fionn’s Rock | Natural Formation or Something More?

https://youtu.be/TKbDzUQukA8?is=LGdl1...

Fionn’s Rock, also known as the Praying Hands of Mary, in Glen Lyon, Scotland.

This striking split rock formation stands around 5 metres tall and is generally considered to be a natural formation. I was curious having seen other split stones at sites such as Clava Cairns and the Ring of Brodgar.

Are these just natural features or were certain formations recognised and used?

In this video I explore the landscape, the presence of the stone, and the idea that natural formations may have been the earliest prototype megaliths. Places that were identified first, and later echoed in built structures.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 68

reppin’ nature (David O’Connor)

Some strange rock formations in Portugal…

Gaia and I went for a hike today to Campo de Lapiás da Pedra Furada in Sintra.

These limestone karst formations are 95 million years old and the stones look very strange as if they were made by man and not nature. The stones take different shapes and are set within a labyrinth of paths amid mossy oaks, gorse and bushes. It’s quite easy to get lost which I did a few times!

It’s not far from Lapiás das Lameiras which has stones shaped like an elephant, faces in stones and some which look like sentinels. This is a film I’ve shared: https://youtu.be/jMBHoG5ptPw?si=UPn2Y...

There’s been human activity here for thousands of years. These stones have presence, form and character.

I wonder how our ancient ancestors would have experienced and viewed stones with presence like this. Before megaliths and anything was built, these kind of natural formations were already there in the landscape, shaping space and creating a feeling.

I think these people recognised and understood this, the landscape itself was the starting point, and then replicating it in more intentional ways through the megaliths we have left standing today.

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3 weeks ago | [YT] | 70

reppin’ nature (David O’Connor)

A wee video from my recent visit to the beautiful Kilmartin Glen in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 29

reppin’ nature (David O’Connor)

Kintraw Standing Stone is a 13 foot monolith just north of Kilmartin.

It’s also known as The Danish King's Grave and there are three cairns around it. Folklore says that the stone was erected to mark the burial place of a Norse prince. It’s thought to have been erected around 1800 BC. It’s a beautiful setting, overlooks the sea and there are suggestions it has a winter solstice alignment.

We’re often told these standing stones were markers or ritual objects. To me they feel like connection points. Stones connecting the earth with sky, Mother Earth and Sky Father, between the earth and atmosphere.

It has presence, it’s grounded and would’ve been a contrast with the contained and compact spaces of the surrounding cairns.

It’s not an isolated monument, part of a connected landscape with many megalithic forms. Nothing random, all built with intent, where each form plays a different part in a process, working with the land.

Which raises a question…have we forgotten the purpose of megaliths?

I’ve linked a video below my film The Forgotten Purpose of Megaliths. I explore a very different perspective that megaliths were functional, earth-centred technology built for survival by people who were deeply connected to the land.

https://youtu.be/s82bhgMsRCI?si=PZnt7...

1 month ago | [YT] | 113