<< Text Pages >> Hangaskangas Giant's Church - Stone Fort or Dun in Finland
Submitted by Anne T on Thursday, 09 October 2014 Page Views: 1645
Multi-periodSite Name: Hangaskangas Giant's Church Alternative Name: Hangakangas JätinkirkkoCountry: Finland
NOTE: This site is 29.769 km away from the location you searched for.
Type: Stone Fort or Dun
Nearest Town: Kannus Nearest Village: Järventie
Latitude: 64.065447N Longitude: 24.024856E
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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Neolithic stone structure in Finland
No-one is sure why these massive structures, named Giant’s Churches or Jätinkirkko, were built around 2,000 BC. They exist only in Ostrobothnia in western Finland, constructed either on the seashore or on islands when sea level was between 45 to 55 metres above the level it is today.
Hangakangas Giant’s Church forms three sides of rectangle measuring 30 by 35 metres, with walls 3 to 4 metres wide and about 70 cms tall; its outline can just be made out on Google Earth. It sits on a sandy north-east sloping site with a natural stony bank to its west side. Signs of burning, thought to be a hearth, were found in the area between the boundary of one of the open 'arms' of the structure and the adjacent swamp.
Hangaskangas is located about 25 km north of Kannu and 3.5 km north-east of Järventie, about 150 metres north of the the road. A survey of 23 of the 50 or so Giant’s Churches in Ostrobothnia by Riddertadd and Okkenan (PDF) found Hangaskangas to align to the ‘Kekri sunrise’ and the winter solstice. Kekri is a Finnish feast day which marked the end of the agricultural season; in ancient times this feast was held on 29th September, but is now held on 1st November.
For further information and comment see our news article "an introduction to the Giant's Churches of Finland."
(Thanks to Martti Lahti in Finland for the information, although apologies for any errors in translation).
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