Brodgar

Ah, the Ring of Brodgar; a World Heritage Site. I remember someone saying that if the map of the UK was reversed, and Orkney was in the south of England then the world-class archaeological sites (Brodgar, Maes Howe, Skara Brae) would be stowed out with folk desperate to visit. Brodgar is way older than Stonhenge and far more impressive - plus you can walk around it completely alone in the middle of the day! There is evidence of an intricate arrangement of structures, as yet un-investigated, leading up to the stone circle. No-one knows the significance of the place but it's clear that, to the people who built it, it carried a huge significance.

As the Historic Scotland website puts it:

"The truly circular layout of the ring is an unusual attribute that singles it out as one of the largest and finest stone circles in the British Isles.

The Ring of Brodgar comprises a massive ceremonial enclosure and stone circle probably dating from between 2500 and 2000 BC. Around it are at least 13 prehistoric burial mounds and a stone setting (2500-1500 BC).
The erecting of the stones, along with the massive rock cut ditch was an activity that required considerable people-power and organisation.

Along with Maes Howe, Skara Brae and the Stones of Stenness, these monuments are exceptionally fine and authentic: relics of the period when great civilisations started to arise across the world. If civilisation amounts to something more than just large numbers of people living in close association, then there is a very small number of ancient centres of this period. The Heart of Neolithic Orkney is one of them.

The architectural achievements of the people living there speak for a level of architectural sophistication which matches that of the centres in Mesopotamia and North Africa. There is a piquant contrast between the small absolute size of the Orkney community 5000 years ago and its exceptional cultural vigour."