Norway’s Stonehenge: Domsteinane in Southern Norway

The first historical mention of Domsteinane is in 1745. County Governor Bendix Christian de Finn wrote about it in his description of Stavanger:
“on a flat plane above Sola beach stands very neatly a precise circle about 64m in circumference upright 24 grey stones. [It’s] like small bauta stones, where in between each of the high stone lies. In the middle of the circle you can see an obvious flat grey stone, like a table, and two large white stones to it on.”

The next mention doesn’t come until the 1860s. Nicolay Nicolaysen writes that it was not possible to find the place Bendix wrote about:
“About half a quarter from Solegårdene and about halfway between these and the south-facing farm Reke, there is a supposedly wrongly named Thingsted. However, since about 1790 has been completely hidden by sand, so that not even its place can be proven. Only of Finn description from 1745, according to which consisted of a circle, about 34 cubits in diameter, with an upright square stone in the middle and 24 similar stones around “.
There are so many more written descriptions of the site. I’ve listed them in the resources below. Still, the monument was scarcely or accurately written about. Finn’s description has later been questioned and even discredited by some historians.

Due to the elements (it is close to a beach), sand covered the stone circle. It remained hidden between the mid-18th and late 19th centuries. Additionally, it is exposed to erosion. Over time the locals took the stones to use on their properties as furniture, fences, and so on. By 1924, the stones were gone from the site.