Collecting a decade of cutting edge writing about archaeology, earth mysteries, folklore, and myth in our ancient landscapes.

Occupying those resonant spaces where archaeology meets folklore and myth, 3rd Stone was from 1994 to 2003 the United Kingdom’s most exciting journal for exploring Europe’s ancient past. Here researchers from a wide range of backgrounds, practices and disciplines could exchange knowledge and critique ideas. Established academics and celebrated authors mingled with independent scholars, mystics, and Neo-pagans, all with the common goal of understanding the way our ancient ancestors thought, lived and built in our shared landscapes.

The Megalithic Imperative: A 3rd Stone Reader presents a selection of articles originally published in the magazine, alongside new commentaries from the original authors, contextualizing notes from 3rd Stone’s editor Neil Mortimer, and an introduction setting out the magazine’s history and evolution within the alternative archaeology and Earth Mysteries movements of the time.

Contributors include Jenny Blain and Robert J. Wallis, Aubrey Burl, Paul Devereux, Brian Edwards, Jeremy Harte, Leslie Ellen Jones, George Nash, Alby Stone, Adam Stout, Cheryl Straffon, Danny Sullivan, Andy Worthington, Jennifer Westwood and Juliette Wood.

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About the author
Neil Mortimer is a writer, editor with an expansive knowledge of Britain's ancient past and the contemporary cultures surrounding them. From 1993 to 2004 he edited 3rd Stone magazine, and he is the editor of Stukeley Illustrated (2003) and co-editor, with Aubrey Burl, of Stukeley's Stonehenge (2005).