There may be single standing stones, circles, lines or groups of them. Their dates are mostly from 4000 BC to 1,500 BC. Since Neolithic peoples did not have writing, we know little about their use. It is generally thought they had both practical (meeting place) and ceremonial or religious uses. Pottery that has been found near some of these stones suggest some of them in Europe belonged to the so-called 'Beaker culture'.