Living with the Stones: Intangible Heritage, Storytelling, and Contemporary Engagements with Megalithic Landscapes

This article explores how contemporary intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is produced and negotiated through lived engagements with megalithic sites in Portugal and Scotland. While prehistoric stone circles are commonly interpreted through archaeological and expert-led frameworks, the present study foregrounds personal narratives, sensory encounters, and imaginative practices as forms of ICH which are central to how these sites acquire meaning in the present. Drawing on multisensory ethnographic research, including walking interviews and storytelling workshops, the article examines how people who engage closely with megalithic landscapes articulate relationships of care, belonging, reflection, and responsibility. The findings show that megalithic sites are experienced not merely as archaeological remains, but as affective and relational landscapes in which past, present, and future converge. Participants’ narratives reveal how heritage meanings emerge through embodied encounters with stones, landscape, weather, and social presence, while also exposing tensions surrounding access, conservation, tourism, and heritage authority. By foregrounding lived experience and emplaced narratives, this study contributes to critical heritage debates on multivocality, participation, and the negotiation of heritage meaning in contemporary society.