A family of 37 diagrams 3cbd6e584b
These are similarities between drawings, not between crop formations. Three sites drew them, to three conventions: cropcirclecenter.com redraws every formation in one editor's house style at one size, and the other two publish scans and photographs of many hands. Two diagrams that hash together may be one design published twice, one editor's habit, or the same drawing reused — the archive cannot tell you which, and a family here is never evidence that two formations are related.
The biggest families are the simplest designs. Two circles, three circles in a triangle, a ring inside a ring: a plain design has few ways of being drawn and every editor draws it much the same, so it gathers a large family. Size here measures how ordinary a shape is, not how surprising the repeat is — a family of two rare designs is the more interesting find, and it sits at the bottom of the list.
The shape numbers are experimental. M3-6b graded the element count right to within one on 97.5 % of a hand-labelled sample and the rotational order right on 88.8 % against a gate of 90 %, which the extractor did not meet; the ring count agrees with a reader on 35.9 % and is not calibrated at all. Read any number here beside the picture, not instead of it.
The diagrams
Member by member
| formation | date | place | county | crop | site | elements | rings | rotational | mirror | stored size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warminster UK19840624_A | 24 June 1984 | Warminster | Wiltshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Amesbury UK19870900_A | September 1987 | Amesbury | Wiltshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Southwell UK19920600_A | June 1992 | Southwell | Nottinghamshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Upton Scudamore UK19880614_A | 14 June 1988 | Upton Scudamore | Wiltshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Aylesbury UK19890721_A | 21 July 1989 | Aylesbury | Buckinghamshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Warminster UK19850610_A | 10 June 1985 | Warminster | Wiltshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Bratton UK19890529_C | 29 May 1989 | Bratton | Wiltshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Aston Hill UK19890718_A | 18 July 1989 | Aston Hill | Buckinghamshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Bishops Waltham UK19901333_G | 1990 | Bishops Waltham | Wiltshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Beckhampton UK19890618_C | 18 June 1989 | Beckhampton | Wiltshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Beckhampton UK19890517_B | 17 May 1989 | Beckhampton | Wiltshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Little Cheverell UK19870821_A | 21 August 1987 | Little Cheverell | Wiltshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Oeffelt NL19980711_A | 11 July 1998 | Oeffelt | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | ||
| Henley UK19980801_A | 2 August 1998 | Henley | Berkshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Devizes UK19861333_C | 1986 | Devizes | Wiltshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Bishops Cannings UK19871333_C | 1987 | Bishops Cannings | Wiltshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Kingston Deverill UK19810715_A | July 1981 | Kingston Deverill | Wiltshire | cc | 4 | 0 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Bareham UK19911333_A | 1991 | Bareham | Cambridgeshire | cc | 1 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.97 | 575×415 | |
| Heytesbury UK19890604_C | 4 June 1989 | Heytesbury | Wiltshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Colloway Clump UK19881333_B | 1988 | Colloway Clump | Wiltshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Lyneham UK19890707_B | 7 July 1989 | Lyneham | Wiltshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Wendover UK19890833_E | August 1989 | Wendover | Buckinghamshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Longwood Estate UK19841333_A | 1984 | Longwood Estate | Hampshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Wantage UK19830716_A | 16 July 1983 | Wantage | Oxfordshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Westbury UK19870822_B | 22 August 1987 | Westbury | Wiltshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Warminster UK19830709_A | 9 July 1983 | Warminster | Wiltshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Wick Street UK19841333_C | 1984 | Wick Street | East Sussex | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Cheriton UK19800733_A | July 1980 | Cheriton | Hampshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Beckhampton UK19920624_B | 24 June 1992 | Beckhampton | Wiltshire | wheat | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 |
| Avebury Trusloe UK19890510_B | 10 May 1989 | Avebury Trusloe | Wiltshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Edmonton CA19990823_A | 23 August 1999 | Edmonton | wheat | cc | 1 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| Chilcomb UK19840733_A | July 1984 | Chilcomb | Hampshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | |
| UK19890733_E UK19890733_E | July 1989 | Cornwall | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | ||
| Headbourne Worthy UK19780701_A | 1 July 1978 | Headbourne Worthy | Hampshire | wheat | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 |
| UK19951333_I UK19951333_I | 1995 | Shropshire | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 | ||
| Exton UK19900608_A | 8 June 1990 | Exton | Hampshire | wheat | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 |
| Fulbrock UK19920725_B | 25 July 1992 | Fulbrock | Gloucestershire | wheat | cc | 5 | 1 | 4-fold | 0.98 | 575×415 |
The element count is right to within one on 97.5 % of a 161-diagram hand-labelled sample; the rotational order right on 88.8 % of a 197-diagram hand-labelled sample, against a gate of 90 %; the ring count agrees with a reader on 35.9 % — it is not a calibrated number.