Sunrise at the Ring of Brodgar henge and stone circle, Orkney; looking through the eastern arc of stones to the Loch of Harray


Situated between the Loch of Harray and the Loch of Stenness on Mainland Orkney The Ring of Brodgar henge and stone circle was a vast ceremonial and ritual enclosure, dating from the Late Neolithic. 29 remain of the original 60 standing stones equally spaced to form a perfect circle 103m in diameter. They are made of the local Orkney flagstone. It was surrounded by a henge with a rock cut ditch m deep and 9m wide, with a bank 3 m high. The position of the stones and other features around the site were used to mark the passing of the year by aligning them to the setting and rising of the sun and moon at different times of the year.


Size: 5271px × 3935px
Location: Brodgar, Stromness, Mainland Orkney, Orkney Isles, Scotland, UK
Photo credit: © Jean Williamson / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 2nd, 3rd, age, ancient, archaeological, archaeology, astronomy, atmospheric, bc, britain, british, brodgar, bronze, ceremonial, circle, dramatic, enclosure, flagstone, great, harray, henge, heritage, highlands, historic, iconic, islands, isles, kingdom, landscape, loch, mainland, megalith, megalithic, megaliths, millennium, monument, neolithic, ness, northern, orkney, peaceful, place, pre-christian, prehistoric, prehistory, religion, ring, ritual, sacred, sandstone, scotland, scottish, silhouette, site, standing, stone, stones, summer, sunrise, uk, united, world