Achavanich Bronze Age horseshoe-shaped stone setting looking NE along the closed end of the U-shape, Loch Stemster, Caithness, Scotland, UK.
Achavanich U-shaped stone setting looking NE along the closed end, Loch Stemster, Caithness, Scotland, UK. An unusual horseshoe-shaped arrangement (only two others are known from Caithness) of slabs arranged with their flat faces perpendicular to the perimeter: c 36 eroded flagstones & stumps remain from a total of around 54; the tallest is 2m high. The open end of the horseshoe faces S. Date & purpose unknown, but probably a Bronze Age ceremonial &/or funerary site possibly with astronomical elements. Outside the stones on the E are slight remains of burial cists. Less than half a mile away the skeleton of a young woman dating from the mid 3rd millennium BC was found in a cist grave along with a Beaker vessel & pollen from medicinal flowers including St John's wort & meadowsweet. Achkinloch Neolithic round cairn is on a hillock to the SE.
Size: 3707px × 4961px
Location: Achavanich Stone Setting, Loch Stemster, Latheron, Caithness, Highland, Scotland, UK
Photo credit: © Mick Sharp / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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