View NW of the Wren's Egg glacial erratic, Blairbuie Farm, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland, UK, & a pair of prehistoric standing stones c 18m to the ENE
View NW of the Wren's Egg glacial erratic, Blairbuie Farm, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland, UK, & a pair of prehistoric standing stones c 18m to the ENE. The pair is aligned E-W with the stones about apart. A second pair, some 406m to the SSE, are also aligned E-W & c 1m apart. The Egg is a large ice-borne granite boulder, the smaller stones (max height ) were deliberately set up & used during the Late Neolithic & Bronze Age (2500-800BC). Excavations in 1975 found no evidence that the Egg had once been at the centre of two concentric stone circles as previously proposed. Three Bronze Age burial cists capped by very large grave slabs, discovered 155m NE of the Egg, were excavated in November 2012. Skeletal remains were found in one of the graves but no artefacts. NW of the Egg is a tree-covered mound sometimes referred to as the Nest. Professor Thom suggested that the S stones pointed SW to the prehistoric midwinter sunset over Big Scare rock in Luce Bay. Modern observers say that when stood on top of the Egg, the midwinter sun is seen to set directly behind Big Scare (Scaur).
Size: 3780px × 2642px
Location: The Wren's Egg, Blairbuie Farm, Monreith, Wigtown, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, UK
Photo credit: © Mick Sharp / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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