Ballochroy standing stones, Kintyre, Scotland, UK, looking SW towards an exposed burial cist. A Bronze Age (1800BC) astronomical alignment NE-SW.
Ballochroy standing stones, Kintyre, Scotland, UK, looking SW towards an exposed burial cist. The Bronze Age setting of three stones graded in height in a NE-SW line is believed to have been erected c 1800BC as a prehistoric observatory for the midsummer solstice sunset over the Paps of Jura 19 miles to the NW, and the simultaneously rising midsummer full moon to the SE. The alignment SW marks the midwinter sunset over Cara Island, but the cist's burial mound would have blocked the view from the stones while forming a viewing platform. Rather than a precise 'scientific' solar observatory, some believe Ballochroy is more likely to have been erected to mark symbolic alignments to major events of the moon and sun.
Size: 4915px × 3691px
Location: Ballochroy Standing Stones, Kintyre, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, UK
Photo credit: © Mick Sharp / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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