Close up of a traditional pile of stones in an Icelandic plain, with a road and car lights in the background
500px Photo ID: 89514805 - Þingvellir national park, Southern Iceland. A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones. The word cairn comes from the Scottish Gaelic: càrn (plural càirn). Inuksuit in northern Canada were markers used for wayfinding and to locate caches of food or other stores. A cairn to mark a mountain summit in Graubuenden, Switzerland. Cairns are used as trail markers in many parts of the world, in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, as well as in barren deserts and tundra. They vary in size from small stone markers to entire artificial hills, and in complexity from loose conical rock piles to delicately balanced sculptures and elaborate feats of megalithic engineering. Cairns may be painted or otherwise decorated, whether for increased visibility or for religious reasons. An ancient example is the inuksuk (plural inuksuit), used by the Inuit, Inupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America. These structures are found from Alaska to Greenland. This region, above the Arctic Circle, is dominated by the tundra biome and has areas with few natural landmarks. In modern times, cairns are often erected as landmarks, a use they have had since ancient times; but, since prehistory, they have also been built for a variety of other reasons, such as burial monuments and for defence and hunting, as well as ceremonial, astronomical, and other purposes.
Size: 4523px × 6780px
Location: Iceland
Photo credit: © Roberto Dantoni / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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