Detail of the upper carving of concentric rings on the SE face of Long Meg standing stone, Cumbria. The tapering red sandstone pillar stands to the SW

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Detail of the upper carving of concentric rings on the SE face of Long Meg standing stone, Cumbria. The tapering red sandstone pillar stands to the SW of the stone circle known as Her Daughters. An alignment SW from the centre of the circle, through the two western portal stones of the SW entrance, to Long Meg indicates the midwinter setting sun. Long Meg may have been put in place as a sun marker before the circle was built. The SE face bears other concentric circles and an anti-clockwise spiral, perhaps connected with shadows cast on the stone by the annual movements of the sun.

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Size: 3735px × 4961px
Location: Long Meg Standing Stone, Little Salkeld, Penrith, Cumbria, England, UK
Photo credit: © Mick Sharp / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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