Ballochroy standing stones, Kintyre, Argyll, looking NNW to the Paps of Jura at midsummer solstice sunset with CalMac Islay car ferry.
Ballochroy standing stones looking towards the Paps of Jura at midsummer sunset with the CalMac Islay car ferry in Gigha Sound heading R for West Loch Tarbert. The Bronze Age setting of three stones in a NE/SW line is believed to have been erected as a prehistoric observatory for the midsummer solstice sunset over the Paps of Jura 19 miles to the NW, and the midwinter sunset over Cara Island to the SW. Looking along the flat NE face of the central stone, the midsummer sun sets into the U-shape between Beinn Shiantaidht and the pointed peak of Corra Beinn; at the summer solstice around 1800 BC it would have set down the smooth slope to its R. In the the opposite (SE) direction this alignment marks the simultaneously rising midsummer full moon. Rather than a precise solar observatory, some believe Ballochroy is more likely to have been erected to mark symbolic alignments to major events of the moon and sun. The three peaks of the Paps of Jura are (L-R in this photo): Beinn a’Chaolais, Beinn an Oir and Beinn an Shiantaidh. Corra Beinn to the right is sometimes referred to as the fourth peak of the Paps.
Size: 3993px × 5315px
Location: Paps of Jura, from Ballochroy standing stones, Kintyre, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, UK
Photo credit: © Mick Sharp / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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