4K City Walks: Orkney Stone Circles on the Solstice - Virtual Walk Walking Treadmill Video
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Welcome to our final Orkney Walking Tour. On the Summer solstice we took part in a pagan druidic ritual. Don't worry, no human sacrifices, but it was an interesting and fun event. However, before that I decided to do a walk between three closely placed neolithic sites. Orkney has a ton of these stone age houses and standing stones spread out over the island. This walk starts at the Barnhouse settlement, goes through the Standing Stones of Stenness, then follows a path past the Ness of Brodgar archeological site, and finishes up at the Ring of Brodgar which is the most famous and largest of the sites. Unfortunately, I somehow lost the last 15 minutes of the walks so it ends a bit abruptly but I hope you enjoy it anyway. It was a very windy night but just beautiful. If you ever get a chance to visit Orkney Islands (the islands north of Scotland) definitely take it.
Wikipedia Facts
Barnhouse Settlement -The Neolithic Barnhouse Settlement is sited by the shore of Loch of Harray, Orkney Mainland, Scotland, not far from the Standing Stones of Stenness, about 5 miles north-east of Stromness.
Excavations revealing the base courses of at least 15 houses. The houses have similarities to those of the early phase of the better-known settlement at Skara Brae in that they have central hearths, beds built against the walls and stone dressers, but differ in that the houses seem to have been free-standing. The settlement dates back to circa 3000 BC.
The largest of the original buildings was House 2. It was double-sized, featuring a higher building standard than the other houses and unlike the others (rebuilt up to five times) seems to have remained in use throughout the inhabited period of the settlement. The houses were clustered around a central open area which was divided into areas for making pottery and the working of flint, bones and hides. Evidence suggests that Barnhouse was abandoned around 2600 BC.
Standing Stones of Stenness
The Standing Stones of Stenness is a Neolithic monument five miles northeast of Stromness on the mainland of Orkney, Scotland. This may be the oldest henge site in the British Isles. Various traditions associated with the stones survived into the modern era and they form part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site. They are looked after by Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument.
Ring of Brodgar
The Ring of Brodgar (or Brogar, or Ring o' Brodgar) is a Neolithic henge and stone circle in Orkney, Scotland. Most henges do not contain stone circles; Brodgar is a striking exception, ranking with Avebury (and to a lesser extent Stonehenge) among the greatest of such sites. The ring of stones stands on a small isthmus between the Lochs of Stenness and Harray. These are the northernmost examples of circle henges in Britain. Unlike similar structures such as Avebury, there are no obvious stones inside the circle, but since the interior of the circle has never been excavated by archaeologists, the possibility remains that wooden structures, for example, may have been present. The site has resisted attempts at scientific dating and the monument's age remains uncertain. It is generally thought to have been erected between 2500 BC and 2000 BC, and was, therefore, the last of the great Neolithic monuments built on the Ness.
The stone circle is 104 metres (341 ft) in diameter, and the third largest in the British Isles. The ring originally comprised up to 60 stones, of which only 27 remained standing at the end of the 20th century. The tallest stones stand at the south and west of the ring, including the so-called Comet Stone to the south-east. The stones are set within a circular ditch up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) deep, 9 metres (30 ft) wide and 380 metres (1,250 ft) in circumference that was carved out of the solid sandstone bedrock by the ancient residents. Technically, this ditch does not constitute a true henge as there is no sign of an encircling bank of earth and rock.
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Stones of Stenness, Stromness, Orkney, Scotland.
A Journey Through Scotland's Ancient Sites
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STONES OF STENNESS
STROMNESS
ORKNEY MAINLAND
SCOTLAND
INTRO
THE STONES OF STENNESS IS ONE OF FOUR SITES WHICH MAKE UP THE HEART OF NEOLITHIC ORKNEY, WORLD HERITAGE SITE. THE STONES OF STENNESS ARE SITUATED ON ORKNEY’S MAIN ISLAND, NINE MILES FROM THE NORTH TIP OF SCOTLAND, ACROSS THE PENTLAND FIRTH.
ORKNEY WAS A JEWEL OF THE NEOLITHIC CULTURE. THE STONES OF STENNESS IS JUST ONE COMPONENT OF A MASSIVE CEREMONIAL LANDSCAPE. THIS MEGALITHIC COMPLEX WAS ERECTED BY OUR PREHISTORIC ANCESTORS. THE RING OF BRODGAR & THE RING OF BOOKAN, MAKE UP A TRILOGY OF SACRED CIRCLES AT THE NESS OF BRODGAR.
SITUATED NEXT TO THE B9055 ROAD AND BETWEEN THE LOCHS OF HARRAY & STENNESS. THE STONES ARE NOT ONLY OF SCOTTISH SIGNIFICANCE BUT GLOBALLY. THE TIME OF CONSTRUCTION IS NOT CLEAR. DATES RANGE FROM BETWEEN 3400BC-2700BC. THE FIRST RECORD OF THE STONES WAS IN 1700AD. THE SITE WAS TAKEN INTO STATE CARE IN 1906.
STONES
THE STONES WERE LAYED OUT IN AN 30M X 32M DIAMETER OVAL.
ORIGINALLY THERE WERE TWELVE STONES, AT PRESENT FOUR REMAIN, THIS HAS BEEN THE CASE SINCE 1760. MODERN MARKERS INDICATE WHERE HOLES OR STONE SETTINGS WERE FOUND BY ARCHAEOLOGISTS. WOODEN POSTS COULD HAVE EXISTED BEFORE THE MEGALITHS.
BETWEEN 3000BC-2000BC IS WHEN THE STONES WERE THOUGHT TO BE ERECTED. THE HIGHEST IS OVER 5.7M. IT IS POSSIBLE THE MEGALITHS WERE ERECTED BEFORE THE HENGE CONSTRUCTION. THE TENANT FARMER PULLED DOWN TWO OF THE STONES IN 1851. ONE LAY RECUMBENT, THE OTHER HAD BEEN SHATTERED.
INTERIOR
THE CENTRAL FEATURES WERE IN USE FROM 4950-4500 YEARS AGO. IF YOU ENTER THE SITE FROM THE ORIGINAL ENTRANCE, THE FIRST FEATURE YOU COME TO AFTER THE MEGALITHS, IS A SHORT ARRANGEMENT OF STONES. ACCORDING TO EARLY ACCOUNTS A HUGE RECUMBENT MEGALITH LAY TOWARDS THE CENTRE OF THE RING.
A DOLMEN WAS RECONSTRUCTED IN 1906, THIS RECONSTRUCTION DESTROYED EVIDENCE OF WHAT ONCE EXISTED. IN THE 1970’S THE DOLMEN WAS TAKEN DOWN. THE TWO STONES THAT REMAIN, FRAME MAESHOWE IN THE DISTANCE.
THE FOCAL POINT OF THE INTERIOR IS THE LARGE HEARTH. AN EARLIER HEARTH WOULD HAVE PRECEDED THE ONE WE SEE TODAY, ALONG WITH A TIMBER UPRIGHT. COLIN RICHARDS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST, ARGUES THE ORIGINAL HEARTH CAME FROM THE MIDDLE AREA AT BARNHOUSE VILLAGE, A SHORT WALK AWAY.
HENGE
AROUND THE MEGALITHS WAS A MASSIVE ENCLOSURE HENGE WITH A BANK AND DITCH. THE DITCH WAS 4M WIDE BY NEARLY 2.5M IN DEPTH. THIS WAS A BIG ACHIEVEMENT BY OUR ANCIENT ANCESTORS, AS THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN MET WITH MOSTLY SOLID ROCK.
THE SITE LOOKS VERY DIFFERENT TODAY THAN ORIGINALLY IMAGINED. HUNDREDS OF YEARS OF PLOUGHING WORE DOWN THE ORIGINAL HENGE BY 1973. WHAT WE SEE TODAY OF THE HENGE IS A MODERN RECONSTRUCTION OF WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE IN 1851.
ARCHAEOLOGY
ANIMAL BONES WITH GROOVED WARE POTTERY, SUGGEST THE NEW STONE AGE PEOPLE, COOKED AND DINED AT THE STONES. THIS GROOVED WEAR POTTERY HAS BEEN EXCAVATED AT SOME OF THE BEST KNOWN ANCIENT SITES IN SCOTLAND AND ENGLAND.
THERE IS EVIDENCE OF FIRE IN THE SMALL CENTRAL SLAB SETTING. THERE IS SIGNS OF ACTIVITY FROM MUCH LATER ON IN HISTORY. PITS WERE DUG AND FILLED WITH POTTERY JARS. THESE WERE ALSO FOUND IN NEARBY IRON AGE SETTLEMENTS FROM 3000 YEARS LATER.
OTHER INFO
AT THE TOP OF THE STENNESS PENINSULA IS THE WATCHSTONE. IT IS SITUATED A SHORT WALK AWAY TO THE NW. THE HOLED ‘STONE OF ODIN’ WAS NEARBY WHICH WAS DESTROYED IN 1814. THIS STONE WAS RENOWNED FOR SEALING CONTRACTS AND HEALING.
THE NAME STENNESS DERIVES FROM STEIN-NES, AN OLD NORSE WORD MEANING STONE PROMONTORY. THESE SITES AT THE NESS OF BRODGAR ALONG WITH CALLANISH ARE THE BEST KNOWN PREHISTORIC REMAINS IN SCOTLAND.
A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR ANCIENT ANCESTORS