The sun that tracked the solstices

The sun that tracked the solstices

In a meadow in Scania, a stone ship marks the solstices. Or is it a burial place? Or something else entirely?

Ale's Stones, a megalithic monument in Scania, Sweden, is a remarkable stone ship that stretches 67 meters long, made up of 59 large boulders, some of which weigh up to 5 tonnes. Archaeological excavations have revealed a decorated clay pot with burned human bones, and carbon-14 dating suggests that the majority of the samples indicate a creation date around 1,400 years ago, although one sample indicates a date of around 3,500 BCE, which is likely the result of an older hearth. Despite the disagreement about its function, Ale's Stones remains a fascinating relic of Sweden's ancient history.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons

Written by Nik Frost

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