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Stone
Circles - Ring of Brodgar
Factsheet
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- The original
circle contained 60 standing stones, of which 36 survive with
27 still standing. The stones are set in a perfect circle 103.6m/340ft.
in diameter. Probably created by putting a post in the ground
and using a cord pulled taught to mark out their positions around
the circumference. Some archaeologists would go further. Professor
Thom believed the circle builders understood certain Pythagorean
mathematical theories - 2,500 years before the Pythagoreans
deduced such theories. He also thought that the Neolithic builders
used a standard unit of measurement called the megalithic yard
(0.829m/2.72ft). The Ring of brodgar is a perfect example of
this theory: measuring exactly 125 megalithic yards in diameter.
- Was
it a Neolithic Astronomical Observatory?
brodgar does not have any clear alignments to the stars or the
moon. But it is part of a wider complex of ritual monuments
and standing stones. A standing stone at Deepdale, across Loch
Stenness and in line of sight from brodgar, seems to be associated
with the setting sun.
- brodgar
is closely related to other nearby, Neolithic sites. It was
linked to the Stones of Stenness by a causeway guarded by a
pair of standing stones; and another standing stone nearby,
the Barnhouse Stone, seems in alignment with the winter sunset
at the Maes Howe chambered tomb.
- How
long did it take to build?
Theories abound. Some archaeologists believe that they were
put up over a long time period: built by small communities or
by individuals who gained prestige by organising a stone to
be erected to the memory of the ancestors - a process that would
have taken generations to complete and required a sense of long-term
planning.
- Others
see Orkney as developing powerful chiefdoms that were capable
of mobilising the Neolithic farming people into this massive
effort.
- The ditch
that surrounds the stones was itself a huge undertaking and
is still visible today. Carved out of bedrock, it was 10m/33ft
across and 3.4m/11ft deep. 4700 cubic metres or 165,978 cubic
ft of rock were hacked out of the ground using stone tools -
a job that would have taken, it has been calculated, 80, 000
man hours, or 100 men 100 days to complete, even before the
stone circle was begun.
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