Ballymeanoch

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The row of stones from Ballymeanoch, consists of four menhirs (English standing stones)
Two stones face the row
Stone box in the henge of Ballymeanoch
Row of stones and chamber remains (front)

In Ballymeanoch ( Scottish Gaelic : Baile Meadhonach ) near Kilmartin in Scotland , west of the A816, is a megalithic arrangement consisting of two parallel rows of stones and a Neolithic henge , which was surrounded by a stone circle of smaller stones. There are two stone boxes in the center of the henge . There is a small cairn near the rows of stones . The facility was excavated in 1864.

Rows of stones

The two rows of stones are set up parallel to each other at a distance of 40 m. Their age is estimated to be 4,000 years. A row consists of four stones arranged according to size. The tallest measures 4.1 m. The two middle stones have cup-and-ring markings .

The second row consists of two stones, the larger of which is three meters high. A third menhir ( English standing stone ) with markings and a hole in the middle, 20 m northwest of this row, overturned and broke towards the end of the 19th century. The parts were excavated in 1977, taken away and stored nearby. As with similar stones, the popular belief was passed down that one could be cured of illnesses by sticking limbs through the hole. The hole with a diameter of 7 cm is too small at the narrowest point, at least for adults, to be able to do this in practice. Popular beliefs arose to find an explanation for the function of this unusual stone.

Henge and stone boxes

The henge of Ballymeanoch is in a field not far from the row of stones. The Neolithic earthwork includes the outer wall, which is only 40 centimeters high, and an inner ditch, interrupted in the north and south by the access to the inner area. The henge is about 40 meters in diameter. The shallow trench is about four meters wide but no more than 40 centimeters deep. Inside are two damaged stone boxes that were discovered during Greenwell's excavations in 1864.

The larger and more central (0.7 m deep) stone box was built from two unusually long side plates (up to 2.75 m) and covered by a massive 2.4 m long 1.4 m wide and 0.25 m thick capstone. One of the front curbs is missing. The bottom of the box is formed by carefully poured round pebbles . The box had already been robbed before the excavation, so nothing more was found.

In the northeast, a second, smaller stone box was found on Monadh an Tairbh in 1965 (0.9 m long, 0.4 m wide and 0.46 m deep), which was still closed in 1864 and consisted of four slabs and the capstone. Today the capstone (1.6 × 1.1 m and 0.25 m thick) and a front edge stone are missing. The capstone carried three small cups (English cupmarks), one with a ring. The box contained the remains of three burials, accompanied by a fragmentary drinking cup that is in the British Museum in London .

Ballymeanoch is a Scheduled Monument .

Surroundings

The facility is on private property, but can be entered via a series of gates between which sheep graze. A few hundred meters away is the Dunchraigaig Cairn , in which three stone boxes with grave goods, including a flint knife and an ax, were found.

See also

literature

  • Kilmartin. Prehistoric and Early Historic Monuments. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinburgh 2008, ISBN 978-1-902419-03-9 , p. 24, (First published in: The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland ( RCAHMS): Mid Argyll Cowal. Prehistoric Early Historic Monuments (= Argyll. Vol. 6 = Report. An Inventory of the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. 24). HMSO, London et al. 1988, ISBN 0-11-493384-7 ) .
  • D. Abernethy: Ballymeanoch standing stones and Nether Largie standing stones (Kilmartin and Kilmichael Glassary parish): geophysical survey and possible fall standing stones', Discovery Excav Scot, 1993. pp. 74-5
  • D. Abernethy: Ballymeanoch (Kilmichael Glassary parish), Standing stones and henge ', Discovery Excav Scot, 1995. pp. 63-64

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John W. Barber: The excavation of the holed-stone at Ballymeanoch, Kilmartin, Argyll. In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. 109, 1977/1978, ISSN  0081-1564 , pp. 104-111, ( digitized version (PDF; 1.58 MB) ).
  2. ↑ Otto Tschumi: The megalithic buildings in popular belief. In: Eduard Hoffmann-Krayer , Hanns Bächtold-Stäubli (ed.): Concise dictionary of German superstition . Volume 6: Wall - plow bread. Unchanged photomechanical reprint of the 1935 edition. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1987, ISBN 3-11-011194-2 , Sp. 80–89, here Sp. 84 .
  3. ^ Ballymeanoch Holed Stone Ancient Scotland

Coordinates: 56 ° 6 ′ 36.6 ″  N , 5 ° 29 ′ 14.1 ″  W.