Balquhain
The Recumbent Stone Circle (RSC) of Balquhain (also known as the Chapel of Garioch or Inveramsay) is about three kilometers southwest of Inverurie in Aberdeenshire , Scotland , in a field on a slope overlooking the A96 . The stone circle of Balquhain is largely destroyed and only four stones of the circle and an outlier ( English outlier ) stand upright.
The circle was first described by J. Logan in 1829. The original diameter was uncertain. Frederick Rhenius Coles (1854–1929) determined a diameter of 19.5 m in 1900, while A. Thom's measurement in 1980 showed a diameter of 20.7 m.
The “lying stone” made of white-grain granite is around 3.8 m long, 1.05 m thick and around 1.7 m high in the middle. Its weight is estimated to be over ten tons. A. Burl suspects that he is not from the area. The outer surface is very flat and looks almost machined, while the inside is very irregular. Although the lying stone has foundations of one large and several small stones, which are visible at the inner base, it is a little slanted.
The flank stones are different. The fallen eastern stone is a two meter long fine-grained slab of gray igneous rock, while the 2.25 m high western counterpart is a pointed, coarse stone made of reddish quartzite with white quartz inclusions . One of the inclusions forms an elliptical eye in the center of the inside. The fallen eastern flank Stone has four bowls ( English cups ) on its surface. The Kreisstein in the southwest has at least 24 cups. Only the lying stones from Rothiemay (119) and Sunhoney (31) have more cups. Recent work suggests that in the early stages of their construction all RSCs likely had ringcairn inside, but there are no traces of ringcairn at Balquhain.
The heights of the remaining upright circular stones were probably graduated towards the lying stone, which is just as characteristic of the RSCs as the placement of the lying stone in the southwest of the circle. Based on the distances between the remaining stones, it can be estimated that the circle once had twelve stones, although the number can only be confirmed by an excavation.
The most spectacular stone in this square does not belong to the circle. It is the massive 3.2 m high triangular, tapering outlier made of white quartz , which stands about 3.5 m outside the circle. No other RSC has an outlier.
The stone circles on the River Dee
The Deeside Stone Circles form a group of Recumbent Stone Circle (RSC). About 100 of them were born between 2500 and 1500 BC. In Aberdeenshire. The ensembles of the "resting stones" are usually in the southeast and (usually) on the course of the ring.
literature
- Anna Ritchie, Graham Ritchie: Scotland. To Oxford Archaeological Guide . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1998, ISBN 0-19-288002-0 , ( Oxford archaeological guides )
- R. Bradley, C. Ball, S. Croft & T. Phillips: The stone circles of northeast Scotland in the light of excavation . Antiquity 76 2002 pp. 840-848.
Individual evidence
- ↑ A characteristic of the RSC is a "lying stone" accompanied by two standing, high, often tapering "flank stones" that are located within the stone circle or near the circle
Web links
Coordinates: 57 ° 18 ′ 23.8 " N , 2 ° 26 ′ 29.4" W.