Ancient secret of lightning strikes at stone circles revealed

Heritage Daily ^

[BenLurkin]

One rarely-visited site surveyed, known as Site XI or Airigh na Beinne Bige, now consists of a single standing stone on an exposed hillside overlooking the great circle.

Geophysics revealed that not only was the stone originally part of a circle of standing stones, but also that there was a massive, star-shaped magnetic anomaly in the centre – either the result of a single, large lighting strike or many smaller strikes on the same spot.

Project leader Dr Richard Bates, of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of St Andrews, said: “Such clear evidence for lightning strikes is extremely rare in the UK and the association with this stone circle is unlikely to be coincidental.

“Whether the lightning at Site XI focused on a tree or rock which is no longer there, or the monument itself attracted strikes, is uncertain.

The researchers were also able to virtually recreate another nearby circle, with the help of the Smart History team based in the University of St Andrews School of Computer Science, which had been lost with its stones either buried or lying flat.

Known as Na Dromannan, careful scanning of the stones allowed a full 3D model to be built allowing the passage of the sun and moon around this circle to be tracked for the first time in four millennia.

Dr Bates added: “For the first time in over 4000 years the stones can now be seen and ‘virtually’ walked around.

The team hopes to return to Lewis next year to undertake further surveys both on land and in the waters around the Tursachan at Calanais, where the old landscape has been flooded by rising sea levels.

[Candor7]

Well, Tong where Donald Trump’s mother Mary Anne MacLeod was born is about 12 miles West of the Calanais Standing Stones, Airigh na Beinne Bige.

Could be electric, LOL.