Callanish Standing Stones

Four thousand years ago a Neolithic conversation in Callanish went as thus:

“Why don’t we stand huge fekin’ boulders on top of this hill?”

“They weigh five heffers each! Why?”

“Lets do it on the longest….no shortest day.”

“Eh Why?”

“Lets put them into the same pattern as the lights in the night sky, as god commands.”

“Come again beardy”

“No look over there, that group of hills resemble a sleeping woman. Lets do that !”

“Have you been smokin’ kelp weed again hairy? Word to the wise, keep magic fire away from that face.”

“I know. We’ll knock-up a prototype stone circle here on this hill here then build a bigger one 1,000 beardlengths over there. In that one lets bury the bones of Morag the Mammoth”

Today we have no clear idea why Neolithic Scots created the stone circles at Callanish. Without written history things get lost. We excavate, scan, carbon date and take arial surveys to guess how it was done and hope it leads to why. I love follies and curiosities and some very special buildings. You might guess the how, but never get the why. Neolithic Scots – I salute you. What is your ‘Callanish’ ?

See Isle of Lewis Beaches

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