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Thursday, May 18, 2023 – Orkney Island, Scotland
The Orkney Islands are off the north coast of Scotland. And was a safe haven for the British Navy. There are 130 square miles of natural deep-water harbor that the navy has used many times. Particularly during the World Wars. Today it is also used for winter storage of North Sea oil platforms.
There are very few trees. The guide told us that when the islands were first settled, there were trees (mostly birch and willow), but the early settlers were farmers, so they cleared the land to plant their crops. This was thousands of years ago. Our goal today is to see some standing stone circles. One is 4,500 years old, the other 5,000 years old. For reference, Stonehenge is 4,000 years old. The two circles are quite close together. The larger of the two is 100 meters in diameter. There are still 27 stones remaining. It has a ditch surrounding it. At the present time, you cannot walk up to the stones. Archeologists estimate the ditch would have taken 80,000 man-hours to dig as the only tools available would have been antlers to use as a pick and a shoulder blade of some animal could be used as a shovel.
Fascinating!
The drive back from the stones was a different route than earlier and the guide continued his dialog about the area.
A very
enjoyable morning.
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| The hotel at the Port of Kirkwall |
Great pictures and commentary Jan.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter, Jessica, spent 18 months as a physiotherapist at the Kirkwall hospital some years back. Lots of interesting history in the Orkneys.