Calanais Standing Stones, Scotland: 5,000 Year Old Monument

The Calanais Standing Stones are an extraordinary cross-shaped setting of stones erected 5,000 years ago.

The famous monument, which predate England’s famous Stonehenge, was an important place for ritual activity for at least 2,000 years.

Visitors to the site can explore a circle of thirteen stones set around a larger monolith, with the remains of a small chambered cairn inside the circle.

From the circle, rows of stones radiate to the south, west and east, and to the north runs a long stone avenue.

The ensemble is a site of significant scale and impact.

The Calanais Standing Stones’ history began during the Neolithic period, around 2900 BC.

The stone circle was built shortly after the one at the Stones of Stenness in the heart of Orkney.

Around the same time, other circles (in timber and in stone) were being built at Temple Wood in Kilmartin Glen and Machrie Moor on Arran.

We don’t know why the standing stones at Calanais were erected, but our best guess is that it was a kind of astronomical observatory.

Patrick Ashmore, who excavated at Calanais in the early 1980s, said: ‘The most attractive explanation is that every 18.6 years, the moon skims especially low over the southern hills.

’It seems to dance along them, like a great god visiting the earth. Knowledge and prediction of this heavenly event gave earthly authority to those who watched the skies.’

Over time various myths have grown up.

From at least as early as 1680, local people believed that the stones were the remains of men who had transgressed and were punished by being turned into stone.

In 1695, an early antiquary, Martin Martin, claimed that it was a ‘heathen’ temple, with Druids worshipping there.

More recently, it has been claimed that Calanais is older than Stonehenge.

Archaeological investigation allows us to understand the monument better, and to bust some myths.

Thanks to excavations, we now know that the circle was built first, around 2900 BC, and the chambered cairn was added around 500 years later.

The rows and avenues could have been added at the same time.

The Calanais Landscape

To the builders of prehistoric monuments, the landscape and skyscape were key factors in their location.

It wasn’t just the shape of the terrain that mattered, but also beliefs about the spirits that inhabited various places: the land was a living, powerful entity in its own right, which needed to be respected and which could confer some of its power on the people who built on it.

And the movements of the planets and stars would also be a major consideration dictating where a monument was built.

At Calanais, we see all three come together to produce a monument that had maximum spiritual significance to the people who built and used it.

By positioning the monument on a prominent local ridge, on a peninsula jutting into Loch Ròg, this ensured that people could see the stones silhouetted against the sky from far and wide.

And the dazzling 360-degree views from the high ground upon which the monument sits would have allowed extensive views over the landscape.

Why this ridge on this promontory? Cnoc Coig, the natural hill immediately to its south, could have been regarded as a sacred natural place since at midday, the midwinter sun’s rays travel down into a cave-like formation and emerge, shooting a ray due northwards.

The tall central stone in the centre of the circle aligns with this. A person standing in the ‘cave’ at that time would receive whatever ‘solar power’ people believed that the sun’s rays could confer.

The landscape’s natural north-south orientation also lent itself to the observation of the spectacular passage of the setting full moon across the suggestively-shaped horizon every 18.6 years, during the moon’s ‘major standstill’.

This enabled people to carry out night-time ceremonies of high drama as the moon disappeared then shone bright above Cnoc Coig, lighting up the centre of the circle, and silhouetting anyone standing on the top of Cnoc Coig as ‘the Man [or Woman] in the moon’.

The avenue would have funnelled a procession towards the circle at this time.

Calanais is not the only stone circle in the area.

Within just a few kilometres there are at least 11 other stone circles and nine single standing stones. Some are intervisible with the main Calanais monument.

We don’t know whether they were built at the same time, but they indicate that many people were keen to have sacred monuments of their own.

Visiting the stones today

The 13 historic stones remain a popular tourist destination.

From 25 March through to the 31 October 2024, there will be the following facilities for visitors to the Calanais Stones: a food trailer offering light refreshments, a pop-up shop, toilets, and parking. 

For a short period, some services in the main centre will also be available, including The Story of the Stones Exhibition.

Someone who recently visited the site said: “Fabulous site in smashing location. It's wonderful that you can wander right up to the standing stones.

”Nice visitor center, cafe, post office and gift shop. Picnic benches outside with lovely view. It wasn't busy when we visited around lunchtime, on a Wednesday in June.”

Another person added: “We visited this location probably six times in the two days we were there sunset, morning, noon, etc. Beautiful location.

”One of the workers in the giftshop, Audrey, was a fantastic resource! I just loved talking with her. She gave us places to visit other than the Callanish Stones that were fantastic!”

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