Calanais - Callanish Standing Stones Standing Stones of Calanais on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland Near the tiny Gaelic-speaking village of Calanais (Callanish) on the west coast of the remote Scottish Isle of Lewis looms a complex structure of standing stones the locals call the Fir Bhrèige, or False Men. Some say they are held under the spell of a powerful druid or priest, others that they were giants whom St. Keieran turned to stone for refusing to convert to Christianity. Another legend says that when the sun rose on midsummer morn to the sound of the cuckoo call, the Shining One — Lugh? — once walked along the stone avenue. Regardless of their explanations, what they saw was a hauntingly beautiful megalithic complex of silvery quartz-marbled stones made of ancient Lewisian gneiss protruding from a blanket of peat. The central stones form a ring around a tall monolith, with rows of stones stretching to the east, west and south. The main approach is from the north and is marked by a long, stone-lined corridor. And on the horizon to the southeast reclines the Sleeping Beauty or Cailleach na Mointeach (The Old Woman of the Moors), a silhouette reminiscent of a woman lying on her back. As with other megalithic marvels throughout Europe, the British Isles and Ireland, Calanais has been long associated with the Druids. No archaeological work had been done on the site, however, until 1857, when Sir James Matheson removed about five feet of peat from the area, uncovering a small cairn chamber and two fallen stones. More than a hundred years later, an official investigation was conducted in 1980 by Patrick Ashmore of Historical Scotland, largely because the site was reported to be in bad repair. He and his team of archaeologists excavated the central ring and tomb and several trenches along the stone rows and avenue. Calanish I stone circle and cairn We now know that the Callanish I stones were erected around 3,000 BC, followed by the the north, south and east and west rows around 1,800 BC. The central monolith of Callanish I was erected first and then the surrounding circle of thirteen smaller stones. The central stone measures 4.75 metres tall, the others from 2.5 to 4 metres in height, and the ring measures 13.4 x 11.8 metres. The stones are packed into shallow sockets filled with pebbles and clay. Though not a true circle, the stones are arranged symmetrically around the central monolith, which stands about 1.2 metres northwest of centre, behind a small horseshoe-shaped chamber tomb, which is a smaller version of the stalled cairns found in north-eastern Scotland and the Orkneys. The cairn was built some time between 1,800 and 1,000 BC and appears to have been the final addition to this megalithic complex. The site was thought to be unoccupied before the Calanais structure was built, until archaeologists found the remains of a circular corral-like enclosure and raised beds on which barley was grown that predate the raising of the stones by about 2000 years. For reasons we may never know, Calanais was abandoned around 800 BC and eventually became blanketed in peat — another ancient mystery shrouded in the mists of time. Sources Calanais (Callanish I) Callanish I Callanish Standing Stones, Lewis Oddessy: Adventures in Archaeology - Callanish Photos of Callanish licensed under Wikimedia Commons

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