Outer Hebrides stone-circle may have been inspired by huge lightning strike Researchers have published evidence of their ‘thrilling discovery’

A powerful lightning strike at the centre of a hidden stone circle in the Outer Hebrides could explain how the mysterious monument came to be.

Academics have discovered a potential link between ancient stone circles and forces of nature, and may have unearthed evidence that offers an insight into the rituals and beliefs that developed among people many thousands of years ago.

Researchers studying a prehistoric stone circle on the Isle of Lewis, Tursachan Calanais, have surveyed nearby satellite sites to uncover evidence of lost circles buried beneath the peat.

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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.

‘Remarkable evidence’

Project leader Dr Richard Bates, of 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.

“However, this remarkable evidence suggests that the forces of nature could have been intimately linked with everyday life and beliefs of the early farming communities on the island.”

The Calanais Virtual Reconstruction Project is a joint venture led by the University of St Andrews with the Urras nan Tursachan and the University of Bradford.

The team was also able to virtually recreate another nearby circle, which had been lost with its stones either buried or lying flat.

Careful scanning of the stones, known as Na Dromannan, 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.

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“For the first time in over 4,000 years the stones can now be seen and ‘virtually’ walked around,” said Doctor Bates.

“Everyone will be able to visit this remote site and get a real sense of what it was like just after it had been constructed. We have only just scratched the surface of this landscape and already we can get a feel for what might be buried out there waiting for discovery.”

Dr Alison Sheridan, director of Urras nan Tursachan, the Calanais based charitable trust that contributed to the research, said: “This is a thrilling discovery that helps us get inside the minds of the people who built the stone circles at and around Calanais.

“There is much still to find out about the so-called ‘satellite’ circles of Neolithic Calanais and this provides an important first step. The modelling of Na Dromannan also helps us investigate whether this circle was astronomically aligned”.

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.