Ale's Stones

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Ale's Stones at Kåseberga, around ten kilometres south east of Ystad.

Ale's Stones (Ales stenar in Swedish) is a megalithic monument in Scania in southern Sweden, probably from circa 500 AD, that is, the end of the Nordic Iron Age.

Ale's Stones consist of a 67 metre long stone ship formed by 59 large boulders of sandstone, weighing up to 1.8 tonnes each.

1 Excavations
2 Speculations
3 References
4 External links in Swedish
5 External links in English

[edit] Excavations

In 1989, during the first archaeological excavations performed to scientifically investigate and date the formation, archaeologists found a decorated clay pot with burned human bones inside the ship setting. The bones are considered to be from a pyre and are thought to have been placed in the pot at a later date. The pot's content varied in age; some material was from 330-540 CE, while a piece of charred food crust also found inside was determined to be from 540-650 CE.^[1] The archaeologists working on the project also found birch charcoal remains from 540-650 CE underneath an undisturbed boulder.^[2] According to the National Heritage Board (Sweden) (RAÄ), Carbon-14 dating of the organic material from the site indicates that six of the samples are from around 600 CE, while one sample is from ca. 3500 BCE. The diverging sample came from soot-covered stones that are believed to be the remnants of an older hearth, found close to the ship setting.^[2] On the basis of these results, the Swedish National Heritage Board has set a suggested date of creation for Ale's Stones to 1,400 BP,^[3] i.e. 600 CE.

In 2006, the technical unit (UV Teknik) of the Archaeological Excavation Department (UV) of the National Heritage Board conducted georadar and magnetometer measurements in and around the site.^[4] Publication of the prospection results is planned for late 2007 or early 2008.

[edit] Speculations

Like many other megalithic monuments, speculations have been made about the significance of Ale's Stones. One of those attributed to Ale's Stones is that the structure had an astronomical and/or astrological purpose, based on the controversial interpretation that the stones have been positioned according to the 365 days of the year and the 24 hours of the day. Bob G. Lind is the main proponent of this theory, which is considered to be pseudoscience by established scholars. Professional astronomers and archaeologists believe that this is a cremation grave dating from ca. 500 CE. Scanian folklore ascribes the stones to King Ale's grave. This site is significant for Scandinavian heritage studies.

[edit] References

^ Märta Strömberg (1997). "Det stora skeppet på åsen". In Festschricht Amico Amici - Gad Rausing, 19 May 1997. Ed. Jonas Ellerström. Signum 1997, ISBN 9187896303, pp. 51-71. (In Swedish).
^ ^a ^b Kobos, Andrew M. (2001). Ales Stenar. When? Who? What for?. January-February 2001. (Photo from the excavation site supplied by Märta Strömberg.)
^ Ales stenar. The Swedish National Heritage Board, published 11 October 2006. Retrieved 5 January 2007.
^ RAÄ. Nya rön om Ales stenar. 23 November 2006. Retrieved 15 October 2007. (in Swedish).