Lewis Stone Circle Has Star-Shaped Lightning Strike

[Comfortably Numb]

Lewis stone circle has star-shaped lightning strike

Source: BBC News Online
Date: 23 December, 2019

Evidence of a "massive" lightning strike has been found at the centre of a stone circle in the Western Isles.

A single large strike, or many smaller ones on the same spot, left a star-shaped magnetic anomaly at the 4,000-year-old site in Lewis.

Scientists made the discovery at Site XI or Airigh na Beinne Bige, a hillside stone circle now consisting of a single standing stone.

The site is at the famous Calanais Standing Stones.

Scientists said the lightning strike, which was indentified in a geophysics survey, could show a potential link between the construction of ancient stone circles and the forces of nature.

They said the lightning struck some time before peat enveloped the stone circle at Site XI 3,000 years ago. The discovery is detailed in new research published online.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-50891787

 

[Min Bannister]

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.

Is that really true? Surely lightning must strike all over the place, especially over a timescale of thousands of years.

 

[gordonrutter]

Is that really true? Surely lightning must strike all over the place, especially over a timescale of thousands of years.

Surely it’s the evidence that’s rare? It hits a tree, the tree burns down and after a short time no evidence left. It hits a cow, the cow is incinerated and so on. It might be like fossilisation, the conditions have to be just right for the preservation of the evidence.

 

[Min Bannister]

Surely it’s the evidence that’s rare? It hits a tree, the tree burns down and after a short time no evidence left. It hits a cow, the cow is incinerated and so on. It might be like fossilisation, the conditions have to be just right for the preservation of the evidence.

Yes, the preservation is rare but I was questioning what it had to do with the stone circle. But as you say, if it is something to do with conditions having to be just right, maybe that is what they are getting at.

 

[gordonrutter]

Yes, the preservation is rare but I was questioning what it had to do with the stone circle. But as you say, if it is something to do with conditions having to be just right, maybe that is what they are getting at.

I haven’t read the article but I was assuming the idea was they erected the stone circle there because of the lighting strike rather than the lightning striking the stone circle?

 

[Min Bannister]

I haven’t read the article but I was assuming the idea was they erected the stone circle there because of the lighting strike rather than the lightning striking the stone circle?

Well they said the circle was 4000 years old but the lightning strike was 3000 years old so I am not really sure but there may well be other older strikes of course.

 

[gordonrutter]

Well they said the circle was 4000 years old but the lightning strike was 3000 years old so I am not really sure but there may well be other older strikes of course.

I’ve just read it and they say the site is from approx 4 500 BP and the lighting predates the deposition of peat in the area which took place 5 900 BP so the lightning appears to predate the stone circle. The BBC article gets the strike date wrong. Presumably confusing 3 000 BCE with 3 000 BP.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Any relationship between the concentrated traces of lightning strikes and any stone circle is speculative at best, and the actual published paper doesn't draw any conclusions on the matter.

The 2 radiating clusters comprising the large composite geomagnetic anomalies (surrounded by other, smaller, geomagnetic anomalies) are noted as:

- possibly being the result of multiple lightning strikes rather than single massive strikes;
- not associated with any current or obvious surface features;
- possibly representing lightning hits on surface items (e.g., trees or exposed rocks) no longer in those locations; and
- detected in two different places, one of which doesn't correlate with any known artificial structures or stone arrangements.

The BBC claim about one composite anomaly being centered within / concentric with a stone circle represents an overstatement.

The paper states this composite anomaly is relatively centered with respect to some of the smaller geomagnetic anomalies. Whether the encircling smaller anomalies represent traces of stones or other artifice is mentioned only as a possibility, not a conclusion or even a strong suggestion.

The authors state that if their inferences are sound the largest anomalies represent lightning strikes at least 5900 years old. This is more than a thousand years before the estimated age of the main Calanais site. The site discussed here (Calanais XI) isn't the main site, and the paper offers no estimate of Calanais XI's age.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Another comment ... The stated thrust of the paper was to illustrate and discuss a trial or exploratory application of sensing techniques to the set of Calanais sites. Only one site (Calanais XI) was surveyed. There's no data from the other sites (or the area encompassing the set of sites) to set any context for evaluating the results. In other words, the detection of preserved composite geomagnetic anomalies may or may not be significantly correlated with the sites, much less unique to Calanais XI.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Moving to items of possible speculative interest ...

One little factoid stood out for me in the paper. The site they surveyed (Calanais XI) was noted as the only one of the Calanais sites from which all the other sites were visible. One might therefore suggest Calanais XI was significant in relation to the other sites (e.g., as a location for obtaining an overview or a location that served as an observable reference point for the others).

Moving even farther out on the speculative limb ...

We now know that certain animals (especially birds) seem sensitive to geomagnetism. Could it be that a site with lingering geomagnetic traces from lightning strikes served as an attractor for one or more kinds of wildlife?

Could it be that such sizeable geomagnetic anomalies "registered" when performing some sort of dowsing (or analogous) technique?

 

[IbisNibs]

Interesting article on how magnetic forces may influence different animals, including us:
https://www.heartmath.org/articles-...of-magnetic-pulsations-on-humans-and-animals/

 

[Ascalon]

It has often been postulated, though not proven as far as I know, that the seismic precursor to earth quakes can produce heavy concentrations of positively charged ions.
Certain animals are highly sensitive to these emissions and hence the preternatural ability to escape such things.
It is possible that a similar sense in some animals might make them able to discern a certain characteristic to a site like this.
Like birds that have been shown to have biological equivalents to lode stones for navigation, maybe a similar sensitivity could attract animals to such a site, endowing it with a certain revered status.