Stone ship
An oval outline.
Niklasmagnussonstockholm — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Johan Jönsson (Julle) — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Johan Jönsson (Julle) — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Danilovitch2 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Niklasmagnussonstockholm — CC BY-SA 4.0
Ale's Stones is a megalithic monument in Scania in southern Sweden, laid out as an oval stone ship whose end stones are much larger than the rest. It stands on a plateau above the sea near the village of Kåseberga, about 16 km in a straight line from Ystad. The monument is 67 metres long and made of 59 large boulders weighing up to 5 tonnes each. Radiocarbon dating gave seven results: one points to about 5,500 years ago, the other six to about 1,400 years ago, the likeliest date for its building at the end of the Nordic Iron Age. Its purpose is disputed: many see it as a grave monument or ritual site, while another theory holds that it is a sun calendar aligned with the summer-solstice sunset. Grey boulders stand in a long oval on green grass above a cliff, with the Baltic stretching to the horizon behind them. At sunset the sky turns orange and pink behind the stones' silhouettes, and cattle sometimes graze around them. A short, sloping path climbs from the car park in Kåseberga. The site is exposed to the wind, so bring a jacket.
An oval outline.
Behind the stones.
To the horizon.
Near Kåseberga, southeast of Ystad, Scania, Sweden
Disputed: a grave monument or sun calendar.
A short path from Kåseberga.