Om Ales Stenar /​ About Ales Stones

Ales Stenar /​ Ales stoneship, nw.
Photo: October 2009, Kåseberga, Scania, sout­hern Sweden.

Ales Stenar

Ales Stenar er en impo­ne­rende skibs­sæt­ning (eller kalender?) måske etab­leret 500 til 600 e.Kr. i det sydøst­lige hjørne af Skåne.
Den er 67 meter lang, 19 meter bred og består af 59 sten. Den blev første gang omtalt i litte­ratur fra 1500-tallet. Denne skibs­sæt­ning har båret flere navne gennem århundrederne.

De lokale i Kåseberga kaldte den He-stena, simpelthen “hedninge-stenene”. Navnet Urbans grav er doku­men­teret fra det 17. århund­rede. Ordet — Ale — betyder (iflg. visse viden­skabs­mænd) kam, og på den måde bliver Ales Stenar til “stenene på kammen”. Andre eksperter mener, at — Ale — (ale-al) er et gammelt ord for tempel eller helligdom.

Nutidige efter­for­skere mener, at sten­sæt­ningen primært funge­rede som en kalender, der virkede ved at man aflæste solens posi­tion i forhold til midter- og ende­ste­nene. Se billedet af infor­ma­tions­tavlen, hvor betyd­ningen af de enkelte kvadranter er forklaret.

Der er forskel­lige meninger om, hvad Ales Stenar har været.

Arkæologer fra det stats­lige Riksantikvarieämbetet mener, at Ales Stenar er en skibs­sæt­ning fra den sene bron­ze­alder (1000 — 500 f.Kr.) eller yngre jernalder (500 — 1.000 e.Kr.), og at stedet sand­syn­ligvis har fungeret som gravplads.

Ales stones (Ales’ stones)

Ales Stones is an impres­sive ship setting (or calendar?) perhaps established 500 to 600 AD. in the south-eastern corner of Scania.
It is 67 meters long, 19 meters wide and consists of 59 stones. It was first mentioned in lite­ra­ture from the 16th century. This ship­ping phrase has borne several names over the centuries.

The locals in Kåseberga called it He-stena, simply “heathen stones”. The name Urban’s Grave is docu­mented from the 17th century. The word — Ale — means (accor­ding to certain scien­tists) ridge, and in this way Ales Stones becomes “the stones on the ridge”. Other experts believe that — Ale — (ale-al) is an ancient word for temple or sanctuary.

Modern inve­sti­ga­tors believe that the stone set prima­rily functioned as a calendar that worked by reading the posi­tion of the sun in rela­tion to the center and end stones. See the picture of the infor­ma­tion board, where the meaning of the indi­vi­dual quadrants is explained.

There are diffe­rent opinions about what Ales Stones has been.

Archaeologists from Riksantikvarieämbetet believe that Ales Stones is a stone ship from the Late Bronze Age (1000 — 500 BC) or Late Iron Age (500 — 1000 AD) and that the site probably served as a burial ground.

 

Ales Stenar /​ Ales Stoneship, se.
Photo: June 22, 2011, Kåseberga, Scania, sout­hern Sweden.

Sydøstlige stævnsten

Jeg tog billedet, mens der endnu var lys, halvanden time før solned­gang den 22. juni, som er sommerjævn­døgn efter den nordiske kalender. Ideelt vil solen gå ned, hvor center­linjen mellem de to stævn­sten skærer horisonten.

South-eastern prow stone

I shot the image, while there was still light, one and a half hour before sunset the 22nd of June, which is summer solstice accor­ding to the Nordic zodiac. Ideally the sun will set where the centre line between the two prow stones inter­sects with the horizon.

 

Photo: February 2012, Kåseberga, Scania, sout­hern Sweden.
Kun til redak­tio­nelt brug /​ For edito­rial use only.

Solskibsteorien

Den private efter­for­sker Bob G. Lind mener, at Ales stenar er en solka­lender, der kan føres tilbage til Bronzealderen. Tilfældigt eller ej, så er Ales stenar orien­teret sådan, at “stenski­bets” stævn peger præcis mod den nedgå­ende sol på hori­sonten ved sommer­sol­hverv (årets længste dag) i juni, og agter­stenen peger mod solop­gangen ved vinter­sol­hverv (årets korteste dag) i december.

Også de enkelte sten peger præcis mod solens opgang og nedgang med et interval på 30 dage, i forhold til sten­sæt­nin­gens center. Vikingernes kalender begyndte ved vinter­sol­hverv omkring den 23/​12 og bestod af 360 dage fordelt på 12 måneder med 30 dage i hver.

Folkene bag solka­lender-teorien mener, at den kan føres tilbage til Bronzealderen, hvor sten­sæt­ningen antages at være rejst.
De bygger deres opfat­telse på det faktum, at solop­gangen den 23/​1, 22/​2, 24/​3 osv. finder sted præcis ud for en sten, iagt­taget fra centrum af sten­sæt­ningen — vel at mærke, når man korri­gerer for solba­nens forskyd­ning siden Bronzealderen og de ca. 1,5 meter jord og sand, der efter­hånden er blevet aflejret på sten­sæt­ningen, hvorfor dati­dens menne­sker har set stenene fra et lidt lavere perspektiv. Hele anlægget er opstillet til at passe med solens bane i løbet af 11 måneder på hver 30 dage og 1 enkelt måned på 35 dage.

Om sommeren kan man møde Bob G Lind ved stien op til Ales Stenar, hvor han præsen­terer sine obser­va­tioner og solka­lender-teori for publikum (som oplyst i 2012).

Delvist efter Sydsverige.dk

The sunship theory

Private inve­sti­gator Bob G. Lind believes that Ales Stones is a solar calendar that can be traced back to the Bronze Age. Coincidentally or not, Ale’s stone ship is oriented so that the bow of the “stone ship” points exactly toward the setting sun on the horizon at the summer solstice (longest day of the year) in June, and the stern points toward the sunrise at the winter solstice (shor­test day of the year) in December.

The indi­vi­dual stones also point exactly towards the rising and setting of the sun with an interval of 30 days, in rela­tion to the center of the stone setting. The Viking calendar began at the winter solstice around 23/​12 and consi­sted of 360 days divided into 12 months of 30 days each.

The people behind the solar calendar theory believe that it can be traced back to the Bronze Age, when the stone set is believed to have been erected. They base their view on the fact that the sunrise on 23/​1, 22/​2, 24/​3 etc. takes place exactly in front of a stone, observed from the center of the stone set — mind you, when correcting for the shift of the sun’s path since the Bronze Age and the approx. 1.5 meters of soil and sand that has gradu­ally been depo­sited on the stone setting, which is why the people of the time saw the stones from a slightly lower perspective. The entire faci­lity is set up to fit the solar orbit during 11 months of 30 days each and 1 single month of 35 days.

In the summer, you can meet Bob G Lind at the path up to Ales Stenar, where he presents his obser­va­tions and solar calendar theory to the public (as informed in 2012).

Partly based on Sydsverige.dk