Ales Stenar is a megalithic monument in the shape of a (roughly oval) ship 67m long and 19m wide. It is situated on the coast at Kåseberga, around 15km south east of Ystad in the county of Skåne.

The stones at prow and stern ('stemstones') are larger than the others; the best estimate for the date of origin comes from C-14 dating, at around 550CE (Swedish National Heritage Board). The stones have masses between about 500kg and 1800kg.

The stemstones are on a NW-SE axis; viewed from the centre of the monument, this axis aligns the directions of the sun at winter solstice sunrise (SE stemstone) and summer solstice sunset (NW stemstone). The minor axis of the oval, running NE-SW, links the summer solstice sunrise (NE) with the winter solstice sunset (SW). Much more on the alignments is to be found on the display boards near the monument - leap years exist in the system. Those who claim 'mysteries' for the place are very wide of the mark; it is a solar observatory, iron-age science. These people could navigate.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ale%27s_Stones
web.archive.org/web/20120325113258/http://www.raa.se/cms/...

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