"Three colossal planks of sandstone, ranging in height from fifteen feet nine inches to eighteen feet eight inches, rise from the grass, along with a smaller stone that has the bent shape of a boomerang. In contrast to the rectilinear blocks at Stonehenge, the Stenness megaliths are thin slabs with angled upper edges, like upside-down guillotine blades. Remnants of a ceremonial circle, they are placed twenty or more feet apart, creating a chasm of negative space."
"During a recent visit to Orkney, I kept returning to Stenness, at all hours and in all weather. On drizzly days, with skies hanging low, the stones resemble ladders to nowhere. In bright sun, hidden colors emerge: streaks of blue against gray; white and green spatters of lichen; yellowish stains indicating the presence of limonite, an iron ore. Pockmarks and brittle edges show the abrading action of millennia of wind and rain. I watched as tourists approached the stones and hesitantly touched them, as if afraid."
The Stones of Stenness are lichen-encrusted megaliths on the largest Orkney Island, set between two lochs and towering as planks of sandstone. Three main slabs, ranging roughly sixteen to nineteen feet, and a smaller boomerang-shaped stone form remnants of a ceremonial circle placed twenty or more feet apart, producing a chasm of negative space. The slabs differ from Stonehenge’s blocks, appearing as thin angled blades. Weather and light reveal streaks of blue, lichen, limonite stains, pockmarks and brittle edges from millennia of wind and rain. Visitors touch and observe the stones with a mixture of awe and hesitation.
Read at The New Yorker
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