It's official - the Knowe of Swandro boasts Orkney's longest selfie stick!

This post was originally called 'the world's longest selfie stick' but in the interests of accuracy I had a quick look on Google: would you believe there is actually a Guinness world record? FYI set in November 2016 in Italy with a selfie stick 15.56m long, beating the previous world record by over 7m. (Just in case you’re interested the previous record was set in February 2016 by Hollywood actor Ben Stiller at the premiere of his new film – you can’t say we don’t check our facts!).

Lindsay Kemp & his photogrammetry array at Swandro

Anyway, as you’ve probably guessed, this isn’t a selfie stick, it’s an archaeological multi-image photogrammetry array (which is a shame - ‘selfie stick’ is a lot easier to spell!). This shot shows Lindsey Kemp setting up - not easy to do in Orkney, you need a nice calm day or else the whole rig sways about uncontrollably. Lindsey also has a kite cam, even harder to set up & needing just enough wind to lift off, but not enough to blow it to Norway! It’s worth the effort though as you can see from the image below, which shows the eroding chambered tomb on the beach:

The concentric walls of Swandro's chambered tomb surviving on the beach

The concentric ring wall construction is typical of the style seen at Maeshowe type chambered tombs, and a bit of a giveaway when they show up so clearly.