The Hill O' Many Stanes is another neolithic construction, 4000 years old or so, an alignment of some 200 stones, none very large, into 22 rows proceeding down the hill. Research has shown that at one time there were more than 600 such stones and that, as the alignment proceeded downhill, it fanned out slightly. Alexander Thom, a 20th century astronomer/archaeologist/professor of civil enginnering, suggested that Hill O' Many Stanes was a lunar observatory, that is, an observatory for following and mapping moon positions and period. (The lunar cycle (transfer) repeats every 18.61 years, right?) (Stonehenge, both a lunar and solar observatory, some say, is where they finally got this right.) Anyhow, whether it was all for religious, civic, agricultural, “scientific” or other reasons is anyone's guess. I have read that there are other similar alignments in Britain, mostly quite degraded, and probably more still buried beneath the sand or gorse or heather or peat. Of course, none approaches the size nor extent of Carnac's great alignments. But they're all about equal in inscrutability, I think.
 |
That's how they say it |
 |
One perspective |
 |
Another |
 |
By daylight |
No comments:
Post a Comment