<< Feature Articles >> An introduction to the new proposed measurement for Megalithic Architecture
Submitted by Stockdale on Sunday, 31 January 2016 Page Views: 3239
Alternative Archaeology Following nearly 40 years of exhaustive research, frequent communication with both Professor Thom, his son Archie and other researchers, Norman Stockdale and Peter Harris have come to the conclusion that a standard unit of length was being used in megalithic architecture, but not the same unit of length as Professor Thom proposed.Sadly, Norman Stockdale has recently died and so Peter has been updating the research, but he believes their initial observations have been confirmed by the later research. This is the evidence that their new book Astronomy and Measurement in Megalithic Architecture (see book review) explores and to which this article refers. All sites mentioned in the article plus many more are dealt with in greater detail in the book.
Peter Harris writes: The standard unit of length that we believe was widely used we have for convenience called the Megalithic Foot [MF] and it measured 14.142 inches/35.9195cms in length. We also believe that the [MF] was subdivided into 56 equal parts of 0.2525 inches/0.6414cms and this unit we have called the Megalithic Inch [MI]. We thought initially that an integral part of megalithic designs was to incorporate key and important units of time. The important astronomical time units are listed and summarized below.
Key Astronomical Values
The Lunar Cycle 18.61 years - Regular observation over some years will establish that the moon’s extreme rising and setting positions move in and out either side of the sun, taking 18.61 years to complete a cycle.
The Lunar Month (Synodic) 29.53 days - The moon begins its monthly phases on the left-hand side of the sun, taking 13 days to become a full moon. Thirteen days later the moon may be glimpsed only as a tiny crescent on the right side of the sun. The moon then disappears for about 3 days, lost in the glare of the sun. This complete lunar cycle takes 29.53 days.
The Anomalistic Month 27.55 days - This month is defined by the moon’s distance from the earth. It is the time it takes for the moon to go from one perigee to the next – the point in the moon’s orbit when it is closest to the earth.
The Eclipse Year 346.62 days - Solar and lunar eclipses do not occur each month as the moon’s orbit and the sun’s apparent orbit only intersect in two places. So, although every 14 days the moon crosses this intersection, at points directly opposite each other, only if the sun is currently passing near to either one of these two crossing points – called lunar nodes – will an eclipse take place. This happens every 173 days and is called an eclipse season. The eclipse year is twice this at 346.62 days.
The Solar year 365.25 days
The time taken for the earth to travel once around the sun. Our present-day calendar year.
Megalithic Unit Length [MF]
We propose that the principal measurement, the Megalithic Foot [MF], was operative from approximately 3000 years BCE.
The importance of this measurement is in understanding the scope in which it was then used by the megalithic designers to incorporate key astronomical data. Whilst we cannot think of all the structures solely as “observatories,” this idea does at least give the builders the capability they deserve. It is hoped that something of their attitude to astronomy, which undoubtedly has a different framework to ours, will be shown later in this article.
We have always both been mindful of the criticism that can be made to suggest that certain measurements have been “cherry-picked” in order to fit in with our theories. In addition it is clear that sometimes measurements that have been made by a variety of people have differed, some quite considerably. In order to combat any of our readers’ reservations I have wherever possible used either primary-researched measurements or measurements where more than one person has corroborated such lengths. Inevitably the book, due to practical considerations in producing it, is limited in its scope and size. Therefore only a few examples will be given in this article to illustrate key points.
You can Peter's full article in PDF form here. The article was originally published in the RILKO Journal Issue 87 (Winter 2015)
See also Book Review: Astronomy and Measurement in Megalithic Architecture
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