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Description
Winter Solstice midday shadow. I had wondered whether the small stones in line with Maen Mawr were some kind of a shadow marker. This shows that the longest midday shadow of the year goes beyond the stones. It would probably be about February time before it matched. So maybe not a shadow marker, unless it's for a x-quarter date.
Posted Comments:
Thingy (2010-03-25)
Interesting - never thought of that.
cerrig (2010-03-25)
It's just a theory I'v been looking into. There are several of these "Big stone- small stone " rows locally,( Nant Tarw, Usk reservoir etc), all with different orientations, but similar in lay out. Shadows would seem a possibility to me, but I think there is more to it than that alone.
Thingy (2010-03-25)
Even more interesting. I've just drawn a straight line joining the tips of the three stones. The centre stone is not quite high enough to reach the line, but perhaps a sightline along the tops pointed to a celestial body (not necessarily the sun) at a particular time of year. Working that one out would be a monumental task (your area of expertise I think) - good luck!
cerrig (2010-03-26)
As it is quite close to being a N/S arrangement, the midday sun would seem to be the most obvious candidate. But given the shadow length mismatch in respect of the Solstice, it could possibly be a lunar shadow, of the minor standstill variety. It would then be a Summer full moon that might fit, as this would ride a little higher in the sky than a Winter Solstice midday Sun, which would give a slightly shorter shadow.
Thingy (2010-03-26)
Yep, that confirms it - it is your area of expertise. It's all gobbledegook to me (but fascinating nevertheless).
cerrig (2010-03-26)
It's not really my thing, most of the astronomical stuff is gobbledygook to me too. But I'v been reading up on different things in order to try and understand these things a little better. Without the likes of Robin Heath and Alexander Thom etc I would be lost , and I still have to see it for myself to be sure. It's usually a matter of coming up with some kind of a theory, and then testing it and finding out I'm wrong again, like my theory of the stones being a solstice shadow marker.
Tiompan would be the one to ask about celestial stuff.
Tiompan would be the one to ask about celestial stuff.
davidmorgan (2010-03-26)
I think you're reading too much into this. If the people who built these things were as sophisticated as you imply, I reckon there would be sundials all over the place.
cerrig (2010-03-26)
I believe the people who built these monuments were our equals in intelligence, and amongst them were some who were genius's, just like today. Given that the period over which these constructions were being built and used covers thousands of years, and their existance is known worldwide, there has to have been a very good reason for them. So I don't think we are reading too much into them at all, the reverse is more likely to be true.
The posts above are all about theories David, no one is claiming anything else in this instance.
Incidentally, Imbolc may be a match for the shadow ,theoretically that is.
The posts above are all about theories David, no one is claiming anything else in this instance.
Incidentally, Imbolc may be a match for the shadow ,theoretically that is.
Thingy (2010-03-26)
I have to agree with Cerrig. The builders/users of these sites were at least as 'sophisticated' as we claim to be. They were certainly as intelligent as us, depending on how you define intelligence. Indeed, the only thing that really separates them from us is the technology we use. Mankind's craving to understand his world and control elements of it has not changed from their time to ours - we just use different tools. Our needs remain the same, although we today claim a stake in a global society whereas their concerns were more localised. Of course, their freedom from our technology left them ignorant of many things we now take for granted. But their knowledge of the visible world around them and the seasonal workings of nature, be it on the ground or in the sky, was immeasurably more sophisticated than ours. Perhaps we today don't place stones in alignments that mark shadows or give sightlines on celestial bodies because we assume there is nothing to learn from this. That doesn't mean our ancestors weren't doing so in an attempt to understand, or perhaps predict and thus control, their world. I am always wary of underestimating people, especially when they're not around to explain themselves and thus enlighten us 'know-it-alls'. On which point, I had to look up 'Imbolc' and have learned of a complex belief that our 'sophisticated' world seems to have forgotten. We might do better if we switched off the technology occasionally, and forget less about what we used to know.
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