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tiompan
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|  New Message Posted!2013-05-23 00:27
There are criteria for judging whether a putative alignment has any meaning in relation to a particular astronomical event e.g. it is accepted the the passage and roof box at Newgrange is aligned on the rising winter solstice sun because the sunlight enters the passage , on days either side of the of the solstice . You may argue that it is fortuitous or that the alignment is actually upon some other astronomical event .
We don't know what was in the minds of the builders but other major monuments are also aligned on solstices and it does appear intentional . You would have difficulty convincing anyone that the monument was aligned upon a lunar event or another solar event like an equinox simply because the alignment would be too inaccurate . If you argue that a level of accuracy should not be a considered in the criteria then you would have to dismiss the Newgrange alignment on the solstice and others that display what appears to be deliberate orientations on certain astro events because , if accuracy is not to be seen as important then possibly sites like Newgrange were aligned on something else or not at all . Most archaeoastronomers would dismiss that view .
Burl made this point “”The longer face of single standing stone ,the orientation of an isolated stone row that happens to be in line with a solar or lunar event cannot be taken as proof that the alignment was intended “
There has to be some form of clear indication concerning an alignment the passage of a passage grave is one , an avenue another . If we want to be sure of intention then simply lining up a couple of stones within a stone circle is not good enough or one stone to a hill top .Burl made this point “”The longer face of single standing stone ,the orientation of an isolated stone row that happens to be in line with a solar or lunar event cannot be taken as proof that the alignment was intended “ . If we accepted whatever people chose to believe as being alignments because it suited their agenda or because they felt it “looked right “ or “felt right “ we would be swamped with meaningless data and would have to include all the other similar circumstances that they ignored or didn't feel was right which would negate their initial findings.
George
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cerrig
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| New Message Posted!2013-05-22 22:52
True according to who, George, and what are the criteria for the definition of " relating to the cardinal points of the sun" or "an alignment" ?
cerrig
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tiompan
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| New Message Posted!2013-05-22 18:33
I don't see any general inference in the Hutton comments about megalithic monuments “ not intended to have any relationship with the heavens “ . He said "the vast majority of prehistoric monuments in these islands do not relate to ... the cardinal points of the sun" and “the vast majority of prehistoric monuments in the British Isles are not accurately aligned on sunsets or sunrises at the solstices and equinoxes.” And both are true .
George
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cropredy
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| New Message Posted!2013-05-22 18:28
This is a link about the alignments of the round towers of Ireland.
I do like how the moth reacts to the radiation of a light bulb in spiral fashion, they do have very advanced senses , nes pas?
http://www.whale.to/b/callahan.html
cropredy
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jonm
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| New Message Posted!2013-05-22 18:17
Quote:
| Once again we are back to the sticking point as to what is meant by an " alignment", as the inference in Mr Huttons statement is that , generally, megalithic monuments were not intended to have any relationship with the heavens ( for want of a better expression ) |
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Interesting one this. Perhaps it's correct in that the monuments are not generally aligned on things that modern astro-archaeologists would realise were relevant to them? We define an "alignment" by how important it is relative to our own world-view.
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cerrig
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| New Message Posted!2013-05-22 17:12
Once again we are back to the sticking point as to what is meant by an " alignment", as the inference in Mr Huttons statement is that , generally, megalithic monuments were not intended to have any relationship with the heavens ( for want of a better expression )
I think he's wrong, and every time I visit an ancient site I think he's wronger.
cerrig
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tiompan
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| New Message Posted!2013-05-22 15:42
Ric , "the vast majority of prehistoric monuments in these islands do not relate to ... the cardinal points of the sun" was clear enough to most who read it and was clarified by the author i.e. “the vast majority of prehistoric monuments in the British Isles are not accurately aligned on sunsets or sunrises at the solstices and equinoxes.” .However the initial comment was read it was true , as was the confirmation .
You may not like the the use of language but I think it was the content that was really the sore point .
George
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megalith6
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| New Message Posted!2013-05-22 15:04
George Posted [edit] 10-05-2013 at 10:02
Ric, Hutton didn't mention alignments in his correct comment
"the vast majority of prehistoric monuments in these islands do not relate to ... the cardinal points of the sun"
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Ric replied: If by this somewhat oblique above statement Hutton means that not all megalithic monuments reference solstices and / or equinoxes then that is a simple fact, and to state it as some form of scholastic revelation seems rather absurd to me. Why not use direct speech to convey prosaic facts, but instead employ potentially ambiguous if not misleading terms like ‘cardinal points of the sun’ and especially ‘stations of the sun’, whatever these are?
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Orpbit had earlier posted 05-12-2012 at 23:29
“...As far as I'm concerned in archaeoastronomy there are only four important (Cardinal) positions of the Sun. These are the Summer and Winter solstices and the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes...the most important festival (ritual) days were Quarter days in England”
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tiompan
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| New Message Posted!2013-05-22 13:39
About time , maybe we can get back to the discussion .
You can't claim that language or other problems were involved in a simple counting exercise that would have shown to be wrong .
Stick to stuff that is unfalsifiable ,you should have learnt that by now .
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cropredy
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| New Message Posted!2013-05-22 12:03
The constant barrage directed at Me, is from YOU.
This is definately My last reply to You, it is a waste of time answering your constant drivel directed at Myself.
Kevin
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