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Stonehenge: Solving the Neolithic Universe |
jonm
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|  Posted 08-11-2012 at 09:42
Hi Guys
I've written the remaining sections of the Stonehenge paper as a e-book. The difference between this and the paper that's up in the Megalithic Portal is that it contains some additional visual graphics and it also expands on other monuments (specifically in East Sussex) together with offering explanations for the Grail and the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann:
Stonehenge: Solving the Neolithic Universe
This is free to download on Sundays in November
For anyone reading who doesn't know what this is about:
The project started when doing some research into renewable energy. The project is a method of using a slowly rotating receptor to mimic the Sun's movement and collect energy from small flat plate fixed mirrors arranged as a circle (using principles similar to that of the Aceribo Observatory and the Auroville project).
By reflecting light instead of collecting, it can also be used to create a miniature version of the Sun's apparent movement around the world. It can create a model of the Universe if you like, but based on a geocentric (fixed world) model.
I think I've put pictures of most of the Sussex monuments up in site images section but still have to go through and see which ones I missed (I know there's a few left to do, particularly near Beachy Head)
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Feanor
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| Posted 08-11-2012 at 12:59
Nice work, Jon.
I couldn't wait till Sunday, so use the 3 bucks to buy a liter of 'petrol'.
Love the new graphics! They look good in HD.
Best wishes,
Neil
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jonm
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| Posted 08-11-2012 at 15:10
Hey Neil
Thanks, it looked good on the reviewer but it had to be loaded back into Amazon twice because the html code didn't look good when you previewed the book.
Been up to Bostal Hill today: I'll load a few pictures up but on the top, there's the 'usual' barrows (same as all the rest), some that look as if someone was trying to (unsuccessfully) copy what had been done before and one of the like I've never seen before. I'll load up that one when I've sorted them.
That rainbow picture of the North Downs from Firle is getting a lot of votes, but the picture going the other way was more spectacular, (I used it for the background behind Stonehenge)
See how the ball of light is in front of the horizon?
I guess you probably had to be there, but it was much more spectacular than the rainbow (link to rainbow)
[ This message was edited by: jonm on 2012-11-08 15:13 ]
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jonm
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| Posted 11-11-2012 at 09:56
Free upload worked!
Turns out the unusual tumulus (shown on the OS map I was using) turns out to be an old pond. So not surprising that I'd never seen one like it before.
PS Promotion seemed to go quite well: Got to #1 on Amazon in one of the categories and #5 in science (I'm more pleased with #5 in science but #1 sounds better)
Sunday 11th
[ This message was edited by: jonm on 2012-11-12 09:25 ]
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jonm
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| Posted 14-11-2012 at 14:21
Gone really quiet here
There's a few more arrangements (like the ones described in part 2) if anyone's interested. Wasn't sure if I should put more than just an example in the booklet so only did the run from Beachy Head to the Long Man.
Started to put a few remaining photos up and still have to go through and finish off the ones I haven't put up near Beachy. It needs a 'new site' reference almost every time after that (for the other examples), so it's a bit time consuming.
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Runemage
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| Posted 14-11-2012 at 21:19
Fabulous news Jon, apologies for the delay in posting my thoughts, been tied up with other things but that's one amazing achievement, hope you're on cloud nine !!!
Rune
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On 2012-11-11 09:56, jonm wrote:
Free upload worked!
Turns out the unusual tumulus (shown on the OS map I was using) turns out to be an old pond. So not surprising that I'd never seen one like it before.
PS Promotion seemed to go quite well: Got to #1 on Amazon in one of the categories and #5 in science (I'm more pleased with #5 in science but #1 sounds better)
Sunday 11th
[ This message was edited by: jonm on 2012-11-12 09:25 ]
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jonm
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| Posted 15-11-2012 at 06:39
Thanks Rune
Yes, pretty pleased. The reason the one-day did so well was because it happened to get featured in a technical magazine on the same day. (it's a new improvement on an existing technology). Back in the days before going to Stonehenge, the idea behind the technology had quite a bit of interest in its own right, so they picked it up again.
It'll be interesting to see how it does next Sunday without the publicity.
All the best
Jon
PS. If it hadn't been for some new releases about Einstein, could have made it to #1 on one of the USA categories: Einstein Got to No4 in 'hot new releases' today. Not sure how good that is.
[ This message was edited by: jonm on 2012-11-15 09:47 ]
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jonm
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| Posted 22-11-2012 at 08:15
I think I've finished cataloguing the runs described in Chap 2 of book and have put up photos of each one on MP:
Photo listing: East Sussex
There's also the map version which I've found very useful
There's a lot more photos than this, particularly showing the utility of features which make the arrangements noteworthy, but wasn't sure of the interest in this side of things, so have generally only put up photos of the monuments themselves. There's quite a few other interesting arrangements which I haven't got round to cataloguing yet; again not sure of interest.
[ This message was edited by: jonm on 2012-11-22 08:16 ]
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Andy B
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| Posted 22-11-2012 at 12:30
Thanks for getting out and tracking down all these tumuli, we had a huge 'green patch' around the south downs before this. You can up the photo size to about 800 x 600 for future photos if you like to give a clearer view.
> There's quite a few other interesting arrangements which I haven't got round to cataloguing yet; again not sure of interest.
What sort of things do you mean?
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jonm
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| Posted 22-11-2012 at 15:20
Hi Andy
It's similar sort of vein to everything else in the area but using other sets of mounds. More difficult to record because the ideal locations are at places where there's no tumuli shown on the OS map (though the Pastscape record shows where most of the mounds are)
Also there's two obvious time periods of mound building in the other areas (though there might be some of this in the Beachy-Bourne run as there appears to be some duplication). You only really know from looking at the local topography (on site) where the next ideal place should be.
For example at Well Combe, the OS (topo) maps suggest that the ideal one on from 'Well Combe tumulus B' (the lower one) would be in a straight line down from A. However, when you go to the site, there's a slight local ridge at the junction of the two paths which makes this less than ideal (just about what you have to do in practice using hand signals or similar to do the task described): The ideal place would actually be staggered over to the south. So I spent ages looking for C where I thought it should be but there's absolutely nothing there (it's not too far from the cliffs so I worried that pacing up and down in the area I'd get the local clergy eyeing me suspiciously again as a suicide prospect; though when you shown them you've got a camera they tend to carry on). It's only after George mentioned Pastscape again that I was able to punch in the preferred location and find where C was before it got ploughed out.
So, similar stuff, nothing particularly radical: All about 'how and where could I do xxx task', then turn up and find that it's already been set up: Though like Stonehenge that may all be coincidental.
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jonm
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| Posted 11-12-2012 at 14:02
Thanks very much to the Portal (and Sem & Neil in particular) for reviewing the book!
Before the book, I tried a number of different ways to get the initial ideas out. I tried contacting archaeologists, English Heritage and so on, but found that there was little or no interest in looking at new ideas (though Mike Parker Pearson was the exception but said he couldn't devote time to it because he was writing a book). I guess there's so many ideas about Stonehenge that they just don't have the time.
But what happened yesterday struck me as very very odd: I also submitted a paper to an archaeological learned journal 8 months ago (and included some extra data which isn't in the book). I got back their review comments yesterday: The reviewer liked the new ideas in the paper but rejected it largely because he/she thought that the references were not current (very specifically saying that I hadn't referenced Mike Parker Pearson's work: Stonehenge: Exploring the Greatest Stone Age Mystery).
The thing about this is that MPP's work was only published 6 months ago and I submitted the paper almost exactly 8 months ago. And MPP's new findings do not make any difference to the paper's argument other than to strengthen it.
Is it normal for archaeological learned journals to require authors to know about new archaeological data which hasn't yet been published: The requirement seems (at least to me) to prevent anyone other than archaeologists from submitting papers, so I wonder if there is any point in trying to use this type of format for any of the other monuments?
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sem
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| Posted 11-12-2012 at 19:52
That depends on whether you want to be an archaeologist!
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jonm
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| Posted 12-12-2012 at 20:59
I suppose that's true Sem. Seems a bit restrictive though: It's hardly a stance that would encourage any external or multi-disciplinary input.
The starting paper (and the others in draft) are largely about special considerations and technical errors in existing assumptions about the monument and its surrounds, so would only be of benefit to specialists. But you can't easily use a paper as a reference if it's not peer reviewed. The extra data (and why it's pertinent to the work of others) isn't that relevant to the things which interest me, so I guess the only thing to do is shelve them for the time being.
Still seems a bit weird to me though. I guess there are different rules for different professions.
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Andy B
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| Posted 12-12-2012 at 21:42
> The reviewer liked the new ideas in the paper
I'm quite staggered by that - well done! Give it a quick update and Bingo...
I think anyone involved with Stonehenge gets overwhelmed with the volume of 'amateur' theories about the site - and the wackiest ones are from retired engineers it has to be said - from one engineer to another 
As I've said, my main concern is about the multiple bronze mirrors aspect but I agree they would be viable to manufacture - the idea that all the high status visitors to Stonehenge would each have their own mirror to add to the array is very appealing conceptually. Unfortunately one has never been found though...
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jonm
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| Posted 13-12-2012 at 11:05
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| I'm quite staggered by that - well done! Give it a quick update and Bingo... |
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There's a good reason for that! The first paper isn't about the the mirror ideas, more about the limits of assumptions by others in past papers on the Stonehenge.
I doubt it could have been bronze though because it wasn't available? Tin would have available and far simpler to make mirrors from. At that time (prior to the discovery of bronze), tin would have had little or no use as a material other than for mirrors or trinkets: When it was first produced, it would have been too soft and would gradually degrade to dust in our climate (a process known as 'tin pest').
Does seem to be retired engineers who have the really wacky ideas, doesn't it? (Not you Jack if you're reading this). Unfortunately I don't have the spare cash to retire: In its other incarnations, heaven's henge is an ongoing engineering project.
I'm half and half on the papers: They're not really relevant to the things which interest me. Possibly something to save for retirement
[ This message was edited by: jonm on 2012-12-14 13:47 ]
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Boreades
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| Posted 04-01-2013 at 00:30
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On 2012-12-13 11:05, jonm wrote:
I doubt it could have been bronze though because it wasn't available? Tin would have available and far simpler to make mirrors from. At that time (prior to the discovery of bronze), tin would have had little or no use as a material other than for mirrors or trinkets: When it was first produced, it would have been too soft and would gradually degrade to dust in our climate (a process known as 'tin pest').
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How about tin alloyed with silver?
Or Brittania metal?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannium
[ This message was edited by: Boreades on 2013-01-04 00:35 ]
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jonm
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| Posted 04-01-2013 at 09:12
Hi Boreades
Almost any metal could be fashioned to work inside Stonehenge to produce a spectacular demonstration of fixed world knowledge. The main reason for suggesting tin is that it is an very easy metal to make a mirror from. Unalloyed tin "straight from the mine" does not have many uses, but small plate mirrors are a very good and very obvious early stage use for this material.
It also helps that Britain (and in particular Cornwall) was one of the few places that tin was in abundant supply. We now know, from Prof Parker Pearsons work (Stonehenge: Exploring the Greatest Stone Age Mystery), that copper, a more difficult material to work, was also in use at the time Stonehenge was built, so alloys are not impossible.
It's unfortunate that unalloyed tin degrades to a dust in the British Climate (a process known as Tin Pest). However it is very interesting that a 'table of metal', which fits the description of what would be required, was found at Stonehenge at the time of Henry the Eighth:
"I have heard that in the time of King Henrie the Eight, there was found neere this place a table of metall, as it had been tin and lead commixt, inscribed with many letters, but in so strange a Character, that neither Sir Thomas Eliot, nor master Lilye School-maister of Paules, could read it, and therefore neglected it. Had it been preserved, somewhat happily might have been discovered as concerning Stoneheng, which now lieth obscured"
From Anthony Johnson, quoting William Camben (1551-1623) P46: Solving Stonehenge
[ This message was edited by: jonm on 2013-01-04 09:22 ]
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jonm
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| Posted 04-01-2013 at 15:59
A bit of news:
"Solving the Universe" will be available as a paperback sometime this month. Unlike the Kindle version, this will be black and white but will contain some additional reference material. I do not know what price it will be.
The Megalithic Portal review is below:
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146414126
(see below.. they did that quick.. I though it would be end of the month)
[ This message was edited by: jonm on 2013-01-08 16:12 ]
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jonm
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| Posted 08-01-2013 at 16:09
The same content is out as a paperback (thought sem was right)
Amazon UK: Stonehenge: Solving The Neolithic Universe
Amazon USA: Stonehenge: Solving The Neolithic Universe
Works out much more expensive in hard format though.
[ This message was edited by: jonm on 2013-01-08 16:10 ]
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jonm
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| Posted 04-02-2013 at 16:49
Now got to #1 in an Amazon Kindle science category!
Not sure how long it'll last so basking in the glory while I can. Thanks everyone!
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