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Douglas Scott's work on Kilmartin Glen archaeoastronomy published in Antiquity Standing Stones Argyll

Submitted by Andy B on Wednesday, 19 May 2010  Page Views: 7638

Neolithic and Bronze Age

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Country: Scotland County: Argyll Type: Standing Stones

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Nether Largie Stone Row
Nether Largie Stone Row submitted by dougie : The two northern stones S2-S3 are aligned further to the southeast than S6-S2-S3. This time- exposed picture of the rising moon, declination -28o 14', was taken from about 12:13am GMT on the 5th of May 2007, In the almost total darkness the moon appeared directly in line with the stones looking like a beautiful dull red ember. As the moonrise was being videoed, this picture was taken from a... (Vote or comment on this photo)
Douglas Scott, from Tain, Easter-Ross has recently had his work on astronomical alignments at the Temple Wood and the Nether Largie sites in the Kilmartin valley published in the renowned archaeological journal Antiquity.

Dougie has been studying the relationship and alignments of standing stones and burial cairns in Scotland to the sun and moon for over 30 years, with the aid of Alexander Thom's theodolite, given him by the professor.

He writes "There are good correlations at Kilmartin between stone alignments and the rising and setting of the midwinter sun and the major standstill moon. It seems unlikely that these alignments were haphazard or that they commemorated a single chance observation.

"While it is not known for how long the stones were in use, research using the astronomy program Redshift, has shown that, weather permitting, it would have been possible to see the southern major standstill moon in its different phases rising and setting in line with these stones about 18 times from March to September. The moon would also have risen and set in line with these stones for about a year on either side of a major standstill giving 54 opportunities to see this occur."

"The complexity revealed by the Kilmartin observations, where solar and lunar events were used in combination, suggests an equally complex context of commemoration or prediction. At Nether Largie, stones were used to mark not only the rising winter solstice sun but also where the southern moon, generally rising in line with the northern stones, could have given warning that it would be setting between in a few days time. ...the Temple Wood and the Nether Largie stones demonstrate alignments of astronomical significance that are among the most sophisticated of any so far claimed in Scotland"

The full paper, with data and more images showing the alignments is in the Antiquity project gallery. There are also more photos and information on our Nether Largie page

Dougie has produced a DVD film of his discoveries Watchers of the Dawn and also a 323-page ebook guide on CD of the same name. This is a guide to more than 100 prehistoric sites throughout Scotland, with over 500 colour pictures. 83 of these show unique images of the actual rising or setting sun from cupmarked standing stones and burial cairns throughout Scotland. Both versions of Watchers of the Dawn are available in our Online Shop.

Note: We will be featuring more extracts from Watchers of the Dawn soon
Contributor Bio for Andy B: Megalithic Portal Founding Editor.

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"Douglas Scott's work on Kilmartin Glen archaeoastronomy published in Antiquity" | Login/Create an Account | 1 comment
  
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Re: Douglas Scott's work on Kilmartin Glen archaeoastronomy published in Antiquity by sorbus on Thursday, 20 May 2010
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The first time I viewed "The Kilmartin Complex" which is I believe The Largest Neothlithic site in Northern Europe almost 30 yrs ago upon the day of our moving to Oban My Late Friend Donald Ross introduced me to The Complex.

I stated to him and My Wife Sarah:
"That "The Kilmartin Complex" was, a Druidic University and that this and not Anglesey was The Centre of Druidry possibly for The Whole of Northern Europe."
I have never varied from this opinion.
The Question for The Pre-eminence of Anglesey was to put it in context:
Where was The Vatican?
To put it another way:
Where was the equivalence of The Temple of Karnak?
a) An organism such as Druidry would need to have an Administrative Centre. Yet there are no permanent Structures i.e. Stone Complex found upon
Roman Records state They burned The Sacred Groves but nothing about Demolishing Stone Constructs.

b) Close Proximity of The Kilmartin Complex to Dunadd Stronghold and Royal Seat of The Kings of The Dal Riata.

c)Close proximity to Iona, already Identified as a Place of Holiness before the Arrival of Colum Cille aka Columba

d)Close proximity to The Isle of Staffa and Fingals Cave, as a known place used for Meditation and Initiationary Rites,

All these constitutent parts point to a place of:

1) Great Importance needing Active Participation of A "Sacred or Priest King",

2)A Permanent Theocracy.

3) A Druidic equivalence of The Temple of Karnak or Roman Catholic Vatican.

The Fact that Coum Cille /Columba chose Iona as His Place of Power to establish His Church.
Also shows the import of this area was already known.



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