<< Feature Articles >> The Great Stone Circles - How they Work Part 9
Submitted by JACKME on Monday, 17 October 2005 Page Views: 4694
Alternative Archaeology
Prediction Sites
Having seen Ken Williams' marvellous pictures of the sunlight striking the back wall of the cairn at Loughcrew, I agree with Martin Brennen’s suggestion that the line of sun images is used to predict the equinox. In this next article I will now try to explain the basic principles of this prehistoric prediction system.There are very few days in the year when the sun rises or sets with a clear sky down to the level horizon, so the ancient people devised a system using shadows to measure the height of the sun above the low cloud. This occurs after sunrise (and at some sites before sunset) as the sun passes a predetermined azimuth, normally over the crest of a higher skyline. The system works because the sun always passes through the same azimuth at the same time of the day, each day according to the season. In the winter it does not go as far north. Only the elevation alters.
At these ancient prediction sites, the system is arranged to cast two shadows down a row of target stones, working over several days. One of the shadows is normally created by the ground or crest and this gets longer at sunset. Daily as the sun gets lower in the sky and vice versa at the sunrise, this shadow gives the ’horizontal curser’. On a given date it will always be the same length. When this ground shadow reaches the bottom of one of the target stones in the row, at the same time a shadow from the pointer stone swings over the row, providing the ‘vertical curser’. This covers the target stone of the day, in many cases leaving the top in sunlight, thus measuring the height of the sun on that day. Using this method the ancients would have been able to count the days to the Solstice or other Festival in order to ensure their activities were carried out on the correct day, despite the cloud cover. The sensitivity of the prediction was often enhanced by utilising a slope.
The same system appears to work for the moon by focusing on the Minor Standstills, but none of these have yet been observed to their conclusion.
There are several variations of the principles of the vertical and horizontal cursers. The Neolithic people must have been in possession of this knowledge to build their tombs which were designed for the Sun or Moon to reach the back wall, as at Clava as per Dougie Scott’s CD-Rom 'Watchers of the Dawn. At an early period natural rocks were used. Later, they set up single stones with small ones on the crest, up to very large ones erected some distance away. The system is a little inaccurate at the solstices, but is very precise at the equinox. I hardly dare suggest that if the Loughcrew pictures had been taken on the day of the actual sun’s equinox and not the modern calendar date, and if the cloud had behaved itself, the sunlight would have lit up the whole of the back wall plate. At Loughcrew the top lintel measures the height of the sun with the walls of the cairn to the left and right acting as side vectors or cursers. The sill is there to prevent the same effect occurring on another date when the sun is lower in the sky, as it cuts out the sunlight from the bottom of the back stone. Only on the exact day will the whole stone be illuminated.
The same principle’s were employed by the architects of the stone rows. To take a look at the target stones there in closer detail, some of the stone rows, which run due north/south, are laid out so that the shortest shadow occurs at midday on the midsummer solstice, or the longest at midwinter. It is possible that the double rows may comprise one row for days before the Solstice and the other for those after, but many more observations are needed to confirm this theory. Some of these rows continue on way past where the midwinter shadow reaches, and in some cases, as at Shovel Down in Devon , one of the double rows even goes over the next crest. Why? This must be a further system about which nothing is yet known, but it is a phenomenon that has been noticed at several sites.
One particular area of interest is Lacra in Cumbria (SD152811), which contains a number of sites of various kinds, ranging from individual stones and stone rows to small stone circles. This seems to be much older than Swinside circle, because the rows and individual stones appear only to indicate the seasons of the year and three prediction sites. (Please note that the site is on private ground with no footpath nearby, and the area is used for suckler cows with calves, which do not take kindly to people with dogs. During the winter months the cows are fed daily, and the sound of a vehicle brings a cavalcade of cows through out the year. Nearly every year a person is killed in Cumbria while taking dogs into fields with suckler cows, where visitors have no right to be).
This photo and this photo taken at Lacra D in Cumbria in 2002 demonstrate the sunlight just touching the tops of the stones in sequence, but unfortunately do not show the pointer stone shadow, as they were taken before I was aware of what was happening and I was standing in the wrong place! These stones are in what is called the ‘avenue’ at Lacra D, where one row predicts the summer solstice and I am fairly sure the other predicts the Moon Major Standstill Most Northerly Rise, but I have yet to observe this. It aligns to a shaped rock on the skyline and the bottom end stone of the row is of the triangular moon shape .
Upon returning to Lacra on the 14th December 2003, I discovered that by sitting on the fallen pointer stone my shadow swung to the row of stones running down the slope. When this picture was taken, my pointer shadow had swung onto the row and covered the target stone at the same time as the ground shadow had reached it. This photo was taken at 3.23pm, and it is safe to assume that the pointer shadow will always pass the line of stones at this time, with the shadow growing longer as the sun gets lower towards the solstice.
At the time of construction the midwinter shadow would have been cast as far as the larger stone opposite the wall end, which is of the standard ‘lying dagger’ shape and frequently used to indicate the sun at full orb at a solstice. Shadows can only be really seen when the sun is at full orb, once the sun appears to touch the skyline or cloud the shadow strength fades very quickly.
The search has continued for similar arrangements, with the result that it now appears these prediction sites are probably the most common type of site throughout the country. There are four such sites within two miles of Swinside alone. Some indicate the Moon Major Standstills, by measuring the height of the moon at the Minor Standstill. The best ones visited are on Dartmoor, particularly at Drizzlecombe in Devon. This site was kindly shown to me by Jack Walker on the 15th April 2004. He had written an article about it in the Dartmoor Magazine, (No 69, 2002) and has been working on a book, which is expected out soon.
The largest fallen prediction stone I have seen is The Grand Menhir Brise at Locmanaquer in Brittany, which according to the visitor literature was erected during the Neolithic period in about 4500BC. There are still sockets for target stones in place on the site, and these look as if they were used to predict the days of the solstices, but unfortunately I had no compass with me to check at the time.
The next section: Glaciers
Contents page for the whole series is here
Note: In this latest previously unpublished article retired farmer, Jack Morris-Eyton, reveals his amazing research into the purpose of prehistoric monuments. According to Jack they were built as prediction sites for the sun and moon. By employing a system utilising marker stones and shadows the ancient people were able to determine how many days it was until the next festival day, such as the solstice. Have you witnessed anything similar at a site near you? Jack would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below.
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