Transcript STONEHENGE

STONEHENGE – LOCATION
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WHERE IS STONEHENGE? Stonehenge is in Wessex-- part of central-southern England on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire
(National Grid Reference SU 123 422).
WHAT WAS STONEHENGE USED FOR, AND WHY? These are the most testing questions. Before outlining the most plausible answers in accordance with the facts of the latest
archaeological and scientific scholarly research, a summary of the chief features of the monument are introduced. A link to the theory of Stonehenge is then provided near the bottom
of this page.
WHEN AND HOW DID STONEHENGE BEGIN? For some 400 years beginning about 2950 BCE the site was little more than a simple circular earthwork, inside of which was a space about
85 metres or some 90 yards in diameter but at the centre of which there appears to have been a simple wooden structure or timber circle. A ring of 56 pits lies close to the circumference
of this open space, and according to the argument presented by Cleal, Walker and Montague (1995) every pit formerly held a timber post, thus forming a large-diameter timber
circle. The holes left after the decay of the ring of posts are called Aubrey Holes. The Neolithic people later filled these pits with chalk and re-used them for ritual deposits.
The major causeway opening to the north-east embraces the direction of the most northerly risings of both moon and sun. Not until about 2550 BCE did construction of a ring of stones
commence. There being no natural stone on this part of the chalk plain, the stones had to be imported.
WHENCE? The first choice of stones, called bluestones, came from South-West Wales, 200 km to the west. Between 60 and 80 bluestones arrived, each weighing 3-4 tons, and there was
one exceptional stone at 8 tons which was placed near the centre, on the summer solsticial axis, at the focus of the monument.
The later sarsen stones, weighing between 6 and 60 tons each, were dragged about 32 km (20 miles) southwards from near Avebury. Sarsens are the fractured remnants of ancient
sandstone beds dating from the Eocene some 26 million years ago. The photograph, taken in the direction of midsummer sunrise, indicates the immensity of the sarsens of the outer
ring. The overhead lintel, which weighs about 6 tons, is supported by 25-ton megaliths.
WHEN DID THE STONES ARRIVE ? The bluestones came about 2550 BCE, possibly at a rate of just a few (3 to 6, say) annually. At some point, delivery of the bluestones stopped. This
happened before the ring of bluestones had been completed. Fairly soon afterwards, sarsen stones started arriving, and their delivery is presumed to have taken one or two centuries
commencing about 2500 BCE.
HOW ? The bluestones were rafted from Wales by sea and river. The sarsens were dragged from the Avebury Hills by haulage teams, probably aided by oxen. The stones were then
tipped end-first into pits dug into the sub-surface chalk The lintels for the trilithons were raised on wooden cribs or by using earthen ramps.
BY WHICH ROUTES? (1) The bluestones came along the Bristol Channel, then possibly up the River Avon to Bath and overland to the River Wylye at Warminster; thence to Salisbury and
Amesbury via a second River Avon to Stonehenge. A ditch-and-bank avenue from the latter river to the monument likely marks their final journey. An alternative possibility is a seacrossing via Lundy Island (as suggested by Rodney Castleden) and then around the Cornish Peninsula to the Salisbury Avon.
(2) The sarsens went probably south-west from the Avebury
Hills to a col near Devizes and West Lavington, and then south and east across the chalkland.
WHAT WAS THE MASTER BUILDING PLAN? The first sarsen stone erected may have been the huge Heel Stone, set outside the monument. Also early were the 4 station stones, placed
within the circular ditch near the Aubrey ring.
A circle of bluestones was commenced but the stones were dismantled after 60 had been raised. Sarsen circles and U-settings then went up, the dominant feature being the trilithon idea
of a 6-ton lintel lying across pairs of 25 to 60-ton uprights. In the final stage, the bluestones were put back, some in a circle, the others on a U-setting. The common axis of all the sarsen
stones and the bluestone settings is towards the midsummer sunrise. The sparkling 8-ton bluestone went to the heart and focus of the monument where the rays of the rising sun can fall
on it only for a few minutes each year at the time of midsummer solstice. It was a devout, clever people who did this. Who were they?
They were the Ancient Britons, part of a precocious flowering of an early World Culture---and until recently inadequately recognised and ill-understood by us, their inheritors. Their
names are unknown. Begun in the agricultural Neolithic Age, Stonehenge was completed in the Early Bronze Age by Beaker folk. At a later date (perhaps towards 1500 BCE) some
disaster or systems collapse progressively brought the impressive Megalithic Age to an end, not only here but throughout the whole of Britain and Ireland. Much further east, as in
Egypt, Babylonia and the Indus Valley, civilisations continued to flourish, although in Crete towards 1400 BCE a splendid high culture was also nearing its end.
This is a plan of the stones as they were at the end of the final stone-moving phase, nearly 4000 years ago.
There is a ring of bluestones inside the sarsen stone circle;
and a U-setting of bluestones inside a U-setting of five enormous sarsen trilithons. The common axis is to the midsummer
sunrise.
The 8-ton Cult Stone is on the main axis at the focus close to the centre.
For a plausible theory and likely answers as to WHY Stonehenge was designed like this, CLICK HERE.
One of the great trilithon stones has numerous axes carved into it; another has a Mother-Goddess type of image carved in relief; and a third bears a splendid carved image of a
distinguished human head facing west.
Concerning the latest news of the STONEHENGE Carvings CLICK HERE
STONEHENGE TODAY
STONEHENGE LAYOUT – CLEAL ET. AL.
Newgrange
• The Megalithic Passage Tomb at Newgrange was built about 3200 BC.
The kidney shaped mound covers an area of over one acre and is
surrounded by 97 kerbstones, some of which are richly decorated with
megalithic art. The 19 metre long inner passage leads to a cruciform
chamber with a corbelled roof. It is estimated that the construction of
the Passage Tomb at Newgrange would have taken a work force of 300
at least 20 years.
Winter Solstice
• The passage and chamber of Newgrange are illuminated by the winter
solstice sunrise. A shaft of sunlight shines through the roof box over
the entrance and penetrates the passage to light up the chamber. The
dramatic event lasts for 17 minutes at dawn on the Winter Solstice and
for a few mornings either side of the Winter Solstice.
NEWGRANGE
NEWGRANGE – WINTER SOLSTICE
Ceques at Cuzco
PLEIADES STAR CLUSTER
ORION AND SIRIUS
BABYLONIAN NUMBERING SYSTEM
SEXIGESIMAL (BASE 60)
• THE EARLY BABYLONIANS OBSERVED THE HEAVENS
AND OTHER NATURAL PHENOMENA TO GET CLUES AS
TO WHAT THE GODS WERE THINKING. THEY WERE
LISTED IN THE “ENUMA ANU ENLIL” – 70 TABLETS WITH
70,000 OMENS. MOST OF THE OMENS CAME FROM
OBSERVING THE MOON.
• ENUMA ANU ENLIL MEANS “IN THE DAYS OF THE GODS
ANU (GOD OF HEAVEN) AND ENLIL (GOD OF THE
WIND)
ENUMA ANU ENLIL TABLET
BABYLONIAN CALENDAR
• LUNAR CALENDAR (MONTH STARTED AND ENDED WITH
NEW MOON)
• NINETEEN SOLAR YEARS = 235 [(19X12)+7] LUNAR
MONTHS
• INTERCALATED (INSERTED) 7 MONTHS EVERY 19 YEARS
• 19 YEARS IS CALLED A “METONIC CYCLE”
• BABYLONIANS RECORDED DETAILED TABLES
(EPHEMERIDES)
• THEY KNEW THAT THE SUN’S SPEED THROUGH THE
CELESTIAL SPHERE VARIED AND THEY MEASURED IT.
RELIGIOUS EGYPTIAN CALENDAR
• NO GOOD NUMBERING SYSTEM
• CALENDAR BROKEN INTO 3 FOUR-MONTH
SEASONS BASED ON THE NILE)
– FLOODING
– SUBSIDENCE
– HARVEST
• NEEDED TO INTERCALATE A MONTH OCCASIONALLY
• INTERCALATION DETERMINED BY THE HELIACAL
RISING OF SIRIUS (THE DOG STAR)
ADMINISTRATIVE EGYPTIAN CALENDAR
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INTRODUCED CIRCA 3000 BC
TWELVE 30-DAY MONTHS/YEAR
THREE 10-DAY WEEKS/MONTH
ADD FIVE DAYS AFTER THE 12TH MONTH
A ROUGH ATTEMPT TO ADD LEAP YEARS
CAME MUCH LATER (CIRCA 239 BC)
ANCIENT GREEK ASTRONOMY
• METON
– LIVED IN ATHENS AROUND 500 BC
– INTRODUCED A CALENDAR
• YEAR WAS A SOLAR YEAR (365 DAYS)
• MONTH WAS A LUNAR MONTH (29 ½ DAYS)
• CALENDAR NOT ACCEPTED BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES
– METONIC CYCLE
• 19 SOLAR YEARS
• 235 LUNAR MONTHS
• USED TO PREDICT ECLIPSES AND OTHER CELESTIAL EVENTS
ANCIENT GREEK ASTRONOMY
• THALES OF MILETUS (c. 625 BC TO c. 547 BC)
– ONE OF THE “SEVEN SAGES OF GREECE”
– SOMETIMES CALLED THE “FATHER OF PHILOSOPHY”
– FIRST COSMOLOGIST (TRIED TO REASON ABOUT THE
NATURE OF THE UNIVERSE RATHER THAN DEPEND ON
ASTROLOGY”
– BELIEVED THAT WATER WAS AT THE BASE OF OUR
EXISTENCE, i.e., “ALL THINGS FOUND THEIR ORIGIN IN
WATER”
– WELL KNOWN MATHEMATICIAN
– REMEMBERED FOR HIS “THALES THEOREM” IN
GEOMETRY
ANCIENT GREEK ASTRONOMY
• ANAXIMANDER (c. 610 BC TO c. 545 BC)
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ALSO FROM MILETUS (PROBABLY KNEW THALES)
ALSO A COSMOLOGIST (ARGUED FROM FIRST PRINCIPLES)
SOMETIMES CALLED “THE FATHER OF COSMOLOGY”
CONSIDERED THE EARTH TO BE A CYLINDER - WE LIVE ON
THE END
– THE UNIVERSE IS AN ALL ENCOMPASSING FIRE
– SEVERAL WHEELS WITH HOLES IN THEM ROTATED
AROUND THE EARTH
– THE STARS WERE CLOSEST, THE MOON NEXT MOST
DISTANT, THE SUN WAS THE FARTHEST AWAY
• THE PYTHAGOREANS
– SAW A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE HARMONY OF
MUSIC AND MATHEMATICAL RATIOS
– PHYTHAGORAS CLAIMED TO BE ABLE TO HEAR THE
MUSIC OF THE SPHERES
– RECOGNIZED THE EARTH AS BEING SPHERICAL
– VERIFIED THE IDEA OF A SPHERICAL EARTH BY
OBSERVING THAT THE SKY VARIED AS ONE MOVED
NORTH AND SOUTH
– HIS TEACHING PROMOTED THE IDEA OF A RATIONAL
ORDER TO THE UNIVERSE
ANCIENT GREEK ASTRONOMY
• ERATOSTHENES (276 BC-194 BC)
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BORN IN SYENE (MODERN DAY ASWAN)
MATHEMATICIAN, GEOGRAPHER AND ASTRONOMER
MEASURED THE CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE EARTH
DEVISED A LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE SYSTEM FOR THE EARTH
FRIEND OF ARCHIMEDES
OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS
– DEVELOPED A WAY TO FIND PRIME NUMBERS – CALLED THE “SIEVE
OF ERATOSTHENES”
– DETERMINED EARTH-SUN DISTANCE (ONE ASTRONOMICAL UNIT)
ALMOST PERFECTLY (804,000,000 stadia, 1 stadion varies from 157 to 209 meter)
– DETERMINED EARTH-MOON DISTANCE (OFF BY FACTOR OF TWO)
– MEASURED OBLIQUITY OF THE ECLIPTIC TO ACCURACY OF 7 ARC MIN
– MAPPED THE ENTIRE KNOWN WORLD
ERATOSTHENES MEASUREMENT
ERATOSTHENES ARMILLARY SPHERE
(ASTROLABE)
ANCIENT GREEK ASTRONOMY
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PLATO AND ARISTOTLE (LATE 5TH CENTURY BC)
ARISTOTLE IS BETTER REMEMBERED AS MORE OF HIS WRITING SURVIVED
THEY BOTH AGREED THAT THE BASIC ELEMENTS OF THE EARTH WERE COMBINATIONS
OF HOT/COLD AND WET/DRY
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COLD AND DRY – EARTH
COLD AND WET – WATER
HOT AND WET – AIR
HOT AND DRY – FIRE
ARISTOTLE PROVED THAT THE EARTH WAS SPHERICAL BY OBSERVING THE CURVED
SHADOW OF THE EARTH DURING LUNAR ECLIPSE
ARISTOTLE BELIEVED THAT THE HEAVENLY BODIES DIDN’T HAVE TO OBEY THE PHYSICAL
LAWS OF THE EARTH AS THEY WERE MADE OF A FIFTH MATERIAL – THE
“QUINTESSENCE”
ARISTOTLE BELIEVED THAT THE EARTH WAS FIXED – IF IT WERE ROTATING THINGS
WOULD FLY OFF AND AN OBJECT DROPPED FROM THE CROW’S MAST OF A SHIP
WOULD FALL INTO THE SEA, NOT ON THE DECK AS IT IS OBSERVED TO DO.
A REAL PROBLEM TO BOTH ARISTOTLE AND PLATO WAS THE MOTION OF THE PLANETS.
THE CHALLENGE WAS TO SHOW THAT THEIR MOTION WAS AS REGULAR AS THAT OF
THE REST OF THE SKY.
ANCIENT GREEK ASTRONOMY
• EUDOXUS OF CNIDUS (400 BC – 347 BC)
– CONTEMPORARY WITH PLATO
– MATHEMATICIAN
– DEVELOPED THE HIPPOPEDE (horse foot)- A SET OF
CONCENTRIC SPHERES SET AT DIFFERENT ANGLES AND
ROTATING WITH DIFFERENT SPEED TO EXPLAIN
RETROGRADE MOTION
– THE PATH TRACED OUT LOOKED LIKE WHAT WE NOW CALL
THE “ANALEMMA”
– PROBLEM WITH THE IDEA OF NESTED SPHERES – IT DIDN’T
EXPLAIN THE FACT THAT THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE
PLANETS CHANGED DURING THE YEAR AS THEIR DISTANCE
CHANGED
EUDOXUS’ HIPPOPEDE
ANCIENT GREEK ASTRONOMY
• HERACLIDES OF PONTUS (387 – 312 BC)
– STUDENT OF PLATO
– CREDITED WITH PROPOSING THAT THE EARTH
ROTATED ON ITS AXIS, A PROPOSITION NOT
ACCEPTED BY ARISTOTLE NOR ANY OF HIS
CONTEMPORARIES
ANCIENT GREEK ASTRONOMY
• ARISTARCHUS OF SAMOS
(310 BC - 230 BC)
– MEASURED E-S/E-M
DISTANCE RATIO
– DETERMINED THE
RELATIVE SIZES OF THE
MOON AND THE SUN
– PROPOSED THAT THE
EARTH REVOLVED AROUND
THE SUN (PHILOLAUS ALSO
BELIEVED THAT)
– SELEUCUS OF SELEUCIA
(MID 2ND CENT BC) ALSO
BELIEVED THAT
APOLLONIUS OF PERGA
• LIVED ~200 BC
• MATHEMATICIAN –
SPECIALIZED IN CONICS
• ORIGINATED THE TERMS
ELLIPSE, PARABOLA AND
HYPERBOLA
• DEVISED TWO ALTERNATE
WAYS OF EXPLAINING THE
VARIATION IN THE SPEED
OF THE MOON
– OFF CENTER CIRCLE
– EPICYCLE
HIPPARCHUS
• BORN IN NICEA IN 2ND CENTURY BC
• OBSERVED FROM RHODES 141 TO 127 BC
• ALMOST ALL ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS HAVE BEEN LOST – WHAT WE HAVE
ARE RECORDED BY PTOLEMY IN HIS ALMAGEST
• THE FIRST TO USE THE BABYLONIAN DATA
• COMPILED A LIST OF LUNAR AND SOLAR ECLIPSES
• DEFINED A DETAILED ECCENTRIC CIRCLE MODEL FOR THE SUN
• MEASURED THE DISTANCE TO THE MOON USING OBSERVATIONS DURING
A TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE
• INTRODUCED THE SEXAGESIMAL SYSTEM TO ASTRONOMICAL
OBSERVATIONS
• ADOPTED 360 DEGREES IN A CIRCLE
• DISCOVERED THE “PRECESSION OF THE EQUINOXES”
• GENERATED THE FIRST STAR CATALOG (850 STARS) OF STAR BRIGHTNESS
HIPPARCHUS MEASUREMENT OF THE
DISTANCE TO THE MOON
HIPPARCHUS STAR BRIGHTNESS
CATALOG
HIPPARCHUS CATALOG
BRIGHTEST
FAINTEST
MAGNITUDE (m)
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6
1ST MAGNITUDE STAR IS 100X THAT
OF A 6TH MAGNITUDE STAR
(100)1/5 = 2.5, I.E. EACH MAGNITUDE
IS A FACTOR OF 2.5 IN
BRIGHTNESS
BA/BB = 2.5 (mB – mA)
CURRENT VALUES
OBJECT
MAGNITUDE (m)
SUN
-26.5
MOON (FULL)
-12.5
VENUS
-4.7
SIRIUS
-1.5
ALDEBARAN
1.0
VISUAL EYE LIMIT
6.0
BINOCULAR LIMIT
10.0
6 INCH TELESCOPE
13.0
200 “ TELESCOPE (CCD) 27.0
KECK 10 M TELESCOPE
30.0
HUBBLE TELESCOPE
30.0
ELLIPTICAL ORBITS
• EACH ELLIPSE HAS TWO
FOCI WHICH LIE ON THE
MAJOR AXIS
• IF THE ORBITED OBJECT
IS MUCH HEAVIER IT
LIES AT A FOCUS
• THE SATELLITE MOVES
FASTER WHEN IT’S
NEAR PERI(HELION)
CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY
• LIVED IN ALEXANDRIA DURING THE 2ND CENTURY AD
• BEST KNOWN ASTRONOMER/ASTROLOGER OF ANCIENT GREECE
• WROTE THE ALMAGEST (THE GREAT COMPILATION) – A 13 VOLUME
COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF ALL GREEK ASTRONOMY UP TO HIS TIME
• HE DREW HEAVILY ON ASTRONOMERS WHO PRECEDED HIM
• HIS WRITINGS SURVIVED THE FIRE AT THE LIBRARY IN ALEXANDRIA AS
THEY HAD BEEN CIRCULATED THROUGHOUT THE GREEK AND ROMAN
WORLD
• INTRODUCED THE “EQUANT POINT” TO THE CONCEPTS OF EPICYCLE AND
DEFERENT INHERITED FROM APOLLONIUS AND HIPPARCHUS
• HE DIDN’T REGARD WORK DONE DURING THE THREE CENTURIES
PRECEDING HIM WAS OF ANY VALUE SO ANYTHING DONE DURING THAT
TIME IS ESSENTIALLY LOST TO US – HENCE “THE DARK AGES OF GREEK
ASTRONOMY”
CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY’S EQUANT
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EARTH OFFSET FROM THE CENTER
THE “EQUANT” WAS OFFSET FROM THE
CENTER AN EQUAL AMOUNT IN THE
OTHER DIRECTION.
THE SUN MOVED AROUND THE ORBIT
SHOWN AT A CONSTANT ANGULAR RATE
AS SEEN FROM THE EQUANT.
TO AN OBSERVER ON THE EARTH THE
SUN’S SPEED WOULD VARY
NOTE THAT THE POINTS OF THE EQUANT
AND THE EARTH’S LOCATION LOOK A LOT
LIKE THE FOCI OF AN ELLIPSE.
HE WAS THE FIRST TO ABANDON THE
IDEA OF UNIFORM CIRCULAR MOTION. IT
WAS STILL CIRCULAR BUT NOT UNIFORM.
ELLIPTICAL MOTION IS NEITHER CIRCULAR
NOR UNIFORM.
PTOLEMY’S EPICYCLES
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PTOLEMY HAD TO INTRODUCE THE
CONCEPT OF EPICYCLE TO EXPLAIN THE
MOTIONS OF THE PLANETS.
PARTICULAR PROBLEM WAS THE
RETROGRADE MOTION OF THE SUPERIOR
PLANETS
HIS USE OF NONUNIFORM MOTION DID
NOT SURVIVE THE BASIC PHILOSOPHIC
REQUIREMENT THAT ALL HEAVENLY
MOTIONS BE UNIFORM.
COPERNICUS’ HELIOCENTRIC SYSTEM
USED UNIFORM MOTION, HENCE IT
REQUIRED EPICYCLES
HIS LUNAR MODEL WORKED EXCEPT THE
EPICYCLE WAS SO LARGE THAT THE
DISTANCE TO MOON VARIED FROM 33 TO
64 EARTH RADII. THAT WOULD CAUSE
THE APPARENT SIZE OF THE MOON TO
CHANGE BY ABOUT 50%.
SOME MODELS HAD SEVERAL EPICYCLES
ON EPICYCLES
PTOLEMY’S MODEL OF THE SOLAR
SYSTEM
• NOTE THAT MERCURY,
VENUS AND THE SUN
REVOLVE AT THE SAME
RATE
• HE CONCLUDED THAT
THE RADIUS OF THE
UNIVERSE WAS ABOUT
20,000 EARTH RADII
• ACTUAL DISTANCE TO
THE SUN IS ABOUT
23,000 EARTH RADII
PTOLEMY’S POSTULATES
1. THE EARTH IS FIXED AT THE “CENTER” OF THE
CELESTIAL SPHERE
2. THE CELESTIAL SPHERE IS LARGE WITH
RESPECT TO THE EARTH
3. THE STARS RISE AND SET AS THE RESULT OF
THE ROTATION OF THE CELESTIAL SPHERE
4. THE EARTH IS SPHERICAL
5. RETROGRADE MOTION IS DESCRIBED BY
EPICYCLES
JULIAN CALENDAR
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BEFORE THE TIME OF JULIUS CAESAR THERE WERE 355 DAYS PER YEAR (12 LUNAR MONTHS)
EXTRA MONTHS WERE INTERCALATED ABOUT EVERY THREE YEARS
INTERCALATED MONTHS WERE INSERTED PRETTY MUCH ON THE WHIM OF THE PRIESTS OF THEIR
RELIGIONS
POLITICAL COLLUSION COULD GET A MONTH INTERCALATED INTO YOUR ADMINISTRATION
DURING THE TIME OF THE SECOND PUNIC WARS AND DURING THE CIVIL WARS INTERCALARY MONTHS
WERE OFTEN OMITTED
FOR EXAMPLE, CAESAR CROSSED THE RUBICON ON JAN. 10, 49 BC BUT THE CALENDAR WAS SO FAR OFF
THAT IT WAS MID-AUTUMN
THE YEAR 46 BC WAS GIVEN 445 DAYS (EFFECTIVELY THREE INTERCALARY MONTHS), INSERTED AFTER THE
SEVENTH MONTH QUINTILIS (LATER NAME JULY AFTER JULIUS CAESAR)
HE INTRODUCED THE CONCEPT OF ADDING A LEAP DAY TO FEBRUARY EVERY FOUR YEARS BRINGING THE
LENGTH OF THE CALENDAR YEAR TO 365.25 DAYS
INITIALLY JANUARY AND FEBRUARY WERE NOT CONSIDERED TO BE NAMED MONTHS AS THEY OCCURRED
IN THE WINTER
THE FIRST MONTH OF THE OFFICIAL CALENDAR WAS “MARTIUS”, NAMED AFTER THE ROMAN GOD MARS.
IF A WAR WAS IN PROGRESS, AT THE ONSET OF WINTER, EVERYONE WENT HOME. THE WAR WAS
RESUMED IN MARCH WHEN SPRING CAME, HENCE THE NAME.
THERE’S DISPUTE ON HOW APRIL, MAY AND JUNE GOT THEIR NAMES BUT THE LAST SIX MONTHS OF THE
ORIGINAL JULIAN CALENDAR WERE SIMPLY NUMBERED FOR THE LATIN NUMBERS FIVE THROUGH TEN.
IN 8 BC SEXTILIS WAS RENAMED AUGUST AFTER AUGUSTUS CAESAR DIED.