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New Evidence for Precise Lunar Alignments Early Bronze Age Argyll Scotland

www.lunarsites-scotland.net

New Evidence for Precise Lunar Alignments Early Bronze Age Argyll Scotland

Alexander Thom’s Lunar investigations (1960’s + 70’s)

Alexander Thom’s Lunar investigations (1960’s + 70’s)

Re-assessment by Professor Clive Ruggles (1980’s) showed a number of issues / errors of his 42 best lines, including :-

● Many lines not properly indicated

● Some errors of identification

● Selection of horizon features

● Variable types of backsight

● Wide geographical spread

It was considered that chance could explain the results.

Precise Alignments post Thom

Thom found that some precise alignments exist, so there are two key questions:-

● Are they common?

● Are they chance or were they planned?

The present investigation set out to try to answer

these questions.

The Present Investigation Acknowledge and address the above criticisms

ARGYLL●Choose one area only

● Only standing stones, pairs and short rows as backsights● And, within this group, NO selection

The essential question of Real or Chance is discussed later

MAJOR STANDSTILL - NORTH

Declination +29º 03’ ( ~ 1700 BC )

The ‘Wobble’ (or Delta, symbol Δ) is about 9’

Δ

Δ

18’

X

X

X

X

X

ONLY THESE DECLINATIONS ARE MEANINGFUL

+29°03’

THE LUNAR BAND

53’

Azimuth for lunar bands (Schematic)

N

90º

180º

Rising

Setti

ng

270º Ew

s

Indicated direction from a backsight

3°

‘Wobble’ Declinations

Δ

Δ

37º 37.5º 38º

2º

36.5º36º

2º

2.5º

37° 37.5° 38°

28° 56’.5

28° 56’.3

2.5°

2°

Δ

Ford (Argyll)

Summary of the Results

In the region examined:-

34 Sites -- 12 Sites - Stones fallen, Trees on horizon etc.and are not surveyable

-- 5 have no indicated direction and/or have plausible other explanations (e.g. ‘Waymarkers’)

-- 1 remains of a stone circle -- 3 uncertain

--This leaves 13 sites In accordance with the earlier statement, within this group there has been NO selection

They ALL gave a precise lunar alignment

Upper Limb

Lower Limb

9’ Δ

29º 8’.429º 9’.5

Indicated Foresight

44º 46º45º43º42º

7º

ACHARA

196º 196º.5 197º 197º.5

2º.5

3º

-28º 38’.5

-28º 38’.6

2º

Onich

Upper Limb

Lower Limb

9’ Δ

South SSW

(There are no other distant skylines)

Rocky RidgeSalachary

Salachary

S2 S3To ‘Notch’

‘Q’ Four stone group

S1

Nether Largie (Temple Wood)

Nether Largie (Temple Wood)

+28º 56’.5

+28º 56’.2

S1

To Foresight

Ballymeanach (Duncragaig)

To Foresight

Rock Outcrop

Foresight outcrop (1.5 – 2 m in height)

Ballymeanach (Duncragaig)

A2

1st quarter March

Last view of Moon

Rock

320° 321°

3.5°

322°

+29° 27’.5

3°

Ballymeanach (Duncragaig)

Δ

  Site

Declination found

Value used for Δ (a) ± 9’ (b) ± 8’.6/10’

Differences – from:-(a) ± 9’ (b) ± 8’.6/10’

 Onich (1)

 -28º 38’.6

 -28º 38’.5 -28º 37’.5

 -0’.1 -1’.1

 Achara(2)

 +29º 08’.4

 +29º 09’.5 +29º 08’.5

 -1’.1 -0’.1

 Salachary(14)

 -28º 38’.9

 -28º 38’.5 -28º 37’.5

 -0’.4 -1’.4

 Salachary(14)

 -29º 27’.7

 -29º 27’.5 -29º 27’.1

 -0’.2 -0’.6

 Ford (16)

 +28º 56’.3

 +28º 56’.5 +28º 56’.1

 -0’.2 +0’.2

 Carnasserie(19)

Approx.(-29º 28’.5)

 -29º 27’.5 -29º 27’.1

 (-1’.0) (-1’.4)

Nether Largie (20)

 +28º 56’.2

 +28º 56’.5 +28º 56’.1

 -0’.3 +0’.1

Ballymeanach (21)

 +29º 27’.6

 +29º 27’.5 +29º 27’.1

 +0’.1 +0’.5

 Torbhlaran(24)

+28º 55’.9 &(& +28º 56’.3)

 +28º 56’.5 +28º 56’.1

 -0’.6 -0’.2

 Achnabreac(29)

Approx. (-28º 38’ )

 -28º 38’.5 -28º 37’.5

 (-0’.5) (+0’.5)

 Barnashaig(32)

 +29º 28’.8

 +29º 27’.5 +29º 27’.1

 +1’.3 +1’.7

‘Lower Fernoch’ (34)

 -28º 37’.7

 -28º 38’.5 -28º 37’.5

 +0’.8 -0’.2

Declination Values Found

RMS 0’.68 0’.80

Theodolite Measurements ( Δ ± 9’ )

Alignments found at Major Standstill with ±Δ

Ballymeanach (21), Barnashaig (32) (Quarters) Onich (1), Salachary (14), Achnabreac (29), ‘Lower Fernoch’ (34) (Full Moon)

Achara (2) (Full Moon)

Ford (16), NetherLargie (20. Torbhlaran (24) (Quarters)

(Salachary (14)), Carnasserie (19) ( Quarters)

±

Evidence that the results found were planned

● For 9 of the 13 alignments the foresight is a stone or is rocky

/Continued

● There are several ‘pairs’ of stones with opposite ‘wobble’(9’ Delta, Δ)

e.g. Onich / Achara Carnasserie / Achnabreac Barnashaig / Lower Fernoch

● All 13 of the stones with an indicated lunar band give a precise alignment for one of the 4 key declinations

Also :- Foresights chosen to avoid uncertainty

South SSW

(There are no other distant skylines)

Rocky Ridge

Salachary

Chance Alignments

● I tested this by examining a total of 1500 degrees of random hilly horizon

● This contained 30 lunar bands (and so potentially 30 alignments)

● Three chance alignments were found Therefore:- About 1 in 10 random Lunar Bands contained an alignment So they are not common

Implications:-

13 Stones 13 precise lunar alignments

Random Lunar Band About 1 in 10 chance

Using what I have found, One random lunar band the probability of a precise alignment is about 1 in 10 Two random lunar bands BOTH yielding a precise alignment is about 1 in 100Three “ “ “ ALL “ “ “ “ “ 1 in 1000Thirteen “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ !!!!!!!!!

The results prove that in the Early Bronze Age precise lunar alignments were set up in this region

Earlier I had a slide regarding precise lunar alignments:-

● Are they common?

● Are they chance or were they planned?

● The evidence shows that they are common and were planned

The debate needs to move on from finding reasons that it could not have been done to working out just how it was done and the implications for the type of society at the time

These results cannot be side-lined as an inconvenience

“It would require about 100 years to set up each site”

My suggestion is that by using a star rising or setting close to a known alignment it would be simple to ‘copy’ the declination from a known site to a potential new site

● Not limited by the 18.6 year lunar cycle

● Change of latitude makes only a small difference

● Fine tune at the next ‘Standstill’

Using this method a small team of trained observers could identify many possible sites while awaiting the next 18 year standstill.

A Possible Reason

173 Days 173 Days

Eclipses can only occur near the time of the maximum of the ‘wobble’

There is much more information on:-

www.lunarsites-scotland.net

where ALL of the results and full analysis and discussion can be found