June 11, 2007
The unexpected
appearance of a novel "sundial" type of
crop picture at Oliver's Castle on April 15, 2007 has
stimulated much excitement and wonder around the world.
Charles Mallet and others have carefully investigated
the flattening of fairly-thick plant stems there in oilseed
rape; and have concluded that many of those plants were
smoothly bent at a 90-degree angle to the ground, just
above their roots (by unknown means), leaving them still
alive yet growing horizontally.
Another "sundial" type of crop picture appeared
next to Avebury Ring four years ago, on the night of
the summer solstice June 21, 2003. A large crowd of people
were celebrating nearby, yet no one noticed any human
activity in the field where that picture was later found.
One month later on July 20, 2003, yet another "sundial" (resembling
Avebury) appeared at Hackpen Hill.
Then two years later at Avebury Ring on July 27, 2005,
a "solar-lunar" type of crop picture appeared,
which showed 19 small mini-circles in its very centre,
evidently meant to symbolize the 19-year Metonic cycle
of the Moon.
Could we be receiving messages today in Wiltshire fields,
from a group of unknown crop artists who are more technologically
advanced than ourselves? Or could all of these amazing
crop pictures just be the work of clever human fakers?
In order to distinguish between those two hypotheses,
I carried out careful geometrical analyses on all four
solar-lunar crop pictures from 2003-2007. It seems that
a deep astronomical code, based on megalithic astronomy
from the ancient British Isles, was embedded carefully
within all of them. Yet no one took any notice for the
past four years, until a new picture at Oliver's Castle
brought the subject more closely to our attention!
Over ten years ago in the 1990's, astronomer Gerald Hawkins
likewise found a "hidden geometrical code" in
many early (and much simpler) crop pictures. It involved
five geometrical theorems which were demonstrably true,
but which ancient experts such as Euclid had missed.
Hawkins provided good evidence from that work for a paranormal
origin of certain crop pictures, but still a slim possibility
for human fakery remained. Now however, in light of this
new work, the possibility for human fakery seems to have
become almost negligible. Those "hidden astronomical
codes" (which no one could decipher for the past
four years) are more powerful and complex than the earlier
codes found by Hawkins. They tell us the precise latitude
North of the unknown artists who made such pictures,
as well as (in one case) their approximate historical
epoch.
How ancient people counted time by the Sun
Today most of us live in big cities such as London, Sydney
or Los Angeles, and we live by "artificial time" kept
on electronic clocks. We can hardly even see the stars,
owing to light and/or chemical pollution in our air.
By contrast, most ancient people lived very differently
from us---far closer to Nature---and kept time by the
Sun.
That is why hundreds of "stone circles" are
still found in the countryside all across Britain or
in other countries; because such stone circles were used
by ancient people to count seasonal or even historical
time. A typical yearly calendar based on carefully-placed
standing stones is shown schematically below (from www.mythicalireland.com):
(click to enlarge)
For high latitudes
such as 50 degrees North as found in Britain, our Sun rises
in the northeast on any summer solstice around June 21, but
in the southeast on any winter solstice around December 22.
Then at intermediate times of the year on March 20 (the spring
equinox) or September 22 (the autumn equinox), it rises due
east and sets due west. Now if a series of tall stones are
placed carefully in the ground at proper locations, then one
tall stone (the "gnomon") may cast a long shadow from the rising
Sun on other stones some distance away, and thereby tell the "time
of the year" accurately to one or two days.
One interesting feature of this kind of "stone clock" is
that the rising Sun seems to "move" more rapidly from
day to day, when it lies close to either equinox rather
than close to a solstice. The precise angular location on any
horizon where the Sun rises is called its "azimuth",
and may be any of 45 degrees for due northeast (in the northern
summer), 90 degrees for due east (fall or spring), or
135 degrees for due southeast (in the northern winter).
Similarly, the Sun may set at 315 degrees due northwest
(in the northern summer), 270 degrees due west (fall
or spring), or 225 degrees due southwest (in the northern
winter).
The precise angular height above the horizon of the
Sun at any time of day is called "altitude". At sunrise
or sunset, its altitude always equals zero. During the middle
of the day, its peak altitude (due south as seen from Britain)
will depend on latitude north, and also the summer or winter
season (high or low in the sky respectively). Modern hourly sundials
often use "altitude" to the tell the time of day. But
for the megalithic field sundials to be discussed here, which
only measure the rising or setting Sun, we only need to concern
ourselves with "azimuth", because "altitude" will
generally be zero.
All yearly sundials keep time according to what is
known as the "tropical year"---how long it takes for the
Sun to return to an identical location in Earth's sky---rather
than a "sidereal year"---how long it takes for the
distant stars to return to an identical location in Earth's sky.
The two kinds of year are almost but not quite identical, because
the daily spin axis of our planet processes about due north once
every 26,000 years ("precession of the equinoxes").
There are two other very slow changes of Earth's motion
over historical time: (i) a slow change of its tilt angle
relative to the Sun; and (ii) a slow precession of its elliptical
orbit about the Sun, both of which become relevant when
analyzing megalithic sundials, and will be discussed briefly
below.
Fortunately, we do not need to worry too much about
how to build a precise, yearly observatory for the
Sun out of standing stones, because an enterprising
professor of astronomy at the University of Massachusetts,
namely Judith Young, has already done so in a field
near her university! Her modern stone observatory
is called the "Sun-wheel", and two vivid
pictures of how it keeps yearly time are shown below
(see www.umass.edu/sunwheel):
On the spring
equinox of March 20-21, our Sun rises due east at azimuth
90 degrees. A second tall stone was placed just to the right
of due east in the photograph above, so that the rising Sun
would be "framed" between
two nearby stones just after it rises and moves south
(a similar two-stone portal was used at Stonehenge). Later
on the winter solstice of December 22-23, our Sun rises in
the southeast near 122 degrees at the latitude of Boston (42
N). So now we see how such ancient sundials would have worked;
and why they still fill the rural landscape, all across the
modern British Isles.
Sunrise geometries at Avebury 2003
But why should we need to learn today about megalithic
sundials? Personally I took little interest in the subject,
until a series of "sundial" pictures appeared
in Wiltshire fields, the most recent being Oliver's
Castle of April 2007. Earlier in 2004, 2005 and 2006,
the crop artists had shown other motifs based on the
ancient Mayan calendar or modern wormhole theory.
First Mayan calendars, then wormholes, and now sundials!
They certainly expect us to have a wide range of knowledge.
Or could each of those three different themes be coming
from three different groups, using the same communications
device (say a buried wormhole) near Silbury Hill?
In any case, if we wish to understand more clearly
the four "sundial" pictures mentioned above,
we should start with the easiest and most straightforward,
namely Avebury of June 21, 2003:
(click to enlarge)
Avebury 2003
shows an ancient and well-accepted sundial design, that has
also been found on a few stones near Knowth or Loughcrew in
Ireland (see below). Its "gnomon" or tall-shadow-casting
stone is represented by a small white circle near the bottom
of the figure (labelled with a red square), that has been embedded
within a green "teardrop" shape. The upward, counter-clockwise
flow of that teardrop then represents a north-to-west motion
of the Sun's shadow upon other nearby stones, as shown upper
right to top centre (white circles "8" to "0"),
when proceeding from sunrise on June 21 to sunrise on
September 22.
That same, slow, 91-day solar motion will be repeated
four times within any 365-day year; and it serves as
the primary astronomical basis for an ancient "Irish megalithic calendar",
which was in widespread use throughout the British Isles
from 3500 BC to 1000 BC. Later however it fell into
complete disuse. Today it is known mainly for to its
resemblance to a modern Celtic calendar, and also
due to its rediscovery by Alexander Thom in the 1960's,
when he was surveying megalithic sites all across
Britain.
For simplicity, let us choose to begin any megalithic
year on March 20 with a spring equinox. Such a date will
correspond to "0" or the large white circle at top, when looking
at a picture of Avebury 2003. Next we may count downward to "8" as
a tiny circle along the middle-right until we reach June 21 (the
summer solstice). Then we may count upward again from "9" to
16", and so return to the large white circle at top on September
23 (the autumn equinox). Next we may count downward again, but
this time on the left from "17" to 24" until we
reach a tiny white circle along the middle-left on December 22
(the winter solstice). Finally, we may count upward again from "25" to "32",
until we return for a third time to the large white circle
at top on March 20 (the spring equinox). That was how
the megalith builders counted time 5000 years ago.
Not only are the many different stone locations shown
at Avebury 2003 approximately correct; they are closely
correct. For example, the large white circle "0" at top has
been drawn much larger than either tiny circle "8" or "24" on
left or right, because the spacing of solar azimuths
becomes much larger within any one-eighth part of a quarter-year,
when the Sun lies closer to an equinox than to a solstice.
In order to quantify that relationship, I measured
angles of solar azimuth along the right-hand side
of that picture (because the left-hand side had been
distorted through perspective), and found predicted
sunrise angles of 90, 73, 63, 56, 51, 48, 46, 44,
43 degrees when proceeding from "0" to "8".
By way of comparison, true sunrise angles for latitude
58 N would be 90, 81, 73, 65, 57, 51, 45, 42, 40 degrees.
Fairly close, but one would need a more precise measurement
of those crop azimuth angles without any influence
whatsoever of photographic perspective, to make an
exact comparison.
In summary, the ancient Irish megalithic calendar divided
any 365-day year into 32 equal parts of 11.4 days each, and that
was the calendar shown at Avebury Ring on the summer solstice
of 2003.
Avebury 2003 also appears in stone at two archaeological
sites in Ireland
Strangely enough, a true megalithic sundial similar to
Avebury 2003 was carved onto kerbstone K15 at Knowth in Ireland,
sometime around 3500 to 2000 BC:
(click to enlarge)
The stone-sundial
shown there divides each quarter of any 365-day year into
eight equal parts. In fact, a solid line was carved from its
gnomon all the way to the left-hand edge of that rock, through
an intermediate arc-triangle representing "8",
to emphasize the fact. (I added a dashed line through another "8" on
the right for purposes of clarity.)
Here we see a much more even spacing of azimuths than
was shown at Avebury 2003, perhaps because it would be
hard to carve an uneven spacing into hard rock. The
total angle which any solstice sunrise "8" makes with the equinox "0" appears
in this ancient sundial to be approximately 55 degrees,
as compared with approximately 50 degrees as shown
in Avebury 2003 (suggesting a slight increase of latitude
to 60 N from 58 N).
A second stone-sundial, similar to the one shown above,
has also been found at Loughcrew in Ireland.
Two broad spirals (one large, one small) which appear
on the right-hand side of that Knowth rock are thought
to represent a "large warm summer sun" or a "small cold winter
sun" respectively. As if on cue, those two spiral symbols
later appeared in crops at Fort Nelson on June 5, 2004,
in the season that followed Avebury 2003.
Sunrise geometries at Oliver's Castle 2007
More recently on April 15, 2007, a second "sundial" type
of crop picture appeared at Oliver's Castle north of Roundway.
It was oriented precisely west-to-east in the high hilltop field
where it was found. Several tall trees nearby cast their long
shadows onto it late in the afternoon, to give the impression
of a "gnomon". Everyone could see right away that it
was meant to represent a sundial, but of what kind specifically?
That crop picture, when viewed from above, shows a simple
and elegant construction using a series of eight overlapping
circles and their intersections:
(click to enlarge)
Yet this particular
sundial seems harder to interpret than Avebury 2003, because
it shows no fixed location for its gnomon. The precise location
of any vertical-shadow-arm or gnomon depends sensitively on
latitude. By trial and error, I found that placing a gnomon
at position "10" in
Oliver's Castle (red square) would yield satisfactory
results, for the geographical location and field orientation
where it was found.
Thus, by working from an accurately reconstructed
model of that crop picture on graph paper (made using
ruler and protractor), I found that placing a gnomon
at position "10" would
yield sunrise azimuth values of 50 or 130 degrees for
the summer or winter solstices respectively; which
are approximately correct for latitude 51 N, and the
east-west field orientation of that crop picture as
it was drawn. Actual values of sunrise azimuth at
either solstice should equal 50 and 128 degrees for
latitude 51 N (Avebury), or 48 and 130 degrees for
latitude 53 N (Knowth). A slight change in the Earth's
tilt over the past 5000 years may have shifted both
values slightly further east today than in 3000 BC,
but by only about one degree.
A time-dependent spacing of sunrise azimuths was likewise
measured from my reconstructed model as 90, 79, 72, 67,
63, 59, 55, 52, 50 degrees, when proceeding from outer-edge
location "0" (either
equinox) to outer-edge locations "8" or "24" (either
solstice). Actual values should equal 90, 83, 76, 68,
62, 57, 53, 51, 50 degrees at latitude 51 N. Such model-dependent
angular measurements need to be further quantified, before
we can draw any detailed conclusions.
In summary, Oliver's Castle appears to show a very
general kind of sundial, since the precise location
of its gnomon was not specified. For example, moving
its currently-placed gnomon (red square) from "10" to "11" would give
suitable values of sunrise azimuth for 48 N latitude, while moving
it to "12" would give suitable values for 42 N latitude
Hackpen Hill 2003 shows a megalithic sundial with three
different gnomons
Now as we begin to analyze this third sundial, matters
will become even more complex, and we will truly begin to appreciate
the high intelligence of those crop artists! One month after
the first crop picture described above appeared at Avebury Ring,
another crop picture of a similar kind appeared at Hackpen Hill
on July 20, 2003:
(click to enlarge)
When looking
at this new picture, again we can see the same "small
white circle" and "teardrop" shape as shown at
Avebury 2003; but now there are three separate gnomons called
G1 (red), G2 (blue) and G3 (yellow), all located within the same
sundial. Each teardrop describes the slow seasonal motion of
daily sunrise from any solstice to an equinox, as viewed along
the horizon at altitude zero. The outermost part of Hackpen Hill
likewise shows 32 separate "white circles", which would
be expected for counting yearly time by an Irish megalithic
calendar.
Still, this particular sundial shows no well-defined
east, west, south or north. How are we supposed to interpret
it? Its three gnomons G1, G2 and G3 lie at 120-degree
angles to one another, and also at different radii
from the centre. The entire picture would have been
hopeless to interpret, had not those always-clever
crop artists given us an essential clue. Thus, certain
white balls along its outer perimeter were drawn with
slightly-smaller diameters than the others; and it
is to those "small balls" that we need to "connect the
arrows", from any gnomon to its two azimuths at the summer
or winter solstice.
Having found that essential clue, I connected G1 (red)
to outer positions 8 and 24; G2 (blue) to outer positions
13 and 27; and G3 (yellow) to outer positions 3 and
17. A few of these assignments remain ambiguous, owing
to occasional inaccuracies of drawing "small balls",
but this scheme should be approximately correct as
a whole. Next, having connected the arrows, I measured
differences of solstice azimuth away from due east
as 57 degrees for G1, 55 degrees for G2, or 60 degrees
for G3; and could thereby deduce a narrow range of latitudes
from 60 N to 62 N where this particular sundial would
be functional. All of those latitudes lie too lie
far north for anywhere within the British Isles; but
could correspond to southern Greenland (unlikely),
or more probably southern Norway (see below). More
accurate measurements would again be useful without any
photographic perspective.
A slight offset of gnomon G1 from due east at Hackpen
Hill resembles a similar offset of the eastern passage at Knowth
Given the extreme care with which that Hackpen Hill
crop picture was drawn, I found it remarkable that
gnomon G1 (red) was placed intentionally with a slight
offset from both outer positions "16" and "17", so as to lie essentially
between them. What could this mean? The total angular interval
between "16" and "17" equals (360 / 32) =
11.3 degrees, and so the observed offset would amount
to 5 or 6 degrees away from the equinox (due east).
Of possible relevance here, both the eastern and western
passages at Knowth were also built with a slight offset from
due east or west, with azimuths of 85 or 259 degrees respectively.
The highly advanced builders of Knowth could hardly have included
such a big offset by chance:
(click to enlarge)
The Knowth site as a whole shows fairly accurate alignments of
its sunrise or sunset azimuths away from due east by 40 to 45
degrees at either solstice, consistent with a latitude of 53
N. Why then should its eastern and western passages have been
built with an offset from due east or west by 5 or 11 degrees?
In practical terms, sunrise enters that eastern passage 6 days
after any spring equinox, while sunset enters the western passage
18.5 days before any spring equinox.
Some experts believe that those offset passages were
meant to measure monthly cycles of the Moon, as well as yearly
cycles of the Sun. Thus, when sunrise in 3000 BC entered that
eastern passage at an azimuth of 85 degrees, it would take another
three lunar months precisely of 29.5 days before the Sun would
reach its summer solstice. In other words, it would take another
(3 x 29.5) = 88.5 days when counting by the Moon, or (94 - 6)
= 88 days when counting by the Sun. Similar calculations may
be made concerning the western passage. Quite a few other aspects
of Knowth likewise suggest that it may have been used as a lunar
observatory as well as a solar.
Now here is the interesting part: in 3000 BC, it took
94 days to go from any spring equinox to a summer solstice, whereas
today it takes 92 days. The reason is because Earth's slightly
elliptical orbit has precessed around the Sun by 70 degrees since
then, and so any spring-summer interval was located slightly
further from the Sun then versus now.
Therefore, if Hackpen Hill was designed with the same
broad logic as Knowth (it even looks like Knowth: see
above), then the slight offset of its gnomon G1 from "16" towards "17" would
suggest a general date of astronomical relevance between 3000
and 1000 BC, when spring seasons on Earth were still 94 days
long. By looking very carefully, one can also see that gnomon
G2 at Hackpen Hill lies offset between "4" and "5",
while gnomon G3 lies offset between "25" and "26".
Do you think they are trying to tell us something?
Avebury 2005 showed both solar and lunar azimuths to
illustrate a 19-year astronomical cycle of the Moon
Lastly, we may close our analysis with the straightforward
case of Avebury 2005, which appeared on July 27, 2005.
It showed a four-armed Celtic cross, and included
19 secondary mini-circles within its centre most part
(close to the "red square")
that were apparently meant to symbolize a 19-year astronomical
cycle of the Moon:
(click to enlarge)
We can interpret
this particular crop picture with ease, because an inspired
professor of astronomy at the University of Massachusetts,
Judith Young, has recently created a very similar "Sun-wheel" observatory
in a field near her university (www.umass.edu/sunwheel).
A schematic version of her modern standing-stone observatory
is shown below:
(click to enlarge)
Some standing
stones (coloured in black) were placed to indicate where the
Sun rises and sets, while other standing stones (coloured
in red) were placed to indicate where the Moon rises and sets.
Two kinds of stone are necessary, because our Moon rises and
sets in general with a slightly different azimuth from our
Sun. That happens for two reasons. First, when measured relative
to Earth's equator, our Sun varies rather slowly in "declination" from
+23.5 to -23.5 degrees each year, whereas our Moon varies
more rapidly in declination by a similar amount each
month. Secondly, our Moon may vary in declination every month
from +28 to -28 degrees maximally, or else from +18 to -18
degrees minimally.
How long does it take to switch from one kind of variation
to the other? It turns out that, once every 19 years, our Moon
varies in declination by a maximal amount of +28 to -28 degrees;
whereas halfway or 9.5 years between those two periods, it varies
in declination by a minimal amount of +18 to -18 degrees. The
precise number of years required to switch lies close to 19 when
measured relative to the Sun, or 18.6 when measured relative
to the distant stars.
This is called the "Metonic cycle" of the Moon, after
the Greek astronomer Meton who supposedly discovered it Each
period of maximal (+28 to -28 degrees) or minimal (+18 to -18
degrees) declination is then called a "lunar standstill".
Any standstill is termed "major" if the Moon rises
as far as possible outside of the Sun (28 degrees) relative to
due east; or "minor" if the Moon rises as far as possible
inside of the Sun (18 degrees). Our Moon reached its
last major standstill in 2005-2006, beginning around
June 2005 and continuing until June 2006. It will reach its next
minor standstill in 2015. The Avebury crop picture of July 2005
was evidently meant to illustrate the onset of that last major
standstill, beginning on a full moon only one month earlier.
Now having explained some basic astronomy, we will
change our terminology back to "azimuths" from "declinations",
because azimuths tell where the Sun or Moon will rise
or set relative to any local horizon (and depend on
latitude). In Judith Young's Sun-wheel, the maximal
deviation of solar azimuths from east or west amounts
to only 32 degrees at either solstice, because Boston
lies at a relatively low latitude of 42 N relative
to Avebury (51 N) or Knowth (53 N). Likewise, the
maximal difference between azimuths for the Sun and
Moon near Boston never exceeds 9 degrees at either
standstill, owing to the low latitude there.
Next I measured precise values of azimuth from that Avebury
2005 crop picture as 52 and 132 degrees for the Sun (at either
solstice); versus 39 and 145 degrees for the Moon at its major
standstill (in the years 2005 and 2006), or 66 and 118 degrees
for the Moon at its minor standstill (in the year 2015). By comparison,
known values of solar azimuth are 50 and 128 degrees at Avebury
(51 N), or 48 and 130 degrees at Knowth (53 N). Likewise, known
values of lunar azimuth for a major standstill are 36 and 148
degrees at Knowth (53 N), or 25 and 162 degrees at Callanish
(58 N).
Both solar and lunar azimuths would therefore seem
to place Avebury 2005 within a narrow range of latitudes
from 52 to 53 N. The Sun deviates there from due east
by approximately 40 degrees on either solstice; while
the maximal difference between azimuths there for
the Sun and Moon is typically 13 degrees. More accurate
measurements may allow us to refine those estimates
in the near future. Finally, the precise sizes of "balls" (large-solar
or small-lunar) in Avebury 2005 were used to specify
a certain latitude of 52-53 N; but those ball diameters
could easily be changed to indicate other latitudes, so long so
the angular spacing of its four arms were likewise changed in
tandem.
Alexander Thom, Martin Brennan and N.L. Thomas
We did not "invent" most of the ideas presented
here. Instead, it should be noted that three scholars
in particular: Alexander Thom, Martin Brennan, and
N.L. Thomas, worked out most of the basic ideas concerning
megalithic astronomy in the British Isles some years
ago.
Alexander Thom was a professor of engineering at Oxford.
He first surveyed megalithic sites all through Britain, and published
his early results in Journal of the Royal Statistical Society
(1955). Then he published two more articles in 1962 and 1964
which addressed megalithic units of length:
Next he went on to discover precise solar alignments at many
stone circles, which led him to argue for a prehistoric solar
calendar of 16 months (half of 32). His proposed 16-month year
contained four months of 22 days, eleven of 23, and one of 24.
He explored that topic further in Megalithic sites in Britain (1967), Megalithic
lunar observatories (1971), and Megalithic
Remains in Britain and Brittany (1978).
Martin Brennan discovered that "intensive sun-dialling" was
practiced in ancient Ireland, with techniques both scientific
and advanced. "Those were the oldest sundials in the world,
and predate all others by thousands of years." He also explained
how lunar theory was developed in the Boyne Valley, and
emphasized that they were not just a people who understood
the Sun. Later he wrote The Stones of Time: Calendars, Sundials
and Stone Chambers of Ancient Ireland (1984):
More recently,
Brennan has found that early Celtic explorers even made their
way to western North America 2000 years ago, where they carved
Ogham or Gaelic characters onto the rocks to mark a spring
equinox (see "Martin Brennan at Anubis Cave
equinox" on video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1856547827596216006).
.
N.L. Thomas
has carefully interpreted many different stone inscriptions
from Knowth or other megalithic sites, as described in
his 1989 book, Irish symbols of 3500 BC.
Finally, as an important addendum to such previous work, C. Knight
and R. Lomas in their book Uriel's Machine (1999) argue that
the ancient Book of Enoch was written somewhere in the British
Isles just before the Flood (ca. 3100 BC). It describes a large
megalithic observatory similar to the ones described above, except
where each quarter of the year (91 days) had been divided into
three parts rather than four or eight. Thus, every full year
of 365 days would have contained 12 months rather than 16 or
32.
Some people
believe that the ancient British Isles could have been a remote
outpost of a more advanced Sumerian civilization. For example, "Shamsiel" in Enoch taught "signs
of the Sun", while "Shamash" in Sumeria was a "god
of the Sun". Furthermore, certain recovered cylinder seals
from ancient Sumeria show star-like symbols which suggest that
two kinds of calendar, using either 12 or 16 months, may have
been in use at the time (see "Shamash" or "Annunaki" on
Wikipedia).
Might some of those modern crop pictures be coming from the megalith
builders themselves?
In light of
these new geometrical and astronomical analyses, it has become
clear that the four crop pictures discussed above: Avebury
2003, Oliver's Castle 2007, Hackpen Hill 2003 and Avebury
2005, could not plausibly have been made by local human fakers.
Instead,
it seems increasingly plausible that the modern crop artists
come from a culture which is more technologically sophisticated
than our own, yet still have close links with a long-forgotten
race of Irish megalith builders known as the Tuatha de' Danaan.
Their name means literally "People of Anu" or "People
of the Star-Sky". The Latin words "deus" and "dea" for "god" and "goddess" derive
from them. The English words "Danube River" and "Denmark" also
derive from them.
Most of what we know today about the Tuatha de' Danaan
comes from studying megalthic sites, or from reading
ancient legends such as those complied in the Lebor Gabala
Erren (Leinster,1150 AD): "The Tuatha de' Danann came to Ireland in dark clouds.
They landed on the mountains of Conmaicne Rein in Connacht, and
brought a darkness over the sun for three days. Then they demanded
kingship from the Fir Bolg. A battle was fought (the first battle
of Mag Tuired) in which a hundred thousand Fir Bolg died. Thereafter
the Tuatha de' Danaan took kingship of Ireland. Gods were their
men of arts, and non-gods their husbandmen".
Now according to that same legend, the tall, fair-haired
Tuatha de' Danaan were themselves defeated in battle
just 200 years later by a dark-haired haired group of
invaders from northern Spain known as "Milesians".
And as if in confirmation of the legend, modern genetic
research has shown that the inhabitants of western Ireland
today near Connacht show certain rare DNA polymorphisms
within their Y chromosomal DNA, shared by no other European
people apart from the Basques.
Eachaid Ua Flainn, a poet from 985 AD, wrote: "The Tuatha
de' Danaan had no vessels. No one knew whether it was out of
the heavens, or out of the earth, that they came. Were they even
men?" According to tradition, they had lived originally
in a place called "Achaia" (possibly northern Greece),
before they spent some years in "Lochlonn" (probably
modern Norway). There they lived in "four great cities to
the north" called Falias, Gorias, Finias or Murias, and
taught science or other useful skills to the locals.
Eventually they migrated to Scotland and Ireland around
2000 BC.
Some of the astronomical crop pictures discussed above seem refer
to latitudes near 51-53 N, where Avebury and Knowth are located;
whereas others seem to refer to a more northern range of 60-62
N, which might correspond to southern Norway. Likewise, Hackpen
Hill seems to refer to a distant time in the past around 3000
to 2000 BC, when Knowth was first being built.
One long-time
student of the Tuatha de' Danaan, a retired geologist
called Tim O'Brien, has argued that the legendary
term "Achaia" might
refer to "Accad" in northern Sumeria (www.goldenageproject.org.uk)
where a group of advanced scientists once lived. After
the collapse of that city in 2100 BC, did those scientists
migrate elsewhere?
Just after
the Flood (ca. 3100 BC), a frantic period of mound building
began in low-lying areas all around the world, so that people
would have somewhere safe to go if the flood waters returned.
Silbury Hill was built for example during that period. By
legend, Ireland was swept clear of any inhabitants for 300
years. Only by 2800 AD did a series of "invaders" once again begin
to inhabit Ireland, as documented in the Lebor Gabala Erren.
The Tuatha de' Danaan ("People of Anu") were supposedly
the fourth of these, sometime around 2000 BC. Having left Accad
in Sumeria after its fall (or perhaps Achaia in Greece), they
would have had to travel first over land to Norway, and then
later across the sea to Scotland and Ireland. It may have seemed
logical for them to migrate to a relative place of safety such
as the ancient British Isles, since their own ancestors ("Uriel" and "Shamsiel")
seem to have had bulit megalithic sites there, one thousand
years earlier.
Now the Tuatha de' Danaan who emigated to Ireland were reportedly
tall, fair-skinned blondes or redheads with blue or green eyes.
They dramatically upgraded the local Irish gene pool by interbreeding,
so as to create the Celtic-Gaelic race we see today. St. Patrick
recorded how one of their pure-bred women married an Irish king
in 400 AD. They made the golden torc, and could move heavy stones
with ease. But where did they come from originally? How did they
reach Ireland by air? What kinds of technology might they have
brought with them? And why do so many modern crop pictures appear
near their ancient sites of settlement, often showing Celtic
or even sundial-type astronomical motifs?
Red Collie
Supplementary
material
A table of solar solstice azimuths
| latitude
L |
Sunrise
azimuth on the summer solstice |
Sun
rise-set away from east-west on either solstice |
5 degrees |
66.4
degrees |
23.6 degrees |
10 |
66.1 |
23.9 |
15 |
65.6 |
24.4 |
20 |
64.9 |
25.1 |
25 |
63.9 |
26.1 |
30 |
62.6 |
27.4 |
35 |
60.8 |
29.2 |
40 |
58.6 |
31.4 |
45 |
55.6 |
34.4 |
50 |
51.6 |
38.4 |
55 |
46.0 |
44.0 |
60 |
37.1 |
52.9 |
65 |
19.4 |
70.6 |
A
table of lunar standstill azimuths
|
latitude
L |
Difference in azimuth from the Sun on either standstill |
Moon
rise-set away from east-west on a major standstill |
5 degrees |
5.1degrees |
28.7 degrees |
10 |
5.2 |
29.1 |
15 |
5.3 |
29.7 |
20 |
5.5 |
30.6 |
25 |
5.8 |
31.9 |
30 |
6.2 |
33.6 |
35 |
6.6 |
35.8 |
40 |
7.3 |
38.7 |
45 |
8.2 |
42.6 |
50 |
9.7 |
48.1 |
55 |
12.6 |
56.6 |
60 |
20.3 |
73.2 |
65 |
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