Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T20:37:21.241Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Megalithic science and some Scottish site plans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Gordon Moir ,
Clive Ruggles  and
Ray Norris
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

‘A cairn supported at its edge by large stones may be removed. … The ring which is left looks like a stone circle.’ (Thom, 1967, 65).

Professor A. Thom has surveyed a large number of archaeological sites (Thom, 1967; 1971). These surveys provide the basis from which he deduces the existence of the Megalithic Yard (MY), Megalithic Geometry and Megalithic Astronomy. In considering his evidence for these aspects of ‘megalithic science’ it is pertinent to enquire of each site: Does it date from the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age? Is it correctly identified? Do the stones occupy their original positions? Is the site plan accurate? Has the site already been discussed, or since discussed, in the archaeological literature? The example of Unival, discussed in detail later, shows that here Thom has made a serious error in identifying the site, and very probably made surveying errors. These errors vitiate part of his discussion of an important site. This mis-identification, and similar ones, could have been avoided if the archaeological literature had been consulted.

Type
Articles
Information
Antiquity , Volume 54 , Issue 210 , March 1980 , pp. 37 - 43
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Buhl, A. 1976. The stone circles of the British Isles, (London).Google Scholar
Cooke, J.A. Few, R.W. Morgan, J.G. Ruggles, C.L.N. 1977. Indicated declinations at the Callanish Megalithic Sites, Journal for the History of Astronomy, VIII, 133–33.Google Scholar
Daniel, G.E. 1975. Editorial, Antiquity, XLIX, 81.Google Scholar
Hadingham, E. 1975. Circles and standing stones, (london).Google Scholar
Mackie, E. 1974. (Ed. Hodson, F.R.), The place of astronomy in the ancient world, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc, A, 276.Google Scholar
Mackie, E. 1977. Science and society in Prehistoric Britain (London).Google Scholar
Moir, G. 1978. Standing Stones and Astronomy in the Outer Hebrides, Newsletter of the Northumberland Archaeological Group, 2, 13–23.Google Scholar
Moir, G. 1979. Hoyle on Stonehenge, Antiquity, LIII, 124–8.Google Scholar
Rcahm, S. 1911. Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments, Scotland, Sutherland Inventory, (Edinburgh).Google Scholar
Scott, SIR L. 1947. The Chamber Tomb of Unival, North Uist, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, IXXXII, 1–49.Google Scholar
Simpson, D.D.A. 1969. Excavations at Kintraw, Argyll, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, XCIX, 54–9.Google Scholar
Thom, A. 1967. Megalithic sites in Britain (Oxford).Google Scholar
Thom, A. 1971. Megalithic lunar observatories, (Oxford).Google Scholar