Callanish

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The trouble is though, isn't it, that although your thoughts about "Kinks" and "Bent Sticks" may well be perfectly valid, they won't go for "tasting it" as a proof so long as the "sheer chance" option is so wide open. Now, if you want to spend 25 years collating hundreds of examples....

But on the other hand, the wide measuring tolerances of Smithhills don't matter if the broad alignments are there in large numbers. The "errors" need assessing statistically, and the opinion of a statistician might be that the alignments are proven valid, beyond reasonable doubt. The same could be said to be needed for the whole alignment industry, which is presently merely the alignment art and open to all to sneer at... Until then, you're in for a lot more rejection slips I fear - not because you don't have a compelling case but because it's a "risky" case.
I suspect that posterity will listen hard to you though, if that's any consolation...

Statistical proof isn't actual proof. This is maybe where Thom went astray. The proof is whether the moon rises from behind a sacred hill (Bull Hill for the Thurstones) on a specific lunar standstill. That would be captured by a photograph rather than a theodolite. I'm going to try for a sunrise first of all.

The unique nature of the Smithills stone rows is their disposition - how they are sited in relation to each other and how they are within the valley. I'm less interested in proving them than in restoring the northern pair.