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FourWinds F
FourWinds Dec 18, 2005 23:08:14
Replying to PeterH

>> Does that mean that all are aligned to stages of the solar cycle?

No it doesn't. I often think people look for solar/stellar alignments too quickly. From my experience there is as much, if not more, importance in how a site relates to the landscape and its features. We need to look at less obvious things.

This is something that was brought home to me on a visit to Malin More court tomb. There the winter solstice sun does not rise in any special place, but it does perform a prety spectacular trick at midday when it rolls across the top of a mountain to the south http://www.megalithomania.com/show/image/3736

However, the lack of a solar alignment at a handful of sites doesn't mean that the sites with identifiable alignments are coincidental. When one appears exist it probably does. The 'light box' at Newgrange and the one in Loughcrew are proof of that.

The variation in tomb alignment just goes to show that there was a diversity in belief/importance. There probably is no unified theory of ancient belief and it's probably folly to search for it, but that won't stop us looking for it :-)

P PeterH
PeterH Dec 19, 2005 08:37:09
Replying to FourWinds

I agree. The lightbox proves that very specific solar alignment was very important. Ditto for other cleverly contrived placings. Modern analogies don't always work but try this on for size.

Take Anytown with an ancient church. It will be aligned with the altar to the east and with a west tower. There will be other churches and chapels not aligned as such, but with their entrances on the high street. They have been built by the Victorians on available land. Take all of the domestic front doors in all of the houses. Excepting those facing in a northerly direction, probably two-thirds will exactly face sunrises and sunsets on various days throughout the year. Many will face moon risesand moon sets. Yet none have been designed to do so. The alignments are real, but unintentional and certainly not ritual. The local cinema might align with a distant hill, but purely by coincidence.

What evidence do we have that makes the case that the majority of henges, tombs, long barrows, cursus, causewayed enclosure etc are deliberately aligned to sun, moon or landscape features? Again - I am not trying to prove a point. I'm just testing the accepted view.