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tiompan T
tiompan Dec 10, 2008 18:15:30
Replying to moss

moss wrote:
Okay I'm no good at alignments, but the question I'd ask is why do we find 'kinks' in straight alignments, Thornborough henges, Priddy circles and a couple of cursuses spring to mind.
The Avenue is definitely angled for no reason, unless there was something it went round at, at some stage in its prehistoric history..
the obelisque seems a central feature to the circles did that have any bearing (no pun intended) on the Avenue....
yes , cursus , avenues do have very obvious kinks , FornhamAll Saints has four , Avebury about five . In some cases they have been shown to be have been built in segments and sometimes over a long time period but dunno whether that explains sudden shifts . The thing about the possible kennet avenue alignments are that they are viewed coming away from the monument , any previous references are always towards the henge , or in the case of North across it . The other straight sections don't appear to be aligned to anything lunar or solar of significance , I was not going to get into star alignments as that is a mine field and without accurate dates ,and there are none , anything can be suggested , but it remains a possibility .
Priddy and Thornborough get tarred with the Orion brush which is a bit simplistic , three points with one slightly askew is such a common pheneomenon .

M moss
moss Dec 10, 2008 19:59:39
Replying to tiompan

"The Kennet avenue consists of some straight sections and some of those have proved to have significant astronomical alignments , e.g. stone pairs 11-16 (the avenue is defined by paired stones ) stay on a orienation of 123.9 degrees for approx 120 metres when this is extended to the horizon it conicides with the point where the winetr minor lunar standstill will be seen every 18.6 yrs , it is also the site of Bitham barrow which is probably insignificant and fortuitous but a handy visual aid . Stone pairs 28-37 keep to a bearing of 148 degrees for a 220 metres and the point on the horizon the yindicate is the point where the major moon standstill will be seen every 18.6 years . Stones 78-83 are aligned 134 degrees and run for 110 metres they point to a point on the horizon where the winter solstice sun rises annually . "


Well I went back and tried to read John North on this, and he seems to be saying that West Kennet can be seen as a 'moon avenue' from various angles, and Beckhampton may have been solar. This follows through from the sightings of the main Avebury circle (which has both moon and sun alignments) - with the Cove giving sightings of both the moon and sun? He also said that the obelisk in the south circle centres with the geophy'sd circle/ditches in the West Kennet Avenue, presumably the Cove, that is no longer there, Stukeley talked about. I think the WK Avenue cove stone/obelisk went through to the Windmill Hill horizon.
All very confusing but fascinating..... also the lunar theory for the Avenue follows through the 'fertility' nature of the apposing stones, (which if I've got this right) if you box 4 in a rectangular and then look across diagonally you have two similar stone shapes....