Archeology77

Devil's Quoits The Devil's Quoits is a stone circle in Oxfordshire similiar to Castlerigg in Cumbria, which was restored in 2002 from being used as an airfield during WWII. It is thought to be Neolithic, and a complete plan was discovered during the excavation of the site. The site was levelled in 1940 for the war effort. Excavations in 1973 and 1988 located a complete plan with most restored. Of the 36 stones thought to have been there originally 29 remain, one of which is a marker. Devil's Quoits is a major class II circle henge and ditch up to 120 metres wide with the stone circle 79 metres, the marker points towards the southeast. As with other stone circles, the stones align, giving a sequence of 0's and 1's. These can also be 1's and 2's. The marker at 58° defines the limit to measure. Again, 11 is considered as √ or 11, and 1111 or 111 is considered as ³√. Considering both until the sequence is defined, the following is produced. (This is be...

Meini Gwyr Meini Gwyr is a monument in Wales. It is in the shape of a circle with a width of between 20 and 22 metres. Coordinates  51.906812,-4.703010 Description  Grimes in 1938 measured the monument at 36.6m in diameter, and excavations showed that there was a narrow entrance to the west with no ditch surrounding the site, just a raised embankment.  Two standing stones remain from a possible 17, one 1m and 1.7m high, respectively, standing 6.5m apart.  Analysis  Whether this was originally an entire circle can only be guessed at, excavations show locations of stones with an entrance directly opposite the sloping stone at just over 36°.  The reason for not necessarily having an entire circle is that the two stones, although marked towards sunrise, depict the moon in two different phase locations. The upright represents a 'waxing gibbous' phase, and the sloping one a 'waning gibbous' (carved so as to appear the shape). Calculations  This monument is a...

Glaner Braut, Wildeshausen Glaner Braut is a historical landmark just outside the town of Wildeshausen, Germany, named after the town of Glane and Braut, meaning bride in German. It is thought to be a Neolithic grave built between 3500-2800 bc, although only one body, from the Iron Age, was found there along with pottery. Four separate stone monuments exist within the site. The largest is aligned currently at 10° with the slightly smaller at 60°; two further monuments are aligned north and south of the main one. Coordinates  52.929785, 8.373635 Glaner Braut, from the circular monument to the south, aligns with the two main structures, giving angles with their angular spacing distances. A further circular monument north of Glaner Braut also aligns similarly; both align at 5°. South monument -89, 46, 31, 16 45, 15, 15 45 × 15 × 15 = 10125 10125 - 10250 = -125 North monument 76, -55, -61, -45 49, 6, 16 49 × 6 × 16 = 4704 4704 - 1985 = 2719 Multiplying the two numbers: 10125 × 4704 = 4...

Clava Cairns, Scotland The Clava Cairn is a Bronze Age circular chamber tomb cairn named after the group of three cairns at Balnuaran of Clava to the east of Inverness in Scotland.  There are about 50 cairns of this kind in and about Inverness.  (Coordinates 57.472531,-4.074775) Alignment  With Clava Cairns, there is an angle of 155° between the three, and they are forward aligned 20° for maximum tilt in the 1980's.  Of the three, one is considered as north, one as south and one with no entrance (centre). There are angles produced between the stones, and their differences can be changed to fractions. The angles are measured about the north direction and then split from the entrance, left and right.  Noughts are not considered as a number, and single figures are divided by one. Two versions of interpretations exist (1) adding all stones and (2) only adding the stones not under trees (1,diagram 2,map), (these also produce a slightly different angle which is probab...

Göbekli Tepe Göbekli Tepe is an archaeological site in the southeastern Anatolia region of Turkey it was used for a social or ritual nature and is thought to date to Pre-Pottery Neolithic A/B about 8500 bc at the same time when the stones were erected. Göbekli Tepe is one of the few temples, buildings, or circles that are not forward aligned (current angles in brackets). (west and south facing stones described are from the area marked as 'C'). It has been suggested that there was a circular roof on this building, the site itself being mostly circular with an entrance towards the west and south.  With the displacement of the Cycladic culture from the Aegean Sea, particularly from Syros, new settlements could have opened up in the Anatolia Region of Turkey. Here, they built upon the Neolithic/Epipalaeolithic Near East culture at Göbekli Tepe. Here, buildings were erected, made from stone and wood. Other buildings were erected on sites in the shape roughly of the P...

Brochs Brochs were used as dwellings and were initially a design used in Denmark in the Iron Age. They evolved from a one-story stone building of loosely aligned stones, which in turn evolved from wooden structures. Romans Before the Roman invasion of Britain, settlers in the north were of Scandinavian origin, while settlers in the east were mostly farmers from mainland Europe. These brochs, which were built by the Danes or Picts from Denmark and Norway, could be located in many areas around the northern coasts. There are a large number of brochs located on the east coast of the Highlands in Scotland. Along with the main building structure of a broch, further outbuildings were built to house animals and food stocks. Vikings There was a slow progression of settlers onto the British mainland until the 8th/9th century AD when the Vikings emerged, and many more locations on the mainland were settled by them. These locations would have been sites that were settled before, given the similar...

Avebury Stone Circle Why was it built? Avebury is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, England . It is the largest megalithic stone circle in the world. It has been suggested that Avebury stone circle connects to the earlier neolithic Cotswold stone circle , a group of plain but shaped stones that marked altitude and areas of interest. These formed two circles, offset by 27°. It is unlikely that these connect with the location, but the understanding from Cotswold Stone Circle was followed through to this circle. The inner circles are 48m and 50m, 96% of each other, and the larger measured at 45° is 360-365m. Of the three circles, the two inner ones are perfectly rounded. The northern circle (51.429485,-1.853646) has two circumference stones and it's centre remains, the southern circle (51.428042,-1.853390) has at least nine circumference stones with eight in a straight line inside this circle. The angle of these ve...

Gravinis Gravinis is a tomb on the west coast of France. It is Neolithic, dating to 4200-4000 BC. The island currently is 300 metres by 500 kilometres in size. When the tomb was built, the sea would have been about 200 kilometres towards the west. Coordinates  47.571912,-2.898463 It has been suggested that the ancient Egyptians erected the Devil’s Arrows and might have adjusted the Devil’s Quoites also including some adjustments to Gravinis, so connecting the sites by 455 miles and increasing it's circumference. How much adjustment to the size of Gravinis is only speculation but adjustment of the tidal stones can be suggested that they added in two loops equalling a number 8, an indication of the angle offset to align at peak precession. Before a straight line, a tidal marker would have been the most likely constructed in neolithic times during the building of Gravinis. Converting it to an 8 would give them the 8 from the 8.2° current angle (0.2 could be represented elsewhere in th...

Angkor Wat អង្គរវត្ត Angkor Wat in present day Angkor is a Buddhist temple complex in Cambodia and is the largest religious monument in the world. Originally, a Hindu temple but by completion was converted for Buddhist. Coordinates Left 13.406791,103.859743 Right 13.406729,103.873419 Top left 13.418348,103.859873 The outer moat is 1480m long, 1249m wide, and is off by 6.7m east/west, at an angle of 0.26°. The temple itself is 200m by 175m, and a ratio here gives 0.875 +-0.03. The temple is aligned east/west, and a 40° angle best describes the angle north with 41° towards the south. Assuming the ratio length/width is the same, then it is about 0.875 +-0.03. Suryavarman II and Jayavarman VII were both kings of the Khmer Empire during the building of Angkor Wat. Suryavarman II was a Khmer king from 1113 ad to 1145-1150 ad, and Jayavarman VII was the king from 1181-1218. Latitude When using the equatorial circumference for the location, the...

Breeny More Stone Circle  Breeny More Stone Circle is described as an axial stone circle and National Monument located in County Cork, Ireland. It is short of a circle and would be better described more as a row of stones with a further group adjacent to it, it could also be considered as a monument but it is also possible that there are some stones missing from it's original design. Coordinates 51.741520,-9.375912 Description  Due to the shape, this row and group of stones could be considered as two rectangles, outer as the row plus odd stones and inner as the four which are grouped together. They produce the following angles and measurements. 57° outer 64° inner Best fit outer 48 ft x 18 ft 864 sq ft Best fit inner 6.66 x 8.66 ft 57.6756 sq ft (Is there a simple calculation or visual description for the monument?) (1) Using radians, as the 57.6756 number is near to 57.296 with a possible measurement inaccuracy, then divi...

Mên-an-Tol Summer and winter solstice measurements in Neolithic times! So how was a spring or autumn equinox or for that matter summer winter solstice measured? The answer is that they would have used a large ring with a stone marker behind the object being measured. This would give an angle, but also knowing the size of the ring and the distance that the marker was behind could give multiple directions, velocity, and distance measurements. An example is Mên-an-Tol, Nr Penzance, Cornwall. The two vertical stones are 2° off from the opposite. 29° Northeast Usable angles 31°-22.5° 33° South West Usable angles 31°-24.5° Possible purposes for the Mên-an-Tol stones has a number of different possibilities, (1) the stones align north east with the sunrise, the outer stone blocks the light just allowing the rays to shine through, (this is also possible facing south west but for sunset, these give two different dates) (2) furthest stone away from sunrise marks sunrise and the s...