Dave Lightbody Wrote:
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> Well the final version of Stonehenge was circular
> - no need for measurement, You decide what radius
> you want (by thumb/eye) and build around on it.
But, if you wanted the placement of the megaliths around the circumference to be even and symmetrical, you would have to find a way of setting the radius. IOW, you would
measure it: even if the measurement were effected using only a central stake and a rope of some sort (except that, if they're too long, ropes do lose their usefulness as a way of measuring a distance).
> And if it was a calendar of sorts, which is likely
> for an agricultural culture,
I've never been particularly keen on that idea. For one thing, why put all that effort and resources into an agricultural calendar? It's always struck me as a particularly inefficient method of checking when the best time would be to plant crops: you don't
need all those megaliths for such a purpose. If it started off life as a burial ground, then perhaps successive cultures continued to erect different placements of stones simply because it was a spot that had always been venerated. But, on the subject of the stones themselves, their dimensions are spectacularly equal: so they
must have been measured, even if in no more than the most rudimentary way using an
ad hoc measurement unit (such as the headman's forearm).
> a calendar based on
> the horizon needs neither numbers nor distances -
> it relies only on relative positions - it's
> analogue.
So why build a calendar in a place where it isn't even particularly visible to the surrounding countryside, then?
> I visited the Rollrights about 2 years and 2 weeks
> ago today - It was a lovely memorable day - and
> the fields were golden, ready for the harvest.
Yes, it's a great place ... I've been once, many years ago now.
> We
> counted the stones round and round several times
> and never got the same number lol, just as the
> tradition says!
Apparently there are supposed to be 77 King's Men now ... but some of them are so small and unimpressive that it is very difficult for a casual visitor to make a systematic count.
Hermione
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