-1-

MEGALITHIC AIDS
TO
NAVIGATION
1986 (Rev2 2011)

By P.B. Davidson
Copyright 1986-2009
Privately Circulated

Scanned to OCR 2009

-2MEGALITHIC AIDS TO NAVIGATION 1986

P B Davidson
Chapter 1. Preamble
What is this paper about?
It is as well to be clear about that as the proposition is at best a complex one; the subject
has, however, been beset for long enough by what can loosely be called Controversy.
There is the body of people who claim too much; Alfred Watkins Ley lines will serve
as an example. The evidence is not there, but a romantic fringe has grown around the
idea to the point where archaeologists cringe at the suggestion that three stones are in
line!
There is a body of people that need to be taken very much more seriously; Sir Norman
Lockyer surveyed many stone circles and alignments in the early years of the century
and attributed to them solar or stellar indications. Some of his observations are useful
but are not on their own evidence enough; the questions have to be answered, did these
people really do this and if so why?
Perhaps we never can answer that sort of question; perhaps if we attempt the answer we
shall always find more questions being posed. That at least would be ordered progress.
We do have to be satisfied that we are not looking at a series of coincidences that
occurred by chance. If we can be satisfied in general about that, and I think we can, then
we may begin to ask a series of questions about the whole body of evidence and slowly
extract from it detailed propositions. Of course our answers will be in terms of the
probability of the propositions not occurring by chance, but as we see that a system
exists that follows rules of logic, or the natural laws of science, then we begin to expect
that the system is deterministic and not random.
You will find in a supporting paper a description of the Jigsaw puzzle. It is written as an
allegory and I hope you will see the way in which the most information may be taken
from a subject; and how that process of learning can be thwarted.
So what is this book about? It is primarily a serious exposition of a mass of data about
the relics of the inhabitants of Western Europe four thousand years ago, but I hope the
technique of analysis will be appreciated in its own right as an exposition of the
everyday use of the scientific method.
2 (note:- numbers in text indicate original pagination in scanned version. dpd) I trust
that people will be able to read the book at the level that suits their interest. Most people
will know about jigsaws and if they pitch their comprehension of the acceptance of a
proposition at that level it gives a sound basis. Let me repeat here the levels of
acceptance that I think we should use; they are always subjective but we have to start
somewhere and we do then have a uniform measure to work with:
We are saying that we can use the number of events of coincidences as a measure of
support for the proposition; we use the function Support (S) as 0.7 x number of coincidences.

-3for three coincidences S = 2 the proposition is worth considering further, nine

coincidences S = 6 the proposition well supported thirteen coincidences S = 9 the
proposition strongly supported but provided always that the proposition never fails.
We shall work this out as we go along and consider in detail what a particular
proposition should be and whether we can combine propositions; that one proposition is
conditional on another, or that some larger proposition includes the smaller.
You will understand that the subject is complex! But if all the pieces of the jigsaw fall
into place we shall have the satisfaction of being pretty certain that that is what was
intended; you do have to read through to the end, any particular item will not stand on
its own.
However, it is only fair to say what I think the picture on the box of jigsaw is. It is this.
In the two thousand years or so before 1500 BC the inhabitants of Western Europe
developed the techniques of moving, and to some extent working, very heavy monoliths
and placing them accurately for a variety of purposes. They also developed the
technique of working hard volcanic stones into polished tools of a variety of types and
uses. To facilitate the finding and dissemination of these tools they developed routes for
travelling through a lightly populated land; some routes are overland, but many are
across substantial stretches of open sea. To do so they needed to identify routes between
sandy beaches (for landing open boats) and to avoid areas of tidal turbulence. Their
navigation technique, that of memorising the sequence of stars that set behind a stone
alignment. Over a period of many centuries they developed a technique of predicting the
tides by observing the moon; and by so doing improved their navigation by sailing at
the shortest neap tides.
We can never prove that but I believe you will find this analysis compelling.

-43 Chapter 2. Rude Stone Monuments

The scope of the problem
Spread out through Western Europe, but particularly in Brittany and the Western parts
of Great Britain, lie the pieces of a gigantic real life jigsaw puzzle; and I propose to
apply the techniques of solving a jigsaw puzzle to it.
I have used a 19th century term, Rude stone monuments, to describe the pieces of the
puzzle; it covers all types of structure and makes no comment about date, or the people
that erected them. In practice we are speaking of a collection of Graves of various
shape, of dolmens, of menhirs, of stone circles and of alignments, credited to unknown
people or peoples that inhabited the area at least over the period 3500 BC to 1500 BC.
The people are known by their grave goods, by their methods of burial, by the survival
of some durable artefacts such as stone axes. They were probably not literate; we
certainly have no written record of them. There are plenty of features of all sorts that
link the rude stone monuments from Shetland to Spain; and plenty of features that are
peculiar to place or period.
It is, however, the presence throughout the system of very remarkable stone circles,
menhirs and rude stone align-ments that has added an extra dimension of interest to the
problem; and provided some major interdisciplinary difficul-ties. Various archaeologists
and engineers have, over a long period, attributed to these rude stone alignments an
astronomical function. To do so is to attribute to these primitive people a skill that is
inconsistent with the state of development of other aspects of their lives; on the one
hand they manifestly performed prodigious feats of engineer-ing; on the other hand the
interpretation of them is to accept unexpected skills in mensuration and an ability to
store astronomical data, probably over hundreds of years.
We are particularly interested, of course, in the work of Professor Alexander Thom and
of his son A.S. Thom. Their work will be frequently used in our analysis; but the best
up to date interpretation of their work and the problems it sets for archaeologists lies in
Dr D.C. Heggies book Megalithic Science. Thus far are the pieces of the jigsaw
defined. I expect to take the matter much further by applying to the data the tests we
apply to the fit of pieces of a jigsaw; to bring in some recent archaeological concepts;
and to tie up the whole picture.
But first we must start with some basic ideas.
4 Rude stone alignments
A rude stone alignment consists of two or more un-dressed stones, though sometimes
cleavage planes are used to provide a flat face in the direction of the alignment. Stones
come in a variety of sizes, from handleable boulders to stones 10 ft or more tall and
weighing several tons.
The impression immediately created is that a direction is being indicated; and if the
observer aligns with it he will be impressed by the precision with which his eye is
carried in a particular line. But we have to quantify what actually is observed and what
weight to put on it.

-5The stones may be 2 or 3 ft wide and of irregular shape, yet we would identify
immediately a particular and precise line. It seems that the observers binocular vision
forms an impression of the two outer sides of the line and combines these with an
estimate of the line of the tops. Certainly a surveyor using theodolite or plane table does
not feel any ambiguity in stating a line to 0.1.
If, however, we now look forward to the horizon, we may see features there that we
consider notable and that could be attributed to the foresight of the alignment. We shall
still be able to observe the point on the horizon accurate to 0.1 indicated by the
alignment; but there will be a wider angle within which a notable object on the horizon
may be said to be indicated. What is that angle?
Let us consider three rude stones in alignment, the third stone being covered by the
profile of the first two; the stones of width c are distance d apart.

The observer wishing to accept that the alignment of two stones might indicate a feature
on the horizon might angle his observation until he observed from one side of Co to the
opposite side of C,; he could do the same with the other pair of sides and these two
diagonals subtend an angle A,.
Now A, (radians) = C + Co
d

5 But that is as wide an angle as would make it credible that the alignment indicated the
angle. If a third stone is present then the full angle of the first pair would not provide a
credible indication; we would have to accept the angle subtended by C2

and A2 (radians) = C2-C0 and so on

d1+d2
This is very similar to the proposition we made concerning the number of dimensions
that had to be right when one piece of jigsaw fitted another. With an alignment each

-6stone we had to extend the above configuration we have one more dimension to add to
our Support for the hypothesis that this alignment indicates a particular direction.
Parc y Merw
Let us take an example from South Wales. Parc y Merw in Cardigan MR. SM 999.359.
It Thoms classification and the data is given p.73 and Thom 1967 p.157.

6 The alignment consists of four large menhirs so that we have three dimensions
determining the alignment giving a Support of S = 2 on its own that is not very strong.
The stones are large; let us assume a width of 3 ft for each. Then the value of A
(maximum angle subtended) is
A radian = 3+3 =
= 1.15 degree
300
So we may say the alignment indicates a direction of 301.4 0.6
If we look now at the profile of Mt Leinster some 91 miles away, and in our climate
near the limit of vision, we see that this alignment could be thought to point at Mt
Leinster or to something rather to the north of that. That indication is of one of the
limiting declinations for the setting of the moon; indeed 301.4 - 0.6 describes it quite
precisely.
Does that happen by chance? Does the alignment say look there is Mt Leinster! or
does it say sail in this direction for a good landfall in Ireland; or does it say one day
you will again see the moon set on this line? It might say all three, but on this data
alone we cannot resolve it. We can say that, with a range of 0.6, the probability of
this occurring by chance is 1.2/360 = 1/300; and that this line indicates 301.4 has a
support value of Ln300 or S = 5.7.
If the indication is of Mt Leinster then the range is wider than we had expected; 1.7
and the support is reduced to S = Ln 3.4/300 = Ln 88 S 4.5 and both these assume that
we cannot use the alignment in the reverse direction.

-77 Stone Circles

Rude stone monuments in the shape of circles occur, as do alignments, in stones of
various undressed sizes; moreover, many are not true circles. Nonetheless the observer
immediately forms a circular impression of them; his visual imagination allows for the
irregularity of the stones, but a proper survey is needed to observe the variations in
shape arid accurately to measure them.
We suppose, not necessarily correctly, that these circles will have been set out with
stakes to obtain the desired shape; the stones then being set in holes prepared for them.
The setting out may have been by measured rods or by some form of rope.
Substantial precision of shape and of dimensions have been claimed for the shapes so
surveyed; and such precision calls into question the techniques of survey used.
Thom produces evidence for a Megalithic Yard based initially on the diameter of circles
but extended later from other very precise surveys; the MY is 2.72 ft or 0.83 m and he
claims a precision difficult to attain and sustain over a wide area and a long period of
time.
The testing of these claims has led to considerable innovation by statisticians; the
outcome of the controversy is of some importance to the whole puzzle.
Thom also proposes a set of shapes based on simple setting out geometry. The circle
frequently occurs, of course; there are a number of ellipses which may be presumed to
be set out by a rope attached to stakes at the two foci and with a length~(a +
The other types of circle proposed are shown in the attached print from Heggie pp.3031. Methods suggested for setting out by Cowan, using a rope and four stakes, are
complemented by the suggestion of Angel using 3 or 4 stakes and a rope loop.
Three stakes will define completely the circumscribing circle or ellipse, but the flattened
circle will require more; 3 or 4 stakes and the length of the rope. Or, as in a jigsaw
piece, 6 dimensions for conic sections, 9 for flattened circles.
P8 Fig Shapes of Circles

-89 Ilkley Moor

In seeking an example to demonstrate the problems of surveying circles and attributing
shapes to them, I was fortunate in recalling a survey I carried out in 1970 but never
published; doubly fortunate in the way the field record produced an apt design.
The circle in question is on Ilkley moor and is described by Raistrick in YAJ 29 (1929)
p.357 & Fig.4 as the Twelve Apostles; the diameter is given as 52 ft and the
disposition of the stones is similar to that which we observed, though the north point is
not.
I visited the site in October 1970 with an engineering colleague; both of us experienced
in setting out engineering structures. We found nine of the twelve stones thrown down
and three standing but the stone sockets clean and unspoilt. The heavy heather growth
noted by Raistrick was no longer a problem.
We carried out our survey using a light plane table and Alidade and a glass fibre tape.
The plane table was set up without measurement at what we estimated was the circle
centre (the exact position was not important but we wanted distances to be of the same
order of size). Noel Edwards made the measurements on the basis of an intelligent
estimate of where the centre of the stone socket might have been. The survey was
oriented by reference points on the 1 O.S. map. We then sketched the shape of stones
and sockets and the way they were set down; the profile of the three upright stones was
also sketched. Beyond noting that it was a circle roughly elliptical with axes of 16 m
and 13 m, I did not do any more work on the survey; a few years later I found the
circle had been re-erected and I do not know what shape it now presents.
Our rapidly-prepared survey (albeit unbiased and using a sound basis for estimation)
now turns out to be of some value in. presenting the problem of surveying circles. Three
stones were standing; enough to establish a unique circle or ellipse. Most of the stones
were thrown down; permitting the survey of the holes as set out. The result of the
survey follows; and the fit of the ellipse to all twelve points is not only pleasing but
remarkable. What inference should we draw from the survey?

-9-

- 10 11 The Shape of Circles

I would first of all like to comment on an aspect of stone circles that has surprised me;
that on entering the circle one takes up with some confidence a central position that later
turns out to be the correct centre from which to observe the alignment of outliers. In
preparing the drawing of the Ilkley circle you will find some confirmation of this
notion; the survey centre, chosen without measurement, is within 20 cm of the Ellipse
centre. I suspect the eye is automatically judging the midpoint of pairs of stones at the
ends of diameters.
On a first inspection of the survey the shape appears to be a flattened circle, but one
must assume that the original shape included the three upright stones; the measured
locations of the remainder are more or less suspect. We should try the fit of a circle and
of an ellipse; but how are we to measure a good fit?
We may draw a circle through three points; and that is particularly appropriate in this
case where we have only three upright stones. Then we can measure the deviation of the
other stones from the circle; there will be nine measurements on one side or the other of
the circle. We can treat these deviations as arising from the inaccuracies of
measurement or disturbance of stones; we would measure the range of the deviations.
We shall find a diameter of 14.9m and a range of 1m.
We have also drawn an ellipse through the three upright stones. The dimensions of the
survey suggested a major axis of ca. l6.5m and a minor axis of ca. 13.5m, and we chose
for a first trial (because later we wish to explore the hypothesis that a particular
geometry was used in the setting out) an ellipse of major axis 20 MY (l6.6m) and minor
axis 16 MY (l3.28m). By using an overlay and moving it about to cover the three
upright stones and a good fit for the rest, we arrived at the arrangement shown on the
sketch. For this the range of deviations was + O.25m.
We can do a bit better in determining the fit of a survey to a curve by adapting a
statistical process used with great benefit in Quality Control systems, known as
Cumulative Sum Techniques (Cusum for short). For each measurement in the survey
the difference from the expected value is calculated and a cumulative sum is developed.
In a quality control system acceptable range of values are developed based on the risks
involved and expressed as the number of standard deviations from the mean; that need
not primarily concern us here. What is useful is that, in accumulating the differences
around a closed curve, we can specify that they should add to zero for the complete
curve as a measure of a good fit. The range of value for the differences will then be
quite adequate for most con-siderations.
For example, in the case of the ellipse, a = 16.6m, b = 13.28m for our survey:-

- 11 The range is 0.25 but by adjusting the difference by

Cusum = -0.60 = -0.05
12
12
the amended range remains 0.25 but the amended axes are
a = 16.7m
b = 13.38m
Which brings us back to the fit of pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. The 12 survey points fit the
expected values of this ellipse to the stated tolerance. We cannot use all the 12
dimensions as we have used three to specify the ellipse. However, we can say that the
proposition is supported by S = 9 Ln 2 = 6.3; the proposition is well supported.

Alignments and Circles

In discussing Parc y Merw and Ilkley Moor, we are presenting one example of each of
the two main components of Rude stone monuments and we must consider what further
information there may be in the study of them and what criteria we shall adopt for
analysing them.
Most of the survey work has already been done by Prof. Thom and his son; and his
interpretation cogent and competent. It is none of our business to repeat their work, nor
to upset their conclusions. The work of Dr Heggie is to present not only this work but to
interpret it for all those interested in prehistory; and, in particular, to evaluate the
statistical requirements and the constraints which statistical consideration place on the
data.
Dr Heggie states the position succinctly We will not be content if the hypothesis
merely fits the facts. On the contrary we will demand that there be something about the
megalithic sites which we would find very surprising were the hypothesis false. Of
course, one way or another that 13 has to be so; if we are suggesting anything different
it is that the hypotheses we test will not only be compared with the chance situation but
with the choice between hypotheses and with the conditioning of one hypothesis on
another.
Any criticism of the statisticians must be Professor Thoms, from Thom & Thom 1978
p.75 on the Le Menec alignments. Some statisticians have criticised our treatment of
Le Menec alignments and have claimed that using the align-ments alone it is not
possible to show conclusively the use of the Megalithic Rod in its construction. Perhaps
if they had started by visiting and studying the site they would never have attempted an
analysis of this kind which ignores the evidence coming from Le Menec cromlechs,
from Kermario (chap. 7) and from the cromlechs at Kerlescan (chap. 8). To combine the
evidence and draw a conclusion needs a philosophical approach; even the most
advanced statistical theories do not help. Twenty years ago statisticians were much
more ready to listen to a reasoned argument without resorting to elaborate mathematical
theories. Had we in the first place waited for statistical theories to develop we should
never have been able to proceed.
This insistence of the man of science to be free to choose his own hypotheses and to
make his own assessment of them is also expressed by A.W.F. Edwards, p34 speaking
of hypotheses concerning heat and temperature:

- 12 ... though by the likelihood axiom the support will inform us fully of the contribution
to our judgement that the data may make, we shall also be influenced by the simplicity
of the hypotheses, by their relevance to other situations, and by a multitude of subtle
considerations that defy explicit statement. The scientist must be the judge of his own
hypotheses, not the statistician. The perpetual Sniping which statisticians suffer at the
hands of practising scientists is largely due to their collective arrogance in presuming to
direct the scientist in his consideration of hypotheses; the best contribution they can
make is to provide some measure of support, and the failure of all but a few to admit
the weaknesses of the conventional approaches has not improved the scientists
Opinion.
Thus fortified, let us with caution proceed!
14 References
for information on lunar alignments and for Parc y Merw
see
and

Megalithic Sites in Britain by A. Thom, Clarendon Press, 1967,

Megalithic Lunar Observatories by A. Thom, Clarendon Press, 1971.

for the refinement of their techniques

see

Megalithic Remains in Britain and Brittany by A. Thom and A.S. Thom,

Clarendon Press, 1978.

for information on the problems of Megalithic Science

see

Megalithic Science by Dr D.C. Heggie, Thomas & Hudson, 1981.

for information on Ilkley moor

see

The Bronze Age in West Yorkshire by Dr A. Raistrick in Yorkshire

Archaeological Journal Vol.29, 1929.

for information on Cusum techniques

see

Cumulative Sum Techniques, R.H. Woodward & P.L. Goldsmith. I.C.I.

Monograph No.3, Oliver & Boyd 1964,

and

The design and analysis of Industrial Experiments, O.L. Davies, ed. Oliver &
Boyd 1954. Chap.3. Sequential Test of Significance.

- 13 15 Chapter 3. The Stone Axe Trade

Introduction
We do not know very much about the Social Organisation of the late Neolithic and early
bronze age; there is a presumption that agriculture is developing, but the balance
between crops and herding is not easily defined; there is a developing technology, in
pottery, in stone axes, and, at the end of the period, in bronze. What we have to go on
are funerary monuments often with bones and grave goods, a collection of rude stone
monuments that are not funerary, and a widespread litter of stone axes many of them
without provenance. Evidence for ships comes rather later, but we shall find we must
presume them. The interest in axes creates a substantial presumption for forest clearance
and timber working. We should probably presume a population with ample resources;
there is, in particular, no evidence for warfare.

Site Catchment Areas

Faced with a limited record of prehistoric people, techniques have been developing
which enables some inference to be made about them. These studies are essential for
Palaeolithic, and other hunter gatherer societies; they can equally well be adopted for
the low density areas of the late Neolithic.
If we encounter a site, or sites adjacent, then we may say that as and when this site was
created some group had to live here: at that time they will have had to hunt and forage
and so on to live; they will have created a Site Catchment Area in which, in a noncompetitive society, the sites and artefacts at that time will have been related.
Such a site catchment area will be defined by the distance from the site that it is
naturally convenient to go and to still be able to return within the working day. We may
have to be rather arbitrary in defining this; would one hour radius or two be more
appropriate? We have taken for this work a two hour radius or 10 km. However there
are also geographic features that will constrain this radius; a river, a coastline, a marsh
or ever rising ground for which pre-historians have been allowing 5 minutes for a 50m.
contour in fell country or 10 minutes for a 50m. contour in rough country.
When we have defined such a Site Catchment area we may consider that, if it provided
a living at one moment, that would have been true over a period and that we should be
16 able to consider the assemblage of sites and artefacts as representing the record of
the use of the area for some period.
Where we find fairly open country as in the Wolds of Yorkshire and a high density both
of funerary monuments (barrows) and artefacts (stone axes) we will have difficulty in
identifying with any confidence a particular site catchment area. We must start with a
more isolated example.
The area we have chosen as a prototype we have called Hutton Moor (MR. SE 35.75); it
lies to the north of Boroughbridge on the limestone ridge that runs from the Tees to the
Don; it is bounded essentially by Ure and Swale.
On the ridge at the centre of the area is an assembly of some eleven tumuli and two
henges; from here to the natural boundary of the river is 5 to 6 km. To the north the

- 14 ridge runs unimpeded, and with clear views to Cleveland and Pennine Hills; to the south
the ridge is for some ten kilo- metres interrupted by a terminal moraine; sandy, irregular
country with marshes (or carrs) and which would have been wooded as the eastern
extremity of the Forest of Knaresborough. The, river crossing to the south is marked by
the Devils Arrows, the three remaining megaliths of four, (Thoms reference L 6/1);
these stones do not have an astronomical significance but they do indicate the dry-shod
route to the south, avoiding the large Carr at Marton. That may not have been its
purpose; we are setting out a proposition and if we have a satisfactory prototype we
shall find other examples in support.
The area is a crossroads in the axe trade (or traffic) from north to south and particularly
from Cumberland to the settlements of Yorkshire Wolds, Howardian Hills, and
Cleveland hills. The routes are described by Manby in CW2, 1964, and in the more
particular vicinity of Hutton Moor by Bradley in YAJ 1974.
By crossing the river at Asenby a dry shod route can be followed to the Howardian
Hills. The main routes from Cumberland are by Swaledale (reaching the area at the
Thornborough rings), and by Craven (reaching the area at the henge at Nunwick). We
do not know what Henges (or stone rings) were for, but here we make an association
with the trade routes and part of our proposition is that they are an essential part of the
assembly or marketing arrangements; but of course we do not know if they traded in
the modern sense.
17 Fig

- 15 18 Langdale Axes
Now that we have established the specification for a prototype Site Catchment Area we
can analyse other regions in these terms. Let us start with Cumbria, from which many
stone axes come. These axes are Group VI in the implement petrology classification of
CBA. They derive, from outcrops to be found on Scafell and the Langdale Pikes; that is
to say from the high centre of the Lake District. Group VI axes are widely distributed
throughout the British Isles but their biggest concentration is centred on Humberside.
Manby in CW2 (1964) identifies the location not only of Group VI axes in Cumbria but
the location of part-finished axes, or roughouts, and the axe factories in which they
were worked. The roughouts are found along the routes that lead to Yorkshire and
Humberside and provide an indication not only of the routes, but the suggestion that the
axes were being polished as the purveyors moved; suggesting perhaps the operation of a
transhumance route. There are five axe factories on Scafell and the Langdales for
roughing out axes, but the finishing work seems to have been done lower down. These
sites are at Portinscale near Keswick, at Gosforth, Edenside and Drigg in Eskdale, at
Millom, and at Stainton-in-Furness. Concentrations of roughout axes also suggest axe
factories in the vicinity of Penrith, of Carlisle and of Silloth on the coast.
If we look at the Site catchment Areas of these axe factories, we see that they each
contain a stone circle (or two in some cases) and that they are each able easily to exploit
a particular part of the outcrop on Scafell and the Langdales. While there are no circles
associated with Silloth or Carlisle, there are two in the vicinity of Penrith and, although
somewhat farther removed from the Langdales than the other areas, we may consider it
as one of the group.
So we have five Site Catchment Areas in a ring around Cumbria, each with at least one
axe factory and one or more stone circles. These circles are all identified in Thom 1967;
some of them have alignments and we should see what information we may obtain from
them:- Castle Rigg (L1/1) we will for the moment classify as an observatory for sun and
moon and deal with it later. It has, however, one alignment to an outlier that does not fit
the observatory; it does suggest a dry shod route to the Penrith area.
Long Meg (L1/7) on the River Eden is a large circle with a large outlier (Long Meg)
and a small subsidiary circle. Thom suggests a solar alignment for each of these, but we
should note that the alignment to Long Meg is also 19 for Scafell and provides a dryshod route to the axe factories. Perhaps it is for both, but we shall return to that subject.
Burnmoor (L1/6) is a collection of five circles, two of which are some distance from the
other three. Thom suggests a variety of solar, lunar and stellar alignments for
alignments circle to circle. If, however, we confine ourselves to the alignments of the
two circles adjacent to the principal circle, we have two bearings (azimuth) of 311.9
and 292.3. These do seem to point in the general direction of the areas of Galloway,
also much occupied by Late Neolithic people. Is it possible that they were used, as we
have suggested for dry shod land routes, for sea crossings? and, if so, how would it have
been done? and what advantage would ft have provided?
On its own, of course, this pair of alignments can demonstrate nothing, but let us make
the proposition and see whether the proposition is supported from other locations. The
proposition is that for sea crossings an inland alignment bearing, transferred to the
adjacent shore will provide a viable sea route to another viable beach and Site
Catchment Area associated with the Axe trade. We shall come back to technique and

- 16 utility but broadly we are suggesting they learned the succession of stars setting on the
inland alignment and used that at sea.
Sunkenkirk (L1/3) has an alignment with a bearing of 308.8 which, if treated in the
same way as those at Burnmoor, suggests a similar landfall in Galloway.
Giants Graves (L1/11) on the sea shore near Millom is an alignment of three stones with
a bearing of 210.8. We shall see that this also fits the seagoing proposition giving a
landfall in Red Wharf Bay in Anglesey.
By describing the region of Cumbria in this way, as a group of Site Catchment Areas
exploiting the stone outcrops for axes, we have provided a basis for describing similar
areas and extended our proposition to include a definition of the use of alignments for
sea crossings.
20 Fig

- 17 21 Fig

- 18 22 Galloway
Three of our suggested sea crossings from Cumbria are towards Galloway; let us
therefore look at Site Catchment Areas there too.
In Galloway there are no axe factories; there are circles and alignments; and, what we
have not so far encountered, Megalithic graves. We shall need to study the distribution
of these in due course; for the moment we shall mark them on the maps.
For our immediate purpose we can identify three site catchment areas based on the
distribution of circles, graves and alignments; we shall call them Cree, the Machars and
Ballantrae. We should probably also define one for the peninsula or the Western shore
of Luce bay; we will call it Logan.
The Cree peninsula contains three stone circles and three megalithic graves but is also
the part of the coast indicated by the more northerly alignments from Eskdale; the
alignment fits completely our proposition. There, if we look at the alignments in the
Cree peninsula, we find indications of two dry-shod land routes and two for sea
crossings.
The circle at Cambret Moor (G4/12) has two alignments; at 254.3 (for which there is
no obvious objective) and at 296.7 which indicates a dry shod route over the moor to
the alignment on the coast at Ballantrae. The circle at Cauldside (G4/14) has three
alignments, of which for 78.2 there is no obvious objective; the alignment at 59.5,
however, indicates a dry shod route to the East having its termination at the large circle
at Dumfries, Twelve Apostles (G6/1). The third alignment at 156.8 I take to be a sea
crossing to the coast of Clwydd near the point of Ayr. The third circle in Cree,
Kirkmabreck (G4/13) has an alignment of 5.9 and I take that to be a sea crossing to the
Isle of Man, as it marks quite precisely the Eastern side of the headland Point of Ayre.
We shall discuss elsewhere the sea level in Neolithic times but it does seem to have
been lower than it is today. This would have appreciably altered the shoreline in this
area; we have shown these sea crossings starting and finishing at the 10 metre (5
fathom) line.
The Site Catchment Area of Ballantrae probably includes a couple of graves and the
circle at Laggangarn (G3/3); we will note this as an observatory site and return to it
later. On the coast, however, is the alignment Ballantrae (G1/4), which precisely
terminates the alignment from Cambret Moor (G4/12). The alignment itself is for 11.8,
23 indicating a route along the coast to Ardrossen.
Perhaps we should pause at this point to consider where this is leading us; the
proposition that alignments may show a dry shod route or a sea crossing is leading us to
define quite a coherent route to the North and to extend the network in other directions.
This is beginning to seem reasonable; the routes fit the Site Catchment areas and the
Topography. In particular the indicated landfall at Ardrossan fits into a pattern of
Prehistoric trade routes into Scotland. Sir Lindsay Scott in PPS Vol.XVII (1951) The
colonisation of Scotland in the second Millennium BC indicates the Black Cart Pass,
running inland from this part of the coast as a natural route leading through various
Glens to the North and East.
Which brings us back to Luce Bay and the Machars. The other alignment from Eskdale
indicates the area of Logan on Luce Bay, but the alignment on 308.8 indicates the

- 19 Eastern shore of Luce Bay; the general vicinity of Monreith Bay. There is one
alignment in the Machars and it is close to Monreith Bay; it is Drumtroddan G3/12 with
a bearing of 223.
The bearing of 223 from Monreith Bay takes us through seas clear of the tide races of
the North Channel to the Mouth of the Boyne; than which there is no more important
area of Neolithic settlement. The pattern is developing and gaining credibility; we must
state all the evidence before attempting to quantify our confidence in it.
24 Fig

- 20 25 Gwynedd
Looking South from Cumbria, indeed following the suggested sea passage of 210.8
from Millom, we come to the District of Gwynedd (otherwise Anglesey and
Caernarven). The bearing of 210.8 takes us into the centre of Red Wharf Bay in
Anglesey an area rich in Megalithic graves and standing stones. Anglesey probably
represents three Site Catchment Areas; Red Wharf Bay, Holyhead and Newborough. If,
as seems probable, sea levels were some 30 ft lower than present day, Menai Strait may
well not have existed and the southern end, Newborough Warren, and the Northern end,
Penmaenmawr, both substantial sandy beaches.
Penmaenmawr is the important Site Catchment Area as it contains the Craig Llwyd axe
factory (Group VII). Nearby is a stone circle, Penmaenmawr W2/1. This circle has two
outliers giving bearings of 18.6 and 240.9. From the beach at Penmaenmawr the
bearing of 18.6 leads to the mouth of the Esk in Cumbria; the objective of the bearing
240.9 is not so obvious, but from the beach at Newborough Warren would lead to the
Irish Coast near Wexford. As an entry point to Ireland that is not very obvious; a rather
featureless coast not marked by prehistoric remains, but we shall consider it again in the
section on Dyfed.
On the western edge of the Penmaenmawr area are a pair of henges; unusual in that at
the entrance to one is burned a stone axe and at the entrance to the other a beaker. This
dedication to each of two important artefacts does suggest their purpose as trading
marts. However, from Llandegai runs a prehistoric route, its course described by
Gresham and Irvine in Antiquity V01.XXXVII (1963). The route crosses the river
Conway and the Dee, over the Berwyn mountains and eventually to the Severn, where
we find a site catchment area centred on the Clun Forest in Shropshire and rich in flint
axe working sites.
Along this prehistoric route and on the Berwyn Mountain, and where another prehistoric
track runs up from the coast at Ardudwy, will be found the stone circle Moel Ty Ucha
(W5/1). Associated with it is a circle across the river Dee, Twyfos (W512). Moel Ty
Ucha has an outlier, giving a bearing of 17.6 with a distant foresight of a prominent
hill. The bearing indicates a nearby crossing of the Dee and leads to a standing stone on
the hill just West of the Penbedw circle in Clwyd. So this circle looks like an important
signpost on an important axe route.
Returning to the West we find an important Site Catchment Area at the southern end of
the Lleyn peninsula; there are two axe factories and five graves, two of which are at
opposite ends of Forth Neigwl. We shall see that an alignment in Dyfed leads across the
bay to Red Wharf Bay.

- 21 26 Fig

- 22 27 Fig

- 23 28 Dyfed
Let us move South to the other Welsh peninsula; here we find a similar prehistoric
region; similar but, once again, with substantial peculiarities dictated in part at least by
the topography.
South West of Carmarthen and adjacent to the Pendine Sands we find a self-contained
Site Catchment Area with a similar distribution of graves and standing stones to that
which we have already observed. The same is true of the Gower peninsula; and in this
case one of two beaches is the landfall for an indicated sea route from Cornwall. We can
identify other areas on the Western end of the peninsula; at the southern end of St.
Brides Bay and West of Fishguard, but neither is central to our argument.
The activity is in this region more concentrated than we have come across before; it
concerns the region North and South of Prescelly Mountain. On the north coast we have
one sheltered bay at Newport, to which we shall transfer the alignments relevant to sea
travel. To the South of the mountain we have a difficulty; there are prehistoric remains
but they have been much despoiled. The description of what was there in 1910 and was
then known to have been there is described by Bushell Among the Prescelly Circles
in Arch. Cambrensis, 6th Series Vol.XI. We have put this information as best we can on
the grid system.
In this same vicinity we also have reference to the location of the source of the
Stonehenge Blue stones. This is given by Thomas in Antiquaries Journal, Vol.3, 1923.
His assessment .. the three main varieties of bluestone (spotted dolerite (prescellite),
shyolite and volcanic ash) were matched exactly by the outcrops ... brought together by
glacial action with a small area on the South East slopes near Cil-maen-Llwyd. We have
shown this as the regional axe factory on the map; the concentration of circles close to
it is remarkable. We shall put further consideration of these circles aside until we
consider from all the regions the characteristics of what we have loosely called
observatories.
In the area south of Prescelly there remains a small circle with outliers at Gors Fawr,
W9/2, and also described by Bushell. Perhaps the small size of the stones has saved
them from destruction. We give a survey of the outliers of this circle which we made in
1971 and which we believe provides a key clue to the use we have been suggesting for
these alignments. Of the six bearings that we recorded, only one (242) has no obvious
objective, though its projection does reach the coast by a dry shod route in the vicinity
of the Site catchment area at the Southern end of St. Brides Bay. One other (103.5)
indicates a dry-shod 29 route to the Af on Cynin (and thence to the Site Catchment area
SW of Carmarthen) and it is also accurately marked at that point by a standing stone.
The remaining four bearings (291.5, 307.5, 8 and 14) become interesting if taken as
sea bearings from the beach at Newport. The bearing 8 marks the beach on the Lleyn
peninsula and the bearing 15 marks the beach in the vicinity of Pwthelli (it depends on
where the shoreline was).
Which leaves us with the bearings 291.5 and 307.5. You will recall that in the first
section we took as an example the bearing from a site north west of Prescelly, Parc y
merw, W9/7, with a bearing of 301.4 indicating either Mt Leinster or the northern
setting of the Moon; now here we have a bearing on either side and we are suggesting
them as navigation routes. We shall need to look at the landfalls in Ireland again; for the
moment we can say that 291.5 leads to the Wicklow shore at essentially the same place

- 24 as the bearing 240.9 from Gwynedd. The bearing 307.5 leads to a part of the coast at
the northern end of the Wicklow mountains.
So the region Dyfed and Newport Bay in particular fits the proposition we have been
developing.
In addition to the regional map similar to the other regions, we have included details of
the Circle at Gors Fawr and the outlook from each outlier. The sketch of Pentre Ifan
with its view over Newport Bay is suggestive of our association between these stones
and the traffic of the bay.
30 Fig

- 25 31 Fig

- 26 32 Fig

- 27 33 Fig

- 28 34 Cornwall
To the South again, Cornwall as a region shows much the same pattern of Site
Catchment areas with axe factories and sea routes. We are setting on one side for
consideration under observations the circles on Bodmin Moor, solely for the reason
that they do stand apart in type and location. We must also note the isles of Scilly, rich
in graves of various types; too many for the amount of land now visible. Crawford, in a
paper on Lyonesse in Antiquity, Vol.1 (1927), discusses the change of sea level and
concludes that it must have been some 30 ft. lower. We have shown a map to include
the 5 fathom contour.
The peninsula of Penwith is densely populated with standing stones, circles, graves and
what are there called Quoits (or Dolmen in France). One cannot, with certainty, separate
site catchment areas for this but we might say there is the southern half, running from
Sennen to Penzance and including the source (probably submerged) of Group I stone
axes; and the northern half, mostly on high ground leading in the East to St. Ives and
including there the source of Group II stone axes. Group III stone axes at Marazion
might have been exploited by either.
We shall see that one of the sea routes indicated from Brittany leads to Mounts Bay.
But the interesting sea route from this area is one indicated by the stone circle Nine
Maidens, S1/11, on a bearing of 332.7. This bearing, taken from the only possible
beach, at St. Ives, indicates a landfall in. Ireland at Tramore. This bearing follows all the
rules we have proposed so far, but it surprises by the length of the sea passage (250 km).
Which leaves two areas to the East. The area around Camborne includes the axe factory
at Cam Brea, the source of Group XVI stone axes; it is a good representation of a selfcontained collection of stones and graves. Then we come to the area inland and south of
Padstow; with a north-facing beach at Trevose. There is a collection of prehistoric
graves between the beach and Trevose Head; there are several coastal graves, but the
main group are 10 km to the south; and that includes the important alignment Nine
Maidens, S1/9. This is a line of nine large stones on a bearing of 26.3, with the Eastern
end of a prominent hill precisely marked by the alignment. Now this bearing from
Trevose beach leads to the Port Eynon Point (very precisely) at the western end of Port
Eynon Bay in Cower. So that the headland, on arrival, must be very similar to that
shown by the alignment.
We shall evaluate this alignment with the others; we have identified fourteen from
Wigtown to St. Ives.

- 29 35 Fig

- 30 36 Fig

- 31 -

37 Fig

- 32 38 Brittany
And so we come to Brittany. Which presents us with two problems; an embarras de
richesse of menhirs, dolmen, allees-couvertes alignments and so on; and the lack of a
good corpus. As elsewhere we have noted the main centres of population and avoided
analysis in the terms of this study; so we have noted for the moment the observatory
of Carnac and the inland settlements, of Mur de Bretagne, and of Landes de Lanvin. We
note also the source of three types of stone axe and show them on the map; Type A
from Seledin near Plussulien, a site that was worked for a thousand years and whose
products are found throughout France; Type B from an unidentified area in the
Montagnes Noires found only in Southern Finistre and Morbihan; Type C from an
outcrop near Plenven, now destroyed by quarrying and found both in Southern Finistre
and Morbihan and across France; and Fibrolite, occurring as loose stones in fields and
essentially in Finistre north of Brest.
Burl has recently published Megalithic Brittany (Thames & Hudson 1985) which,
although not a true corpus, does go to some trouble to identify the exact location and
nature of prehistoric monuments, including museums and similar related items. We
have used Burls reference numbers, located them on the Carte de Fr /100,000 of
Institut Geographique National; and we use the rectilinear grid of this series.
While Thom has made important studies of the observatories at Carnac, I know of no
survey of alignments by him or anyone else in the rest of Brittany. The record of these
alignments is therefore my own; the surveying was done in 1975, using a plane table
and elevating alidade with orientation on local features identifiable from the Carte de
France 1/100,000, being typically churches and water towers (chteaux deau).
The alignments surveyed at Brignogan, at Plozevet, and at Guilvinec have not been
checked; none of them was surveyed with any objective in mind and those at Guilvinec
are marked on my survey notes as rough. Their consistency, therefore, with the
pattern already found is impressive. The sites at Erdeven and on the seaward side of
Presqule de Quiberon were re-surveyed in 1985 and the original measurements
confirmed.
My identification of Site Catchment areas is therefore confined to the coast starting on
the North coast of Brittany at Lannion (Cote du Nord). I have not surveyed; partly
because the rocky coastline, even allowing for a prehistoric shore on the l0m line, made
a suitable beach improbable. Next along the coast is the large passage grave site of
Barnenez, which appears to stand much on its own in 39 a similarly rocky coast.
At Brignogan, however, we have a characteristic Site Catchment area and a promising
beach in the Grve de Goulven, particularly at the l0m line. On the headland north of
Brignogan Plage is a large Christianised Menhir, near the lighthouse. We identified
to the S. East a smaller menhir that provided a good sight of the large menhir; that gives
a bearing of 329 and leads to Newlyn in Mounts Bay. I thought there was a second
alignment from this small menhir to a prominent natural outcrop of le Garo with a
bearing of 39.00. Burl records another menhir south west of Brignogan at Kervizour
(F81b) that appears from the map to give the same bearing. That needs to be checked,
but if confirmed leads to Poole Bay and the mouth of the R. Avon. There is evidence
too of a lower level for the shoreline; the passage grave (F70a) is recorded and
illustrated by Burl as being submerged at low tide.

- 33 In North West Finistre we find a Site Catchment area centred on the natural
occurrence of Fibrolite stone axes. On the mainland the record is mainly of large and
isolated menhir, but on the coast are two islands with a number of substantial passage
graves; at i Guernioc (F52) and at i Carne (F51). At both, these sites there is a
presumption of a lower level for the shoreline; Burl comments on i Guernioc that
... once a low hill joined to the Mainland.; that implies at least the 5m line.
In the Baie de Douarnenez we find the peninsula of Camaret on which there are still
some stone rows, but we have not surveyed them: but on the south side of the Bay we
have the peninsula leading to the Pointe du Raz on which we can identify a Site
Catchment area. There is a collection of Graves on the northern side; but on the shore of
the southern side, on the Baie dAudierne, there is a large and very flat menhir, south of
Plozevet Pouldrenzic (F86a). This flatness is sufficient to give a good bearing of 173.5.
I think some foresight may have gone, which is a pity as one would like to be quite sure
of the prehistoric intention of the alignment, since it suggests a sea route right across the
Bay of Biscay to a beach in the vicinity of Picos de. Europa, a passage of 485 km. This
menhir is in close proximity to an area rich in graves, generally described by Jacques
Briand in describing the grave at Kersandy in LArchitecture Megalithique (1977); he
notes also the abundant local working of flint from local rognons de silex.
In the South Western corner of Finistre , in the general area inland from Pen March we
have a considerable concentration; centrally there were stone rows (F80), now much
despoiled. On the southern coast East of Guilvinec near Lohan I recorded in 1975 two
alignments which I 40 described as rough but which should be included because they
appear to be part of the network of sea bearings. They are (F76) Lechiagat, Lehan,
which Burl describes as this broad granite slab stands in marshy terrain ... and my
comment in my survey notes was ... is just behind the sand dunes and is flat pointing
out to sea. At the position where the tip cuts the horizon there is a natural rocky area but
too (un)impressive to give a bearing better than 5; and (F90a) Le Ruen and Burl says
This is a remarkable jagged pillar of granite, 5.5m high with its broad S face toward
the sea and my survey notes say ... is also a flat and large stone but points roughly EW. There is no obvious sighting platform close-to. The prehistoric sea line would have
been 1 or 2 km farther out and no doubt the position of-these stones would have been
more sure. However, that at (F90a) leads us to the coast at Erdeven, avoiding many
rocks and other hazards.
The Carnac district is so dominated by the stone rows and other elements of the
observatory that few eyes are turned either to Erdeven or to the Cote Sauvage on the
Presqule de Quiberon, but that is where we find two more areas with this same
combination of alignment and beach. Near Erdeven there is an alignment of eight stones
(Kerascouet? dpd) (CA187b), these are large and some are thrown down, the whole is in
a clump of gorse. However one can obtain a bearing; it gives us another location in the
vicinity of Picos de Europa.
Finally there are a group of five stones of fair size, (Manemeur? dpd) not recorded by
Burl on the southern end of the Cote Sauvage. The northerly stone (Beg-er-Gonhennec?
dpd) is seen to clip the horizon when viewed from three of the others. The remaining
stone, large though it is, seems to be something other. From these three stones we obtain
bearings which we shall see help, with the others we have noted in Southern Brittany, to
create an extension of the network of sea passages round the Bay of Biscay to the
Northern Coast of Spain. It really is quite remarkable!

- 34 41 Fig 1

- 35 41 Fig 2

- 36 42 Fig

- 37 43 Fig

- 38 44 Fig

- 39 45 Biscay
The sea passages suggested by the alignments in Brittany surprise by the length of
passage implied across open seas notorious even today for foul weather. We shall
consider separately whether techniques existed for navigating over this distance; as to
the dangers of the open sea, they may well be a lot less, particularly in a small boat, than
tidal and cross currents near rocks and headlands.
We have extended our study round the shores of the Bay of Biscay, to the extent that we
can suggest a feasible pattern of sea passages. While we have followed the constraints
of our proposition, we do not have as much data for Aquitaine (Landes) or for Catalonia
(Northern Spain); we do have, however, pairs of bearings indicating the same landfall.
We have had to make some assumptions; in particular that the sailing point from
Quiberon is a stand-off in the lee of Belle-Isle to clear the small archipelago of islands.
One of these suggests a landing on the coast at Lacanau, as does the rough bearing from
Guilvinec-Plozevet in Southern Finistre ; the closest prehistoric remains I am aware of
is at Le Gurp some 40 km. north. However, the line from Quiberon is a very precise
one.
The other two bearings from Quiberon (with the stand off) lead to the coast north of
Sable dOlonne. This coast is marked by a dolmen and a menhir, but we cannot tell how
much a lower sea level would have altered the coastline. Inland from Sable dOlonne,
however, is a Site Catchment Area of various substantial dolmen and two alignments;
further inland in the Vende are various graves. The area fits the pattern and one of the
alignments (Avrill? dpd)gives a good alignment for Bilbao; the other cannot easily be
measured because one large stone is wired off and the other, behind the Mairie, is no
longer visible from the first. I have measured as best I can from the map, and only
included it because it also suggests a landing at St. Vincente de la Barquera.
The two landfalls in Spain are where we might expect them to be; that at Bilbao being
the gateway to the Valley of the Ebro and Catalonia; that at St. Vincente de la Barquera
to Leon and Portugal. The suggestion lacks the precision of the rest of the proposition,
but contains sufficient merit to be made.

- 40 46 Fig

- 41 47 Hebrides
There remains one other region that displays the same pattern of prehistoric site
catchment areas connected by alignments indicating sea passages; that is the Hebrides.
The sea distances involved in crossing the Clyde Estuary from Galloway to Arran and
Kintyre are short and not notably hazardous. Arran and Kintyre are typical of the site
catchment areas we have been studying. To the north we find another around Kilmartin
and we shall look again at that in Observatories. Beyond that we come to the open
waters of the Minch and on the island of Mull we find again our alignment and a beach.
Mull should probably be regarded as two areas, North and South, however most of the
other islands are of a size where the coast line defines the catchment area.
The alignment of 334 from Mull leads to the Eastern coast of North Uist, rich in
standing stones and graves. There is an associated alignment at 342, suggesting the
route to Canna (adjacent to Rhum); this may be a passage or it may be an ancillary to
the route to N. Uist.
Most of the alignments in the Outer Hebrides we propose to deal with under
Observatories but we should note two particular areas. To the North we find the area
of Callanish on Lewis; manifestly an observatory, but on the Eastern shore an alignment
on the mainland mountain of Suilven. This bearing at 98.3 leads to a point of entry to
Sutherland, the Eastern side of which is an important catchment area. Far to the south,
indeed on the most southerly island of Berneray, is an alignment shown by Thom H6/5
at 342 to Hecla is probably a reverse bearing from an adjacent beach to the large beach
in Northern Ireland at Coleraine; the point of entry to the large settlements of Tyrone.
Two other bearings we should note. From Brevig on the Eastern shore of Barra a
bearing of 135 leading to Coll. From Islay and its large beach of Laggan Bay there
appears to be a bearing for the beach at Coleraine; this depends on the alignment of two
standing stones shown on ordnance survey and needs to be checked, but they do lie in a
typical set of stones in a typical catchment area.

- 42 48 Fig

- 43 49 Ireland
Let us draw all this together by looking at the map of Ireland and observing the
relationship between the suggested sea passages across the Irish sea and the pattern of
prehistoric settlement.
The map we have used is enlarged from that in a paper by M. Davies in Antiquaries
Journal Vol.25 (1945) and the suggested sea passages added. Davies, in her paper, is
concerned to show that there were sea lanes across the Irish sea and that they were
influenced by the terrain and vegetation on the one hand and by the strong tidal currents
on headlands and in the North Channel; but she is not specific, as we have been, about
the sea passages.
It will be seen from the map that the points of entry to Ireland that this paper proposes
are very relevant to the settlement pattern on both sides of the sea. Let us look at them
from the South.
Tramore. The bearing from St. Ives leads to Tramore bay on the coast south of
Waterford. The graves concentrated here are known as end graves; they do not occur
elsewhere in Ireland; they do not occur elsewhere in Britain except in the Scilly Isles.
Wexford. Two bearings lead to the coast north of Wexford harbour; from Newport Bay
in Dyfed and from Newborough Warren in Anglesey. The coast here is open, but
changing sea levels may have revealed an island offshore;
based on the present 5 fathom line, these bearings would have lead north and south of
the Island. As a point of entry to Ireland it would have lead to the settlements in the
South and West.
Arklow. The more northerly bearing from Newport Bay leads to the open shore South
of Arklow, between Ballymoney and Courtown. It will be remembered that these two
bearings from Newport lie to North and South of Mt. Leinster; and so too would the
routes inland; this northerly one leading to the settlements West of the Wicklow
Mountains.
Drogheda. The bearing from Galloway leads to the open shore just south of the mouth
of the Boyne; from which point of entry it is a short distance to the large collection of
graves dominated by New Grange. A point of entry might be expected in this region
because of the typographic similarity of the Court cairns in Northern Ireland and South
West Scotland.
We have shown no points of entry on the North Channel. There is one candidate; the
alignment from Ballochray in Kintyre (Thom A.4/4) does give a bearing on Rathlin
Island 50 off Ballycastle bay on the North Coast of Antrim. Despite the strong
prehistoric presence in that area, we have not included it; preferring to treat it under
observatories.
Coleraine. The only point of entry on the north coast seems to be the bay of Coleraine.
For this there are two bearings; from Berneray and from Islay. As a point of entry the
route leads either to the extensive settlements of Tyrone or to the settlements of Antrim
and the axe factory of Tievebulliagh. Taken with the routes between regions on the
West cost of England and Wales that we have discussed in some detail, the result is a
remarkably coherent network of sea communications.

- 44 50 Fig

From Davies

- 45 52 Chapter 4. Interpretation
Support for Navigation
Now that we have set down the Corpus of data for prehistoric sea passages on the West
Coast of Britain and France we must consider how the method of support may be used
to evaluate the proposition.
We have already indicated that alignments may be for more than one purpose so that
first of all we have to decide how to separate them into mutually exclusive categories;
not forgetting that any one may be or appear to be usable for more than one purpose.
The categories that we propose to define are as follows:A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.

Sea Passages
Dry-shod land routes
Observatories; essentially concerned with the limiting declinations of sun and
moon
Fans and Rows; as an essential part of an observatory
Double purpose alignments
Alignments with no obvious objective.

We may wish, as our knowledge increases, to add to or remove from any of these
groups. For the moment we are considering Categories A and B and allocating to
Categories E and F if necessary.
Category A. Sea Passages. Where we have a Site Catchment Area for late Neolithic and
early Bronze Age activity which is close to a sandy beach and there are alignments:
If we have alignments of any of the categories:1)
2)
3)
4)

the flat face of a slab

two or more stones aligned
a circle with an outlier
One circle observed from another,

and we transfer that alignment to the beach, and the alignment (in either direction) is
included in the seaward arc of the beach,
Then: the sea passage indicated will be free of nautical hazard (rocks, strong currents
and so on) and will lead to a sandy beach marked by stones or graves of another
SCA, or be the natural point of entry to another SCA. 53
Category B. Dry-shod routes. Where we have a Site Catchment Area for late Neolithic
or early Bronze age activity, with or without a beach, and there are alignments as
specified in Category A;
And the alignment is not included in any seaward arc from a beach,
Then, from the alignment will be indicated a dry-shod route free of natural hazards
(rivers and marshes, broken country) and will lead to a menhir or circle or grave or be a
natural point of entry to another SCA.
Now in setting up either of these propositions we have, by specifying four types of
alignment, used up four degrees of freedom; and so too for the target beach we have
specified two conditions. So from our total observations we have to deduct six for

- 46 degrees of freedom. On the other hand, we have stated that having specified the
alignment that two conditions will -result; the one dependent on the other and so we can
add the support for a safe passage to and a suitable beach will be found.
So we have a simple go/no go situation m = 2 the number of observations will be n,
and S = 2(n-6) Ln 2. What we have recorded is, of course, open to debate, but is:Region
Category
Hutton Moor
Langdale
Galloway
Gwynedd
Dyfed
Cornwall
Brittany
Biscay
Hebrides

A
4
4
2
4
2
6
4
6
32

B
1
1
2
2
2

1
2

So at this stage we may say we have

for Category A
Support = 2 x 26 x 0.7 = 36.6
and
for Category B
Support = 2 x 2 x 0.7 = 2.8
54 Navigation
Having identified over 30 alignments indicating a sea passage between beaches and
between areas of prehistoric interest, we must consider whether that is feasible; or
conversely, if we are satisfied from the support for the proposition, to consider what that
tells us about navigation techniques at that period.
We know very little about the ships involved; we may presume dugout canoes; we must
presume some heavy rafts if we accept the movement of bluestones from Prescelly to
Stonehenge. In the Bronze age there is evidence for sewn planked boats but we do not
know if they were rowed or sailed or both. They are presumably developing through the
period.
The evidence we have produced implies that these ships could stay at sea for quite some
time in open water and out of sight of land. The length of the passages ranges from 50
km to 500 km; the shorter possible in daylight by direct observation; the longest
implying up to three nights at sea. The passage lengths may be classified roughly as
follows : 1)
Up to ~ km (48 miles) there are 8 and we presume direct observation, journey
time say 8- 10 hrs.
2)
90- 120 km (up to 75 miles) there are 9 and we presume a night passage steering
by the stars, journey time 12- 15 hrs.
3)
135- 195 km (up to 120 miles there are 7 and we presume a night and a day
(direct observation at start and finish), journey time up to 20- 24 hrs.

- 47 4)
200- 500 km (up to 300 miles there are 8; we need to presume two or three
nights at sea with a full day out of sight of land. This requires a lot of seamanship, but
we cannot dismiss it; there is as much support for the long journeys as the short.
We observed that most of the alignments were away from the beach; this is only
feasible if they are assumed to be a training aid for learning the succession of stars that
indicate the bearing required. Without a compass this method of setting a course by
stars of a constant declination will be found in several societies; the Portugese in the
Middle Ages (they used the Cross staff as an aid); the Arabs in the Indian Ocean (they
used the Kemal, the precursor of the Cross staff as an aid); and the island people of the
South Pacific until recent times.
We give some details about the Kemal and about the 55 South Pacific sailing techniques
in a supporting paper. The South Pacific sailing makes use of 3 to 9 stars (or groups of
stars) for a particular passage; perhaps we have a hint about why there are so many
nine maidens? A particular star or group will be used for an hour or so as it moves; it
will be observed at an altitude of several degrees, to avoid the effects of low cloud on
the horizon. The Arabs used their Kemal to allow for the angle of the star to the course;
do we have in this device a possible use for V buttons & rings often referred to as belt
fasteners? We have set this idea out in a supporting paper.
The South Pacific sailors travel long distances and will be at sea for a week or more;
during the day they will steer by observation of the Sun, by an innate sense of position,
and by the set of the long waves of the open ocean. For the middle period of the passage
some such techniques would have been essential.
The observation of the stars is at an altitude of several degrees; and we note that that
condition applies to many of the alignments. The alignments are only at one end of the
passage; so that the journey must also be made on the back bearing. We would expect
ships with a high prow and stern for this reason alone. We should also deduce the
organisational feature that sea passages were controlled from one end.
Sailing by the stars, the ship will follow a curved path and we have drawn a straight line
across the grid. For short journeys this is probably not a large error; for the longest
journey we have calculated the true course and it is shown by a dotted line on the map
of Biscay. What shape that curve will be will depend on how the navigation is carried
out; how much direct observation of the land is made at start and finish; how navigation
is carried out in mid passage; the elevation of the stars observed; and the bearing being
followed. The curve on the Biscay map is obtained by assuming that the observations at
Plozevet are made at an altitude of 2.
We have (after Thom 1967)
Sin d = Sin 1 Sin h + Cos 1 Cos h Cos A.
d = declination
h = horizon altitude
1 = latitude
A = Azimuth or bearing
for the observing site d = constant
h = constant

- 48 but clearly, if we continue to observe the same stars (which retain the same d) then the
bearing A will vary with the latitude (l).
56 In the particular curve drawn we presumed that although h = 2 that it was 00 at sea
(probably incorrect), and that on a bearing of 173.5 we move from latitude (1) 4800
N to 43030t N.
We would need to be more precise about the longer passages for detailed extension of
this calculation to yield further useful data.
57 Observatories
In considering the site catchment areas concerned with the Stone axe trade we noted that
these could be assembled into regions that are geographically independent. In these
regions we set aside particular sites of circles and alignments as observatories. Let us
look more closely at what we mean.
The regions are all connected by our network of sea passages identified by a stone
alignment, an adjacent sandy beach, and the indication being of a satisfactory sea
passage to a target sandy beach also associated as a point of entry to a neolithic area. All
the regions originate sea passages; there are others that do not; Ireland, for instance;
Yorkshire; Northumbria; East Anglia.
They are from South to North:- Brittany, Cornwall, Dyfed, Gwynedd, Cumbria,
Galloway, Argyll, Hebrides.
Each of these regions, with the exception of Gwynedd contain one observatory site at
least; though all are of various types and complexity. With two exceptions no other
coastal region has an observatory site. Let us look at the exceptions:Gwynedd. There is only one site, W2/i Penmaenmawr in the region. Without too much
anticipation of our argument, this is a late site so that for most of the period the region
depended on sea passages controlled from other regions. We cannot be too precise about
early or late sites, at any rate at this stage, but by early we might mean large
undressed stones, and by late we might mean small stones in specialised geometric
arrays and association with beakers.
Caithness, Orkney and Shetland. This region, dominated by difficult sea passages, (but
from the archaeological record, sea passages that were made in the period), is only
indirectly linked to the other eight regions. But we must include it and its two
observatory sites of N1/1 Mid Clyth (and other stone row sites in the district) and the
ring of Brodgar in Orkney.
Stonehenge is clearly in the category of observatory but the regional association with
the other seafaring regions is less direct. The bluestones came from Prescelly; and we
identify a sea passage from Brignogan in Brittany to Poole Bay. The association of
Stonehenge with seafaring must rest on its position in the region of Southern England;
the distribution map of Stone Axes (Clough & Cummins i979) in Southern England is
suggestive of a coastal traffic along the south coast and into Southern Essex.
58 So we have nine regions with observatories, and at the same time an active interest in
seafaring. On top of the support for seafaring between regions, we can now say that
there is a strong support for observatories being associated with seafaring.

- 49 What then are these observatories and show could they have assisted the seafarer?
There seem to me to be two principle techniques that would develop from the
widespread observation of stars and moon needed for navigation. Very quickly they
would observe the association of springs and neaps with the phases of the moon. It
would take a lot longer to unravel the complexities of the tides and of associating them
with the 9 perturbation of the lunar orbit and its 18.6 year cycle. Over a protracted
period they would observe that the stars precessed. That being so, we must expect a
variety of sites reflecting this developing set of ideas; we would expect not only
development at a site but between sites and regions.
Tides themselves are directly proportional to tidal currents; it is this aspect which makes
them of such concern to primitive navigators.
The site at Castle Rigg L1/1 in Cumberland is a useful model of the primary
observatory ot sun and moon; we reproduce the panorama from Thom 1966. The
panorama of the bowl of hills surrounding the site enables an opinion to be made on the
uses to which the site may have been put. However, Thom (1967) lists here limiting
declinations for Sun at +24.3 and Moon at - 29.8~
In Galloway the site Laggangarn G3/3 is similar in the type of observation that may be
made; various solar calendar lines are also possible but limiting declinations are for Sun
- 23.7 and moon at - 30.4 and - 19.6.
In Dyfed we have a problem; there were several major sites south of the Prescelly
Mountains but they have essentially been destroyed. These circles are close by the
location from which the bluestones were sent to Stonehenge. The identification of the
source of bluestones from a small area on the South East slopes (of Prescelly) at Cilmaen- Llwyd will be found in Antiquaries Journal Vol.3, 1923. A review of the circles
and alignments from this area, dating from about 1910, is by Rev. W. Dene Bushell,
FSA, Among the Prescelly Circles in Archaeologia Cambrensis 6th Series, Vol.XI.
We have located these sites on an enlarged part of the 1 O.S. Sheet 139; but the
alignments and so on given by Bushell are based on stellar alignments and even in his
day they were much depleted. Gors Fawr W9/2 he includes and is intact and we have
referred to 59 earlier. For the rest we must content ourselves with the category
observatory.
There is one precise observation in Dyfed to which we have already referred; Parc y
Merw W917. This is a large stone, long alignment indicating the northern slopes of Mt.
Leinster and one of the limiting declinations of the moon. Precisely though this line is
indicated, it raises the question of how it could have been observed. The moon sets on
this line once every 18.6 years; the period over which the Stone Axe trade ran was
between 1000 and 1500 years; we have only between 50 and 80 opportunities to make
the observation; but only very occasionally is the moon setting actually on the limit of
its orbit; the setting on the day preceding and succeeding the limiting day will be
substantially short. We might suppose that by chance the moon is actually observed on
one of the occasions when it is truly at its limit; that that is recorded by an alignment
and the repeat performance awaited; but for any useful data to be obtained about the
behaviour of the moon a technique has to be devised for estimating, from the shortfall
on the days before and after, by how much the limiting position should be increased.
Thom suggests that, if such precise observations are made, there must have been
devised an offset technique (he uses the phrase a stake method) and that from the

- 50 parabolic approximation to the lunar movement over those two days there is a
characteristic offset dimension for each site, C, for which we should require some
evidence if a precise lunar observation is to be presumed.
The region of Cornwall has on Bodmin Moor a site, the Hurlers S1/1, which appears to
concentrate on the alignment of circumpolar stars; an interest stimulated perhaps by the
observation from the sea route indicated by S1/9 that the star Deneb set on that line.
Beyond that speculation we find (outside Cornwell) the site Merrivale S2/2 on
Dartmoor that does show evidence for the extrapolation length C. This site was
surveyed by Wood & Penny and reported in Nature, Vol.275, 1975. We include a copy
of this note for a description and survey not performed by Thom, and for its compact
description of the importance and use of extrapolation.
Turning now to Scotland. There are two observatories, both in the Hebrides, that do not
have evidence of extrapolation but one more comprehensive than the sites we have so
far noted; they are at Callanish and North Uist.
There are, however, three observatories in which there is evidence for the extrapolation
length and upon which much of the argument for observation of the 9 perturbation
rests. The most southerly of these is at Temple Wood A2/8 near Lochgilphead in
Argyll. There are in the region a number of sites that individually indicate a particular
60 position on sun and moon but at Temple Wood are a series of stones and circles
arranged so that, by moving along a sequence of them, the setting of the moon behind a
particular profile of the hills can be observed very precisely around one or more of its
limiting declinations, much as at Merrivale.
At Brogan in Orkney we have a similar configuration; it is, there, complex but
essentially the sequence of observations is performed by moving along a slightly raised
ridge.
However, on the mainland of Caithness we have not only an observatory of this type but
a configuration which is called Stone Rows or fans; a number of rows of fairly small
stones are laid out in the shape of a narrow fan. The radius of the fan is identified as the
extrapolation length G and the distance between stones provides a measure of the
correction that must be applied to the limiting positions observed on successive days, to
determine the true limit. There are, in close proximity in northern Caithness, four of
these stone rows; suggesting certainly a speciality of the district, but probably its
genesis and development.
Finally we come, way down South, to Brittany and to the very complex array of stones
around Carnac. Thom has identified two lunar observatories; one based on the menhir
Le Menec; and a much larger one based on the Grand Menhir brise at Lochmaraquier.
It is sometimes protested that the Grand Menhir was never erected; but there was
certainly the other one operative; in any event there may have been some tree or
temporary wooden structure in anticipation of the stone. The scope of the other stones in
the district do tend to encourage the idea that the main observatory was operated.
Here we find, as in Caithness, stone rows set out fan- shaped and based on the
extrapolation length G for the Grand menhir; there are two fans, for the alignments on
Quiberon, and for the northern sector. The novel feature at Carnac, however, is the
enormous stone rows at Kermario and Kerlescan.

- 51 So you will see that we have eleven observatories (for Stonehenge has the equivalent of
stone rows as post holes on the axis); and they develop in their complexity through at
least three technical phases;
a)
fixed alignments on specific lunar, solar, or stellar positions. There are six of
these:- The Hurlers on Bodmin Moor, Prescelly, Castle Rigg, Laggangarn, N. Uist and
Callanish. 61
b)
Offset alignments with indication of C for the site. There are three: Merrivale on
Dartmoor, Temple Wood and Brodgar in Orkney.
c)
Offset alignments with fans of stone rows. There are
three, Stonehenge, Caithness and Carnac.
I take it that the jigsaw puzzle is just about complete; with the most advanced
observations they were competent to comprehend the details of lunar movement and to
relate it to the tides.
I wrote a paper ten years ago, suggesting that the Alignments at Le Menec used
fortnightly observations of the lunar declination on Le Grand Menhir to predict the fine
movement of the tides.
That paper, re- read as the closing piece of the Jigsaw, remains convincing to me. It is a
complex argument and I have added it as a supporting paper.
The site at Le Menec (Carnac), then, is the end product of a long period of observation
which is represented by the periods : i.

Determination of lunar and solar limiting positions by fixed alignments.

2.
Refinement of limiting positions by defining a traversing platform to observe the
changing position for a period either side of the limit.
3.
calculating from these traverse positions what the limiting position would be, by
using the stone fans.
4.
Increasing the number of traverse positions so that the whole range of lunar
movement may be observed; making those observations for the (e + 1) and
the (e - i) sectors; scaling both to one range, using stone fans; relating the change in
those measurements to a measurement of tides on the same set of stone rows.
That is as effective a closing of the jigsaw as you will find; the above argument is
incredible unless related to the whole activity of navigation; the alignments and
observatories seem pointless unless they lead up to some purpose of this magnitude.

- 52 63
References
1.
2.

3.
4.
5.
6.

7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.

J. Radley (1974) The Prehistory of the Vale of York, Yorkshire

Archaeological Journal. Vol 46.
T.G. Manby (1965) The Distribution of rough-cut Curnbrian and related
stone axes of Lake District origin in Northern England. Trans. Cumb. &
Westmoreland Antiquary & Archaeological Soc. Vol LXV new series, 1965.
lain Davidson (1983) Site variability & prehistoric economy in Levante in C.
Bailey. Ed. Hunter- gatherer economy in prehistory. CUP.
Sir Lindsay Scott (1951) The colonisation of Scotland in the second
Millennium BC. PPS. new series Vol XVII.
M. Davis (1945) Types of Megalithic Monument of the Irish Sea and North
Channel Coastline; a study in distribution. Antiquaries Journal XXV.
M. Davis (1946) Diffusion and Distribution patterns
of the Megalithic Monuments of the Irish Sea and North Channel Coastline.
Antiquaries Journal XXVI.
T.H.McK. Clough & W.A. Cumins Stone Axe Studies. CBA Research Report
No.23.
O.G.S. Crawford (1927) Lyoness. Antiquity Vol.1.
P. Fowler & C. Thomas Lyoness revisited. The early walls of Scilly. Antiquity
Vol LIII.
C. Thomas & P. Pool (1964) The Principal Antiquities of the Lands End
District. Cornwall Archaeological Society. Field Guide No.2.
J. Michell (1974) The Old Stones of Lands End. Garnstone Press.
M.H. Ridgway (1946) Prehistoric Flint Workshop site near Abersoch,
Caernarvonshire. Arch.Camb. Vol XCIX Pt 1.
J.B. Lewis (1971- 2) An account of the Penbedw Papers in the Flintshire
Record Office. Flintshire Historical Society Vol 25.
Sir Cyril Fox & B. Dickens (1950) The Early Cultures of North West Europe.
H.M. Chadwick Memorial Studies.
C.A. Gresham & H.C. Irvine (1963) Prehistoric routes across North Wales.
Antiquity XXXVII.
D. Lees (1984) The Sanctuary: A Neolithic Calendar? Institute of
Mathematics & its Applications Vol 20.
C. Larnbrick (1983) The Rollright Stones. Oxford
Archaeological Unit.
Roger Joussaume (1985)
Des Dolmens pour les Morts. 64 Hachette.
(1977) LArchitecture Megalithique. Colloque du 150a anniversaire de la
Societe Polymathique du Morbihan. Chateau Gaillard Vamey.
Sir Norman Lockyer (1906) Stonehenge and other British stone monuments
astronomically considered. McMillan.
Sir Norman Lockyer (1905) On the Observations of Stars made in some British
Stone Circles - Preliminary note. Proc. Royal Soc. Vol 76- A.
Rev. W.D. Bushell (1910) Amongst the Prescelly Circles. Arch. Cambrensis
6th series Vol XI.
G. Williams et al (1963) Swansea Bay to Worms Head. Gower Society.
J.E. Wood & A. Penny (1975) A Megalithic Observatory on Dartmoor. Nature
Vol 257. 18 Sep 1975.
(1972) Ancient Astronomy at the Royal Society.
Nature Vol 240. 29 Dec 1972.

- 53 26.
27.
28.
29.

1.0. Angell (1978) Megalithic Mathematics, Ancient Almanacs or Neolithic

Nonsense. The Institute of Mathematics and its Application. Vol 14. No 10.
P.R. Freeman (1976) A Bayesian Analysis of the Megalithic Yard. Journal
of the Royal Statistical Society A. Vol 139. Pt I.
A. Thom (1955) A Statistical Examination of the Megalithic sites in Britain.
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Vol 118 Pt III. 1955.
A. Thom (1966) Megalithic Astronomy: Indications in Standing Stones.
Vistas in Astronomy. Vol 7.

MEGALITHIC AIDS
TO
NAVIGATION
1986
Support Papers I
THE JIGSAW PUZZLE

By P.B. Davidson
Copyright 1986-2009
Privately Circulated

Scanned 2009
Peter Davidson 1986-2009

Part I Jigsaw Puzzle

1)
2)

The Jigsaw Puzzle: an allegory

Logic and Algebra: some additional considerations
a. Propositions
b. And . Or
c. Sampling a Multinomial Distribution
d. PLnP
e. Expected Values
f. Degrees of Freedom

See Also, in separate files:

Part II
Part III
Part IV

Constant Declination Navigation

Alignments at le Menec as a Tide Predictor
Mensuration

Keywords:
Multivariable entities; statistical fit; likelihood; Measure of support;
Cluster analysis; test of significance; A W F Edwards

Peter Davidson 1986-2009

 Peter Davidson 1986-2009

3)

 Peter Davidson 1986-2009

 Peter Davidson 1986-2009

 Peter Davidson 1986-2009

 Peter Davidson 1986-2009

 Peter Davidson 1986-2009

 Peter Davidson 1986-2009

 Peter Davidson 1986-2009

 Peter Davidson 1986-2009

 Peter Davidson 1986-2009

 Peter Davidson 1986-2009

 Peter Davidson 1986-2009

 Peter Davidson 1986-2009

 Peter Davidson 1986-2009

 Peter Davidson 1986-2009

 Peter Davidson 1986-2009

 Peter Davidson 1986-2009

 Peter Davidson 1986-2009

MEGALITHIC NAVIGATION 1986 - SUPPORT PAPER II

Navigation

1)

Constant Declination Navigation

2)

Arab Navigation
being an extract from Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Dec. 1836
Found at the Cambridge Univ. Library UL No Q 620.C5.1.

3)

the Ancient art of land finding in the Pacific

being an abstract from We, the Navigators by David Lewis (1972)
Australian National University Press, Canberra, pp.5461

Peter Davidson 1986 - 2009

S2.2
CONSTANT DECLINATION NAVIGATION

We must consider the way in which Megalithic man would. have used his alignments
if he had used. them for n~vigation (on land. or sea).
Through the alignments there will set regardless of season a constant succession of
stars. Only a few of these will be of first magnitude and they will as a result have
different extinction angles (that is to say the smaller stars will cease to be visible at
a height above the horizon depending on the opacity of the atmosphere).
It is possible to memorize the succession of stars through the alignment and. to sail (at
night) on the constant course so indicated. At any particular season the star first
visible at sunset will change. This in itself would have given a guide to desirable
seasons for making journeys or it could. have been used in conjunction with other
calendar alignments, (or the observation of the one may have stimulated the
development of the calendar).
This technic~ue is still used. by the Arabs to make open sea voyages from India to
Zanzibar and. back in d.hows. They are driven and. guided. basically by the monsoon
but apparently refine their course by using a ring and string. This ring and string
consists of a (triangular?) ring held in the eye to which is attached. a string and a
(triangu.lrr?) ball. The ball is held at arms length and. moved in tLe arc of a circle.
The attention of the eye is concentrated on a limited target. The ball can be moved
through two stars of constant declination and will give a constant inter9ection with the
horizon.

PBD/PAH
7th October 1971

Peter Davidson 1986 - 2009

V-BUTTONS AND RINGS

It is frequently reported in Beaker burial context that t there were one or more 7-bored
buttons. These have remarkable constant characteristics. The diameter is between 1
1/4" and 1 1/2" and forms a flat cone about 1" deep. In the centre of the flat face are
bored two conical holes angled so that they do not perforate the front of the button but
do intersect to make a restricted hole through which a string may pass. (Incidentally, a
hole type that will allow a string to slip through freely until pressure is applied, when
it will lock.) The buttons are made most frequently of jet, sometimes of amber and I
think there is a reference to one on faience.
The V-buttons are usually thought to be dress fasteners, and so they may be; a barrow
(contracted skeleton) in Wessex has a row of six lying in front of it. In other contexts
they appear singly with the button placed on top of a small and peculiar ring; a barrow
near Spadeadam and a barrow in E. Yorkshire. Excavators have usually expressed
puzzlement about the use of the ring; it too small for a dress fastener and is usually
described as a ring pendant.
The rings are of remarkably constant dimensions being just under 1" in diameter,
3/16" thick and with a hole? diameter. In the outer circumference are drilled holes
for attaching a string. In some forms this is a hole parallel to the axis of the ring and in
some projection from the circumference. In others and particularly those of jet and
those referred to in the particular barrows above, the holes are similar to the Vperforation of the button.
In this case two V-holes are drilled along a chord of the ring so that they do, or could,
intersect and do not perforate the wall of the hole. These holes are connected by one
or two V-holes drilled radially from the outer circumference. The end of a string loop
would then pass into each V-hole and out of the radial holes where the ends would be
tied.
The V-button and ring are in such close association and of so much personal
importance to the deceased (sole goods at Spadeadam, and with a whetstone only
additional in E. Yorkshire) that the consequences of passing the loop of string through
both sets of boles must be studied.
A model of the V-button and ring should reveal come of the finer point:.. The
combination has, however, the required characteristics of the "ring and string" used by
the Arab" for Constant Declination Navigation.

PBD/PAH 7th October 1971

Peter Davidson 1986 - 2009

S2.5
Arab Navigation
A article from Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, December 1836.
Cambridge University Library. UL. No Q 620.C5.1.

VI.Note on 1/se Nautical Instruments of the drab:.

By James Prinsep, Sec
Since the arrival of the Arab vessels which annually frequent the port of
Calcutta, I have made diligent inquiries concerning the in-strument in use
among them for the measurement of the latitude, in hopes of elucidating
thereby the Baron Von HAMMERs translation of the Mohit (see p. 442). I
have been hitherto unsuccessful, the English quadrant or sextant having
generally superseded the more ancient and clumsy apparatus. One Muallim,
however, seemed to recognize the instrument perfectly by my description,
though he could not explain its construction; and promised to bring me one
on his next voyage :he stretched out his arms, when I inquired about the
issabah division, and placing his fingers together horizontally, counted with
them the height of the polar star, just as I guessed must have been the early
and rude method of the Arab navigators.
At length in a vessel from the Maldive Islands I met with an intelligent
navigator who brought me the primitive instruments with which he was
accustomed to work his way to Calcutta,and as I do not think they are
generally known, while it is certain they are of Arabic Origin, I hasten to
describe them as lithographed in Plate XLVIII.

There follow 6 pages of English and Arabic text.

Peter Davidson 1986 - 2009

The Arab Kamal

Peter Davidson 1986 - 2009

 Peter Davidson 1986 - 2009

S2.13
The Ancient Art of Landfinding in the Pacific
The subsidiary title of We, the Navigators
by David Lewis (1972) Australian National University Press, This extract is of pages
54 - 61; but the whole book is instructive on the type of technology required to travel
long distances at sea if you have no compass and boats of an elementary nature.

canoe from Puluwat, ninety miles fsic] to the west, stopped in on a trading trip. At his interpreters
suggestion, the gover-nor asked its navigator if he could get to headquarters on Ponape, ~oo miles to
the east. The navigator said he had never been there but was confident he could manage it. Not many
days later he was back with replies to the governors letters. The governor could well marvel that a
simple loincloth-clad native could so confidently sail to a strange place without compass or chart and
make the requisite landfall with pinpoint precision,... (1g51: io~).
There were two routes from Truk to Ponape, Hipour told me, one via Lukunor in the Mortlocks and the
other via Oroluk. The prevailing winds at present (early April) would favour the latter. Departure was
taken from certain hills on islands in Truk lagoon, and you laid course towards where y Aquillae rose
(Daane Baiifang, 85). Some time after you deemed to have passed an etak (reference) reef called
Tuimner (Minto Reef) lying far away to the north, you altered course towards the point where
Aldebaran rises (Daan tJun, 75). Precisely when you changed course depended on the state of the sea
and the wind and your estimate of the distance covered. (The distance from Ttuk to Oroluk is 185
miles.)
The course for~the remaining 145 miles from Oroluk to Ponape that Hipour gave me was towards
Orions Belt (Daane Eluuel) which bears 90. This is a little too far north, presumably to allow for
leeway from the prevailing north-east wind.
Use of Stars at an Angle to the Course
The voyage from Saipan back to Pikelot provided a very good example of using stars astern and at
various angles to the actual course. Most of the time our heading
was towards the rising Southern Cross, or about 1600. After dark, with the Southern Cross not yet
risen, we kept Venus, whose bearing Hipour had checked at sunset and found to be west, abaft the
beam to starboard, and the rising Saturn nearly reciprocal to Venus, before the beam to port. When the
Southern Cross did rise about 20.30 the forestay exactly bisected it, proving that we were steering
accurately. As the Cross rose towards an angle of 45, it moved io or so to the right to become hidden
behind the jib. Saturn by then was too high to use and Venus had set, so we held the Pole Star zo-z5
east of the stern and kept the Southern Cross tucked out of sight behind the sail in front.
Antares rose about an hour before midnight in line with the port forward shrouds. We were on the port
tack, i.e. the wind was from the port side so the ship was heeled over to starboard. By coincidence the
slope of the rigging on this tack matched the track of the star as it climbed obliquely up to the right, so
that we were able to steer by it for hours (see fig. 2).
About two in the morning Altair (Daane Mallb) emerged from a cloud bank low in the east on a
bearing of 810, and by this time the Southern Cross, tilting west-ward as it sank, had emerged from
behind the sail on the starboard bow. We continued using Altair and the Cross, with appropriate
adjustment for the latters motion, until shortly before dawn, when Saturn sinking in the west provided
an additional indicator.

Peter Davidson 1986 - 2009

In the Gilbert Islands the navigator Teeta replied to my question as to whether one always steered by
the star in front by explaining that, we may use one to the side or astern for steering because from it
we can tell the direc-tion equally well as from one in front.
Rafe made his rio-mile passage from Tikopia to the Banks Islands in the New Hebrides in a 27-fOot
mat-sailed canoe. He and his four companions left at midnight for reasons of stealth, the canoe having
been stolen. The course was towards the south-west, but they guided the canoe first by Orion (Arotoru)
which was sinldng due west, and later by keeping the Southern Cross (Rakau Tapu or Rua Tangata)
about south.south-east, over the point of the outrigger. The blind 83-year-old VIII Mailau told me in
Tonga, that when guiding stars were obscured and only very big stars shone through (including
planets) he would steer by a big star keeping it at an appropriate angle.
Not only is the practice of star steering often carried out by using stars abeam, behind or at any angle to
the actual track, either in default of a suitable star in front or because clouds obscure part of the sky, but
star path sailing directions may be couched in similar terms. For instance Tevake gave the course from
Taurnako to Vanikoro as Canopus and the Southern Cross, not ahead but on the port bow. If such
directions seem impossibly vague, it should be realised that they are taught by demonstration, the
named star being pointed out together with whichever unnamed star. should indicate the actual course;
or else the angle between a named identifying star and the track to be followed being demonstrated by
pebbles (Hipour), sticks or lines in the sand (Teeta).
Optimum Height of Steering Stars
Hipours use of the Pleiades as a steering star when still a full 45 above the horizon was exceptional
and only possible because it was a nearly east-west constellation that was sinking almost vertically.
Horizon stars are generally used lower than this. In Tonga, Tuita practice was to steer by a star until it
has reached a height the same as the sun has at 10 a.m. (fangallupe hopo a e la a), then leave that star
and use a lower one on the same bearing. (Kaho). The Gilbertese navigator Teeta repeated to me his
grandfathers instructions. 4A steering star has properly the bearing of an island at a slight but definite
altitude, which is opposite the first or second beam of the
meeting house (maneaba). The star at this slight height (of about 150) marks the correct bearing of the
island. When it rises or sinks too far another on the same bearing is used. Teeta, like all older
Gilbertese navigators, had been instructed in the maneaba whose beams and rafters were taken as
representing the divisions of the night sky (Grixnble, 1931: i~v).~
Enough examples of star steering practice have been given, I think, to indicate that one must be careful
not to equate the star course with the precise bearing of a star

Peter Davidson 1986 - 2009

at the moment of its rise or set. The horizon rim in the Pacific is frequently obscured by cloud, so the
guiding star is generally used anywhere from a little above the
horizon up to the customary maximum, and therefore its precise azimuth when being steered by cannot
readily be translated into an exact number of degrees. All azimuths of steering stars given in this book,
.therefore, should be as read as approximations only.
Star Courses Identified by a Key Star
A single named star is commonly used to denote or identify a star course though, of course, it no more
corn- prises the sum of sailing directions between two islands
than would a simple compass bearing exhaust them in a European pilot book. Neither is it necessary to
know the name of each unit of a star path, and in this respect the star path (kavenga) from Tikopia to
Anuta, in which Firth (1954: 91) was told that the nine component stars were all named, is possibly
exceptional. There has no doubt been some loss of star data since Firths visit, so there could be an
element of rationalisation in the insistence of all my Tikopian informants at Nukuf era, one of whom
had sailed this same voyage, that you did not learn the names of all the stars of a kavenga, only one
4

Teeta was speaking through an Interpreter. If he was referring to the roof-plate of the maneaba M the first beam, the height he
was indicating cx,uld be the nikaveve (sa~ed enclosure) of the first beam above. This was a significant altitude In Gilbertese
aatronomy, since the appearance of the Pleiades here signalled the beginning of the year. Crimble takes it to be about i~ (1931:
193, ig8, 2oo).

or two key ones. Nevertheless the use of name stars to represent star paths is widespread. The Tongan
practice was outlined by the 88-year-old Feiloakitau Kaho, the senior surviving Tuita.
The new stars of the kaveinga in one line take their name from the star you first navigated by. The new
star is called by the same name as the first although it is a completely different star.
In the Carolines a question about a star course was usually answered with the name of a single star
point. Further questioning elicited detailed sailing instructions about reference islands, currents and the
best time of the year for the passage.
This convention in the naming or identifying of star courses has sometimes confused European
investigators. Akerblom (1968: 117), for example, comments on Erd-lands Marshallese star courses
(1914: 8o, 8i): The information is incomplete, in so far as only one star has been allotted for each
voyage. Again, Akerblom (pp. 26-7) has doubts of the star courses to Samoa and Niue collected by the
Beagleholes on Pukapuka (1938: 351-3), because the navigators were guided by only one star. This
could only be used when it was low on the horizon, in other words for about one hour. How were they
able to steer their course during the remaining 23 hours? Leaving aside the problem of mainh~ining
direc-tion in daytime, which we will come to later, this formu-lation suggests failure to grasp the
distinction between naming a star course and the procedure used in sailing it. In fact, as far as direction
is concerned, if you are told to steer towards the setting Antares, the information has the same
significance as telling a European navigator to steer ~o True. In the first case a series of suitable stars
are chosen as they are needed, in the second the course is corrected to magnetic and aligned on the
steering compass.
Star Courses and Allowance for Current
An important question is whether or not star courses should be assumed to allow for set and leeway.
Beiong in the Carolines told me that the course from the Mortlocks to Pulusuk was actually towards
the set-ting Pleiades position, about west.north-west. When I asked him what he meant by actually,
he explained that you must sail a little north of this star point to counteract southerly drift due to the
prevailing wind and current conditions. In other words, the course he had given me was a geographical
one that did not allow for current.
The Pukapuka-N1Ue sailing directions (Beaglehole, E. and P., 1938) that we mentioned earlier, are
discussed by Akerbiom (ig68: 26) from this point of view also. He writes that: if one plots the course
steered on a chart one comes so near to ones destination that the necessary allowance for current
simply cannot have been made. It is clear that in this instance, like the one above, the star point
identifying the course does not allow for west-going current. Additional data, including that on currents
trans-verse to the track, would have been embodied in the customary pilotage information, and this
could not be expected to survive in much detail after voyaging had been discontinued.
An example of this dropping of detail in orally trans-rnitted lore is the star course for the 465-mile
voyage from Pulusuk to Kapingamarangi~ a navigationally hazardous journey to an isolated landfall,
but one which Kramer (1935: 103) and Eilers (1934: 131), assure us was fre-quently sailed. Asarto, a
navigator and the oldest man on Pulusuk, gave Lykke (pers. comm., ig6g) a course to Kapingaxnaraflgi
that was approximatelY correct_towards the rising Shaula (A Scorpio), or about i~, and Gladwin
(1970: 157) was told the same course by one of his infor-mants. But the necessary data about currents
appears to have been forgotten and the information that was added about the reference (etak) island was

Peter Davidson 1986 - 2009

a little equivocal. However, if one adds to the bare statement of direction given by Asarto, Beiongs
point about southerly drift being experienced on the relatively nearby Mortlocks passage, or for that
matter the current data on Admiralty Chart 781, this star course is seen to be a practical guide that if
followed would lead to the island. This is a case, then, of a star course that does take currents into
account.
Do star courses usually denote the geographically direct route to an objective as In the Mortlocks and
Pukapuka examples, or is. the more general practice to indicate the course actually steered
(K~pingam~1)? I think it must be fairly obvious that either method could be followed (Cladwin, ig7o:
i6i). When Hipour was describing the route from Pikelot to Saipan, he indicated first the direction in
which Saipan lay, which was north-by-west~ then what we might call the course with standard current
allowance, due north, and lastly he laid down the initial heading to be followed for a variable time
depending on leeway producing conditions, and this was to the east of north. It will be recalled that
Tevake gave two distinct courses between the Reef Islands and Taumako depending on whether the
canoe was close-hauled or running free, and Veetutu did the same in Tonga. In the latter case there
was no attempt to indicate the geographical star bearing of TongataPU from Noinuka at all; only the
courses to be steered were mentioned.
Abera of Nikunau in the Gilberts gave me a star course which allowed for current set as the standard
one from Ben to Nikunau. (There was also another course 100 more southerly for when the northgoing current was strong.) On the other hand, Teeta of Kuria, also in the Gilberts, listed for me a
number of traditional star courses, most of which he bad himself sailed without instruments; that were.
almost invariably geographicallY direct and made no allowance for winds or set.
In other words we are dealing here with the practical sea lore of mariners whose lives have been staked
on its accuracy. The wealth of detail that must needs amplify any cursory statement of the bearing of an
island will be expressed in whatever form is most convenient for the navigator to learn, the particular
terms customary to his teacher or those most suitable for describing any parti-cular voyage. There can
be no set rules for presentation of data as in a European textbook. When a particular canoe voyage was
abandoned, so that the route became of no more interest than the mumbling reminiscences of the old
men who had once traversed it, chance alone would determine what version or fragment of the original
com-plex sailing directions was retained.
Seasonal Character of Star Courses
The courses we have considered are usable only at particular seasons. Six months earlier or later all the
stars composing them would be above the horizon only in daylight and a dfferent set would be standing
in the night sky. Tevake told me that the sailing season in the Santa Cniz group lasted all year round
and that there were approp-~ nate steering stars for each time of year. Similarly when Veetutu
indicated the stars for the Nomuka-TongataPu passage, he stressed that the ones he was showing me
were usable only up to about September, after which new stars and sailings directions had to be used.
It follows that unless one stays at an island a full twelve months, it is impossible to have all the known
star paths pointed outand pointed out in the night sky the stars must be, if confusion is to be avoided.
For this reason our data, especially from Tonga, Santa Cruz, and Ninigo, where voyaging continues
through the year, are incom-plete. In the Carolines and the Gilberts voyaging is in the main seasonal,
generally from about March or April to September (Gladwin, 1970: 43; Grimble, 1931: 201, 20211.),
so that the voyaging skies were visible during our visits between the beginning of March to the end of
May. Apart from inopportune massing of clouds, the other hindrance to the collection of star courses
was the inability of elderly navigators to remain awake as the night advanced.
Customary Time of Departure
I discussed with Tevake, Hipour, Abera, Kienga, and Rafe the question of whether there was a standard
time of the day or night for setting out on voyages. Everyone agreed that there was no fixed setting off
time that applied to all voyages. Of course if very accurate back bearings were needed, unless the
labour of lighting fires was undertaken, departure had to be in daylight. Apart from this, the hour of
departure depended more than anything else on timing a voyage so as to make a daylig~it landfall.5
Thus there was usually a customary time which.
5 Canoes may leave at any time of the day, or even at night, but most depart during the morning or at midday. This is especially
true for those leaving on long voyages. The morning is not only available for the preparation of fresh food, but everyone has
ample opportunity to learn of the departure and join In the farewells (Gladwin, 1970: 51).

Peter Davidson 1986 - 2009

MEGALITHIC NAVIGATION 1986 - SUPPORT PAPER III (Rev2 2011)

Alignments at Le Menec as a Tide Predictor

This paper is reproduced without alteration from a paper submitted to JHA in 1976.
The first part concerned the alignments between sandy beaches; the second part is
included here.

Components of a Tide Predictor

The patterns of tidal currents around the shores of Western Europe are extremely
complex (Ref.4). Around headlands and in other special situations they may well
reach proportions that make small boat sailing unsafe. Even when the chosen course
avoids such danger areas there is generally a pattern of tidal currents, varying and
changing with the tide, of strength 1 to 2 knots and causing substantial drift. These
tidal currents, however, are approximately proportioned to the height of the tide. By
choosing neap tides rather than springs to make a voyage, tidal currents can be more
then halved. It is to obtain this advantage that, we suggest, tide predictors were
developed.
It can also be no accident that the earliest and most elaborate of these tide predictors
fringe the Golfe du Morbihan, where the changes in tidal effects through antiquity
must have been quite startling as the sea-level rose in the Holocene period. (dpd)
The components of the tides are of great complexity but the mathematics of the matter
need not concern us here. It is certain that the setting up of a tide predictor by
Neolithic people would only have been possible by a series of pragmatic observations.
It becomes a requirement of the hypothesis that such a step-by-step approach was
possible. We shall see that several substantial intellectual innovations were needed;
such as the method for measuring the moons limiting declination by calculating the
offset required. However, in the end the predictor had to demonstrate a simple
correlation between the measurement made of the position of the moon and of the
height of the tide.
The tidal components that concern us arise from the relative positions of sun and
moon and their distances from the earth at the time. We shall confine this note to
identifying these components and describing how they might have been measured.
The association of the phases of the moon with the height of the tide is the effect most
likely to have been observed; spring tides are associated with full and new moon and
neap tides with the quarter moons. It soon becomes clear that there is also a seasonal
effect due to the earths position relative to the sun. This shows up as an accentuation
of the difference between springs and neaps at the equinoxes compared to at the
solstices. Neither of these effects requires sophisticated astronomical observation and
little by way of administration to confirm the correlation. It would leave unexplained,
however, substantial variations in the levels of both springs and neaps.

Peter Davidson 1986 - 2010

Fig II
Some idea of the magnitude of these effects is exemplified in Fig. II where the
limiting tides are shown for a year at Oban and the relationship of these to the lunar
quarters and to the equinoxes. The timing of apogee and perigee is also shown to
complete the picture (but will differ somewhat for Brittany dpd).
It is the distance of the moon from the earth that provides the further major
component of the tides. The moon in its elliptical orbit round the earth with the earth
at one focus of the ellipse varies substantially in distance from the closest point
(perigee) to its farthest (apogee). The distance of the moon from the earth is such
however that substantial parallax (in which the edges of the moon appear in different
locations from more than one vantage points dpd) occurs in latitudes away from the
equator. Variations of lunar parallax can be measured and provide a measure of
apogee and perigee. It is with the making of this measurement that we suggest the
lunar observatories were (demonstrably) concerned and that their users developed a
simple way of regularly doing so.
Consider now the motion of the moon relative to the sun. The sun moves in what is
termed the ecliptic plane. Its declination through one year from +e to -e (where the
amount termed e = 23deg 53.4 was true in 1700 BC) and so determining the seasons.
The moon moves in an orbit inclined at an angle to the ecliptic plane so that we shall
observe a declination varying through one month from +E to -E. Now the variable
called E varies between the value (e i) (where i = 5deg 8.7 in l700BC) through the
18.6 year cycle. The maximum value of E is reached in a cycle of 27.2 days so we
may observe +E and -E once every 13 or 14 days.
The moon is also moving round its elliptic (ecliptic? dpd) path and taking 27.5 days to
do it. It will pass through its closest position to the earth (perigee) and its farthest
position (apogee) every 13 or 14 days. So we see that apogee and perigee precess (by
the extrapolation distance dpd) at the rate of 0.3 days relative to the cycle of
declination maxima, while E varies relatively slowly taking l3.6 years for the
complete cycle.
Peter Davidson 1986 - 2010

If we were to measure monthly the limiting declination we should eventually identify

the elliptic motion, as shown by variations of parallax, but it would take many years.
If, however, we measure the limiting declination fortnightly we shall see that +E
differs from -E due to the effect of parallax and we shall be able to identify the period
in a much shorter time.

Fig III
The effect is shown diagrammatically on Fig III. Parallax (P) varies by 3.8 about a
mean of 57, while the moons semi-diameter (s) varies by 1.0 about a mean of
15.7. Clearly if measurement is being made of one edge of the moon the variation in
semi-diameter must be added or subtracted from the parallax as may be appropriate.
The effect is always to provide a variation in the apparent altitude of the horizon. It is
the effect of the variation in altitude on the relationship between azimuth and
declination with which we are concerned.

Peter Davidson 1986 - 2010

The variation of the angle of the moons orbit to that of the sun provides a further
effect on tidal range, but this 9 wobble while being observed was not likely to have
produced a recognisable tidal effect.
Having decided, however, that these necessary effects can be observed, we have to
consider to what use they would have been put. How would the correlation between
tidal measurement and lunar observation have been made? Regular observations
would be made at least twice per lunar month and the full cycle of effects would not
be apparent for 18.6 years. We are therefore looking for some data storage system
with at least 460 components in it.
The Observatory at Carnac
The alignments described by Professor Thom (Ref. 9,10,11) based upon the use of Le
Grand Menhir Bris at Locmaraquier provide the opportunities for observation that
would be required for a tide predictor. The observatory consists of the Grand Menhir
used as a foresight for all observations; of two viewing sectors for the range of
declination (e 1); and of the alignments of Le Menec. Let us start with the latter.
(A) Les Alignments du Menec
The geometry of le Menec is shown (after Thom Ref.l0) in Fig. V. It has the following
curious and interesting properties:a)
At each end the rows terminate in a modified circle with typical parameters in
megalithic yards (denoted my, but the argument would be true regardless of the
arguable case for the existence of a universal megalithic yard dpd) and defined by
Pythagorean triangles in the same integer units.
b)
There are twelve long rows of stones between the circles that are all spaced (or
probably originally were) at 5my apart.
c)
The rows of stones taper in an unusual way being in two connected groups so
that at each end they are separated by an integer series of distances in my. The
significance of this is discussed below.

Fig V Layout of Rows at le Menec

Peter Davidson 1986 - 2010

Thom (Ref. 11) has shown how this alignment could be used directly to find and store
the extrapolation distance and suggests that it is a more sophisticated successor to the
original stone row sectors. One may deduce also from his Table 3 (Ref.10), that there
are approximately the same number of stones in each row. The exact numbers are
shown in Fig. V.
The number from Rows, X, XI and XII of 458 gives us a suggestion for the use of the
rows. Thom points out that the ratio of the width of the rows at the narrow end to
those at the wide end are in the ratio of G for the large and small standstill We have,
therefore, to consider as one possibility that they moved from one end to the other
through half the 18.6 year cycle (230 lunations).
To move therefore over 460 stones and back in the in the 18.6 years would suggest 2
observations per lunar month (i.e. full and no moon). 458 stones would give a resting
point in each circle to complete the cycle. Stone rows I to VIII, however, have fewer
than 458 stones. The number is, however, roughly made up if, when the tapered West
end is reached, the extra periods are might have been counted by going up and down
these last stones to reach the circle. One would presume the use of alternate stones on
the outward and inward journey.
This is, however, only a persuasive idea only if it leads on to solving some of our
riddles. At least we can regard it as having the prime requirements for a data storage
system for our tide predictor.
(B) The Observation Sectors
The north-west sector covers the declination range (e + i) and the limiting values are
precisely identified by observation points at Kervilor and Kerran, though there also
appear to be longer range viewing stations at le Moustoir and Crach. There are a
number of Rude Stone Monuments within the sector, all of which are placed in
positions of some eminence.
We show in Appendix I that these positions between them provide a series of viewing
platforms that cover the whole sector, albeit with the small inconvenience of having to
move back or forward to the next platform.
The south-west sector covers the declination range (e i) and the limiting values are
defined at Quiberon and by a position close to the stone sectors at St. Pierre. It seems
that continuous observation was possible through the sector along the coast, however,
no other stones are known in this area.
Professor Thom (Ref.1l) calculates that the values for 4G for Kerran and Kervilor are
approximately the same and those for Quiberon and St. Pierre are approximately four
times and double respectively. If the data, not only for the extreme positions but for
the full width of the sectors, are to be captured by the data store they would have to be
adjusted. There is a line from Kerran to Kervilor along which throughout the cycle
4G0 would be constant (or nearly so).
Values from the south-west sector would then need to be reduced to give 4G0 =
constant in the same way. Alternatively, they might have used the changing value
from Quiberon to St. Pierre as the standard. In that case Kervilor would stand at one
end of a similar north-west sector line that would in practice run to Crach. It looks as
Peter Davidson 1986 - 2010

if this latter proposal is the more likely, though standardisation of values for the
observing platforms in the north-west sector would still be needed to this line.

To Operate the Tide Predictor

The observation has been made that there are enough stones in each of the rows at Le
Menec for some information to be placed on them twice a month for the whole 18.6
year cycle. Our hypothesis starts from this possibility. Namely, that starting at the
western end of the le Menec alignments information is brought from the observation
sectors concerning each limiting declination maxima. We suggested in the last
paragraph that the information would be standardised to permit comparison of
observations from both sectors. We can consider (if we wish dpd), as Professor Thom
in effect does, that the le Menec alignments are a model in my of the measurements
made in the field of rods (1 rod = 2 my) any arrangement of stones used for the
determination of declination maxima must be large enough to accommodate the
maximum daily stake movement (so-called dpd) possible. This figure is 4G. The
mean values of 4G; 4G0, are given in (Ref. 11).
The value for Crach is extrapolated from that for Kerran in the following table. The
maximum and minimum values of 4G at any time are 4G0 (1 4a) where a is the
eccentricity of the moons orbit and given in (Ref.11) as 0.0548. These limiting values
have also been shown in the Table III.

We see that at both the major and minor standstills the maximum value of 4G comes
close to the width of the rows in my; 122my at the west end and 77my at the east. The
taper of the rows is about right for the use of the rows on a calendar basis throughout
the 18.6 year cycle. The major standstill would occur at the west end, the minor at the
east.
At each declination maximum the following procedure is suggested (the nomenclature
of Fig. III and IV is consistent with Professor Thoms calculations though varies from
it to clarify the nature of the succession of observations):
a)
Using the marker stone for the observation platform chosen, the stake
positions for the observations either side of the maximum are measured as y1 and y2
in rods.
Peter Davidson 1986 - 2010

b)
These values are then transferred to the stone rows at le Menec as y1 and y2
my
c)
From Row 1 in Fig. V, y2 is offset as is Fig. IV. The value (y1-y2) in Ref. 11
and elsewhere in Thom), is offset from Row XII as in Fig. IV.
d)
The amount by which the stake 2 must be advanced to find the position of the
maximum yL is a function of the row number nearest to (y1 - y2).
e)
This value is deducted from the position of y2 to find y3. It is the pattern
traced by successive values of y3 that is seen to be correlated with the height of the
tides.
We shall discuss below this correlation of y3 with tide but first it is necessary to say
more about the derivation of y3; Ref.11 page 157 describes a correlation between the
row number and the slope of the rows in the western half of the rows at Le Menec. It
observes that due to the varied spacing of the rows an integer value may be given to
each row that is proportional to the square of the distance from the northern row AB.
The same relationship does not appear to apply to the rows in the eastern half
although a similar taper continues. However the matter was arrived at, we may accept
the integer values of the rows as follows:-

Now the maximum value of yL occurs when y1 = y2 and has the value G. This varies
from 31 rods at the west end to 20 rods at the east. At the west end the value of
yL x 2 gives the value of (y2 y3) in my at the east end a factor of 2 rather than
2 would be more suitable. Perhaps the factor changed at the knee. We shall see
however that great precision was not needed.
The Data Displayed
In Fig. III symbols y1, y2, y3 have each been given a second suffix N or S to denote
that the observation is made in the north-west or south-west sector, we shall extend
this to imply that second suffixes odd numbers are north-western and. even numbers
are south-western.
In making successive observations of declination minima in alternate sectors we are
observing the variations in apparent altitude of the horizon caused by the moons
parallax and therefore of the moon a distance from the earth. The mean value ho is a
constant that is allowed for by Professor Thom in this calculation of declination from
observed azimuths. The mean value h0 is 57.7 and the extreme values are 53.9 and
61.5 Ref.8 (p.78). The ratio of h to change in declination lies between 0.91 and 1.0
and is assumed with sufficient accuracy to be 1. We are trying, therefore, to observe a
range of variation in declination of 7.6. The ground movement corresponding to 1 arc
minute of declination depends U~0fl both the distance from the foresight D and on the
variation of azimuth with dec1ination
.

Peter Davidson 1986 - 2010

From Table V showing ground offsets for 1 declination we see that the maximum
range of parallax would show up on the rows at le Menec as approximately (4.2 x 7.6)
= 30my. When successive observations are apogee and perigee, successive values of
y3 will be 30 my apart; midway between, they will be equal.
By choosing the lines that we have, we find that there is something like a constant
offset per unit of declination throughout the width of both sectors. In that this
simplified the rules for operating the predictor, it gives some support to the
assumption that these were the observation lines used. It is unlikely to have been
deduced as such.

Fig IV
Peter Davidson 1986 - 2010

The technique suggested and set out in Fig. IV makes no allowance for the large
variation of G between apogee and perigee. In practice the error of not allowing for
this variation is, by the method suggested, to increase the separation across the rows at
the extreme values. At perigee, G max, the correct value of G will be used, but at
apogee, G min, the method suggested will choose too high a row number. This gives
too large a value for y1 and too small a value for y3. As y3 for apogee was smaller in
any case than the value of y3 for perigee the error magnifies the separation. If (y1 y2) approaches 4G then the error is 0, but increases until y1 = y2, when it will be l7
my (the difference between choosing row XII instead of row VIII).
While the technique proposed would work well near the major and minor standstills,
when the change of declination of the maxima from month to month is quite small, it
needs to be shown that a simple technique was available for the rest of the period
when the monthly declination change is substantial. The calculations used in Ref. 8
and elsewhere are based on the use of a parabolic function close to the maximum. The
rest of the cycle can be treated as a linear function connecting these parabolas.
At the major standstill let us suppose that the sequence of observations is started from
the circle at the west end of the rows. The first declination maximum after the
standstill will be the start of the calendar; the starting point the stones on the eastern
boundary of the circle; y2 offset from the point where the circle cuts the sloping line
of stones, close to the end of Row VIII. The maximum value for y3 from this point is
47my, and equals the maximum range of values of y3 if the moon is at apogee, and
the error of not using G mm (described above) is maximum.
We showed earlier that the number of stones in the rows suggests that a calendar was
kept by moving on two stones at each full or no moon with an end play by moving
up and down the rows to the west end circle. As this progression is developed not only
will the effects of parallax on successive measurements be observed, but two other
effects will be observed. The 9 wobble will become apparent as sinusoidal
movement of the mean position of the stakes with an amplitude of 36my and a period
of 173.3 days or 6 lunations. There will also be an initially small but steadily
increasing shift of the observations as the declination maxima move away from the
standstill. At some point a new observation point must be chosen or a correction
made.
Parallax takes up 47my and the 9 wobble 36my of the width of the rows which at
the major standstill is 122my wide. This leaves 39my for drift from the standstill
before a correction need be made, but it will be 264 days or 9 lunations before it is
necessary. Assuming that the rest of the cycle until 9 lunations before the next
standstill is approximated by a linear function the correction needed would be
something like 15my each for 23 lunations followed by 30my for each of 51 lunations
and 23 at l5my. Possibly the correction would have been approximated by moving the
position of y3 back one row or two rows as appropriate. It does suggest a simple and
workable technique.

Peter Davidson 1986 - 2010

Discussion of the Hypothesis

In setting up a complex hypothesis as we have done in this note there is a real danger
of appearing to assert some item that is only a supposition. If the major feature of the
hypothesis is asserted (that navigators needed tide predictors), then it is a fact that a
tide predictor will have certain features, (methods of observing limiting declinations
of the moon).
It is not necessary to assume each particular aspects of how it was done (that stakes
were used, or that a distance was offset from one line or another). It is necessary
however, to explore the practicality of the method proposed in order to establish that
the hypothesis does not fail for some negative reason, (that they had to possess a piece
of knowledge manifestly impossible). Clearly they did not need to be aware of the
astronomical trigonometry behind it, which is adduced here to explain why certain
physical dimensions are encountered.
Unfortunately we do not possess a statistical technique for evaluating complex
hypotheses and it is necessary to apply subjective tests to the hypothesis (is it
reasonable, or practical, or consistent with some pattern of behaviour). It is for that
reason that a way in which the stones could have been used has been described. We
are suggesting that each step had a simplicity about it, could have been arrived at on
its own and that when the steps were put together the whole system remained simple
and practical. Perhaps Occam would have approved!
Let us therefore consider some of the features that would have, or could have been
associated with the possession of a lunar observatory for tidal prediction.
Essentially there would have had to be some measure of the tide, probably also set out
on the calendar of the stone rows, from the observation of which the correlation with
the stake positions would have been deduced. How it was done need not concern us,
the requirements are simple administration. We would expect, however, to find some
evidence of stones in the water from which the tide could be measured, We would
expect to find it sheltered from the open sea and close to the alignments.
There are, in fact, two candidates; the extension of the stone rows at St. Pierre de
Quiberon, at one time observed on the foreshore; and the stone circle of er Lannic at
the entrance to the Golfe du Morbihan. There is a presumption of sea level change in
the area in since the neolithic for which the semi submerged circle at er Lannic is, in
particular, assumed to provide evidence. If this is the sole evidence perhaps it should
be reconsidered as the circle has many of the requirements of a tide gauge. The stone
rows at St. Pierre (St-Pierre-Quiberon Alignement dpd) are incomplete but they
would have had the merit of convenient access to the alignments.
Once the twin solar and lunar observatory had been completed and operated through a
few cycles it should have become clear that reliable tidal prediction could be made
many months in advance. Precise measurement at the major standstill could provide a
reference point for this tidal calendar.
We can therefore consider the possibility that the many sites on the western shores of
the British Isles at which alignments for the major standstill are to be found is for this
reason. The counting for the calendar could be checked every 18 years and dates
supplied from Carnac for identifying particularly low tides for substantial periods in
Peter Davidson 1986 - 2010

the future. Only the number of lunations ahead needed to be transmitted and the next
quarter moon selected locally using simpler observatories. Perhaps the widespread
uniformity of the unit of measurement should be associated with this notion of
dependence on Carnac for regular and vital information.
Finally one must look at other alignments in the Carnac area. There is the second
observatory at Carnac based on the menhir at le Mario (Ref.l6). There are also the
alignments at Kermario, which Thom (Ref.l5) suggests may have been abandoned
because it was incorrectly conceived. The rows at the west end are, he suggests, a
means of measuring (2G - p). The east end appears to be a confusion between the
original rows tapering to a point and other rows superimposed. Perhaps the
importance of the value (2G-p) that we have suggested could give a clue in the future
to understanding the arrangements at Kermario.
APPENDIX I
The visibility of Le Grand Menhir Bris from the North-West Sector
The North-West sector of the observatory at Carnac is on undulating terrain with the
River Crach running across it. As a result Le Grand Menhir cannot be observed from
a continuous platform crossing the whole of the sector.
It is necessary to make a large number of map sections to find to what extent Le
Grand Menhir can be observed from the ground adjacent to the Rude Stone
Monuments in the sector. We have carried out a computerised study of these
sections, the result of which is given in table VI and Fig. VI.
The precision of the calculation is sufficient to indicate that there are viewing
platforms that traverse the whole sector and that each is marked by a Rude Stone
Monument at one end, as required by our hypothesis. The section allows for
curvature of the earth, but the contour values are those shown on the 1/25000 map and
may be as much as 1 metre in error. As direct observation is not possible at the
present time, an accurate survey of the contours is most desirable.
It will be seen from the map overlay Fig. VI the contour data has been measured for
each of 26 transverse sections. The transverse sections are identified by their distance
from Le Grand Menhir along the axis. Radial sections have been occupied from the
intersection with the transverse sections and the clearance of the sightline above the
transverse section recorded. Starting from each Rude Stone Monument it has been
possible to traverse along the transverse section metre by metre searching for zero or
negative clearance. The length of viewing platform is therefore the length along the
transverse section of this traverse and may not be the optimum path on the ground.
We can see from the table that the sector can be traversed by 4 or 5 platforms. Those
at Kervilor and Crach cover most of the sector and the remainder may be covered by
the sections 11 and 10 which is probably one platform, sections 22 and 20 and the
sections 6 and 5. At the northern end there seems to be plenty of viewing opportunity.

Peter Davidson 1986 - 2010

REFERENCES
1.

a) Ancient Astronomy at the Royal Society, Nature, December 29, 1972

b)Conference on Ancient Astronomy at the Royal Society, Journal for the
History of Astronomy, February 1973, Vol.4, Part I.

2.

Types of Megalithic Monument of the Irish Sea and North Channel Coastline;
A study in distribution, M. Davies, Antiquaries Journal XXV (1945) 125-144

3.

Diffusion and Distribution Patterns of the Megalithic Monuments

of the Irish Sea and North Channel Coastlands, H. Davies, Antiquaries Journal
XXVI(1946) 38-6O.

4.

Reeds Nautical Almanac

5,

Prehistoric Chamber Tombs of England and Wales, Glyn Daniell. ON?, 1950

6.

We the Navigators. The Ancient Art of Landfinding in the Pacific,

David Lewis. Australian National University Press, 1972.

7.

Megalithic Sites in Britain. A Thorn. Clarendon 1967

8.

Megalithic Lunar Observations. A. Thom

9.

The Astronomical significance of the Large Carnac Menhirs

A. Thom and A.S. Thom. Journal for the History of Astronomy Vol.2 Pt.3
No.5 October 1971

10.

The Carnac Alignments A. Thom and A.S. Thom

Journal for the History of Astronomy iii 1972

11.

The Uses of the Alignments at Le Menec Carnac

A. Thom and A.S. Thom Journal for the History of Astronomy
Vol.3 Pt.3 No.8 October 1972

12.

Reeds Nautical Almanac

13.

The Kermario Alignments A. Thom and A.S. Thom

Journal for the History of Astronomy Vol.5 Part l No.12 February 1974

14.

Megalithic Astronomy - A Prehistorians Comment. R. J. C.Atkinson

Journal for the History of Astronomy Vol.6 Pt.1 February 1975

15.

The Kermario Alignments A. Thom and A.S. Thom

Journal for the History of Astronomy Vol.5 Part l No.12 February 1974

16.

The Two Megalithic Lunar Observatories at Carnac Alexander Thom,

Archibald S. Thom arid J.N. Gorrie
Journal for the History of Astronomy Vol.7 Part. l No.18 February 1976

Various Years

Peter Davidson 1986 - 2010

MEGALITHIC NAVIGATION 1986 - SUPPORT PAPER IV

Mensuration

Quite the most difficult question to tackle is that of the assertion that there is evidence
in the Rude stone monuments for a unit of length of widespread application, of great
consistency and over a lengthy period of time; this is the Megalithic yard (MY) or
Megalithic Rod (MR) equal to 2 MY. The proposition is conditioned by the
assertion that the setting out of the Rude stone monuments is based on Pythagorean
triangles, whose sides are integers of MY or MR or, at worst, or of these; and
further conditioned by the assertion that there is a preference in choosing the integer
values in MY for circles (or rings) so that the perimeters are integers in MR.
That has caused a lot of bother to the archaeologist who sought confirmation from the
statistician. Im not sure it hasnt caused the statistician more bother than the
archaeologist! The problem is set out by Thom in the second chapter of his first Book,
Thom (1967); that there is a problem to determine from data whether there is a
statistical justification for a quantum of measurement having been used. The work
published by Broadbent (1955) was used. There were two cases to consider. (1) where
there was an a priori knowledge that a quantum may exist; and case (2), where the
data itself provides the evidence for a quantum. This second case is quite difficult and
involves the use of a statistical model, a Monte Carlo solution.
The conclusion (Thom 1967) that circle diameters were based on MY, and that the
Carnac Alignments (JHA Vol.3, Pt.1, 1972) are based on the MR are derived by using
Broadbents method.
The matter aroused enormous interest from a wide variety of disciplines and led to a
debate at the Royal Society in December 1972. (Nature Vol.24O, Dec.29, 1972); an
interdisciplinary debate that was memorable at least for an exposition by Prof. Kendal
on the art of hunting quanta. A contribution that concluded that, with reservations,
there was evidence for the MY and, while it left the protagonists reluctantly
acquiescing in the proposals of Prof. Thom, it was not the end of the matter.
Prof. Atkinson, who, as an archaeologist, has been particularly active in projecting to
prehistorians the consequences of engineering and scientific knowledge, (the
engineering problems of moving the Stonehenge Bluestones, for instance) wrote in
JHA. Vol.6, Pt.1, 1975, of his considered acceptance of the proposals of Thom.
Unfortunately, a simple statistical error which, while it S4.2
was picked up by Dr Freeman, did not invalidate the general substance of Atkinsons
article, did not give it the authority it deserved.
Dr Freeman, on the other hand, was working on a criticism of the work of Broadbent
and Kendal; which he presented to the Royal Statistical Society in October 1975. This
paper, A Bayesian Analysis of the Megalithic Yard is important not only for the
technique proposed by Dr Freeman and the conclusion that he reaches, but for the
comments and contributions in discussion by most of the leading protagonists.
Dr Freeman developed a statistic that could be fed with simulated and real data;
showed that the random data produced a noisy curve and the simulated data
Peter Davidson 1986 - 2009

produced a noisy curve with more pronounced spikes at particular quantum values.
By taking Thoms (1967) data on circles and rings and subdividing them into Scotland
and England and Wales, produced curves that showed spikes in the noisy curve at
various quanta. His further use of data from Carnac alignments produced so many
spikes that he concluded there was no evidence for a quantum there; he subdivided the
circle data geographically but found nothing more and does not publish the data or
results.
The paper is worth reading, not for any enlightenment on what is, no doubt, a quite
proper statistical technique, but for the imprecise display even of a graph known to
possess a quantum. He makes it clear that, at the end, the individual must form his
own judgment. I read nothing in these statistical papers that upsets the dichotomy
suggested in my note on Jigsaw puzzles; classical statistical techniques do not use all
the data in such a case.
Let us take, to make our case, three examples and show why we believe the data
displays more information than the statisticians would accept. The examples are a) the
design of complex rings, b) the design of Avebury, and c) the design of the Carnac
alignments.
Complex rings. We have shown (p. ) how we would determine, from a survey, the fit
of a stone ring to the shape of an ellipse. There are 15 definite ellipses tabled in
(Thom 1967). If we look at the geometry of an ellipse, the critical dimensions are the
major (2a) and minor (2b) axes and the separation of the foci (2c); the ellipse is set out
by keeping the length of a cord from the periphery and round the two foci constant so
that (2a + 2c) = k.
The dimension b is then determined as b2 = a2 - c and the perimeter P may be
calculated or measured. It is Thoms contention that the choice of a and c as integers
in MY was made with the object of obtaining b and P as integers in MY (for b) or
MR (for P).
Thom applies a similar argument to the dimensions of eggshaped rings but finds
no equivalent geometry for Type A and Type B rings. His geometry of these types is
based on the setting out of circular arcs; and, while he obtains a very good fit, he
observes that there appears to be no attempt to choose integer values of the diameter
to give integer values for the perimeter.
The clue is perhaps provided by Angell (1978) where he suggests that Type A and
Type B circles may be drawn by a construction employing three pegs and a rope of
constant length. We have done some calculations using such an Angell shape for
the example he quotes for Black Marsh, Shropshire, D2/2, and we find ourselves with
a construction similar to that for ellipses. The triangle of pegs has sides of 5 MR, 3.5
MR and 3.5 MR, and a cord length of 17 MR. Employing a cusum technique to both
Thoms design and between Thoms design and the Angell shape, we find that there is
little to choose in the support for either design. To relate this geometry to the integer
length of perimeter we would need to work afresh from the site survey.
However, we have strengthened the proposition that noncircular rings were set out
by stretching a cord round two or three pegs; and that the triangle of pegs and the cord
were integers in MY or MR; and that the choice of dimensions attempted to make the
triangle of pegs Pythagorean or the perimeter an integer in MR or both.
Peter Davidson 1986 - 2009

Avebury. The enormous circle at Avebury is of a shape quite unlike any other; it is
also much damaged. However, from the 44 or more stones (or whose position is
known) Thom has prepared an accurate survey and proposed a complex curve to fit
them. This work is described in (Thom 1967) but a further survey, confirmation of the
proposed curve and a precise calculation of MY is described in (JHA, Vol.7, Pt.3,
No.10, 1976).
The construction of the ring is based on the setting out of a Pythagorean triangle of
sides 30, 40, 50 MR, and radii of arcs 80, 104, 300. Seven circular arcs are thus
defined and 44 stones lie on them 2 ft (or thereabouts, which will do for our present
assessment). Now this is a very close analogue of the support for the fit of two pieces
of Jigsaw.
We need five dimensions to define the arc of a circle; we have 44 stones defined by
88 dimensions. The support for the stones fitting the curve is therefore;

for
for
for
for

8
16
10
7

stones
stones
stones
stones

S=
S=
S=
S=
S=

(88
(16
(32
(20
(14

35)
5)
5)
5)
5)

Ln
Ln
Ln
Ln
Ln

2
2
2
2
2

=
=
=
=
=

36
7.8
19
10.5
6.5

If we take the four principal arcs, they are defined by 8, 16, 10 and 7 stones and the
individual supports would be
S = (16-5) Ln 2, (32-5) Ln 2, (20-5) Ln 2 and (14-5) Ln 2 :
or
7.8,
19
10.5 and
6.5
The other three arcs being represented by only three extant stones (but by the remains
of 5 burning pits not included in the calculation).
From all this we might say that we can support the proposition: - That using a
construction involving Pythagorean triangle and dimension of MR (1 MR = 2.5 MY
= 2.5 x 2.72 ft) the curve of seven arcs are all integral in MR and the 44 stones lie on
this curve.
I am not sure how much extra support we should claim for this conditioning of the
proposition, something like S = 7; but the support for the proposition is very strong.
That is particularly so when we take into account that the curve is defined
independently of the stones and that a value for MY of 2.73 ft (instead of 2.72) means
that the curve fits none of the stones.
Carnac Alignments. There are several locations around Carnac where we find
hundreds of large stones arranged in long rows; their purpose is not known, they are
all much disturbed and some were. restored in 19th century, the reerected stones
being marked. It is the stones referred to variously as the Carnac alignments or le
Menec with which we are particularly concerned; although the nearby alignments of
Kermario appear to have similar characteristics but to be incomplete.

Peter Davidson 1986 - 2009

The geometry of the rows at Le Menec you will find in the supporting paper on Tide
predictors (Fig. V) and you will also find there why I think them important and how
they fit into the whole pattern.
The analysis of the layout of the stones is given in Thom & Thorn 1978 and in JHA,
Vol.3, Pt.1, 1972, No.6. There are substantial gaps to the East of the knee but Thom
was able to analyse substantial numbers in each row West of the knee (between A and
B) and at the east end. In each case, S4.5
and for the stones as a whole, he applied Broadbents Case I (that there was an a priori
value, 1 MR to be considered); in each case he found a close agreement with 1 MR =
6.80 ft.
Freemans analysis is based on the assumption that no a priori value exists: he
analyses row by row and his spiky curve produces a plethora of values. The
argument must rest, I think, on whether Thom is right to presume an a priori value;
there are several reasons why he should.
a)
The geometry of the alignments. At each end is an eggshaped ring, based on
a Pythagorean triangle of sides 12, 16, 20 MR. The lines are not parallel but their
spacing and the taper can be described in integers of MY and the geometry of the
knee can be described as a pair of Pythagorean triangles (also integer in MR).
b)
Within the rows there are sections where the stones are relatively complete, if
disturbed, where a dozen or more will average about 6.8 ft. If there is any overall
quantum that gives prior data.
c)
Thoms results. For each row West and at the East where stones still exist the
same quantum fits the data, so that we can contemplate the support for some such
proposition that if (in these alignments) we have a substantial row of stones, they will
have a quantum of 6.80 ft and get a support of S = 20 Ln 2 = 14.
We can extend the proposition to include Kermario, where a similar spacing occurs at
the West end; but we should have to be careful because of the confused lines at the
East.

Peter Davidson 1986 - 2009

 Peter Davidson 1986 - 2009

 Peter Davidson 1986 - 2009

 Peter Davidson 1986 - 2009

 Peter Davidson 1986 - 2009

 Peter Davidson 1986 - 2009