Megalithic
Site Name: Stonehenge
Nation/Country/State:
United Kingdom, England
District/Region/Parish/County:
Salisbury, Amesbury
Local Location:
Salisbury
Plain
GPS:
51°10'44" N,
1°49'35" W
Grid:
SU 1224 4218
Monument No.:
SU 14 SW 4
Unique Identifier:
219434
Directions: On
the A344 off
the A303, 2 miles W of Amesbury
& 9 miles N of Salisbury
Site
Access: English
Heritage & National Trust Members
admitted free. Adults £5.90. Children £3.00.
Concession
£4.40. Family (2 adults + 3 children) £14.80.
Closed Dec. 24-26 & Jan. 1. Opens daily 9:30 a.m.
(9:00 June 1 - Aug. 31). Closes 4:00 p.m. (Oct. 16 - March 15), 6:00
p.m. (March 16 - May 31, Sep. 1 - Oct. 15), 7:00 p.m. (June 1 - Aug.
31).
Administration:
English
Heritage, The National Trust
Protection
Status: World
Heritage Site
|
|
STONEHENGE
DECIPHERED: | Barrows
| Groundplan
| Sarsens
| Trilithons
| Stonehenge
Breastplate
| The
Book |
STONEHENGE
STELLAR CONSTELLATIONS (MEGALITHS REPRESENT STARS AND STAR GROUPS)
The idea that
Stonhenge megaliths contain anthropomorphic
(human-like) faces and other carved figures is not new to this author.
In the seminal Stonehenge book, Stonehenge
Complete by Christopher Chippindale, Chippindale points to
the dagger and axe (plates 174 and 175, p. 203) carved on stone 53 (a
trilithon) and in Plates 216 through 219 (pp. 244-245) shows four faces
in the stones. We have identified many more faces, figures and cupmarks
on the stones, and we have discovered that these are intended to show
stars and star groups in the sky.
Andis Kaulins has made a
stellar interpretation of both the general and specific orientation of
the Stonehenge sarsens and trilithons, as
shown in the graphics below.
The star groups identified here
for the Stonehenge Barrows are located at
the same relative geographic positions on the ground and with respect
to the sky as the positions of the sarsens and trilithons of the main
Stonehenge circle. For example, the position of Scorpio on the
megaliths of the main
Stonehenge Circle of sarsens and trilithons matches the position of
Scorpio in the barrows. This
is another check and balance of the accuracy of the Stonehenge
decipherment presented on these pages.
Furthermore, the
astronomical explanation provides
substantial clues as to the various purposes of the general earthworks of
the area. The Stonehenge Cursus, for example, in our explanation of the
stones, marks the line of the
Equinoxes. Indeed, even the general earthworks and terrain of
the surrounding area seem also to have mirrored the shape of the Milky Way,
which would not be surprising, since ancient stargazers
gave the Milky Way much more attention than we
do today. This increased
attention to the Milky Way probably came in part because they had no electric
lighting and their air was probably
cleaner than ours is in the modern era.
STONEHENGE
MEGALITHS
MARK STELLAR
CONSTELLATIONS
The outer ring of Stonehenge can be divided into
twelve sections
as above, showing the starry constellations to which these sections of
Stonehenge apply, corresponding also to the location of the Stonehenge
Barrows and the stellar constellations applying to those
barrows. The 10 trilithons mark 10 of these
sections, excluding the stars at Hydra/Cancer and Leo at the Summer
Solstice point. The 30 sarsens
mark "moon stations" in the stars, i.e. their markings correspond to
stars in a specific area of the sky. The trilithons as also
the sarsens
are carved accordingly with anthropomorphic and similar figures and
other markings such as cupmarks and holes to mark those stars. Our
drawing is based on an aerial photo by Chorley and Handford in
the Pitkin Guide, The
Prehistoric Temples of Stonehenge and Avebury, by Keith
Sugden, ISBN 0853727104 and also on an aerial photo by Photo West Air
Photographing, Weston-super-Mare as found in Chippindale's above-cited
book.
STONEHENGE
MEGALITHS
MARK STARS OF THE SKY
Each megalith, i.e. sarsen or trilithon also marks stars or groups of
stars in the sky. Below is a Stonehenge overview where T = Trilithon
and S = Sarsen, with the numbers corresponding to the standard
Stonehenge megalithic numbering. We see below that T 53, Stone 53, a
trilithon, corresponds to the stars of Scorpio and that is why this
megalith has axe figures on it, because these correspond to the shape
of the head stars of Scorpio.
Stonehenge
Overview
The 30 Sarsens
marked the moon stations in the stars, and the applicable stars are
shown by figures, marks and holes in the sarsens. 10 Constellations
along the ecliptic were represented by the 10 Trilithons ,
with the open
end of the horseshoe excluding Trilithons for Hydra (Cancer) and Leo
toward the Sommer Solstice point. 19 Bluestones marked the
Metonic Cycle. 30 "Y" Holes marked "full" months of 30 days. 29 "Z"
Holes marked "defective" months of 29 days. The "new moon" month is
29.53 days, so the ancients used some form of alternation between these
two rings. 56 Aubrey Holes were used for eclipse prediction based on
the ca. 18.6-year cycle of eclipses x 3. The Avenue pointed toward the
Summer Solstice point at the Heelstone on a line running from the North
Celestial Pole through (or slightlly past) the tip of Ursa Minor and
through Ursa Major, marked by the Slaughter Stone.
Stonehenge Sarsens and Trilithons and the Stars
they Mark
Our
identifications of the stars and star groups marked by the sarsens and
trilithons at Stonehenge are as follows. Every sarsen that is not
identified in black is quite speculative because we simply have no
photo materials, not enough photo materials available, or poor quality
photographs at our service which prohibit us from making more accurate
identifications. We have prepared the illustrations below from photos
and have added our explanations:
Sarsen 1 marks the head
of Hydra and Cancer.
Sarsen 2 marks the star Alphard at the neck of Hydra.
Sarsen 3 marks Ursa Major (front side)
and
Cygnus and Aquila (back side).
Sarsen 4 marks the Head of Leo.
Regulus is at the front paws with axes
marking
Leo
Minor above the lion. (As I wrote at the LexiLine Journal (see http://www.stonehengelaserscan.org/stone4/stone4.html): "Long
before "laser technology" found axes on Sarsen 4, I identified them
using computer graphic
programs, and indeed for Sarsen 4 I have these axes identified as Leo
Minor on page 122 of Stars, Stones and Scholars." That
decipherment was uploaded to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LexiLine/files/Ancient%20Britain/ on
July 31, 2002.)
Sarsen
5 = Body of Leo (Denebola) to Corvus (? - uncertain of the markings)
Sarsen 6 marks Coma Berenices and Virgo (Spica)
Sarsen 7 marks Boötes (Arcturus)
Sarsen 8 = (stone has fallen) Sarsen 8 could
conceivably have marked Libra. No photos available.
Sarsen 9 = (stone has fallen) Sarsen
9 could conceivably have marked a star at the Autumn Equinox point. No
photos available.
Sarsen 10 marks Corona Borealis.
Sarsen 11 marks Serpens Caput.
Sarsen 12 = (stone has fallen) Sarsen 12 could
conceivably have marked Scorpio. No photos available.
Sarsen 13 = (stone is missing) Sarsen 13 could
conceivably have marked Sagittarius.
Sarsen 14 = (stone has
fallen).
Sarsen 14 marks Aquila. Gerald S. Hawkins in Stonehenge
Decoded at p. 43 writes that this stone has a large
indentation mark which commentator R.C. Atkinson compared to a right
foot "considerably larger than my own". This is what we today
see as the "lozenge-shaped" form of Aquila.
Sarsen
15 = (stone is missing) Sarsen 15 could
conceivably have marked Capricorn. No photos available.
Sarsen 16 = Aquarius.
(Gerald S. Hawkins in Stonehenge
Decoded at p. 68 writes that this stone has long
grooves on it thought by commentator Patrick Hill to come from
"sliding" the stone when it was moved from its place of origin to
Stonehenge. That is very, very unlikely. Why only THIS sarsen then and
not the others, which also had to be moved similarly? Those long
grooves on Sarsen 16 symbolize water, as
they often did in antiquity and as they still mark Aquarius today.
Sarsen 16 marks the line of wavy stars on the right side of
Aquarius (not the bucket of Aquarius on its left).
Sarsen
17 = (stone is missing) Sarsen 17 could
conceivably have marked Cygnus (Deneb) and the star Enif.
Sarsen 18 = (stone is missing) Sarsen 18 could
conceivably have marked the bucket of Aquarius.
Sarsen 19 = (stone has fallen) Sarsen 19 could
conceivably have marked Lacerta and the back of Pegasus. No photos
available.
Sarsen 20 = (stone is missing) Sarsen 20 could
conceivably have marked Pisces.
Sarsen 21 marks Cassiopeia.
We originally thought thought in our book Stars
Stones and Scholars that this could be Perseus and the Pleiades,
but Perseus did not really fit the upper cupmarks.
Sarsen
22 marks Andromeda.
Sarsen 22 fell in 1900 and was restored
in 1958. We originally thought in Stars
Stones and Scholars that Sarsen 22 marked Taurus because of
its V-Shape, but this is Andromeda if Sarsen 21 is Cassiopeia.
Note that we have changed our mind
about which stars these are. Read above.
Sarsen
23 marks Aries.
This stone fell in March 1963 and was then restored
in 1964.
The stone has a horn shape at the top, which would fit Aries as a
symbol. See
Chippindale's Stonehenge
Complete, Plate IX, page 54.
Sarsen
24 = (stone is missing) Sarsen 24 could
conceivably have marked a star at the Spring Equinox point.
Sarsen 25 = (stone has fallen) Sarsen 25 could
conceivably have marked Perseus and the Pleiades. No photos available.
Sarsen 26 = (stone has fallen) Sarsen 26 could
conceivably have marked Taurus. No photos available.
Sarsen 27 marks the stars of Auriga.
We originally thought that this megalith
marked stars to the right of Orion, but we were not sure which stars.
We now think this is Auriga.
Sarsen
28 marks Orion (front side) and Corona Borealis and Serpens
Caput (back side).
Sarsen 29 marks Canis Major (front
side) and Ophiuchus (back side).
 
Sarsen 30 marks Cancer and Canis Minor
Trilithon 51 marks Virgo and Coma Berenices.
Trilithon 52 marks Boötes.
Trilithon 53 marks the Front (Head) of
Scorpio.
Trilithon 54 marks the Back of Scorpio.
Trilithon 55 (stone has fallen)
marks Sagittarius.
Trilithon 56 marks Capricorn.
Trilithon 57 marks Andromeda and
Cassiopeia.
Trilithon 58 marks Triangulum and Aries.
Trilithon 59 (the stone has
fallen) marks Perseus and the Pleiades. This
is a "rifled" stone. As shown in the book Stars
Stones and Scholars, "rifled" stones almost always mark the
Pleiades and this stone is rifled with what Chippindale calls "ridges"
(see Chippindale, Stonehenge
Complete, p. 269, plate 243). Originally, the rifling
represented "eels".
Trilithon 60 marks Taurus.
Heel Stone. The Heelstone points toward
Cancer
and Hydra (and Leo), which are marked on the stone. In our opinion, the
stone was tilted intentionally to the left by its makers to
mark the "leaning" stars of Gemini, whose tilt points to the Summer
Solstice
point. The ancients will have extended Gemini out further from Castor
and Pollux than we do today.
Slaughter Stone. The Slaughter Stone
marks Ursa Major and is marked on the stone. In ca. 1749 B.C. the star
Beta Ursae Majoris (Merak) is approximately on the line (colure)
of the Summer
Solstice extending from the North Celestial Pole to the Summer Solstice
point on the ecliptic.
For the system of stars used, see Stonehenge
Gold Breastplate of the High Priest.
STONEHENGE
DECIPHERED: | Barrows
| Groundplan
| Sarsens
| Trilithons
| Stonehenge
Breastplate
| The
Book |
Legal
Notice, Terms of Use, Impressum
The
owner and webmaster of Megaliths.net is Andis
Kaulins
B.A. University of Nebraska;
J.D. Stanford
University Law School
Former
Lecturer in Anglo-American Law, FFA,
Trier Law School
Author
at Langenscheidt
Fachverlag,
Germany
Alumnus
Associate of Paul,
Weiss, Rifkind,
Wharton & Garrison, NYC
This
website presents information
only. No other relationship is established to the user.
This page was last updated on March 31, 2008.
Terms
of Use, Privacy Policy, Impressum, Publisher
This work is
licensed under a  Creative
Commons License
All
materials presented on Megaliths.net are for information only.
No warranties are made regarding the truth or accuracy of postings.
We disclaim any and all liability for the consequences of links to
third party websites.
Legal
Notice of Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials:
Copyrighted materials on Megaliths.net are posted under the "fair use"
exception
as granted by Title
17 U.S.C. [United States Code] Section 107.
|
|
|
|
Key
search words for Megaliths.net are: ancient,ancient America,ancient
astronomy,ancient Britain,ancient Europe,ancient near east,ancient
world,archaeology,archaeoastronomy,archeology,Argonauts,art
history,artifacts,Balnuaran, Balnuaran of
Clava,astronomy,barrows,cairns,Clava,cave
paintings,civilization,decipherment,decipherment of the
megaliths,dolmens,earthworks,ethnoastronomy,geodetics,history of art,
history of astronomy,history of civilization,history of mankind,history
of science,history of technology,lay lines,ley
lines,leylines,megalith,megaliths.net,megalithic,megaliths,Neolithic,Neolithic
art,prehistoric,prehistoric art,rock art,rock drawings,rings,standing
stones,stars,stellar constellations,stone circles,stones,Stone
Age,stone rows,surveyors,tumuli,Wayland's
Smithy,Wayland,Zodiac,Andis,Andis Kaulins,Kaulins,Schubel,Martha
Schubel,Walker,Martha Walker.
|
