Towers points to ancient Sun cult

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 4:21 pm

Fair comment, but then of course Steve, my comments are also only conjecture, most of the Henges were of course erected a bit before my time and so I make no claims to have more evidence than anybody else.
And again, any alternative must also remain as conjecture unless somebody comes up with a book of instructions for a particular use for Henges.
Even their methods of construction and transportation are currently conjecture. Yes?

Manystones · Post by **Manystones** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 4:22 pm

so some henges are related to the solstice

the solstice mark the shortest and longest days of the year

many plants exhibit photoperiodicity

and our ancestors wouldn't have used this knowledge to their benefit...

doesn't seem logical to me

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 4:26 pm

Agreed Rich, what me and Marduk are saying is that it wasn't to work out when to stick a seed in the ground. If that is the case it begs the question as to what that benefit was.

Post by **Minimalist** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 4:41 pm

Hmmm....were I a neolithic goatherder who wished to build a pen for my goats, might I not elect to kill two birds with one stone by noting which stone was closest to the solstice or equinox and marking it accordingly? Perhaps with red ochre so that I'd always be ready for a funeral! In this way my stone circle goat corral ( in which I can fill in the gaps with brush or some other biodegradable material) becomes something of a calendar millenia later when the goats, brush and I are long gone.

It would be equally useful for a herder to know the seasons as the time to move the goats to summer or winter pastures and back again is always important.

The point is that such information and markers can be incorporated into any structure. It does not have to be built specifically for that purpose.

marduk · Post by **marduk** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 4:45 pm

Even their methods of construction and transportation are currently conjecture. Yes?

actually thats about the only bit that has been proven
we know where they got the stones
we know how they transported them
we know how they erected them
we know they didnt use them for farming

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 4:57 pm

Which mehod of transportating Steve? I favour the 'rowing' method against sleds.
Erection. Tilting into place by pulling upwards or lifting from underneath.
Or none of these?
Min, astronomically the seasons are fixed, agriculturely they are not, I judge my sowing etc by the seasonal indicators around me. Locally the seasons early markers, Snowdrops, for example have varied in recent years by as much as a month, so a calendar/sundial/almanac would be useless.

marduk · Post by **marduk** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 5:17 pm

you got mail

Post by **Minimalist** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 5:21 pm

so a calendar/sundial/almanac would be useless.

No...not useless. For example, if you observed that on the Spring Equinox there was still two feet of snow on the ground preventing you from planting it would help to tell you that you were in deep shit.

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 5:30 pm

Actually no one knows what the henges were used for. There's some on nearly every continent though.

marduk · Post by **marduk** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 5:31 pm

No...not useless. For example, if you observed that on the Spring Equinox there was still two feet of snow on the ground preventing you from planting it would help to tell you that you were in deep shit.

FreeThinker · Post by **FreeThinker** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 8:18 pm

For the record, lest there be any confusion, I never said that monumental stone structures with astronomical alignments were used for the timing of planting crops. I said that only after the advent of agriculture are these structures found. The reason I postulated was that hunter-gatherer cultures would not have needed a calendar system in the same way as an agricultural culture would have. Personally, I see these kinds of structures as being more analogous to modern atomic clocks. Such clocks are now accurate to 100 billionth of a second. In my day to day world the little clock in the bottom right hand corner of my computer suffices for my humble timekeeping needs. In this light the great celestially aligned stone monuments of the past I think could probably be seen more as expressions of the technological state of the art, much like todays atomic clocks; impressive technological feats but perhaps accessed and useful only to an elite priestly class. Everyday people had humbler yet sufficient means of keeping time. Of course in those days (as so much so still today it seems...well maybe not quite as much) all such works were also intimately and ultimately bound into religious ideas as well. Science and religion were one and the same back in those days. Hmmmm...does that make nerds and geeks the priests of the modern scientific era?

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:17 am

I retired some years ago FT and one of the first things I did was to remove my wristwatch and throw it away, apart from the odd appointment or TV programme time is no longer of the slightest interest to me.
What on Earth would a stone age farmer want to know about the passage of time for? and if he didn't live within sight of a Henge type structure that wouldn't help any way.
In a later age in the UK time was signalled when needed by the church bell.
I certainly haven't noticed any farmers around here working by dates either.
I think the wrong tree is being barked up.

marduk · Post by **marduk** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:38 am

ok lets see if I understand what you're saying
henges were not built as an agricultural aid
is that it Roy ?

"thats not entirely true" Albert Nimzicki (independance day)

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 8:27 am

Yep Steve, right or wrong I'll be damned if I can see what aid a Henge 20 miles away would give a stone age farmer.

marduk · Post by **marduk** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 8:49 am

a place for ritual sacrifice to ensure a good harvest Roy