Before the Pyramids: Cracking Archaeology's Greatest Mystery (32 page)

This experiment was most likely carried out at Thornborough and, again, around 3500
BC
. Instead of timing the stars as they rise, they are timed when they are at their flattest when seen from the centre of the henge – in other words, when they are parallel to the horizon. So, whilst the first of the three stars, Mintaka, rose above the horizon at Thornborough at 124° (which is 34° south of east), this experiment was not carried out until Mintaka had achieved an azimuth of 204° (which is 114° south of east).

A simple device that could be used for this experiment is shown below.

The stars are tracked as they appear from behind the upright stake. Using a 1-metre-1-second pendulum, the first star, Mintaka, would appear on 18 December 3500
BC
at 23 52 51 hours. The second star, Alnilam, would appear at 23 58 57 hours and the third star, Alnitak, would appear at 00 04 57 hours. The gap between Mintaka and Alnilam is therefore 366 seconds and the gap between Alnilam and Alnitak is 360 seconds. This of course would give 366 pendulum beats of a 1-metre-1-second pendulum between the first and second stars, and 360 pendulum beats of a 1-metre-1-second pendulum between the second and third stars.

When stars A and B lie flat on the crossbar the compass bearing will be 204 degrees. The only pendulum that will then give 366 beats whilst stars A and B disappear behind the upright stake will be the second’s pendulum length (1 Metre). This will also give 360 beats between stars B and C.

Figure 24.
Wooden stake with crossbar

These measured gaps between the stars of Orion’s Belt (in relation to the perceived naked-eye distances in the sky) are far more accurate than could be obtained using the pendulum method explained in Appendix 1. This is the same method we describe in the book that was used to achieve the same result when the pyramids were planned in 2500
BC
.
The only difference is that the experiment to place the centre pyramid was not carried out at Thornborough but in Egypt itself
.

•

Anyone with even reasonable eyesight who looks for long enough at Orion’s Belt will be able to see that, although the three stars are more or less in line, there is a perceptible dogleg in the alignment. In other words, if a line is drawn through the centre of Mintaka to connect with the centre of Alnilam, Alnitak will be out of line. Similarly if Mintaka and Alnitak are joined by a common line Alnilam will be out of line.

We have spent countless hours looking at computer projections of the shape and position of the stars both today and back across a vast span of time. Using the knowledge we had already amassed, plus a great deal of experimentation, we have been able to back-engineer the most likely methods used by our ancient ancestors to work out all sorts of astronomical problems. Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 demonstrate how the correct positions for the Thornborough henges were worked out in terms of their distances, one from another. But these explanations do not answer the puzzle of how our ancestors managed to cope with the offset dogleg in the three-star system.

Here we have to put up our hands and admit that we do not have a hard-and-fast answer. There appears to be no way, without recourse to modern accurate measuring equipment, to establish exactly how much out of line the three stars are. We would of course be fascinated to hear anyone else’s opinion on this point and it is entirely possible that some method was employed which has not occurred to us.

When the three stars of Orion’s Belt are parallel to the horizon, as described in Appendix 2, the difference in altitude between Mintaka and Alnitak is inconsequential. Both the stars have an altitude of around 12° 55'. At this time Alnilam, the middle star, has an altitude of 12° 51'. This means that the difference in altitude of the middle star and its two companions is a tiny 4 minutes of arc. Now bear in mind that a whole degree of arc of the sky is equal to the width of a human thumbnail when the hand is held at arm’s length, and we begin to see what these people were up against. And yet when we superimpose the three stars of Orion’s Belt onto the Thornborough henges, the fit is as good as perfect.

Common sense dictates that there was some method for establishing the dogleg when creating both the henge array and the pyramid footprint on the ground but, very annoyingly, we cannot discover what it was.

There is a possible clue at Thornborough. Across the middle henge and running from roughly northeast to southwest is a cursus. A cursus, as we explained earlier in this book, is a long, often straight line on the landscape marked originally by ditches and banks on both sides of it. There are dozens of cursus monuments across the length and breadth of Britain and there must originally have been many more than the ones recognized today.

What cursus were used for is still not known for certain, though the fact that the one at Thornborough runs at right angles to the alignment of the henge array might offer some sort of clue for this one. It seems to have been aligned to the setting point of Orion’s Belt, and is thought to be earlier than the henges (but how much earlier is not known). This particular cursus may have been used, over a period of time prior to the eventual layout of the Thornborough henges, to assess how much further northeast the central henge needed to be located, relative to its companions, and in order to make the best possible match with Orion’s Belt.

It seems significant in some way that this cursus should be placed across the central henge and that it should also have an alignment that, to the southwest, marks the setting point of Orion’s Belt. For the moment this is the only real clue we have. It remains the case that the positioning of the central henge relative to its companions is so accurate, in terms of the shape of the ‘real’ Orion’s Belt, that placing the central henge using nothing but guesswork seems less than likely. Our ancient ancestors have surprised us on so many occasions with their skill and determination that we would not be even slightly surprised to discover that there was indeed a method for placing the central henge on the landscape accurately.

Of course the same problem also exists regarding the pyramid footprint and the placement of the middle pyramid. Yet, it stands to reason that if the Stone Age astronomers of Britain had solved the problem, their Bronze Age counterparts could simply repeat the exercise 1,000 years later in Egypt.

•

A pendulum is one of the simplest devices imaginable. In its most basic form it is nothing more than a plumb line – a weight suspended on a piece of twine or hair. If allowed to hang, the weight will pull its string into a perfectly vertical position. Certainly the megalithic people could never have constructed any of the major sites to be found all over Britain, Ireland and Brittany without the use of this device. It is therefore reasonable to suggest that if they possessed a plumb line, then they also possessed a pendulum.

Although the device had been around for a long time, it was the 16th century genius Galileo who seems to have been the first person to look seriously at the attributes of pendulums (or at least the first of whom we have a record). He is reported to have been bored in church one day when his attention was caught by a large incense burner, suspended from high above by a chain or a rope, gently swinging back and forth and forming a natural pendulum. Galileo realized that the swings of the pendulum were equal in terms of time, and he counted them against the beat of his own pulse.

Only two factors are of importance in the case of a simple pendulum. These are the length of the string and the gravitation of the Earth, which constantly exerts a force that will eventually bring the pendulum back to a vertical and resting position. The height of the swing of a pendulum is, to all intents and purposes, irrelevant because its time period from one extremity to the other will always be the same. In other words, if the pendulum is excited more vigorously it will swing higher but its time period will remain the same.

It was recognition of this constant nature of a pendulum that made it the basis of the clock. In modern timepieces the pendulum has been superseded, but for many centuries it ensured the smooth running of clocks all over the world. It can still be found in high-quality clocks. Clock pendulums were eventually fitted with some devices to prevent them from swinging too high, and others to regulate the nature of their arc of swing, but they are still, essentially, only animated plumb lines.

The Megalithic Yard was discovered by Alexander Thom as part of the composition of megalithic sites from the northernmost part of Scotland, right down to Brittany in the South. The main problem with its use, and the reason archaeologists still doubt its veracity, lies in the fact that it remained absolutely accurate across thousands of square miles and many centuries. This would appear to be impossible in the case of a culture that was, at least in its early stages, devoid of metals to make a reliable ‘standard’ against which others could be set. Alexander Thom himself could think of no reliable way of passing on the Megalithic Yard without some variation being inevitable across time.

We reasoned that it would be possible to turn ‘time’ into ‘distance’ by way of the turning Earth. The speed of the Earth on its axis is the only accurate measure available from nature that can be constantly repeated with the same results. Of course we cannot see the Earth turning, but we can see its effects as the Sun, Moon and stars appear to rise from below the horizon in the east, to pass over our heads and then to set in the west. In fact, although the Moon and planets do have independent movement, the Sun and the stars are not really moving at all (actually they are moving slightly, but we need not concern ourselves with this for our present purposes).

The apparent motion of the stars is caused by the Earth turning on its axis and it is this fact that offers us an accurate clock which, with a little ingenuity, we can turn into a replicable linear unit of measurement. In the case of the Megalithic Yard we eventually discovered that the pendulum upon which it is based was set not by viewing any star but the planet Venus. Venus is, like the Earth, orbiting the Sun. As a result, when seen from the Earth, it has a complex series of movements against the backdrop of the stars. Sometimes Venus rises before the Sun, at which times it is called a morning star, and at other times it rises after the Sun and is then known as an evening star. This is purely a line of site situation, caused by the fact that both Venus and the Earth are orbiting the Sun. When Venus crosses the face of the Sun to become an evening star, it is moving ‘against’ the direction followed by the backdrop of stars. It is within this observable fact that setting the megalithic pendulum becomes possible.

In order to create the Megalithic Yard, one has to follow the simple rules below:

Venus must be observable as an evening star, setting after the Sun and during that period at which it is moving at its fastest counter to the backdrop of stars.

The sky is divided into 366 parts. This can be achieved by trial and error, as explained in
Uriel’s Machine
¹
and also in
Civilization One
,
²
but it is also achievable through a neat little mathematical trick, as demonstrated below.

1. Stand in an unobstructed position on a wide-open piece of ground with a good view of the western horizon.

2. Place a stick in the ground (stick A) and stand facing west with one of your heels touching the stick.

3. Now take 233 steps, heel to toe, towards the west. Upon completing the 233 steps, place a second stick in the ground (stick B) in front of your toe.

4. Turn to the north and place your heel against stick B. Now take four heel-to-toe steps to the north and then place a third stick (stick C) in the ground in front of your toe.

5. The distance between sticks B and C, when viewed from A, will now be 1/366th of the horizon.

This method relies on the fact that any circle with a diameter of 233 units will have a circumference of 732 (2 × 366) units. It was entirely theoretical on our part, but our research for this book has introduced us to a number of henges and other structures in which this theory has clearly been recognized and used.

It is now necessary to make a braced wooden frame, of the type shown below, which is as wide as the gap between B and C. This must be set on poles in such a way that it gains significant height and can be altered in its angle.

The purpose of this exercise is so that the angle of the braced wooden frame can be identical to that of the planet Venus as it falls towards its setting position.

Standing at A it is now necessary to observe Venus, passing through the gap in the braced frame, whilst swinging a pendulum and noting the number of swings achieved as Venus passes through the gap. A pendulum that swings 366 times during this occurrence must be half of a Megalithic Yard in length (41.48 cm). A cord of this length represents the full Megalithic Yard of 82.966 cm in length.