Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Orkney is NOT the center of ancient Britain

[Not rock pile related]. See here. I read the text waiting to see the answer to why Orkney is the "centre". But never saw it. The whole discussion of megaliths in general and Orkney in particular is utterly lacking in basic common sense. Let me rant on:

I did not see a discussion of Orkney's inaccessibility. Orkney is not the center of Britain. It is, in fact, the very furthest ends of the earth. How are people supposed to get there? Why would a religious center be at the ends of the earth? I tell ya what: No mention of boats in the article [yes there was in relation to how the neolithic farmers got there] but Orkney is at a major crossroads for maritime cultures. It is the center of the Atlantic coastline of Europe. This escaped the authors' attention.
 
I did not see a discussion of how real farmer's actually decide to plant their crops - not by calendar! Instead the "neolithic farmer" is portrayed as a sophisticated mechanical engineer, who also needed special help deciding when to plant. 

Apparently Alexandre Thom thought the archeo-astronomy indicated moon worship. If there is any such indication it would, I think, be a rare focus for farmer's religious beliefs - as the moon would play little role in the health of a farming community.

2 comments :

pwax said...

Just to tie together a few stray thoughts, farmers do not plant by the calendar, nor would they typically have mechanical engineering skills. But when you acknowledge that stone circles can be used to determine longitude, then the use of Orkney by sailors is even more strongly indicated.

pwax said...

See: If you measure the time of day when an eclipse is at its fullest, or measure the beginning and end times, then you can know your longitude relative to someone else who does the same measurements.