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Summary of the Ruggles C.L.N. book
In this summary I will only talk about the chooses that have been made in
chosing the megalithic sites under study. So no discussion on the sites themselves!.
Most of the text are citations of the book.
Three types of orientations are analysed:
- Astronomical
Structures might be aligned upon the heavenly bodies.
- Azimuthal
Structures might be aligned north-south or in some other direction.
- Features on the ground
Structure orientations might be towards nearby sites of a certain type, natural
features such as distant
mountains, or directions of local significance, or upon the lie of the land.
Sites considered:
- monuments of free-standing megaliths
So stone rings, settings, alignments and single standing stones, as opposed to those
standing stones
erected as part of more complex architectural strucutures (such like chambered cairns/mounds).
- features that are within 300m of each other
Terminology used for 'stones':
- high status stone
- Menhir
Standing stone which can reasonably be assumed to have been erected in
prehistoric times and to have been little disturbed.
- Slab
A menhir which has opposite faces both of which are of maximum width at
least twice that of the other faces.
- low status stone
- Possible menhir
A somewhat dubious contender for a menhir, for example an
erect stone less than about 1 m high which might have occurred naturally,
or an isolated standing stone for which some other hypothesis (e.g. constructed
in later times as a trackway marker) is especially plausible.
- Possible slab
A possible menhir which has opposite faces both of which are of maximum width at
least twice that of the other faces.
- Boulder
A non-erect stone whose possible significance would not be considerd but for its
association
with other, apparantly authentic, prehistoric standing stones.
- Fallen menhir
A stone which is known or can reasonanly be assumed to be a fallen menhir
which has not been moved from the position where it fell.
Some basic ideas:
- Observing Position (OP)
This is the position that has a distance of 2m directly behind the
indicating structure and at a height of 1.5m above present ground level.
- Indicated Azimuth Range (IAR)
The range of horizon which can be reasonably be supposed to have been
indicated by a given configuration on the ground, taking into account:
- for oriented structures and horizon indications
- different possible ways of providing the indications, e.g. in the
case of alignment of menhirs, lining up the
uppermost points of the menhirs or lining up their sides.
- possible changes in the direction indicated due to movement of individual menhirs.
- for inter-site indications
- any uncertainty in defining the OP at the centre of the rear site
- the difficulty in defining a vertical line by eye when the far site is
situated considerably below/above the horizon.
- Adjacent Azimuth Range (AAR)
This is a range of horizon extending for an azimuth AAR on either side of IAR due
to the idea that structures on the ground might not have been
accurately aligned upon points on the horizon or other sites.
The following rules hold:
- AAR=1o, if IAR<=1o
- AAR=IAR, if IAR is between 1o to 2o
- AAR=2o, if IAR>=2o
- exclusion of analysis
- if distance is less than 1 km.
- the IAR exceeds 5o.
Furthermore the book gives a classification system for oriented structures
and inter-site indications.
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Last content related changes: October 13, 1996