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1. New Evidence for Precise Lunar Alignments Early Bronze Age Argyll Scotland www.lunarsites-scotland.net

2. New Evidence for Precise Lunar Alignments Early Bronze Age Argyll Scotland www.lunarsites-scotland.net

3. Alexander Thom’s Lunar investigations (1960’s + 70’s)

4. Alexander Thom’s Lunar investigations (1960’s + 70’s) Re-assessment by Professor Clive Ruggles (1980’s) showed a number of issues / errors of his 42 best lines, including :- ● Many lines not properly indicated ● Some errors of identification ● Selection of horizon features ● Variable types of backsight ● Wide geographical spread It was considered that chance could explain the results.

5. Precise Alignments post Thom • Thom found that some precise alignments exist, so there are two key questions:- • ● Are they common? • ● Are they chance or were they planned? • The present investigation set out to try to answer • these questions.

6. The Present Investigation Acknowledge and address the above criticisms ●Choose one area only ARGYLL ● Only standing stones, pairs and short rows as backsights ● And, within this group, NO selection The essential question of Real or Chance is discussed later

7. MAJOR STANDSTILL - NORTH Declination +29º 03’ ( ~ 1700 BC ) Δ Δ The ‘Wobble’ (or Delta, symbol Δ) is about 9’

8. X 18’

9. X

10. X X X

11. THE LUNAR BAND +29°03’ 53’ ONLY THESE DECLINATIONS ARE MEANINGFUL

12. Azimuth for lunar bands (Schematic) N Rising Setting 90º 180º E w • 270º s

13. Indicated direction from a backsight 3°

14. ‘Wobble’ Declinations Δ Δ 2º 36.5º 36º 38º 37º 37.5º

15. 28°56’.5 28°56’.3 Ford (Argyll) Δ 2.5° 2.5º 2º 2° 37.5° 38° 37°

16. Summary of the Results In the region examined:- 34 Sites -- 12 Sites - Stones fallen, Trees on horizon etc. and are not surveyable -- 5 have no indicated direction and/or have plausible other explanations (e.g. ‘Waymarkers’) -- 1 remains of a stone circle -- 3 uncertain --This leaves 13 sites In accordance with the earlier statement, within this group there has been NO selection They ALL gave a precise lunar alignment

17. ACHARA 7º 29º 9’.5 9’ Δ Upper Limb 29º 8’.4 Lower Limb Indicated Foresight 46º 43º 45º 42º 44º

18. 3º -28º 38’.6 2º.5 -28º 38’.5 2º 196º 196º.5 197º 197º.5 Onich 9’ Δ Upper Limb Lower Limb

19. Salachary Rocky Ridge South SSW (There are no other distant skylines)

20. Salachary

21. Nether Largie (Temple Wood) S3 S2 To ‘Notch’ S1 ‘Q’ Four stone group

22. Nether Largie (Temple Wood) +28º 56’.5 • S1 +28º 56’.2

23. Ballymeanach (Duncragaig) Rock Outcrop To Foresight To Foresight

24. Ballymeanach (Duncragaig) Foresight outcrop (1.5 – 2 m in height)

25. Last view of Moon Rock A2 1st quarter March Ballymeanach (Duncragaig) +29° 27’.5 3.5° Δ 3° 320° 321° 322°

26. Declination Values Found RMS 0’.68 0’.80

27. Theodolite Measurements ( Δ ± 9’ )

31. Evidence that the results found were planned ● All 13 of the stones with an indicated lunar band give a precise alignment for one of the 4 key declinations ● There are several ‘pairs’ of stones with opposite ‘wobble’ (9’ Delta, Δ) e.g. Onich / Achara Carnasserie / Achnabreac Barnashaig/ Lower Fernoch ● For 9 of the 13 alignments the foresight is a stone or is rocky /Continued

32. Also :- Foresights chosen to avoid uncertainty Salachary Rocky Ridge South SSW (There are no other distant skylines)

33. Chance Alignments ● I tested this by examining a total of 1500 degrees of random hilly horizon ● This contained 30 lunar bands (and so potentially 30 alignments) ● Three chance alignments were found Therefore:- About 1 in 10 random Lunar Bands contained an alignment So they are not common

34. Implications:- 13 Stones 13 precise lunar alignments Random Lunar Band About 1 in 10 chance Using what I have found, One random lunar band the probability of a precise alignment is about 1 in 10 Two random lunar bands BOTH yielding a precise alignment is about 1 in 100 Three “ “ “ ALL “ “ “ “ “ 1 in 1000 Thirteen “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ !!!!!!!!! The results prove that in the Early Bronze Age precise lunar alignments were set up in this region

35. Earlier I had a slide regarding precise lunar • alignments:- • ● Are they common? • ● Are they chance or were they planned? ● The evidence shows that they are common and were planned

36. These results cannot be side-lined as an inconvenience Thedebate needs to move on from finding reasons that it could not have been done to working out just how it was done and the implications for the type of society at the time

37. “It would require about 100 years to set up each site” My suggestion is that by using a star rising or setting close to a known alignment it would be simple to ‘copy’ the declination from a known site to a potential new site ● Not limited by the 18.6 year lunar cycle ● Change of latitude makes only a small difference ● Fine tune at the next ‘Standstill’ Using this method a small team of trained observers could identify many possible sites while awaiting the next 18 year standstill.

38. A Possible Reason Eclipses can only occur near the time of the maximum of the ‘wobble’ 173 Days 173 Days

39. There is much more information on:- www.lunarsites-scotland.net where ALL of the results and full analysis and discussion can be found