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Quick links to various main topics in my blog
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Simon's Blog - Hot news from the future!
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When you've run out of space in your brain, it's handy to be able to store thoughts somewhere else.
If you want to post a reply to anything hereabouts, you'll need to be registered and logged in.
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Pointed out to me by my neighbours Mark and Vanessa - spot the boxing hare (one of many hares, it seems) on this stone at the Cove, Avebury.
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I'm now fairly confident that there is a deliberate Winter Solstice Sunrise alignment through Stonehenge, making use of a notch in Stone 58 to target a position on Coneybury Ridge where the sun rose in 2500BC.
Finally I'm in a position to post something that summarises how I have come to this view.
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Worthy of further investigation, the Stonehenge Hidden Landscape Project (which is geophysing the entire World Heritage Site in 5 years) is reported to have discovered two large pits, one near either end of the Cursus.
Apparently these pits are aligned so that as seen from the Heelstone they mark the positions of sunrise and sunset on summer solstice.
I've yet to find the precise positions of the pits reported anywhere, but the sunrise one must be some way from the eastern end because the Lockyer azimuth crosses the Cursus some 400m from the eastern terminal.
I've indicated this on the following image from Google Earth.
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That's interesting - it looks like the sunrise alignment on the Samhain (7th Nov) and Imbolc (4th Feb) cross-quarter days goes right over the site of Coneybury Henge and the round barrow cluster 500m WNW of it.
(Facebook folks click 'View original post' for the picture)
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Since I originally posted this pic on Facebork (where it is nigh on impossible to search for things) I thought I'd better repost it here so I've got a chance of finding it back at a later date.
Photo was taken at 9.30am on 17th September 2011.
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I've been meaning to do this diagram for a while, showing why equinoxes aren't halfway between solstices. Finally got round to it.
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I thought "What the hell, let's give it a go", as I put my Lumix TZ-8 on a tripod and pointed it out of my back door in the general direction of new supernova PTF11kly in M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy, 21 million light years away...
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Lying in a field about 2 miles from Stonehenge is the Bulford Stone aka the Torstone. Excavations in 2005 by the Riverside Project revealed the original site of this natural sarsen boulder a couple of metres away, the manmade stone hole in which it was once standing and an interesting burial within the 30m diameter ring ditch that surrounds it. (Facebook folks see "View original post" for more info and pics)
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The second edition of the official guidebook has been published recently, and a lot has changed since the first edition in 2005. I've gone through both editions to try and identify the significant changes and attached below are my eight pages of notes.
(Facebook people will need to click 'view original post' in FB to get to the attachment)
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Somewhere for me to put the script I wrote that uses G+ notification emails to post the same status update to FB.
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Strike me purple and call me Frank.
It turns out that CIX looks like it might have some kind of future that doesn't simply conclude in the last two members simultaneously flouncing off in mutual annihilation.
A number of ex-CIXen have rejoined (confusingly, many under new nicknames) as a result of ICUKNet's buyout and expectation of a glorious new dawn has risen to unprecedented heights.
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By happy coincidence or rather, orbital mechanics, the full Moon on June 15th will not only be rising totally eclipsed (as seen from Stonehenge), but it will be rising at almost exactly the same spot on the horizon that the Winter Solstice Sun did in 2500BC.
(Facebook folks may need to click 'view original post' to read more)
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This is a grocer's shop, after all.
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For the next three weeks or so, a team of engineering surveyors will be laser scanning Stonehenge to create the highest resolution digital model of the monument and its landscape yet achieved.
(Facebook folks need to click the "View original post" link for more.)
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OceanMaster and SewMaster
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Taken this morning (4th Jan 2011) at Stonehenge.
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Here's the info from EH for the Winter Solstice 2010 managed open access.
"2010 Winter Solstice
The celebration of the Winter Solstice at Stonehenge will take place at sunrise on Wednesday 22nd December 2010 (approximately 08:09 hrs)
English Heritage is pleased to be offering 'Managed Open Access' for those who wish to celebrate the Winter Solstice peacefully.
Visitors will be allowed into the Monument when it is considered sufficiently light to ensure safe access. Entry will be available from approximately 07:30 hrs until 09:00 hrs when visitors will be asked to vacate the site.
Access might not be possible if the ground conditions are poor or if it is felt that access might result in severe damage to the Monument.
Limited facilities are available at Stonehenge for the duration of the access although these facilities will not be available prior to access commencing (this includes the toilets). The cafe at Stonehenge will be open from 08:00 hrs"
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Polynomial Texture Mapping combined with LIDAR data is a fabulous way to re-light landscapes and play "I can spot cool stuff" with :-)
For example, on Wessex Archaeology's website, Tom Goskar's blogged about using PTM with the LIDAR data of the Stonehenge World Heritage site. And it has a way cool Java applet you can have a go with.
Now, what I want to know is: Is that a new henge with an avenue aimed at the Winter Solstice sunrise I can see?
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Some interesting points arose from tonight's debate between Tim Darvill, Mike Parker Pearson, Mike Pitts and Julian Richards which was chaired by Andrew Lawson and hosted as part of Salisbury Museum's 150th Anniversary Conference.
I'll mention a few here, and if you want to hear the whole hour long thing I've a (poor quality) audio recording of it.
(Facebook folks click 'View original post' to continue)
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This year, there's a Full Moon on the day of the Autumn Equinox.
Very pleasing symmetry.
(Facebook folks click 'View original post' for the pic.)
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Well, that was quick - they've already discovered a new timber circle and henge about 900m NW of Stonehenge.
See this article and this one for some pics.
I reckon it's just visible on Google Earth immediately southwest of the Cursus Barrows, but I'll try to confirm the location if I get a chance to speak to the guys on site today.
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This is interesting - the DNA profiles of Amenhotep III and the 'mystery mummy' from Tomb KV55 (supposedly Akhenaten) have leaked via a documentary aired on the Discovery Channel about pharaohnic paternity.
What's been unintentionally revealed by the camera panning across the results is that the Y chromosome data is a 99.6% fit with the R1b haplogroup.
See this article for an explanation and a really excellent map :-)
(Facebooky folks hit "View original post" for a bit more)
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Not quite BdgeMaster, but close :-)
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Thought you might like this one :-)
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The announcement today that the new Govt has withdrawn the funding promised by its predecessor is extremely disappointing.
I can't understand it - Stonehenge desperately needs to have the visitor experience improved, and the new visitor centre project was specifically designed to be extremely cost-effective while achieving that aim, especially when compared to previous attempts over the last many decades.
(Facebook folks, click 'view original post' for more)
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In a stunning move, cementing its ultimate fate as the successor to the crown of 'purveyor of all things evil' and citing 'security concerns', Google has apparently decided to abandon the use of MS Windows on its internal desktop computers in favour of using Macs instead.
The FT has the story, such as it is.
In other news, Apple is now worth £154Bn - about the same as the UK's annual deficit. They should buy us.
iUK anyone?
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Regular readers (if there are such) of my blog will know I'm slightly obsessed with Stonehenge :-)
Having recently been accepted on to the English Heritage Education Volunteer programme at the Stonehenge World Heritage Site, I've just had an interview to become a paid part-time employee in the Visitor Operations Team.
It's the first actual job interview I've had in something like 11 years (bidding for new work for Novacaster isn't the same by any stretch), and I think it went quite well - although I won't know until Friday if I've been successful or not.
(Facebook readers click 'View original post' for more)
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