IngentaConnect The Prehistoric Solar Calendar: An Out-of-fashion Idea Revisited ...

Abstract:

The work of Alexander Thom on the geometrical and astronomical achievements of prehistoric Britain—depending as it does almost entirely on data gained from surveying and statistical analysis—is rarely referred to now by British archaeologists. Yet his idea of the prehistoric sixteen-“month” solar calendar—in which the year is divided successively into halves, quarters, eighths and sixteenths—can now be tested with evidence from other fields, including some spectacular archaeological artifacts and from excavations specifically designed to examine the hypothesis. This article reviews the origins of the idea and presents some new evidence which has emerged since Thom's time which bears on it. This material includes five sites which excavation and surveying have shown to be probable accurate solar-calendar markers and three spectacular artifacts which, in their different ways, shed further light on the idea. These are the gold lozenge from Bush Barrow, Wiltshire, the “sky disc” from near Nebra in eastern Germany, and the fan-shaped design on stone K15 at the Knowth passage grave in Ireland. This diversity of evidence provides powerful support for Thom's hypothesis and, it is suggested, makes more likely the existence of intellectually skilled professional priesthoods in north-western Europe in the Neolithic period and the early Bronze Age.

Keywords: ALIGNMENT; SOLAR CALENDAR; THOM; KNOWTH; BUSH BARROW; MAESHOWE; NEBRA; PREHISTORIC ASTRONOMY; PRIESTHOODS

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.2752/175169709X374263

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The Prehistoric Solar Calendar: An Out-of-fashion Idea Revisited with New Evidence