The Avebury "Swindon" Stone #46 Henge Inward Face Marks Stars Toward the North Ecliptic Pole

The Avebury "Swindon" Stone #46 Henge Inward Face marks stars to the side of the stars of Cygnus toward heaven's center at the fixed North Ecliptic Pole (which is not the same as the North Celestial Pole, which is not fixed, but in its position makes a circle around the North Ecliptic Pole in ca. 26000 years time).

The present posting must be viewed together with the previous postings explaining and deciphering the other sides of Avebury Stone #46, as well as deciphering other stones.

Our previous decipherment of the narrower "Swan Side" of the stone gave a clear result showing it depicted the stars of Cygnus at the top and the stars of Aquila below it.

Hence, according to the decipherment logic applied successfully to other Avebury stones thus far, the henge inward face of the Avebury "Swindon" Stone #46 should mark stars neighboring to Cygnus in the direction of heaven's center -- and so it is.

We were initially not happy, however, that we got so much "star" overlap between the Cygnus "Swan Side" stars and the stars of the henge inward face of Avebury Stone #46, but we had to take our results as we found them. A possible explanation is found toward the end of this posting.

Avebury Stone #46 Henge Inward Face Photograph by Andis Kaulins
-- click on the graphic for a larger image --

Avebury Stone #46 Henge Inward Face Photo Traced
-- click on the graphic for a larger image --

The red circle shows an area of the stone that was critical for determining which stars were marked on the stone. Note that the entire "face" of the stone also shows a human face profile looking right (the eye is just below the red circle, but the shape of that head is only of interest to us here in terms of the stars in the sky represented by the stone markings as a whole.

Note that the stars extend from Cygnus to the North Ecliptic Pole in Draco.

Avebury Stone #46 Henge Inward Face and Corresponding Stars
 -- click on the graphic for a larger image --

The visual result -- just as on the opposite henge outward face -- once again appears to show a sled, but this time with the human at the front of the sled facing left and his various passengers and cargo to the back at the right.

The "extended" Cygnus overlap of the above decipherment was puzzling. Why would the ancients have done that? Either we were wrong in our decipherment, or the ancients had something else in mind and did that overlap intentionally.

We thought that the images had possibly interlocking edges in order to create "one" sledding picture as it were, and so we tried to interlock the decipherment images of the henge outward and henge inward faces. The resulting interlocked image is shown below, suggesting how Cygnus is still marked as a swan -- now facing right -- and permitting the two sledders to join together.

Avebury Stone #46 with Interlocking Decipherments of the Henge Outward and Henge Inward Faces - Note how there are numerous lines that seem to extend from one image into the other.... Recall that these are just "rough" drawings, and that drawings exactly meshing size, position and angle would produce even better results.
 -- click on the graphic for a larger image --

Would the ancients have "joined" viz. interlocked the two stone faces in their carvings this way? We think it possible.

Avebury "Swindon" Stone #46 Henge Outward Marks Mostly Stars in Pegasus to the Side of Cygnus

The Avebury "Swindon" Stone #46 Henge Outward Face marks mostly stars in Pegasus to the side of the stars of Cygnus, the latter as located on the narrower "Swan Side" of the stone as previously deciphered.

The Avebury Stone #46 henge outward face was a very difficult decipherment.

Avebury Stone #46 Henge Outward Photograph by Andis Kaulins
-- click on the graphic for a larger image --

Initially, one could perhaps "imagine" several figures in the above photograph, one could perhaps see a shape like a human head profile in the middle of the stone (virtually no other markings). Then there might be a human head or a big cat-like head in the upper half of the stone and a large horse-head at the bottom left with its body right, i.e. a big cat of prey attacking a horse. Probably not likely, but we wanted to mention it. A few other animal figures might be visible toward the middle of the stone -- with their legs at the lower bottom of the stone). Astronomically, however, there was nothing convincing to see.

Indeed, even detailed tracing, which was repeated anew SEVERAL TIMES, gave in each case mostly an unsatisfactory result that looked like paisley patchwork. However, as noted in the previous posting, we are -- by the logic of previous Avebury decipherments -- dealing here with neighboring stars to Cygnus in an area of the sky where, except for the Great Square of Pegasus, there are no modern stellar constellations, precisely because of the lack of "prominent" easily imaginable figures. This decipherment was not going to be easy to see or prove.

Avebury Stone #46 Henge Outward Photograph TRACED
-- click on the graphic for a larger image --
 

Avebury Stone #46 Henge Outward Face Black and White Tracing Only
 -- click on the graphic for a larger image --

After many hours of study, a few minor details became apparent that offered points of reference, e.g. the alligator-like head at the top, the small horse head towards the middle and the bird-like figure to its left. Could that combination be found in that approximate form in stars near Cygnus? Using Starry Night Pro astronomy software, we tried various star fields near Cygnus and through trial and error overlaid them directly on our tracing of the henge outward face of Avebury Stone #46. Placement, angle and size had to fit. But did anything fit?

Finally, we found what appears to be the ca. right combination of placement, angle and size, made all the more difficult by the fact that the stone itself
is of course not an exact match for a modern star map, even if the ancients too tried to maintain accuracy in the portrayal of the stars, also as to their relative distances, one from the other. No matter how this star map is overlaid on the stone, some parts are are wider, some thinner, but it proves close enough.

Avebury Stone #46 The Star Field Used for Decipherment of the Henge Outward Face as clipped via the astronomy software Starry Night Pro 3.1 starrynight.com  -- click on the graphic for a larger image --

We overlaid that above star map on our black and white tracing of the stone. Check out there the alligator head at the top, the horse head towards the middle and the bird-like figure to its left. Of course, it took us a long time to get the approximate size, angle and placement right, but we did get the stars to fit.

Avebury Stone #46 Stars Overlaid on the Traced Henge Outward Face
 -- click on the graphic for a larger image -- 

 
Avebury Stone #46 Henge Outward Face -- Its Decipherment in the Stars
 -- click on the graphic for a larger image --  

This was a difficult stone to decipher and we redrew all tracings and decipherment drawings several times, but the result always appears to portray a long toboggan-like family sled apparently carrying people, pets and provisions.

The appearance of the sled would have been more of a surprise if we had not already found a boat that we thought might also be a sled (but unlikely in the summer) as portrayed on the henge inward side of Avebury Stone #10. Go there to take a look.

 As we wrote previously at the Ancient World Blog about Avebury Stone #46:

"We see figures in our tracings of the most prominent lines on the henge-outward and henge-inward "faces" of the stone  that could be interpreted to be people on sleds in the snow.

Ancient sleds were, depending on the culture, also called  toboggan, pulk or ahkio. Especially the latter term ahkio is of possible interest because the stars marked here include the Great Square of Pegasus, known in ancient Sumerian (viz. Babylonian) MUL.APIN texts as ASH.IKU, whereby IKU is viewed as the term for "square" or "field".

A toboggan-like sled might be found on the henge-outward face below the prominent human head profile, i.e. the figure would be sitting in that sled. The henge-inward face might at the front include a solo sledder lying face forward on a sled of the type that we all used for sledding in our younger days.

The sledding explanation is, of course, not essential, and had nothing to do with our identification of the stars that correspond to the markings on the stone."

Avebury Stone #46 Henge Outward and Inward Faces at the Solstitial Colure

In the era of the construction of Avebury, the solstitial colure (line) of the Winter Solstice in the stars ran through Cygnus, going through approx. Alpha Cygni in ca. 3100 B.C. and approx. through Gamma Cygni in ca. 2500 B.C.

We add that solstitial colure below for 2500 B.C. as the thick red line to the underlying sky map from the astronomy software Starry Night Pro 3.1, http://astronomy.starrynight.com. However, we remain of the provisional opinion that Avebury Stone #46 may in fact date back to ca. 3100 B.C. and thus may predate the full construction of the Avebury Henge complex, in which case the solstitial colure would have been "higher" toward Pegasus than here below.

In terms of the ancient "measurement" of the heavens via a starry night sky carved in the stones, the central Cygnus star Gamma Cygni  in ca. 2500 B.C. is a useful point because in that era it is nearly midway between the Winter Solstice point in the stars (on the ecliptic) and the North Celestial Pole

Gamma Cygni marks the "eye" of Cygnus on Avebury Henge Stone #46 as deciphered in the previous posting and also practically straddles the Galactic Equator. Note that the Cygnus side of Avebury Stone #46 is drawn exactly along that same Galactic Equator.

The large henge-outward and henge-inward "faces" of Avebury Stone #46 mark neighboring stars to the Cygnus side. These stars along solstitial colure pointed to the Winter Solstice and to winter weather. We see figures in our tracings of the most prominent lines on the henge-outward and henge-inward "faces" of the stone that could be interpreted to be people on sleds in the snow.

Ancient sleds were, depending on the culture, also called  toboggan, pulk or ahkio. Especially the latter term ahkio is of possible interest because the stars marked here include the Great Square of Pegasus, known in ancient Sumerian (viz. Babylonian) MUL.APIN texts as ASH.IKU, whereby IKU is viewed as the term for "square" or "field".

A toboggan-like sled might be found on the henge-outward face below the prominent human head profile, i.e. the figure would be sitting in that sled. The henge-inward face might at the front include a solo sledder lying face forward on a sled of the type that we all used for sledding in our younger days.

The sledding explanation is, of course, not essential, and had nothing to do with our identification of the stars that correspond to the markings on the stone.

The henge-outward face of Avebury Stone #46 was in fact particularly difficult to decipher because of the lack of "prominent" easily-identifiable figures in this area of the sky, and, indeed, except for the Great Square, modern astronomy has no constellations at all in this sector of the heavens. Thankfully, we were ultimately able to overlay star fields on tracings of prominent markings on the stone to arrive at solutions.

We present the henge outward and henge inward faces of Avebury Stone #46 separately in the next postings.

Avebury Stone #46 Cygnus Side Marks the Swan and the Eagle in the Stars

Avebury Stone #46, also known as the "Swindon Stone", is the most northerly stone in the Northwest Sector of Avebury Henge and is placed here in our analysis directly after Avebury Stone #30, just previously deciphered, which is the most southerly stone in the Northwest Sector of Avebury Henge.

Contrary to our routine start with the henge-outward face of a stone, here we start with what we call the "Cygnus Side" of Avebury Stone #46, a side which marks stars in the Swan of Cygnus and under it the Eagle of Aquila. Lyra is also marked -- to the side of the head of the Swan.

Avebury Stone #46 is a gigantic megalith -- the largest in terms of weight of all the Avebury Henge stones. It is one of the most famous stones at Avebury. We begin with this side of the stone because we think it possible that its name as the "Swindon Stone" has not only to do with the fact that it marks the gateway to the town of Swindon to its north, but also because "Swin"-don itself may have been named for the "Swan" that the Swindon Stone represents, i.e. an original name perhaps something like Swan-don, Swan-ton, Swan-down, or Swan-town. The Domesday Book spelled its name as Suindune. The folk etymology that this derived from "swine" appears to us to be just idle nonsense.

The closest Roman name for a town nearby was Durocornovium ("door of the horn"), thought to be the village of Wanborough, i.e. "WAN-borough", so that an original (S)WAN-borough is remotely possible. On the other hand, we find written at the Wikipedia that Wanborough was recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as Wôdnes-beorg which later became Wodnesborough before becoming Wanborough, in which case the "Swan" name origin is less likely.

However, Joseph Bosworth's A Dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon Language equates Wodnes with the Germanic god Woden, i.e. Odin, and so arguably takes Avebury into the astronomical world of ancient gods in any case. We will show in subsequent postings that the henge-inward face of Avebury Stone #46 includes the stars of mid-heaven. The Wikipedia  writes about Odin: "Odin was known in Old English as Wōden, in Old Saxon as Wōdan, and in Old High German as Wuotan or Wōtan, all stemming from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic theonym wōđanaz." The proto-Indo-European term on the basis of Latvian vidiens (compare wōđanaz), could simply have meant "middle, center, main".

We need not trace here the principal markings on this stone because both the swan and the eagle are easy to spot on the stone. There are other figures on the stone of course, but these merely add detail to the main analysis, e.g. the typical "back" of the swan at the top of the stone (visible only on the second photograph below). Our photographs below are followed by our decipherment image of the corresponding stars, drawing the main carvings on the stone on an underlying map of the stars clipped via Starry Night Pro astronomy software.

Avebury Stone #46, the Swindon Stone, Photographs of the Swan Side

(we made two photographs, one photo to evade the plints, but that first photograph presented here does not quite catch properly the top of the Swan's head, whereas the second photo does)

The second photograph shows well the curve of the top of the swan's head, and see the typical "back" of the swan at the top right there
 -- click on the photograph below to obtain a larger image --

Avebury Stone #46, the Swindon Stone, Cygnus Side
The Stars Corresponding to the Carvings on Avebury Stone #46

 
Obviously then, all of the other faces and sides of Avebury Stone #46 must by the logic of our other Avebury decipherments then mark neighboring stars. We now look at the henge-inward and henge outward faces of the stone.

Please note: We do not have a photograph of the opposite narrow side of the Swindon Stone because there was a limiting fence on location there and that side of the stone jutted out toward the road over that fence, so that we were unable to make a photograph of that side.

If someone out there has or knows where to find a photograph of that opposite side, please let us know, as we would be pleased to add that side to our decipherments. We have found no such photograph online and find none in our personal library of Avebury books. Thank you.

Total Decipherment of Avebury Stone #30 Faces and Sides in the Corresponding Stars as a Ritual Scene with Druid

The image below is our "total" decipherment of Avebury Stone #30 which places the previously deciphered faces and sides of Avebury Stone #30 in the heavens at their decipherment-mandated corresponding stars. The combined result is a ritual scene (perhaps a funerary scene) with woman, child, man, and a figure we call "the Druid" (i.e. a wise man of old, a shaman, a Neolithic physician), together with the presumably memorial stone.

Total Decipherment of Avebury Stone #30 with the Faces and Sides Placed in the Corresponding Stars Forming a Ritual Scene with Druid
 (our graphic below is just a very rough sketch and will need future refining)

-- click the graphic below to obtain a larger image --

Although we generally have used a date of 2500 B.C. as the date of origin of the carved stones of Avebury Henge, in our software astronomy program Starry Night Pro 3.1, which is is our main tool for astronomical decipherment work, we here also tried a date of ca. 3100 B.C. because of the round "foot" of the lying figure which would then possibly be pointing to the Autumn Equinox in that era.

The actual date of origin could be, but does not have to be that date.

To our initial surprise, there is some overlap of the carved sides and not all elements of the henge outward face appear to be essential for the scene, except e.g. to add a shoulder to the man lying at the bottom, but the general nature of the scene formed by combining the 2 faces and 2 narrower sides of Avebury Stone #30 is clear.

UPDATE: We now see that in fact some of the lines of the henge outward face added to the overlapping parts of the stones could create a larger "sitting" man being attended to on his leg by the Druid, that sitting man with his head looking right just under the heads of the woman and child.

Avebury Stone #30 Henge Inward Face Aquila Sagitta Vulpecula Cygnus

The henge-inward face of Avebury Stone #30 shows stars in Aquila, Sagitta, Vulpecula, and Cygnus which are located directly above and neighboring the stars represented by the henge-outward face of Avebury Stone #30.

Avebury Stone #30 Henge Inward Face Photo by Andis Kaulins
-- click on the graphic to obtain a larger image --

Note the "gate" in the background which is the entry point at Avebury Henge when coming from the Alexander Keiller Museum and appurtenant buildings. This is then the first stone that a visitor sees.

Avebury Stone #30 Henge Inward Face Corresponding Stars in Aquila, Sagitta, Vulpecula, and Cygnus which are located directly above and neighboring the stars represented by the henge-outward face of Avebury Stone #30.

-- click on the graphic to obtain a larger image --

Avebury Stone #30 Henge Inward Face Side-by-Side with Corresponding Stars in Aquila, Sagitta, Vulpecula, and Cygnus

 -- click on the graphic to obtain a larger image --

There are several human faces figures carved on the stone, one looking left, while the entire henge-inward face of the stone represents a human face with the mouth at the large triangle to the right and the ear as the head of the smaller human face to the left. Bird figures represent Aquila and Cygnus.

Avebury Stone #30 Right Side Marks Stars in Aquila, Scutum and the top of Sagittarius

The Right Side of Avebury Stone #30 marks stars in Aquila, Scutum and the top of Sagittarius to the right of the stars represented by the henge outward face of Avebury Stone #30.

Avebury Stone #30 Right Side Photograph by Andis Kaulins

Avebury Stone #30 Right Side Corresponding Stars on an Underlying Sky Map made via Starry Night Pro 3.1 astronomy software
-- click the graphic to obtain a larger image --

The right side of Avebury Stone #30 marks stars in Aquila, Scutum and Sagittarius to the right of the stars marked on the henge-outward face of Avebury Stone #30. Figures represented are a woman with child (possible an elder below that), at least one large bird for Aquila in the middle, and several other possible human faces, including the entire stone side shape as a human face (looking right).

Avebury Stone #30 Right Side Photograph Shown Side-by-Side with the Corresponding Stars
-- click the graphic to obtain a larger image --

The next posting shows a photograph and decipherment of the henge-inward face of Avebury Stone #30.

Avebury Stone #30 Left Side Photo Corresponding Stars Ophiuchus

The Left Side of Avebury Stone #30 viewed henge-outward marks stars of Ophiuchus principally as two human figures, one with his or her arm around the other figure. There is the head of another figure at the bottom. The stars represented here directly neighbor the stars represented by the henge-outward face of the stone.

Below, we first show our photograph of the left side Avebury Stone #30. That image is followed by a graphic of our decipherment of the corresponding stars in Ophiuchus, using an underlying star map via the astronomy software Starry Night Pro 3.1, http://www.starrynight.com.

Avebury Stone #30 Left Side Photograph by Andis Kaulins

Below:
Avebury Stone #30 Left Side Corresponding Stars in Ophiuchus
-- click on the image to see the graphic in larger original size --

Below:
Avebury Stone #30 Left Side Shown Side-by-Side
with the Corresponding Stars in Ophiuchus
 -- click on the image to see the graphic in larger size --

The subsequent posting shows a photo of the Right Side of Avebury Stone #30 plus its astronomical decipherment.

Avebury Stone #30 Henge-Outward Plus Edge of Back of the Head and Corresponding Stars

Avebury Stone #30 Photo Including the Edge of the Back of the Head

The henge-outward face of Avebury Stone #30 stands somewhat at an angle so we also took a photograph that includes the henge-outward face plus the edge of the back of the head. That photograph is shown below and followed by a clip in which we mark the back head edge area in red.

-- click on our photograph below  to get a larger image --

Below is the edge of the back of the head as marked and as viewed from the perspective angle of the henge-outward face.

Avebury Stone #30 Photo Including the Edge of the Back of the Head 

We then initially deciphered that marked area as follows:

Avebury Stone #30 Corresponding Stars at Edge of the Back of the Head are neighboring stars to those deciphered for the Henge-Outward Face 

The full "back of the head" is then shown in different photographs as a large figure in its own right and a more complete decipherment of the corresponding stars is then found in the subsequent posting. 

Avebury Stone #30 at the Milky Way Hole at Serpens Cauda and Surrounding Stars

The Alexander Keiller Museum and adjacent buildings at Avebury were our first stop in visiting Avebury Henge. We had a cup of hot coffee there to offset the cold and overcast weather that prevailed on our visiting day. That same weather, however, provided advantageous non-glare non-shadow conditions to permit the taking of no-nonsense photographs of the Avebury Henge stones.

When one subsequently enters the Avebury Henge Circle from the Alexander Keiller buildings location, the first stone in the Northwest Sector of stones is Avebury Stone #30. Below we present our photographs and decipherment of the henge-outward face of Avebury Stone #30 and follow with postings that decipher the henge-inward face and the two narrower adjoining sides of the stone.

Avebury Stone #30 Photograph by Andis Kaulins

Below is the "Star Region" that Corresponds to the Henge Outward Face of Avebury Stone #30 Above, with nothing outlined

-- click on the Starry Night Pro 3.1 clip below  to get a larger image --

The Shape of the "Open Space" Between Strands of the Milky Way in this Stellar Region Surely Inspired to Shape a Similar Figure in the Stars

This decipherment was more difficult than it appears because the similar open "shape" formed at this stellar region by the strands of the Milky Way (the purple-bluish colored area in the sky map) surely served the ancients as the idea for this figure in stone, but the stone was then actually carved based on a similar shape "drawn" in the surrounding stars. We discovered this by placing the above star map transparently on our above photo of Stone #30. The ancients clearly used a much larger area of stars to "draw" a similar figure.

Avebury Stone #30 Corresponding Stars and Shape using the Sky Map shows that Stone #30 marks stars from the bottom of Aquila to Serpens Cauda and Scutum and then the edge of Ophiuchus and the top of Sagittarius. The ancients, veritably, "mapped" the sky of stars in stone.

-- click on the graphic drawing below  to get a larger image --

Avebury Stone #30 Henge-Outward Face and Corresponding Stars
-- click on the graphic drawing below  to get a larger image --

The correspondence of the stars and the shape of the stone is so clear that we did not even find it necessary to trace Stone #30 to get the above result. 

It was -- only initially -- somewhat of a surprise to us that not just the "hole" in the Milky Way was being marked -- because it does have a very similar shape -- but our previous decipherments show that the ancients in carving these stones represented much larger areas of stars -- stellar regions whose representation in stone continued to the left, right and above the henge-outward facing side, as we show in the subsequent postings for Avebury Stone #30. P.S. The through-going "lines" in decipherment above from the left bottom corner upward represent the Ecliptic, the Celestial Equator and the Galactic Equator.

Avebury Stone #42 Left Side Marks Stars in Ophiuchus, Scorpio and Ara plus Center of the Galaxy

Avebury Stone #42 on its Left Side viewed henge-outward marks stars directly to the left of the stars in Sagittarius marked on the henge-outward frontal face of the stone. The Left Side represents stars in Ophiuchus, Scorpio and Ara.

The galactic center is part of the chair being held by the figure, which we interpret to mean that it symbolizes the "throne" of the center of the Milky Way Galaxy whose galactic center is located there.

Avebury Stone #42 Left Side Photograph

Avebury Stone #42 Left Side Photo Tracing

Avebury Stone #42 Left Side and its Corresponding Stars in Ophiuchus, Scorpio & Ara to the left of the stars of Sagittarius marked on the henge-outward facing front face

The head at the bottom would seem to signify the underworld of the deceased, who, as we know from Avebury Stone #10 and from our previous decipherment of the Stonehenge sarsens and stones, marked the destination (presumably presumed "origin") to which the souls of the deceased returned.

Avebury Stone #42 Right Side Marks Stars of Capricorn and Microscopium to the Right of Sagittarius

The "Right Side" of Avebury Henge Stone #42 marks stars in Capricorn to the right of the stars of Sagittarius marked on the frontal henge-outward face of the stone. Indeed, as shown in the decipherment below, it includes the back end and the extension of the horse depicted on the henge-outward front face.

Our method of proceeding in deciphering Avebury Henge stones is to clip an appropriate section of one of the photographs of Avebury stones we made September, 2005, as in the clip below, and then to make a lighter version of that photograph to be able to see the lines more readily. A good example is the head at the bottom, which marks Microscopium below Capricorn....

Avebury Stone #42 Right Side (Viewed Henge Outwards)
(always click on an image to see if a larger, original view, exists)

Avebury Stone #42 Right Side Tracing and Corresponding Stars

Avebury Stone #42 Henge-Inward Marks Aquila as an Eagle

The creators of Avebury are pretty consistent in the way that the megaliths at Avebury Henge were carved to represent stars.

The henge-outward face marks "outer" stars toward the Milky Way, Ecliptic and Celestial Equator. The henge-inward face marks stars toward the center of the starry heavens (i.e. North Ecliptic and North Celestial Poles). Those henge-inward stars are immediately "above" the henge-outward stars in the sky. The narrower "sides" of each stone mark stars to the respective sides of the stars previously identified on the henge-outward and henge-inward faces.

This is also true for Avebury Stone #42, where the henge-outward face marks the stars of Sagittarius. Accordingly, when we "decipher" the remaining sides of that megalith, we already "know" where in the heavens the appropriate stars are, though re-drawing the figures found on stone is not always intuitively obvious, and it takes some work to figure out what the ancients were doing.

The henge-inward face of Avebury Stone #42 thus represents the stars of Aquila, the Eagle. The three images below show a photo clip of our original photograph of Avebury Stone #42, plus a tracing of the most prominent lines and markings on the stone via our zoom-enabled graphic software, and then the corresponding stars to the figures, lines and markings carved in stone, including the entire shape of the megalith itself.

Avebury Stone #42 Henge-Inward Face Our Photograph

Avebury Stone #42 Henge-Inward Face Photo Traced

Avebury Stone #42 Henge-Inward Corresponding Stars Aquila & Scutum

We forgot to circle the face in the lower left hand corner on the sky map.
Do you see it? Compare the stone and the sky map above.

Avebury Stone #42 Marks Sagittarius Henge-Outward as a Horse & Rider Reminding Also of the Mythical Half-Man Half-Beast Chiron

Avebury Stone #42 has such a "strange shape" for a megalith.

How could prior researchers have missed examining the possible connection of the strange but to us "familiar" shape of Avebury Stone #42 to the stars of Sagittarius, the equestrian archer of old and the astronomical Chiron?

The fabled early shape of Sagittarius in the stars, according to Richard Hinckley Allen's Star Names was as half-man and half-steed, either originally or later as an archer on horseback, and found later in the Centaur Chiron.

Directly below are four images: the first is the front henge-outward face of Avebury Stone #42, the second image is the astronomical "teapot" asterism of Sagittarius, the third image is the first image traced and labeled, and the fourth is an image of the corresponding stars in sky as carved on the stone:

• Avebury Stone #42 Facing Henge-Outward (we have lightened our original photograph to make the lines and markings more apparent)

• The "Teapot" Asterism of Sagittarius - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Sagittarius-teapot-asterism.jpg, public domain as uploaded to Wikimedia, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Eoghanacht

• Avebury Stone #42 Frontal Face Henge-Outward Traced and Labeled (it is possible that our identified "saddle" is merely the rider's cloak)

• The Corresponding Stars to the Lines and Figures Carved on the Henge-Outward Frontal Face of Avebury Stone #42 (extended "tail" of the horse is carved further on the narrow side of the megalith)

We are pleased here to publish our decipherment of Avebury Stone #42, including the images above, which clearly demonstrate by lines, figures and markings on the carved stone and corresponding stars that:

• the henge-outward ("Milky Way directed") face of Avebury Stone #42 marks a steed and its rider (as the Sagittarius teapot "asterism"),


• the henge-inward face of Avebury Stone #42 marks the neighboring stars above Sagittarius (i.e. inward toward heaven's center), i.e. Aquila,


• the "right side" of Avebury Stone #42  (seen henge-outward) marks stars next to Sagittarius toward Capricorn, including the back end and tail of the Sagittarian steed (marked in stars we today assign to the region of the stars alpha and beta Capricorn), a tail similar in extension to the modern Sagittarian asterism of "the teaspoon" (see http://www.go-astronomy.com/constellations.php?Name=Sagittarius)


• the "left side" of Avebury Stone #42 (seen henge-outward) marks stars next to Sagittarius in the direction of Scorpio, including the portrayal of the center of the Milky Way Galaxy as a chair-type "throne" at the galactic center, whose design reminds of the throne of Minoan Knossos and generally recalls our work on the Phaistos Disk.

The other three sides of Avebury Stone #42 are deciphered in the immediately subsequent postings.

Total Decipherment of Avebury Stone #9 : All Four Surface Shapes In their Deciphered Stars Results in the Figure of a Bearded Man Wielding an Antler Tool

Some of the diverse talents of ancient man become visible when we examine collectively all four sides of Avebury Stone #9 in the heaven of stars at once.

What is the result? Note how the two broader faces and two narrower sides of the stone mark stars that are immediately adjacent to each other.

We were astonished to find that placing all four surface shapes together at the location of our decipherment of their applicable stars resulted in the image of a bearded man wielding an antler tool. This we did not expect. We were initially only trying to get a more comprehensive sky map representation.

Whether that artistic creation was intended by its makers to represent the craftsmen and workers who erected Avebury or whether a heavenly maker was viewed at this central location is surely a matter of personal preference....

Image 1 :
Placement of the Four Faces viz. Sides of Avebury Stone #9 in the Sky at Once (Each stone face viz. side is a different color to aid identification)

Image 2: Black/White Version as a Blending of the Above Image

Image 3: A Color Version of the  Bearded Man Wielding an Antler Tool with various Lines Connected in Order to Show the Image More Easily

Truly amazing.

Decipherment of Avebury Henge Stone #9 - Its Sides Mark Stars to the Left and Right of Ursa Major and Leo

Decipherment of Avebury Henge Stone #9 - Its Sides Mark Stars to the Left and Right of Ursa Major and Leo

The side of Avebury Henge Stone #9 which currently faces Avebury Stone #8 must correctly face Avebury Stone #10 while the side of Avebury Henge Stone #9 currently facing Stone#10 must correctly face Stone #8. Their false positions are the result of Avebury Stone #9 having been falsely re-erected in the year 1938. See our previous postings for coverage of that story.

Here we present our photographs of the two sides of Avebury Stone #9 and their proper astronomical decipherment as marking stars as deciphered.

Each photo of a side of Avebury Stone #9 is followed by an image showing its astronomical decipherment:

Photo 1: The Side That Faces Stone #8 but Should Face Stone #10

 Decipherment of the Side Now Facing Stone #8 that Should Face Stone #10
 

This Side of Avebury Megalith #9 Marks Stars of a Sky Region from Coma Berenices at the Galactic Meridian to Centaurus at the Galactic Equator

(the left image is a very detailed tracing performed on the photograph above using the zoom function of Paint Shop Pro graphic software, while the right image presents the figures thus found in the corresponding stars)

(click on the image to see it in original, larger size)

Photo 2: The Side That Faces Stone #10 but Should Face Stone #8

Decipherment of the Side Facing Stone #10 that Should Face Stone #8

 

This Side of Avebury Megalith #9 Marks Stars of a Sky Region from Cancer to Crater primarily Representing Hydra

(the left image is a very detailed tracing performed on the photograph above using the zoom function of Paint Shop Pro graphic software, while the right image presents the figures thus found in the corresponding stars)

(click on the image to see it in original, larger size)

These sides were more difficult to interpret than the large frontal faces of Avebury Stone #9, perhaps simply because they offer less space for carving of images. There is a bird at the throat of Hydra in the image above, which is a very old motif to which we attribute the "thunderbird" mythology in North America and which we found at the Roche Percée petroglyphs of Saskatchewan, SK, Canada, where it marks stars below Hydra and to the left of Canis Major and above Puppis (p. 148 of Volume 1 of the books cited below). Here the bird is placed further left. There will be more connections between the Old World and New World in coming Avebury decipherments.

See the cited source:

Sky Earth Native America 1 : American Indian Rock Art Petroglyphs Pictographs Cave Paintings Earthworks & Mounds as Land Survey & Astronomy, Volume 1, Edition 2, 266 pages, by Andis Kaulins.

Sky Earth Native America 2 : American Indian Rock Art Petroglyphs Pictographs Cave Paintings Earthworks & Mounds as Land Survey & Astronomy, Volume 2, Edition 2, 262 pages, by Andis Kaulins.