Thursday, December 08, 2016

The Gold Torc of Cambridgeshire as Possibly Being a Land Survey viz. Sky Measurement Ell of Ancient Britain

Via Archaeo-News at StonePages.com we have been alerted to a developing story of a fairly recent potentially significant find made in a plowed field in Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom.

See two reports at:
We refer to those two particular reports because each has a slightly different photograph of the torc, which was useful to us for counting "torc twists".

We reluctantly note as too often typical for mainstream Archaeology that the reports appear to focus predominantly on the 732 grams of almost pure gold that was made to use the torc ...
rather than on analytically important torc ESSENTIALS such as the LENGTH of the torc -- a measurement length nowhere to be found in sources thus far published, as far as we can tell.

Accordingly, we had to estimate its length ourselves by using the photographed gloved hands holding the gold torc as a guide, presuming a woman's hand/glove-length of about 6 modern inches and apparently about 7 such hand lengths in the round of the torc for a potential total of somewhere around 42 modern inches as the length of the twisted part of the torc.

The Guardian quotes Neil Wilkin, Bronze Age Europe Curator at the British Museum, as saying that "If you take callipers, and measure the gaps between the twists, they are absolutely spot on accurate."

WELL, then, why not then take those callipers folks, and count just how many such "spot on accurate" twists there are and what their total length might be. The gold torc in its bent shape may reflect its being carried at the "middle girth" of it's wearer, whoever he or she was. That kind of "spot on accuracy" in its twists would seem unusual for something intended only as a fertility belt

The Daily Mail writes that:

"The torc is thought to have been worn as a belt over clothing, as part of animal sacrifice or even by pregnant women in fertility ceremonies."

The fertility explanation caught our eye because we subsequently did go to the trouble to count the number of "twists" in the photographs available at the above sources -- a count nowhere found in any of the sources.

By our count there appear to be 270 twists.... Why such accurate twists?

That number of 270 could indeed have been intended as the simplified "round number" matching the human pregnancy period as calculated from ovulation to birth, which in modern times has been found to average ca. 268 days, i.e. the 270 days could have marked the human birth period (modernly often set at 280 days as measured, however, from the first day of the woman's last menstrual period, which does not necessarily coincide with the point of impregnation.)

The 270 twists -- assuming a six-inch gloved hand as noted above -- could perhaps make for a Cambridgeshire Gold Torc length of about 45 modern inches or about 55 megalithic inches.

The standard "ell" in England was 45 inches.

If the delayed mainstream measurements of the actual torc length actually mesh in any way with our cogitations -- regardless of any other calculational or "fertility" uses the gold torc may have had -- it seems a bit short for a "jump rope" -- then this torc may have been so created in gold to represent a "standard" ell in Ancient Britain, or, should the length of the gold torc be even longer than we have estimated, perhaps even something like the "King's ellwand" or an ancient British ell-version of a longer "royal cubit".

The standard "ell" in England was 45 inches. 

Under ELL in the Wikipedia we can read that:

"In England, the ell was usually 45 in (1.143 m), or a yard and a quarter. It was mainly used in the tailoring business but is now obsolete. Although the exact length was never defined in English law, standards were kept; the brass ell examined at the Exchequer by Graham in the 1740s had been in use "since the time of Queen Elizabeth".

The Viking ell was the measure from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, about 18 inches. The Viking ell or primitive ell was used in Iceland up to the 13th century. By the 13th century, a law set the "stika" as equal to 2 ells which was the English ell of the time. An ell-wand or ellwand was a rod of length one ell used for official measurement. Edward I of England required that every town have one. In Scotland, the Belt of Orion was called "the King's Ellwand"."

It is therefore also possible that standard land survey measurement ells viz. "ellwands" in Ancient Britain, Scotland and Ireland had their astronomical comparables in terms of sky measurement "sticks" or "torcs".

We had hoped, for example, to find comprehensive mainstream archaeological measurements online of the width and height of the Avebury stones in order to see whether their dimensions correspond to some standard length of measure for measuring the distances between stars, but we have found nothing.

Looks like we will have to take another trip to the UK and see what we can do.

Friday, December 02, 2016

Avebury Stone #16 Henge Inward Marks Stars Above Virgo with Boötes as a Horned Ox

Avebury Stone #16 Henge Inward Marks Stars Above Virgo with Boötes as a Horned Ox Facing Left

Want to try your hand at deciphering? This stone gives you a nice opportunity.

Not only did the ancients provide us with stones carved with figures, but they also interspersed veritable sky maps for us, carved on stone. The ancients created such maps not only by carving figures imagined "in the sky" onto the stone, but also by carving holes or "cupped" indentations in the stones, called cupules or cupmarks. Each hole or indentation represents a particular star. The relative sizes of the holes or indentations often mark the relative brightness (magnitude) of the stars being portrayed, but because of differing erosive and other forces, size can be a variable and is not always reliable.

Mainstream scholars "think" that such indentations or holes such as on the henge inward face of Avebury Stone #16 are "naturally caused" and are not man-made.

"Think" is not the right word for what the scholars up to now have done.

They presume that the holes are natural, but never check their own unproven presumptions. Merriam-Webster defines the word "presumption" inter alia as
"a belief that something is true even though it has not been proved".

As we show here, such markings on megaliths are often man-made, though of course one would expect that natural markings on stone were also used or integrated into carvings if they fit the astronomical picture being represented.

The henge inward face of Avebury Stone #16 is a good example of holes viz. indentations that were intentionally made by the ancients to represent stars.

Avebury Stone #16 Henge Inward Face - Photograph by Andis Kaulins


Avebury Stone #16 Henge Inward Face - Photograph Tracing
(we do our tracing using Paint Shop Pro 7 at magnifications up to 8x the normal image resolution, which reveals many more features than those seen easily by naked-eye observation -- feature selection is subjective)


Avebury Stone #16 Henge Inward Face Selection of Stars Above Virgo
A Star Field for Would-Be Decipherers


We know from previous decipherments of stones at Avebury that the henge inward face of a stone marks stars above those marked on the henge outward face. Since we have deciphered the henge outward face of Avebury Stone #16 to mark stars of Virgo, we know that the above inward face must mark stars above Virgo, but it is always an adventure to discover which stars those are.

Accordingly, we provide below an appropriate "star field" of stars above Virgo clipped via the astronomy software Starry Nigh Pro 3.1 (starrynight.com).

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


This is your chance, would-be decipherers! You can test your own analytical and observational skills by trying to discover which stars from the above star field are marked on the henge inward face of Avebury Stone #16.

We have marked the most prominent circle of stars to give you a fair start, because that is our method of proceeding, by identifying one or two main features that appear to be certain and going from there, but be careful here, because our previous finding -- that most Avebury stone markings match the sky closely in terms of the true relative distances of stars -- does not work here, and that is the second decipherment hint. Form yes, distances no.

We provide our own "decipherment" of the henge inward face of Avebury Stone #16 further below, but if you do not look beyond the star field image above, you can try your own decipherment out before looking at our below solution. You might even try retracing the most prominent lines on the stone, fewer than we have, and your results may be even better. Try it out.

Avebury Stone #16 Henge Inward Face Decipherment As Shown by Identification of the Corresponding Stars

Looking left is a head at Boötes that is the horned head of an ox, which is the classical animal identity (ox, horn) assigned to Boötes in antiquity. See Richard Hinckly Allen, Star Names, Boötes, starting in that book at page 92.

The stars of Ursa Major, Canes Venatici, and Coma Berenices are otherwise all carved as birds, with Coma Berenices as a bird head extending clear across the stone, looking right.

One can also see that the ancients carved the entire stone as a human head, grimacing, that is looking left at Boötes with a kind of tassled hair bun to the right at Ursa Major. We already saw that grimace on the left side of the stone.

What made this particular decipherment difficult was the fact that the stone carvings do not keep the proportions of the sky but compress them narrower in breadth. We hope that remains an exception for other Avebury stones.

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

 
If you had the courage to try to decipher this henge inward face of Avebury Stone #16 on your own, how did you do? Not as easy as you thought, was it?

We hope through this exercise to show how difficult it can be to reconstruct the manner in which the ancients carved these stones.

Moreover, you, the reader, already have a great advantage over normal decipherment work.

We have shown you which region of the sky of stars is involved and have given you a sure starting point in those stars.

Without such helpers, which is the normal situation, deciphering the henge inward face of Avebury Stone #16 would be extremely difficult and, indeed, it took us a long time to figure it out.


Thursday, December 01, 2016

Avebury Stone #16 Right Side Marks Stars Right of Virgo at Boötes plus Corona Borealis

Avebury Stone #16 Right Side Marks Stars Right of Virgo at Boötes plus Corona Borealis

The right side of Avebury Stone #16 marks stars of Boötes plus Corona Borealis to the right of the previously deciphered Virgo on the henge outward face of  Avebury Stone #16.

Avebury Stone #16 Right Side Photograph and Tracing by Andis Kaulins


Avebury Stone #16 Right Side Black/White and Color Tracing


Avebury Stone #16 Right Side Corresponding Stars in Boötes plus Corona Borealis



Avebury Stone #16 Left Side Marks Stars to the left of Virgo from Ursa Major to Leo to Hydra

Avebury Stone #16 Left Side Marks Stars to the left of Virgo (looking henge outward) from Ursa Major to Leo to Hydra

The narrow left side of Avebury Stone #16 (looking henge outward) marks stars to the left of the previously deciphered Virgo on the henge outward face.

Avebury Stone #16 Left Side Photograph and Tracing by Andis Kaulins
-- click on the graphic for a larger image --


Avebury Stone #16 Left Side Photo Tracing in Black/White, Color and Stars


The left side of Avebury Stone #16 points toward Leo and marks Leo in the stars as a lion head together with Ursa Major as a dog-like animal above it, plus Leo Minor viz. Lynx as another "big cat" or cub, and below Leo there are stars of Hydra marked as a large serpent plus a smaller serpent.

Avebury Stone #16 Henge Outward Face Marks Stars of Virgo as a Woman's Head and Bosom

Avebury Stone #16 Henge Outward Face Marks Stars of Virgo as a Woman's Head and Bosom

We wrote a preface to this posting -- doing so in part to ward off any misguided actions by or comments by others about what our objectives are in these postings, which is to decipher figures carved on ancient stones and to explain their significance -- in their era. Our era may have different (and we think terribly skewed) views about these things. That does not change the past.

In any case, anyone in Archaeology or related disciplines who can not see the woman's bosom clearly carved on this stone should examine whether they have the skills of observation necessary to accomplish the interpretative task at hand.

Similarly, any person in law or in a judicial or related capacity who has "moral" or "legal" problems with these decipherment images -- taken straight out of the human past -- should surely reconsider their positions. They would, in any case, be confirming the correctness of the decipherment, since the interpretative images are all tracings of the stone. Either the subject matter portrayed is there or not. If the image we suggest is there, it is not ours, but rather that of the ancients.

Avebury Stone #16 Henge Outward Face Photograph by Andis Kaulins


Avebury Stone #16 Henge Outward Face Photo Traced


Avebury Stone #16 Henge Outward Face Black/White Tracing and Stars



Avebury Stone #16 Henge Outward Face Tracing in Color and Stars


Avebury Stone #16 Henge Outward Face Corresponding Stars in Virgo


There is no need on our part to make any kind of extensive commentary. The matter is so simple that we can not imagine anyone not getting it. Indeed, we have posted several variations of the resulting traced image above to show that our interpretation of the stone and the corresponding stars is correct.

The Avebury Stone #16 Henge Outward Face portrays the head and bosom of a woman as God made her. The ancients "drew" this image in the corresponding stars and put it to stone through their megalithic carving. It is Virgo.

The ancients surely placed Virgo in the stars at a position nine months removed from the position of Gemini, the twins, in order to mark the nine-month gestation period of a human being.

The cosmology of the ancients was based on the actual realities of their life in their era. They would be have been negatively puzzled by the modern world and its attitudes toward the most natural of things of human life and existence. Puzzled. Moreover, they would have been astounded by the failure of those who research, study and/or view the stones to see this particular figure carved on the stone. 

Astounded.

Prelude to Avebury Stone #16 Whose Henge Outward Face Marks Stars of Virgo

Prelude to Avebury Stone #16
Whose Henge Outward Face Marks Stars of Virgo

We had a special reason to interrupt our stream of megalithic postings and to interject our Galaxy album songs in the two previous postings, honoring, as they do, not only the universe in which we live, but also the human beings with whom we all share our life here in Earth, a human existence that is by no means perfect, and -- as daily world events in the media show -- a human existence that can be fraught with countless difficulties and dangers

"Survival" is always a watchword and remains a biological necessity that drives humanity in many of its daily affairs. However, our contemporary human world must ALSO deal with the truly significant problem that mankind's understanding of our role in the universe has simply not kept pace with technological advance.

On the one hand, humanity thinks we "know" MORE, and yet, on the other hand, the truth is that we might even "know" LESS than our ancestors.

Consider our astronomical decipherments of the megalithic systems of Stonehenge and Avebury and what they tell us about a comparison of the lives of Neolithic (Stone Age) mankind with our lives today.

The Stone Age ancients were demonstrably and understandably awed by the starry sky of the galactic night and even mapped their own Earth accordingly -- as was taught for millennia by hermetic tradition - as above, so below.

This reverence of the starry night skies by ancient skywatchers led to cosmological belief systems in which the ancients placed their deities -- their "gods", as it were -- in those starry skies above them. Their belief systems made sense -- in their era. They all knew the stars in the skies and thus Heaven was where they placed their gods. The underworld in turn was viewed as the realm of the vast oceans, while the volcanic innards of the Earth gave rise to fiery notions of Hell.

The ancients thus created a logical connection between their visible world and their belief systems.

Moderns have established little connection between reality and religion, which has created enormous difficulties on Earth between rival religious groups, all professing belief systems not capable of proof.

"Belief" has accordingly become "absence of fact" rather than reflecting "what is known". No modern belief system today can be proven, and is merely an act of faith.

Many today know virtually NOTHING about the stars, about THEIR galaxy, or the space beyond, and yet, their professed gods are still seen to originate in a sky that modern astronomy has shown to be far different than envisioned by ancestral cosmologists or theologians. A massive factual discrepancy now exists.

The ancients devised a logical system based upon a world that they could view in their time and that they could represent readily in stone -- with the technology then available.

It was all that they had. No paper, no pencils. No Radio. No TV. No smartphones. People carved their message into the rocks around them, long before they learned to "paint". Painting was a later technological "advance", first in pictures and then in more abstract symbols. Abstraction is a modern invention. Rock carving is old.

Theirs was a much, much simpler world than ours. Mankind was in some ways THEN much more in tune with the "basics" of human survival as also with natural events and happenings on Earth -- much more so than we are NOW. Step outside and look at the sky. How many stars can you recognize? Indeed, due to city lights and environmental pollution, how many stars can you even see?

Just what did it mean THEN and what does it mean TODAY to BE human?
What ARE some of the BASICS of human life and being human?

Did we not all begin our lives being weaned on a woman's breast? That's basic.

In ancient days, a female bosom was not a "pornographic" exposure. Rather, it was NORMAL, and essential to human survival. It marked THE BEGINNING of LIFE AFTER BIRTH. Women were important. Indeed, they always have been.

How we got to the present situation is a strange tale of misplaced conceptions of human morality and religion in a world nevertheless dangerously over-populated by over 7 billion human inhabitants. They all got here pretty much the same way. Talk about a massive gap between morality theory and reality. That's it.

In many ways, our modern world is OFF TRACK. We need to get back on the right path again. We need to learn to appreciate the BASICS of LIFE again. Not a woman's bosom is "offensive", but -- in our view -- the evening news IS OFFENSIVE  -- to the human spirit, to the way the Earth could be, but is not.

That is our prelude to the next posting at Avebury Stone #16 Whose Henge Outward Face Marks Stars of Virgo.

Stand Up Tall and Appreciate Life in The Grandeur of the Stars of YOUR Galaxy

Stand Up Tall and Appreciate Life in The Grandeur of the Stars of YOUR Galaxy

The closing song of the Galaxy album in the previous posting is:

Track 21 - Ode to the Stars - 4:28 21-Ode to the Stars-Andis Kaulins .mp3

That song is the galactic finale and designed to make the listener "stand tall".

Music is of course personal and emotional and everyone reacts differently to given music, nor can we make any guarentees, but Ode to the Stars can make a person stand up, tall and proud just to be a human being in our galaxy.

When the song is completed, you could have a smile on your face.
On the other hand, some people have been moved to tears.

Try it.

Galaxy Album: Music of the Stars and Planets as Indie Synthesizer Music

This is a must have for all galactic inhabitants.
We do not just write about megaliths,
and the Sun, Moon and Stars,
but we also compose music about them....

From Isandis, let the music about our galaxy begin...
The label Isandis is combination of the artist's first name Andis with the first name of his first wife Isa, i.e. Isa+Andis. It seemed liked an obvious name, but we have found that many people read instead the term "Islandis", inserting the more familiar term "island". Everything has to be researched, even the giving of names.... Who could know?

THE ALBUM: Galaxy: Music of the Stars and Planets

Music of the Stars is Synthesizer Music of the Earth and the Sky by Kaulinsium.
The CD-ROM is 56.29 minutes. The Composer is Andis Kaulins who also does the Keyboards (yes, we know, the songs need professional mastering). These songs were all created in a home environment using basic consumer equipment.

The Genre is Indie (Independent) Alternative Music.
Copyright © 2004 by Andis Kaulins in Traben-Trarbach with all rights reserved.
Consumers can copy and play these songs for free for private non-commercial use. For terms of commercial use, please contact the copyright holder.

Classical Piano Music Lovers try Track 10.
Our own favorites are Tracks 1, 4, 11, 8 and 21, but some of the others can grow on you. Composing music is one of the most fun activities we have ever done and we like to think we have a few "catchy" tunes. Music is personal.

We claim this music can make you smarter. Such is their design. One critic wrote to us to tell us how we could improve the songs. Our answer, "See, smarter already!" Click on the link to hear that song on your media player.

Track 1 - Galactic Milk - 2:33 01-Galactic Milk-Andis Kaulins.mp3
Track 2 - Black Space - 2:27 02-Black Space-Andis Kaulins.mp3
Track 3 - Off to the Stars - 1:52 03-Off to the Stars-Andis Kaulins.mp3
Track 4 - On the Edge of Light - 2:19 04-On the Edge of Light-Andis Kaulins.mp3
Track 5 - The First Planet - 1:52 05-The First Planet-Andis Kaulins.mp3
Track 6 - 1st Planet More Cleary - 1:59 06-The First Planet More Clearly-Andis Kaulins.mp3
Track 7 - Earth - 2:23 07-Earth-Andis Kaulins.mp3
Track 8 - The Earth Song - 2:25 08-The Earth Song-Andis Kaulins.mp3
Track 9 - Jubilation & Ebulation - 3:36 09-Jubilation & Ebulation-Andis Kaulins.mp3
Track 10 - Mercury - 1:15 10-Mercury-Andis Kaulins.mp3
Track 11 - The Asteroids - 2:28 11-The Asteroids-Andis Kaulins.mp3
Track 12 - Jupiter - 3:38 12-Jupiter-Andis Kaulins.mp3
Track 13 - Jupiter 2 (faster) - 2:31 13-Jupiter 2-Andis Kaulins.mp3
Track 14 - Saturn - 2:23 14-Saturn-Andis Kaulins.mp3
Track 15 - Uranus - 2:14 15-Uranus-Andis Kaulins.mp3
Track 16 - Pluto - 2:47 16-Pluto-Andis Kaulins.mp3
Track 17 - Solar Symphony - 7:04 17-Solar Symphony-Andis Kaulins .mp3
Track 18 - Mars - 2:42 18-Mars-Andis Kaulins .mp3
Track 19 - Moody Moon - 2:13 19-Moody Moon-Andis Kaulins .mp3
Track 20 - Venus - 5:20 20-Venus-Andis Kaulins .mp3
Track 21 - Ode to the Stars - 4:28 21-Ode to the Stars-Andis Kaulins .mp3

There are a few more songs, also vocals, at Isandis:

If you like it, tell us. If not, switch channels.

Most Popular Posts of All Time

Sky Earth Native America


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.

  • Both volumes have the same cover except for the labels "Volume 1" viz. "Volume 2".
    The image on the cover was created using public domain space photos of Earth from NASA.

    -----

    Both book volumes contain the following basic book description:
    "Alice Cunningham Fletcher observed in her 1902 publication in the American Anthropologist
    that there is ample evidence that some ancient cultures in Native America, e.g. the Pawnee in Nebraska,
    geographically located their villages according to patterns seen in stars of the heavens.
    See Alice C. Fletcher, Star Cult Among the Pawnee--A Preliminary Report,
    American Anthropologist, 4, 730-736, 1902.
    Ralph N. Buckstaff wrote:
    "These Indians recognized the constellations as we do, also the important stars,
    drawing them according to their magnitude.
    The groups were placed with a great deal of thought and care and show long study.
    ... They were keen observers....
    The Pawnee Indians must have had a knowledge of astronomy comparable to that of the early white men."
    See Ralph N. Buckstaff, Stars and Constellations of a Pawnee Sky Map,
    American Anthropologist, Vol. 29, Nr. 2, April-June 1927, pp. 279-285, 1927.
    In our book, we take these observations one level further
    and show that megalithic sites and petroglyphic rock carving and pictographic rock art in Native America,
    together with mounds and earthworks, were made to represent territorial geographic landmarks
    placed according to the stars of the sky using the ready map of the starry sky
    in the hermetic tradition, "as above, so below".
    That mirror image of the heavens on terrestrial land is the "Sky Earth" of Native America,
    whose "rock stars" are the real stars of the heavens, "immortalized" by rock art petroglyphs, pictographs,
    cave paintings, earthworks and mounds of various kinds (stone, earth, shells) on our Earth.
    These landmarks were placed systematically in North America, Central America (Meso-America) and South America
    and can to a large degree be reconstructed as the Sky Earth of Native America."


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