Thursday, January 31, 2013

Ancient Britain: Knowlton Rings SW of Stonehenge are Astronomy as the Stars of Taurus at the Vernal Equinox Point ca. 3000 BC including at Least One of the Hyades and showing also Stars of the Neighboring Pleiades

The Knowlton Rings are barrows viz. tumuli located in East Dorset, England, United Kingdom, southwest of Stonehenge at a location which would correspond astronomically to the stars of Taurus, given our previous postings, and thus it is not surprising that the Knowlton Rings in fact mark the Vernal Equinox ca. 3000 B.C. via the stars of Taurus and at least one of the Hyades. For orientation, the stars of the Pleiades are also marked to the northeast.

Google Earth is of little use here, but we found an image online by Steve Burrow of Bournemouth which shows a full archaeological survey map of the Knowlton Rings. Since that image is copyrighted, we redrew the entire map to a larger size (it may not be exactly to scale as a result) and added our astronomical explanations.

Two images were required to be able to show the full correspondence of the barrows and tumuli on Earth with the stars in the heavens.

The Pleiades are so clear as be without any possible astronomical dispute. Indeed, even the famed seven-star symbol of the Pleiades is apparently used. However, the Pleiades do not represent this megalithic site, but have only been added here for completion of the location by the ancients.

Knowlton itself is defined by the stars of Taurus near Aldebaran and the Hyades. In Taurus, stars important to marking the Vernal Equinox point on the ecliptic are given priority so that the major star Aldebaran is only marked to the right of the larger rings without any greater significance, as it is not on the ecliptic. The same holds true for the Hyades. However, numerous stars can be identified with little difficulty, as shown in the following images.

Image 1 of 2 of the Decipherment of the Knowlton Rings



 Image 2 of 2 of the Decipherment of the Knowlton Rings


Obviously, the interpretation of one megalithic site alone does not prove the hypothesis that ancient barrows and tumuli, viz. tumps, marked stars in the sky as part of archaic astronomical practice and also as hermetic land survey -- as above, so below -- but when one can start to incorporate several megalithic sites, as we have done in past postings, into a cohesive interlocked system, then the likelihood that the hypothesis is correct has been magnified algebraically.