Operation Megalithic Lift

Abstract

The theoretical alignments still had to be modified to the precise contours of the skyline. Although by Thom’s standards my design was very imprecise, with each marker stone occupying several degrees of the field of view from the other side of the circle and no use of distant outliers or horizon features as ‘foresights,’ small differences in the elevation of the actual horizon would translate into much bigger differences in azimuth. To pin down the solar and lunar alignments with the accuracy found in the prehistoric sides must have required years of patient observation (decades at least for the lunar standstills), using prominent features on the distant horizon as ‘foresights,’ with teams of observers spread across the landscape to pin down the exact view station with greater and greater accuracy. To find the most northerly and southerly positions of the Moon, rising and setting, the ancient astronomers must have refined their sight-lines over a century or more before commemorating them in stone.