STONEHENGE AND THE STARS 257 



regard to what has been said as to its rising at the 

 summer solstice ; and if Sir Norman Lockyer's 

 view that it is a solar temple is correct, we may 

 also perhaps accept his further statement that 

 astronomical data point to its having been erected 

 somewhere about 1700 years B.C., a date which 

 very closely approximates to that arrived at by 

 Professor Gowland by quite a different line of 

 argument. 



Sir Norman thinks that Stonehenge and many 

 humbler edifices, such as dolmens and the like, 

 were really astronomical temples erected by the 

 priests of the period, and that their purpose was 

 to indicate the seasons with a view to agricultural 

 operations. As he says, nowadays anybody can go 

 into a shop and buy an almanack for one penny or, 

 one may add, may even obtain it gratis from his 

 grocer or some other tradesman who desires to 

 keep himself before the mind of a possible cus- 

 tomer. Hence, there is no reason why the generality 

 of mankind should study astronomy or desire to 

 know how they may learn from the heavens what 

 time of the year it may happen to be. But in the 

 days before calendars it was of the utmost impor- 

 tance that the farmer should know when he was 

 to plough and when to sow, and this information, 

 it is urged, he obtained from his priests, who were 

 his priests just because they could give him the 

 information in question. 



Of course we all know that our date for com- 

 mencing our year is purely arbitrary, that the year 

 did not always begin on January ist and that it 

 might be made to begin on almost any cjay. And, 



