Apkil 6, 1905J 



NA TURE 



537 



about the field ; but as we approach them the unevenly 

 spaced stones group themselves. 



The material of which the greater number of the 

 rude blocks is composed is peculiar and worthy of 

 careful examination. It is a much altered rock con- 

 sisting, in most of the stones, of an e.xtremely hard 

 silicious breccia with angular fragments embedded in 

 a red or deep brown matrix, and with numerous cavi- 

 ties which give it a rough slaggy appearance. Many 

 of these hollows are coated internall)' with a jasper- 

 like material, the central cavity being lined with 

 gleaming quartz-crystals. 



The majority of the stones were probably brought 

 from Harptree Ridge on Mendip, distant some six 

 miles. Weathered blocks of Triassic breccia, showing 

 various stages of silicification, there lie on the surface; 

 and there probably lay the weathered monoliths which 

 have been transported to Stanton Drew. It is im- 

 portant to note that they were erected unhewn and un- 

 touched by the tool. A few stones are of other material 

 — sandstone, like the " quoit," or oolite from Dundry. 



In the great circle, of the visible stones some retain 

 their erect position, others are recumbent, several are 

 partially covered by accumulation of grass-grown soil. 

 Others are completely buried, their position being re- 

 vealed in dry seasons by the withering of the grass 

 above them. 



To the east of this circle a short avenue leads 

 out, there being three visible stones and one buried 

 block on the one hand, and two visible stones on the 

 other. But one's attention is apt to be diverted from 

 these to the very large and massive megaliths of the 

 small N.E. circle. This is composed of eight 

 weathered masses, one of which (if indeed it do not 

 represent more than one), Prof. Lloyd Morgan tells us, 

 is recumbent and shattered. From this circle, all the 

 stones of which are of the silicious breccia, a short 

 avenue of small stones also opens out eastwards. 



The third or S.W. circle lies at some little distance 

 from the others. The average size of the stones is 

 smaller than in either of the other circles, and not 

 all are composed of the same material. 



"The Cove," which has been variously regarded 

 as a dolmen, a druidical chair of state, and a shelter 

 for sacrificial fire, is close to the church. 



The dimensions and number of stones are as 

 follow : — 



Great Circle, diameter 368 feet, 30 stones. 

 N.E. „ ,, 97 ,, S „ 



S.W. „ „ 14s ., 12 ,, 



We now pass from general descriptions of the 

 circles to the azimuths of the sight lines already re- 

 ferred to, so far as they can be determined from the 

 published Ordnance maps. 



To investigate them as completely as possible with- 

 out local observations in the first instance, I begged 

 Colonel Johnston, R.E., C.B., the Director-General 

 of the Ordnance Survey, to send me the 25-inch maps 

 of the sites giving the exact azimuth of the side lines. 

 This he obligingly did, and I have to express my 

 great indebtedness to him. 



Of the various sight lines found, those to which 

 I wish to direct attention in the first instance, and 

 which led me to the others, are approximately, read- 

 ing the azimuths to the nearest degree, 



Hurler- Stanton Drew 



Lat. 50° 31' N. Az. Lat 51 lo' N. Az. 



S. circle to central Great circle to Ouoit N. 17° E. 



circle N. 12° E. S.W. circle to great 



Central to N. circle N. 15° K. circle N. 20° E. 



N. circle to tumulus N. 19° E. 



For the purposes of a preliminary inquiry in antici- 

 pation of the necessary local observations with a 

 theodolite, for which I am making arrangements ; 



NO. 1849, VOL. 71] 



assuming hills half a degree high, which roughly 

 compensate the refraction correction so that we may 

 use sea-horizon values, we have the following de- 

 clinations approximately : — 



The Hurlers. Lat. 50" 31' Stanton Drew. Lat. 51' lo' 



Dec. N. 38*° Dec. N. 37° 



38' ,, 36r 



37° 

 Here, then, we have declinations to work on, 

 but declinations of what star? To endeavour to 

 answer this question I prepared a diagram 

 showing the declination of the three brightest stars 

 in the northern heavens, having approximately the 

 declinations in question for the period o to 2500 B.C. 

 The calculations for o to 2000 B.C. are taken from 

 the tables published by the Astronomisches Gesell- 

 schaft,! and have been completed from 2000 to 2500 

 B.C. by Dr. Lockyer. 



Vega is ruled out as its declination is too high. 

 The remaining stars Capella and Arcturus may have 

 been observed so far as the declinations go. For 

 time limits we have : — 



De 



, N. 



3Si° 500 B.C. 1550 B.C. 



36° 1050 ,, 1 150 ,, 



The interesting fact must be pointed out that about 

 1000 B.C. the declination of the two stars was very 

 nearly the same. 



Now there is no question as to w-hich of these 

 two stars we have to deal with, for I find by the use 

 of a precessional globe that for about 1400 B.C. and 

 800 B.C. the warning stars were as follows for the 

 critical times of the year, i.e. May, .\ugust, 

 November, February. 



1400 B.C. Az. 800 B.C. k7.. 



May Pleiades rising Pleiades rising 



Aug. Arcturus rising N. 14" E. Sirius rising 

 Nov. Capella setting Betelgeuse rising 



Feb. Capella rising N. 29° E. Capella rising N 2i°E. 

 Dec. 34° N. Dec. 37' N. 



It is quite clear, then, that we have to deal with 

 Arcturus, and this being so, the approximate dates 

 of the use of the three circles at the Hurlers can be 

 derived. They are : — 



Southern circle aligning Arcturus over centre of central circle 1600 

 Central ,, ,, ,, N. circle 1500 



Northern ,, ,, ,, tumulus 1300 



I have already pointed out that Mr. Penrose found 

 the warning star for May morning at the date of 

 foundation of the Hecatompedon, 1495 B.C., to be 

 the group of the Pleiades. As the foundations of the 

 Hecatompedon were only built some few years before 

 the stones of the central circle of the Hurlers were 

 used, we ought to find traces of the observations of 

 the same May morning stars. We do ; there is a 

 stone with amplitude E. 15° N., which, when aligned 

 from the S. circle, would have pointed out the rising 

 place of the Pleiades in 1300 B.C., that is, the date 

 we have already found froin the observations of 

 Arcturus. I regard this as an important confirm- 

 ation of the time of the use of the temple, all the more 

 as the high situation of the circles, not generally 

 dominated by higher levels for some miles, renders it 

 probable that large corrections for hills will not be 

 required to be made. 



There are alignments in connection with the N. 

 circle which indicate the introduction of the solstitial 

 year, but these and some others may wait until local 

 observations have been made before more is said 

 about them. 



With regard to Stanton Drew, it is clear that we 

 are there also dealing with .^returns. Mr. Dymond's 



