280 



NA TURE 



[January 18, 1906 



SOME QUESTIONS FOR ARCHAEOLOGISTS. 



THE study of a few of our British stone monuments from 

 an astronomical point of view has led me to the con- 

 clusion that if such an inquiry be continued information will 

 ultimately be obtained touching the order of succession of 

 the various swarms of immigrants who set out the various 

 systems of alignments. Approximate dates of the changes 

 of temple worship representing different cults, and, there- 

 fore, possibly different tribes, have already been obtained, 

 for I have evidence that the risings of stars, as well as of 

 the sun, were observed in some of the circles. I also 

 believe that much folklore and many myths may find their 

 explanation. 



I begin with the fact that some circles used in the 

 worship of the May year were in operation 2000 B.C., and 

 there was a change of cult about 1600 B.C., or shortly 

 afterwards, in southern Britain, so definite that the changes 

 in the chief orientation lines in the stone circles can be 

 traced. 



To the worship of the sun in May, August, November, 

 and February was added a solstitial worship in June and 

 December. 



The easiest explanation is the advent of a new swarm 

 of immigrants about that date. 



The associated phenomena are that the May-November 

 Balder and Beltaine people made much of the rowan and 

 maythorn. The June-December people brought the worship 

 of the mistletoe. 



The flowering of the rowan and thorntree in May, and 

 their berries in early November, made them the most ap- 

 propriate and striking floral accompaniments of the May and 

 November worships, and the same ideas would point to a 

 similar use of the mistletoe in June and December. 



Another associated phenomenon is that chambered 

 barrows seem sometimes to have been used by the sol- 

 stitial people instead of, or in addition to, stones to mark 

 sight-lines. 



If there were such swarms, and the June-December suc- 

 ceeded and largely replaced the May-November one, this 

 could hardly have been put in a cryptic and poetic state- 

 ment more happily than it appears in folklore : Balder was 

 killed by mistletoe. 



In the May-November circles and alignments we deal with 

 unhewn stones. In the June-December alignments the 

 stones in Brittany are tooled. 



In this we have a strong argument in favour of the same 

 order of succession. 



The Worship Conditions and a Working Hypothesis. 

 In a colony of the astronomer-priests who built and used 

 the ancient temples we had of necessity : — 



(1) Observatories, i.e. circles, alignments, coves or holed 

 stones, for viewing the alignments or sight-lines. 



A study of the sight-lines shows us that the stones — 

 collimation marks — were of set purposes, placed some 

 distance away from the circles, so far that they would be 

 required to be illuminated in some way for the dawn 

 observations. When there was no wind, one or more 

 hollows in a stone, whether a menhir or a quoit, might 

 have held oil or grease to feed a wick. But in a wind 

 some shelter would be necessary, and the light might have 

 been used in a cromlech or allege couverte. Stones have 

 been found with such cups, and deTris of fires" have been 

 found in cromlechs. 



(2) Dwellings, which would be cromlechs or many- 

 chambered barrows, according to the number of astronomer- 

 pi iests at the station, and possibly some arrangement for 

 protecting a sacred fire. 



(3) A water supply for drinking and bathing, which might 

 be a spring, river or lake, according to the locality. 



Assuming this, I ask whether we may not consider the 

 following working hypothesis, the accuracy of which can 

 be easily tested by those conversant with' these subjects, 

 which I am not ; nor have I time to look over tin- vast 

 and scattered literature where the facts are recorded. 



Everything relating to these three different classes of things 

 was regarded as very holy, because they were closelj asso- 

 ciated witli the astronomer-priests, on whom the early 



NO. 1890, VOL. J 2>] 



peoples depended for guidance in all things, not only of 

 economic, but of religious, medical and superstitious value. 



Hence the circles, mounds and alignments, as sacred 

 places, were subsequently used for burials, as Westminster 

 Abbey has been ; but burials were not the object of their 

 erection by the first swarms.' I believe they were after- 

 wards used for burials by later swarms, who imitated them, 

 and built round barrows without living chambers for the 

 dead. 



The perforated stones were regarded as sacred, so that 

 marriages took place at them, and passing through them 

 was supposed to cure disease. Whether men and women, 

 or children only, passed through the hole depended upon 

 its size. But a hole large enough for a head to be in- 

 serted was good for head complaints. I may state that 

 I have traced holed stones on May-November alignments. 

 In too many cases the temples connected with them have 

 been so ruthlessly destroyed that their use cannot so easily 

 be established. 



The cups for the light would also become sacred objects ; 

 have not many of them since been used for holy water? 



The wells, rivers, and lakes used by the priests were, as 

 holy places, invested with curative properties, and offerings 

 of garments (skins?), and pins to fasten them on, were made 

 at them to the priests, as well as bread and wine and cheese. 



The fact that the tree on which the garment was hung 

 was either a rowan or a thorn shows that these offerings 

 commenced as early as the May-November worship. 



These wells are ■ in many cases alongside cromlechs, 

 circles or unhewn stones. In others they are near churches 

 which have been built upon the sites of the more ancient 

 temples. 



At the coming of the June-December people all the old 

 practices and superstitions were retained, only the time of 

 year at which they took place was changed. As the 

 change of cult was slow, in any one locality the celebrations 

 would be continued at both times of the year. 



The June-December people did what they could to favour 

 their own cult by changing the old holidays, with the 

 result that for long both sets of holidays were retained. 



Since I have shown that the solstitial worship came last, 

 as a rule traces of this would be most obvious in places 

 where it eventually prevailed over the cult of the May 

 year. In such places the absence of traces of the May 

 festival would afford no valid argument against its former 

 prevalence. In other places, like Scotland, where the 

 solstitial cult was apparently introduced late and was 

 never prevalent, we should expect strong traces of the May 

 worship, and, as a matter of fact, it is very evident in 

 the folk-lore and customs of Scotland. 



The Conditions of Migration. 



May we suppose that any of the races reached Britain 

 by sea? 



Some facts with regard to ancient travel are the follow- 

 ing. Our start-point may be that Gudea, a Babylonian 

 king who reigned about 2500 B.C., brought stones from 

 Melukhkha and Makan, that is, Egypt and Sinai (Budge, 

 " History of Egypt," ii., 130). Now these stones were 

 taken coastwise from Sinai to Eridu, at the head of 

 the Persian Gulf, a distance of 4000 miles, and it is also 

 said that then, or even before then, there was .a coast- 

 wise traffic to Malabar, where teak was got to be used in 

 him-' -building. The distance from Eridu coastwise to 

 Malabar, say the present Cannanore, is 2400 miles. 



The distance, coastwise, from Alexandria to Sandwich, 

 where we learn that Phoenicians and others shipped the tin 

 extracted from the mines in Cornwall, is only 5300 miles, 

 so that a voyage of this length was quite within the powers 

 of the compassless navigators of 2500 B.C. 



The old idea that the ancient merchants could make 

 a course from Ushant to, say. Falmouth or Penzance need 

 no longer be entertained ; the crossing from Africa to 

 Gibraltar and from Cape Grisnez to Sandwich were both 

 to visible land, i.e. coastwise. The cliffs on the opposite 

 land are easily seen on a clear day. 



Hence it would have been easier before the days of 

 astronomical knowledge and compasses to have reached 



1 " Les Celtes et les Gaulois dans les Values du PC. et du Danube," 

 p. 82. 



