March 5, 1908] 



NATURE 



415 



from West Kynnet, is this monument, but witliout 

 any name : It is about four perches long, but at the 

 end only rude grey-wether stones tumbled together. 

 The barrow is about lialf a yard high.' " ' 



Stukeley says of it ' : " Tlie other Long barrows are 

 much e.vceeded by South Long Barrow, near Silbury 

 Hill, south of it, and upon the bank of the Kennet. 

 It stands east and west, pointing to the dragon's head 

 on Overton Hill. \ very operose congeries of huge 

 stones upon the east end and upon part of its back or 

 ridge, pil'd one upon another, with no little labour. 

 . . . The whole tumulus is an excessively large 

 mound of earth 180 cubits long, ridg'd up like a 

 house." 



Sir R. Hoare'.s account of it' is as follows: — 

 " There are several stupendous Long barrows in the 

 neighbourhood of Abury : one of the most remarkable 

 has been recorded by Stukeley as situated south of 

 .Silbury Hill. It extended in length 344 feet : it rises, 

 as usual, towards the east end, where several stones 

 appear above ground : and here, if uncovered, we 

 should probably find the interment, and perhaps a 

 subterraneous kistvaen." 



Dean Merewether states ' : — " At the east end were 

 lying, in a dislodged condition, at least thirty sarsen 

 stones, in which might clearly be traced the chamber 

 formed by the side uprights and large transom stones, 

 and the similar but lower and smaller passage leading 

 to it : and below, round the base of the east end, 

 were to be seen the portion of the circle or semi-circle 

 of stones bounding it." 



I have given this somewhat long account because 

 it shows that all information relating to orientation is 

 omitted from it ; it is generally, indeed, neglected by 

 modern nrchseologists. Even Stukeley himself, though 

 he was thoroughly acquainted with magnetic varia- 

 tion and at tiines used a theodolite, is caught napping 

 in the case of this barrow. Fortunately, however, the 

 apparently useless statement that the barrow points 

 to the dragon's head on Overton Hill helps us, as 

 this was a circle the site of which is known, though 

 the stones have disappeared. This bearing (true) is 

 N. 64° E. as determined from the 6-inch Ordnance 

 map. 



Here again, then, we deal with the May year and 

 the May and August sunrises, still another argument 

 in favour of Avebury and its region being connected 

 with the May year. 



I may next refer to some cromlechs near Dublin 

 dat. 53° 20' N.), which were described by Prof. J. P. 

 O'Reillv.^ I give the results of his stated amplitudes 

 in tabular form : — 



Cromlech Value given .Aziir 



Glen Druid... E.24 30 N. ... N.65 30 E. .. 



Declination 

 ... 14 20 N. 



(assumed) 

 Howth E.27 oN. ...N.63 oE. ... i ...1544N. 



(assumed) 

 Mount Venus E.23 28N. ... N. 66 32E. ... o ...13 5 N. 

 Shankill ... ,, ... ,, ... ,, ... ,, 



Larch Hill... 



It will be seen that here again we are in all prob- 

 nbilitv dealing with the May and August sunrises, 

 when the sun has a declination of 16° 20' N. 



It is to be regretted that in Borlase's fine book on 

 the dolmens of Ireland, the lack of all accurate state- 

 ment touching the lie of the monuments renders its 

 thousand pages and hundreds of illustrations quite 

 useless for my purposes. 



1 From MS. in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, quoted in '" -\rcliaeoIogia,'" 

 vol xx.wiii., p 407. 



2 ''.\bury Described," p. 46. 



y " Ancient Wilt*:, North." p. 96. 



^ Proceedings of Archseological Institute, Salisbury ^'olume, pp. g7, 9S. 



■''> Proc. R.I.A., iv., pp. 589-605 (1896-8). 



NO. 2001. VOL. 77'\ 



.\fter what I have suggested as to the probable use 

 of dolmens, namely, that they were useful among 

 other things as look-out places, it is not to be ex- 

 pected that only the rise of the sun would be found 

 provided for. They should follow the precedent of 

 the avenues, and be presented to star as well as to 

 sun rise. 



In two instances known to me the information is 

 complete enough to enable a stellar use to be traced. 



The first is at the Hurlers. Full details have been 

 already given in my " Stonehenge." 



The second is at Callernish (Turnsachan, lat. 

 58° 12' N.). A good description of the stone monu- 

 ments there, which include a circle, avenue and crom- 

 lech, is given in Anderson's " Scotland in Pagan 

 Times " ("The Bronze and Stone Ages," p. iig). 



They were, fortunately, also carefully surveyed by 

 Sir Henry James. 



We learn from Anderson tliat ; — 



" In 1S58, Sir James Matheson caused the peat 

 which had grown on the site of this monument to oe 

 removed. The average depth of the peat from the 

 surface to a rough causewayed basement in which 

 the stones were imbedded was 5 feet. In the process 

 of the removal of this accumulation, the workmen 

 uncovered the remains of a circular cairn, occupying 

 the space between the centre stone and the east side 

 of the circle. In the centre of the cairn was a chamber 

 with regularly built internal walls, and a passage 

 leading from it to the oiitside of the cairn, the open- 

 ing being placed between two of the stones of the 

 circle. The chamber was divided into two compart- 

 ments by slabs placed across the floor, leaving an 

 opening between their edges a little less than 2 feet 

 wide. Beyond these slabs the inner compartment was 

 formed of dry-walling in the sides, and a long slab 

 set on edge at the back. The passage was about 

 6 feet in length, and 2 feet wide, entering the chamber 

 between two slabs set on end facing the two on each 

 side of the entrance to the inner compartment. The 

 first compartment was 6 feet 9 inches from side to 

 side, and 4 feet 3 inches from front to back, the 

 second, 4 feet 4 inches from side to side, and 2 feet 

 I inch from front to back on the floor, widening 

 upwards in consequence of a slight inclination of the 

 slab at the back. With the exception of a single 

 stone, which was supposed to have been a lintel, there 

 was no appearance of a roof, and there is nothing on 

 the record of the excavation to show whether the roof 

 of the chamber had fallen in, or whether it had been 

 removed. It is not even stated what was the height 

 to which the side-walls were found standing. But it 

 is obvious at a glance that here we have a very 

 peculiar construction, — a cairn containing' a chamber 

 divided into compartments, and furnished with a 

 passage opening to the outside of the cairn." 



From Sir H. James's plan we get the data necessary 

 for orientation purposes. They are as follows for the 

 sight-line from the chamber : — 



Horizon 

 Az (I'map) Decl. Star Date 



N. 74 30 E. ... I 18 .8 54 N. ... Pleiades ... 1330 B.C. 



In 1330 B.C. and lat. 58° 15' N. the Pleiades warned 

 the May sun by about ij hours; in 1901 B.C. the 

 warning was of about i hour duration. Thus, taking 

 into account the high latitude, with the consequently 

 extended dawn, the Pleiades warning- was more 

 effective in 1300 B.C. than it would have been at the 

 earlier epoch, at which, as I have previously shown, 

 the stones of the long avenue were probably erected. 



Prof. Morrow has recently sent me measures of 

 the side walls of the curious structure on the N.E. 



