24^ 



NA TURE 



[July 13, 1905 



r have before pointed out that an avenue directed 

 to the rising place of a star, if it is erected over 

 undulating ground, cannot be straight. I may 

 now mention another apparent paradox. If two 

 avenues are directed to the rising place of the same 

 star at different times, they cannot be parallel. It is 

 not a little curious that absence of parallelism has 

 been used against avenues having had an astro- 

 nomical use ! 



Fig. 18.— Plan, from [he Ordn 



Both the Ordnance surveyors and Mr. Worth have 

 shown the want of parallelism of the two avenues, and 

 Mr. Worth has noted the kink in the southern one. 

 The height of the horizon, as determined from my 

 measures, is 3° 18'. The results of these inquiries, 

 assuming the Pleiades to have been observed warn- 

 ing May morning, are as follows : — 



them, used as a processional road^^ a via sacra, to 

 watch the rising of the Pleiades. 



I said roughlv parallel; its azimuth is about the 

 same (N. 82° E. roughly) ; but the horizon is only about 

 1° high; it was therefore in use before those at 

 Merrivale ; the exact date of use must wait foi 

 theodolite values of the height of the horizon, but in 

 the meantime we can see from the above estimates 

 that the declination of the Pleiades was about N. 5° 28' 

 30" and the date of use 1950 B.C., 

 that is some 300 years before the 

 solstitial restoration. 



Mr. Worth's survey gives another 

 line of stones which is not shown in 

 the Ordnance survey. It is un- 

 doubtedlv, I think, an ancient line, 

 although it is not shown in the 

 Ordnance map, a clear indication of 

 the difficulty of discriminating these 

 avenues on land cumbered with 

 stones in all directions. Its azimuth 

 is X. 24° 25' E., and the height of 

 the horizon 5° 10'. This gives us 

 .\rcturus at the date 1S60 B.C., show- 

 ing that, as at the Hurlers, .\rc- 

 turus was used before the Pleiades. 

 Hence a possible astronomical use is 

 evident, while this row, like the 

 others, could have been of no prac- 

 tical use to anybody. It is interest- 

 is at Merrivale, with ing to note that this single row of 

 stones is older than the double ones ; 

 this seems natural. 

 It is worth while to say a word as to the different 

 treatment of the ends of the south avenue now that 

 it seems probable that it was used to watch the 

 rising of the Pleiades. At the east end there is what 

 archaeologists term a " blocking stone "; these observ- 

 ations suggest that it was really a sighting stone. .At 

 the west end such a stone is absent, but the final 



.Authority N. Declina- Da 



N. 83-15 E. 

 82-30 

 82-10 

 80-40 

 80-30 



Worth 

 Worth 



Ordnance 

 Worth 



Ordnance 



6 47 47 



7 16 20 



7 32 " 



8 26 o 

 8 30 o 



B.C. 



1710 

 1630 

 i5bo 

 1420 

 14C0 



To simplify matters we may deal 

 with the Ordnance values and neg- 

 lect the small change of direction in 

 the southern avenue. We have, 

 then, the two dates 15S0 B.C. and 

 1420 B.C. for the two avenues. The 

 argument for the Pleiades is 

 strengthened by the fact that at 

 .Athens the Hecatompedon was 

 oriented to these stars in 1495 B.C. 

 according to Mr. Penrose's deter- 

 mination of the azimuth. 



Now this is not the first time I 

 have referred to avenues in these 

 notes. The azimuth of one at Stone- 

 henge was used to fix the date at 

 which sun worship went on there. 

 That avenue, unlike the Dartmoor 

 ones, was built of earth, and it is not 

 alone. There is another r.carly two miles long called 

 the Cursus. .So far, I have found no solstitial worship 

 on Dartmoor, so there are no avenues parallel to the 

 one at Stonehenge leading N.E. from the temple. 

 But how about the other? // is roughly parallel to the 

 avenues at Merrivale, and I think, tlicrefore, was, like 



NO. 1863, VOL. 72] 



9.— Reprint of Ordnance Map showing that the Cu 



the Merrivale Avenue. The azimuth is 82* and not S 



stones in the avenue are longer than the rest. This 

 may help us to determine the true direction of the 

 sight-lines in other avenues, and, indeed, I shall 

 show in the sequel that it affords a criterion which 

 in some cases is entirely in harmony with other 

 considerations. Norman Lockver. 



