March i8, 1909J 



NATURE 



71 



new, we are led to suppose, can be le.ornt on the 

 subject. We should have liked to know what par- 

 ticularly may be the author's conception of Druidism. 

 It must be rather peculiar to produce the remark 

 (in Warne's opinion of tlie Knowlton ring-works, 

 that they were "sanctuaries of Druidic worship." 

 " Had he written ' astronomical ' instead of ' Druidic,' 

 his opinion would have perhaps earned more 

 attention " (p. 566). 



Little as the author has done consciously for the 

 student of astronomical archaeology (and how much 

 he could have done with little trouble!), we are grati- 

 fied to find in the plans given scores of orientations 

 agreeing with the theoretical conditions for locality. 

 For instance, the mean azimuth of twenty-two earth- 

 works in and about latitude 51°, which were assumed 

 to be oriented to the summer solstice, ranging from 

 48° to 50°, is 48° 20'. 



The author, like other recent writers who are more 

 or less familiar with the astronomical inquiry in 

 the field of archaeology, will have it that the spade 

 is the " solitary instrument " of comparative 

 archaeology. It is strange that the writers we have 

 in mind have not tried any astronomical methods. 

 Ihere is something suspicious, as well as unscientific, 

 in this assumption of finality, if not infallibility, for 

 the spade. 



With regard to many sites, the spade-work is 

 confessedly disappointing. The author notes that the 

 results of some partial explorations " of the Stripple 

 Stones were as ' negative ' as they have been at 

 other spots of the kind " (p. 582). Astronomy, how- 

 ever, supplies us with " positive " information. 

 We find there a definite Capella indication, 1250 b.c. 

 (" Stonehenge," p. 293). On the plan given by 

 Mr. .Allcroft, we further note definite equinoctial and 

 November alignments. 



The series of four circles on the top of the Mendips 

 (see Fig. i) the author is inclined to think is " perhaps 

 of astronomical character " (p. 564). The circles (Fig. 

 iSq) bear a striking resemblance in arrangement to 

 the Hurlers in Cornwall ("Stonehenge," pp. 136- 

 140). There are two definite star alignments, either 

 Arcturus at different periods before 1300 B.C., or 

 Capella at later periods, which we hesitate to say. 

 The site is evidently that of a notable observatory. 

 There is a Roman road running at right angles to 

 the line of sunrise at the summer solstice (N. 41° W. 

 — X. 49° E.). Another road, N. 61° E., points to 

 sunrise on May-day. Meeting the last is still another 

 road, az. S. 51° E., sunrise at the winter solstice. 



One excellent result of collating so many plans 

 of earthworks is the establishing of the fact that 

 rectilineal and rectangular camps are by no means 

 exclusively Roman. " The old conviction that all 

 rectangular camps, wherever placed, must neces- 

 sarily be Roman was completely upset by the 

 excavations of Pitt-Rivers, and is now entirely dis- 

 credited in England. In Scotland, according to 

 Dr. Christison's view, of a total of more than eighty 

 rectilineal and chiefly rectangular works commonly 

 described as Roman, only seven have furnished any 

 relics to bear out this attribution " (p. 143). The 

 author shows that the " circular plan is the most 

 economical." Why, then, have we straight walls 

 or banks associated with circular works? \n 

 examination of the plans discloses the answer. Walls 

 or banks were, of course, erected for defensive pur- 

 poses, but they were built straight for orientation 

 purposes. More, a straight wall gives the best earth- 

 work orientation. Burrington Camp, Somerset, is a 

 striking illustration in point (see Fig. 2). The only 

 evidence of age the author cites is the finding of flint 

 flakes in some quantity along the edge of the cliff 

 -nuthwards. It is described as " a very curious work, 



NO. 2055, VOL. 80] 



apparently a hybrid between the ' military ' and the 

 'ritual ' methods of construction " (p. 582). " Collin- 

 son was so perplexed by the oddity of the whole work 

 that he opined it to be ' Druidical,' and to have some 

 unexplained connection with the well-known stone 

 circles at Stanton Drew, eight miles to the north- 

 east" (pp. 583-4). 



The plan shows the south bank to be oriented to 

 the equinox. Another bank (B), az. 52°, may be 

 oriented to both sunset at the summer solstice and 

 sunrise at the winter solstice, as there is some height 

 on the north-west. The north-east bank (D), 

 3.7.. N. 17° E., gives us a familiar datum. CoUinson 

 was right, and Burrington and Stanton Drew have 

 the same star alignment, which Sir Norman Lockyer 

 has worked out to be Arcturus, i6go B.C. (" Stone- 

 henge," p. 173). Surely this is another instance 

 where the theodolite has helped the spade, and there 



k-- 



Fig. 2.— Burrington Camp. From " Enrthwork of England. 



is also something in " Druidism " which has not been 

 reckoned with in Mr. Allcroft's philosophy. 



At Arbor Low there seems to be an alignment to 

 .\lpha Centauri, the star concerned in our_ earliest 

 monuments. Here the spade-work also indicates 

 an early period. " The site was explored by Mr. 

 St. George Gray in 1901-2, whose conclusions were 

 that it was a vvork of the later Neolithic age, but 

 antedating the Bronze age, that it was not intended 

 as a place of habitation, and that, albeit interments 

 were found within it, it did not appear to have been 

 a place of sepulture at a period closely following its 

 construction " (p. 577). The last sentence is most 

 valuable. Well, an"" interment " at the centre of the 

 camp is aligned with a south-east entrance to 

 S. 18° E., which may be regarded as Alpha Centauri 

 about, say, 2400 b.c. This estimate is based on 

 analogous cases where the same star is concerned. 



" Not unlike this (.\rbor Low) is Castle Dyke, near 



