May 20, 1909] 



NA rURE 



341 



(sleeping) chambers and a small chamber at the end, 

 and a long alley-way which points to a menhir not 

 far away called the " Barn Stone," and to the place 

 ol sunset in December, twenty days from the winter 

 solstice. 



The most compound examplfe of avenues and crom- 

 lechs that I know of as yet is one of which photo- 

 graphs and particulars have recently been sent to me 

 by Captain Devoir, of the French Navy ; in it we 

 have three cromlechs and three alley-ways, using 

 the same outlook, and, doubtless, once covered by 

 one barrow. 



One alley-way is directed to the sunrise in May, 

 another to sunrise at the winter solstice, and there is 

 another directed to a " clock-star " rising near the 

 north point, so that, in association with one barrow, 

 we have three distinct and well-marked alleys in direc- 

 tions with which we are perfectly familiar. 



This oneness of aim which the orientation theory 

 enables us to discover leads us further. 



In the avenues, alley-ways, and cromlechs we are 

 absolutely face to face with the ground-plan of 

 Egyptian temples, so much so that there can be no 

 question that those who built those magnificent monu- 

 ments in Egypt some 2000, 3000, or 4000 years B.C. 

 got their ideas of the buildings they wished to erect 

 from the traditions of people who built cromlechs and 

 who had lived in and used them. 



A general plan of Thebes shows how in Egyptian 

 architecture, in a country of wonderful civilisation, 

 large population, and infinite wealth, we get a tre- 

 mendous elaboration of the avenue ; each temple is 

 provided with one, long or short, leading outwards 

 from the pylon. ■ 



The avenue, which in our case is built of rough 

 stone, is elaborated into long lines of beautifully 

 carved sphinxes, and, further, if we study the most 

 elaborate Egyptian temples, we see there are, in the 

 temple itself, very many openings in one straight line 

 in various walls ; in some places we have an allie 

 ouvcrte, and in others an alUe coiiverte. 



These all lead to a closed chamber at the end, a 

 darkened, chamber, the naos or the holy of holies, 

 which is nothing but a glorified cromlech. 



The temple access never pierces the end of the 

 closed chamber any more than the wall was pierced at 

 the back of the cromlech, but it led to a darkened 

 chamber, so that here we have the closest possible 

 relationship from the architectural point of view 

 between the British cromlech and the most elaborate 

 temples at Thebes, while from the astronomical point 

 of view the similarity of use is obvious. 



So much, then, for the intimate connection between 

 the avenue and the cromlech, however simple or com- 

 plicated either may be, and the strict relationship of 

 both to the Egyptian temples. 



But there is another and completely different set 

 of ancient monuments still to be classified. I refer 

 to circles, which, like the avenues and cromlechs, may 

 be simple or compound. Archa;ologists so far have 

 not noticed the close relationship of circles with 

 avenues and cromlechs, for the reason that the circles 

 to which their attention has been almost entirely con- 

 fined only represent one part of the apparatus. When 

 we consider a circle and its outstanding stone indi- 

 cating a certain direction, the strongest astronomical 

 resemblance to the alignments of avenues and crom- 

 lechs is at once apparent. 



There is no doubt that the circle represents an 

 enormous advance in astronomical knowledge, possibly, 

 to a certain extent, connected with the building con- 

 ditions brought about by the poverty or the economical 

 ideas of the people who constructed them. In densely 

 NO. 2064, VOL. 80] 



populated and rich Egypt a temple was devoted to 

 the rising or setting ot one heavenly body, whether 

 star or sun, the place of rising or setting being in- 

 dicated by the long temple axis, and each sacred place 

 contained many such temples, because there were 

 many heavenly bodies to be watched. The temple of 

 Amen-Ra, if contracted for now, could not, I fancy, 

 be built for less than 5,000,000/. sterling, and it might 

 take ten or fifteen years to erect. But it simply had 

 one outlook, one use. 



Now, to carry on this method of observation and 

 worship where the population was scarce, the best 

 and cheapest thing to do would be to build a bank 

 or set up a line of stones to represent a temple axis, or 

 to build a circle to represent a sanctuary, and from 

 its centre to imitate various temple axes by sight- 

 lines marked out by a stone or barrow at some 

 distance outside the circle. Six such outstanding 

 marks, each of stone set up in a day or two, would 

 then replace, and quite effectually from the astro- 

 nomical point of view, si.x majestic temples taking 

 tens of years to build, and the elaborate system of 

 avenues and cromlechs represented by all the temples 

 at Thebes or in any other locality, however numerous. 



Only the holy of holies as a dark chamber would 

 have to go ; the centre of the circle would replace it 

 as the priest's place. That was a matter for the 

 priests, and had nothing to do with astronomy. In 

 any case, from the astronomical point of view, what 

 was done by the Theban priests by building all these 

 majestic temples could be done by one circle with 

 properly arranged outstanding stones, so that the 

 circle represents a distinct advance over the idea 

 connected with the avenues and the cromlechs. 



We shall not, then, be far wrong in supposing 

 circle buildijig to represent a later development, and 

 this view is strengthened by the fact that there are 

 no circles in Egypt, where the avenue-cromlech 

 system is most developed. 



The next upshot of the inquiries arrived at, soon 

 after I had measured several stone monuments in 

 Cornwall and on Dartmoor, was that the directions 

 indicated by the avenues, cromlechs, and circles with 

 outstanding stones were certainly not helter-skelter. 

 When they were classified it was found that only a 

 small number of directions was used — that is to say, 

 directions embracing sunrise and sunset throughout 

 the year, and directions to the north or south parts 

 of the horizon which the sun never reaches. 



Next it was found that these directions were prac- 

 tically the same, and had the same uses, as those I 

 had previously studied in Egypt — in short, that the 

 British avenues and stone circles bear precisely the 

 relationship to the Egyptian temples indicated above. 

 The " clock-stars " used in the British monuments 

 were the precise equivalents of the stars in Ursa Major 

 and Draco used by the ancient Egyptians, w-hen we 

 take the difference of latitude between Egypt and 

 Britain (25°) and the effect of the precessional move- 

 ment on the declination of the star into account. 

 The same may be said of the " morning stars " they 

 employed. 



These " morning stars " were of very great import- 

 ance. We are familiar with them from Bible refer- 

 ences. These were stars which rose about an hour 

 before the sun itself rose. In the earliest times there 

 were sacrifices, and the morning sacrifice was a very 

 elaborate affair, which required about an hour for its 

 preparation, so that unless the priest could get some 

 idea of the time of the actual sunrise some hour or 

 so before the sun itself rose, he might go very wrong, 

 and be either too early or too late at the moment 

 of the rise of the great luminary. W'hen the align- 



