By William Gowland, F.S.A., F.I.C. 



45 



All the evidence we have, apart from the doubtful attributions 

 of legendary lore, leads, I think irresistibly to the conclusion that 

 it was not a sepulchre, but a place of sanctity dedicated to the 

 observation or adoration of the sun. 



If on the morning of Midsummer Day we stand in the middle 

 of the horseshoe curve in which the trilithons are arranged, a point 

 once marked by the aperture between the two piers of the central 

 and greatest of them, and look in the direction of the " hele " stone, 

 the sun will be seen to rise approximately over the summit of that 

 monolith. 



This can hardly be accidental. It is, in fact, impossible to con- 

 ceive that the arrangement of the trilithons in an open curve, with 

 its opening directed eastwards, and more especially that the position 

 of the central trilithon and altar stone in relation to the " hele " 

 stone and the avenue, can have been the result of mere chance. 



If not the result of chance, this disposition of the stones must 

 have been made with some purpose, and that purpose cannot have 

 been other than to direct observers or worshippers to the point 

 where the sun rose in the heavens. 



A somewhat parallel case is afforded us in the surviving form of 

 sun-worship in Japan. 



There on the seashore at Futa-mi-ga-ura, the orientation of the 

 shrine of adoration is given by two gigantic rocks which rise from 

 the sea as natural pillars. The sun as it rises over the mountains 

 of the distant shore is observed between them, and the customary 

 prayers and offerings made in that direction. 



It is, too, specially worthy of note that the point from which the 

 sun is revered is marked by a structure of the form of a trilithon, 

 but made of wood, placed immediately behind the altar. This 

 representative of the trilithon is of very remote date in Japan, 

 and has been in use there from the earliest times in connection 

 with the observances of the ancient Shinto cult in which the Sun- 

 Goddess is the chief deity. One of its important uses, which still 

 survives, was to indicate the direction of the position of some sacred 

 place or object of veneration, in order that worshippers might 

 make their prayers and oblations towards the proper quarter. 



