From: Subject: On Decoding Hawkins' Stonehenge Decoded Date: Sun, 4 May 2008 18:26:21 +0300 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="windows-1255" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://localhost:8780/pubs/journals/pensee/ivr01/24stoneh.htm X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3198 On Decoding Hawkins' Stonehenge Decoded

On Decoding Hawkins' Stonehenge Decoded

Immanuel Velikovsky

"The ancient Stonehengers had true perils on their minds when they = dragged=20 huge monoliths from afar, when they watched that the sun should not = continue=20 to rise past the foreordained point on the horizon. It is in vain to = search=20 the motive for erecting Stonehenge in awe before 'the perils' of lunar = eclipse=20 during the few weeks following Halloween."

In 1963 and 1964, a young and talented astronomer, Professor Gerald = S.=20 Hawkins, published two papers in the British magazine, Nature = (October=20 26, 1963, and June 27, 1964). The subject of the papers was developed by = him in=20 articles (Harper's, June, 1964; American = Scientist,=20 December, 1965; Physics Today, April, 1966); in a book = (1965),=20 Stonehenge Decoded; and in many lectures before scientific = societies=20 and the public.

In the 1963 article Hawkins claimed that Stonehenge, a stone monument = on=20 Salisbury plain in England, was erected for astronomical observations (a = view=20 going back to Lockyer at the turn of the century and to earlier writers) = and=20 that the purpose was to watch the sun rising on the summer solstices = (also an=20 often repeated view); but he claimed further that with certain four = selected=20 points as observational stations, the extent of the swing along the = horizon=20 between the rising and setting points of the moon in summer and winter = can also=20 be followed up. Also with some additional selected points, the movements = of the=20 sun could be aligned with great precision for the winter solstice as = well. Such=20 a purpose is readily conceivable; the problem, then, is: if the ancient=20 alignments are still valid, how could my reconstruction of past events = of=20 catastrophic nature with solsticial sunrising points repeatedly = dislodged, be=20 true? Not a small share of the public interest in Hawkin's theory can be = attributed to this predicament.

Before we examine 1. whether the alignments are true today and 2. = whether=20 they were the same in ancient times, I would like to present Hawkins' = view on=20 the motives that guided the ancients in erecting Stonehenge, a great = monument=20 that required very great efforts on the part of those who, as Hawkins = says,=20 "apparently did not know the wheel" (Stonehenge Decoded, p. 65) = yet=20 brought the huge monoliths from a great distance across plains on = rollers and=20 along rivers on rafts.

"They (the Stonehengers) had the means to confirm that the Sun was on = course.=20 They certainly had reasons to be vitally concerned with the = observations. If the=20 Sun ever failed to turn at the heelstone at midsummer and day after day = rose=20 further to the left, then intense heat and drought would surely follow. = Today we=20 have absolute confidence in the regular movement of the Earth around the = Sun"=20 (Hawkins, American Scientist, [December, 19651, 395).

This concern of the ancient Stonehengers is, of course, hardly = understandable=20 if past experience had given no reasons for such apprehension. This, = however,=20 Hawkins does not consider and thus he ascribes to the ancients, on the = one hand,=20 very advanced ideas like building an astronomical computer (his second = article=20 and thesis), and, on the other hand, an apparently unfounded fear that = the sun=20 might go out of control.

In his second paper in Nature (1964), titled "Stonehenge: A=20 Neolithic Computer", Hawkins claimed that the Stonehengers dug out 56 = holes in a=20 circle (Aubrey holes from the name of their 17th century discoverer) = around=20 Stonehenge in order to predict lunar eclipses. Hawkins wrote in the = preface to=20 his book: "In retrospect it is a conservative hypothesis for it allows = the=20 Stonehenger to be equal to, but not better than, me. Many facts, for = example the=20 56-year eclipse cycle, were not known to me and other astronomers, but = were=20 discovered (or rather rediscovered) from the decoding of = Stonehenge."

A 56-year eclipse cycle was unknown to modern astronomers, but known = to the=20 Stonehengers and learned from them by Hawkins who, in order to find this = secret=20 of Stonehenge, used a modern computer.

How important was it for the neolithic (late Stone Age) dwellers of = Salisbury=20 plain to know in advance the times of lunar eclipses? Their computer was = not=20 built to predict solar eclipses.

"I could visualize Stonehenge being an instrument which was useful = for giving=20 some warning of the danger of an eclipse" says Hawkins in American=20 Scientist, and in his book he details this warning system: "Not = more than=20 half of those eclipses were visible from Stonehenge, but the good chance = that=20 the inevitable eclipse might have been visible from England would have = made it=20 well worth while for the Stonehenge priests to use winter moonrise over = the heel=20 stone as a danger signal. Far better to call the people out for a false=20 alarm--and then perhaps claim that skilled intercessions had averted the = disaster--than to fail to call them out and have the eclipse come = without=20 warning!" (Stonehenge Decoded, pp. 13940).

The ancient computer could predict lunar eclipses only during one = winter=20 month, when "the full moon nearest the winter solstice rose over the = heel=20 stone." Thus, the priests of Stonehenge could not spread the alarm = during the=20 entire year--lunar eclipses may occur in any of the twelve months of the = year;=20 but in order not to compromise themselves they alarmed their = congregation, even=20 of lunar eclipses that would be visible only in the southern hemisphere, = because=20 their computer was geared for such performance: Close to the time of the = winter=20 solstice it was in working condition. The Stonehengers, apprehensive of = the=20 danger of lunar eclipses, were unconcerned about solar eclipses because = their=20 56-hole digit computer was attuned only to the 56 year cycle of lunar = eclipses,=20 which Hawkins refers to "as those most frightening things" = (Stonehenge=20 Decoded, p. 147).

According to Hawkins no other purpose of astronomical character will = be=20 discovered in Stonehenge since he has tried out every alignment: "I = think there=20 is little else in these areas that can be discovered at Stonehenge" (p.=20 147).

There are many more holes besides the Aubrey or X ring of 56 holes = (closer to=20 the sarsen monuments are 30 holes of a Y ring and 29 holes of Z ring and = inside=20 the ring of the monoliths there are 59 holes prepared for bluestones, = from which=20 those stones were removed) and many stones large and small, as well. = Hawkins=20 subjected all possible alignments to a computer test to seek out their = possible=20 significance in observing celestial bodies.

"There are so many possible Stonehenge alignments--27,060 between 165 = positions--that one could be found to point to practically anything in = the sky,=20 and, vice versa, there are so many objects in the sky--perhaps literally = an=20 infinite number--that hardly any line extended from earth could fail to = hit at=20 least one" (Stongehenge Decoded, p. 104).

With 27,060 alignments in a structure designed as an observatory it = is=20 surprising to read that "stars and planets yielded no detectable = correlation"=20 (Hawkins in Nature, October 26, '63). There was "no significant = matching with planets or with the bigger stars, Sirius, Canopus, = Arcturus,=20 Betelgeuse, Spica, Vega . . ." (Hawkins in Harper's, June, = 1964). Not=20 one planet, and not a single prominent star qualified, despite so many = chances.=20 The thought must occur that Stonehenge, if it was used for astronomical=20 observations, must have been put together, let us say, originally, under = a=20 different celestial order. I say "originally" because it will be shown = that=20 Stonehenge was repeatedly re-ordered.

*********

Visiting Stonehenge in the summer of 1957, I, like other visitors, = could not=20 but be greatly impressed by the huge monoliths capped by lintels, all = shaped by=20 human hand: there is a circle of such rectangular stones, and inside the = circle=20 still larger stones capped to form trilithons. The larger of these = "sarsen"=20 stones weigh up to 50 tons each, and all the "sarsens" were brought = south a=20 distance of 20 miles to Stonehenge. Less spectacular features, not paid=20 attention to by many a visitor, include a circular ditch with raised = banks=20 surrounding the area in which, in concentric rings, the already = mentioned X, Y,=20 and Z holes surround the sarsen monoliths. Inside the ring of these = monoliths,=20 but outside the horseshoe-like formation of trilithons (originally five = in=20 number), there are 59 or 60 holes, some of them still occupied by = "bluestones,"=20 five or so feet high and weighing four to six tons each; inside the = horseshoe=20 there is another horseshoe of bluestones. Outside the circular ditch, = but=20 actually in an "avenue" formed by two parallel extensions of the ditch = stands a=20 roughly shaped (not trimmed by hand) stone with its apex leaning from = the=20 vertical--the so-called Heel stone. It is not located centrally in the = avenue,=20 but closer to one of the side ditches. Several holes found in the avenue = suggest=20 that at various times other stones the size of the Heel stone stood in = them, or=20 that the Heel stone itself was moved from one to another of them and = finally to=20 its present position in the avenue. Between the Heel stone and the = sarsen stones=20 lies the so-called "Slaughter Stone."

It is generally believed that on the summer solstice (June 21) the = sun,=20 viewed from the central position through an aperture between two sarsen = slabs,=20 rises directly over the Heel stone; this belief also served as the = initial=20 assumption of Hawkins' theories. However, the official guide book on = Stonehenge,=20 written by Professor of Archaeology R. J. C. Atkinson and published by = the=20 British Government, states:

"It is commonly believed that on 21st June, when today large crowds = gather to=20 see the dawn, an observer at the center of Stonehenge will see the sun = rise=20 immediately over the Heel Stone, and that it will cast a shadow of the = top of=20 the Heel Stone on the Altar Stone. Neither of these widely held beliefs = is=20 correct. Today the midsummer sun rises appreciably to the left of the = Heel=20 Stone, and when Stonehenge was built it rose even further to the left; = it will=20 not rise over the Heel Stone for more than a thousand years." = Atkinson=20 is the recognized authority on Stonehenge.

When Hawkins published his theory, Atkinson came out with an = annihilating=20 criticism (Nature, 210, 1302, 1966; The New York = Review of=20 Books, June 23, 1966), and developed it in greater detail under the = title=20 "Moonshine on Stonehenge" in the September, 1966, issue of = Antiquity, a=20 scholarly magazine published in England.

Atkinson accused Hawkins of being very inexact with figures and = measurements.=20 Instead of making measurements on the spot, Hawkins used two different = maps, one=20 of them by Atkinson, which, as the latter stressed, was never made for = such a=20 purpose, being intended only to show the approximate positions of the = stones and=20 holes, "wholly inappropriate as a basis for accurate measurement." The = other map=20 comes from "a now-obsolete Ministry of Works plan from earlier editions = of the=20 official guide. Further, Atkinson stresses that even then Hawkins = permits=20 himself an inadmissible tolerance of two degrees of arc in accepting=20 non-alignment as perfect alignment. He does this "in spite of the fact = that 2 is=20 equivalent to about four diameters of the sun or moon" whereas with a = pair of=20 sticks the rising or setting of the Sun can be fixed within "repeatable = limits=20 of 5 minutes of arc" or 24 times more accurately. "Translated into = practical=20 terms, it means, for instance, that the Heel Stone could be moved 12 = feet to the=20 north-east without affecting Hawkin's claim."

Hawkins says, "we have no record of what the ancients took to be the = instant=20 of sunrise. Was it the first gleam or the moment when the whole disk = stands on=20 the horizon?" (Nature, 1963) Feeling free to select either one = or the=20 other, he mostly chooses the complete emergence of the disk in fixing = the rising=20 point on the horizon, but occasionally half the disk, and then also (for = 2000=20 B.C.) one full diameter above the horizon (Stonehenge, = p. 18).=20 This is hardly permissible: on the solar solstice the sun rises = obliquely, and=20 when it is in full view its lower limb is not even approximately where = its upper=20 limb is when the first ray of sunshine appears; in one instance, = incidentally,=20 Hawkins refers to a 2 displacement of the sun along the horizon during = the time=20 of emergence.

Contrary to that assumption that the ancients have not left any = tradition for=20 what they regarded as the rising moment of the sun, we have records from = many=20 ancient civilizations--Egyptian, Hebrew (Temple of Solomon*), = Mexican--that the=20 shining forth of the first ray of the sun was the moment. The = heliacal=20 rising of a star, important in the reckoning of the so-called Sothis = period in=20 Egypt, was defined by the moment the first ray of the sun showed up.

(*The Temple of Jerusalem was so built that on the two=20 equinoctial days the first ray of the rising sun shone = directly=20 through the eastern gate. " Worlds in Collision, p. 318 = with a=20 reference to the Tractate Erubin of the Jerusalem = Talmud).

Atkinson showed by a number of examples that Hawkins, in obtaining = supposedly=20 significant alignments for the moon and the sun, made "inadmissable" = claims.=20 Thus of eight alignments claimed for Stonehenge III (one of the several = periods=20 during which the monument was taking its shape) "four of them fall = outside=20 Hawkins' own arbitrary limits of error; two more involve fallen stones; = and one=20 would almost certainly have been blocked by the Slaughter Stone when = upright."=20 Especially offended is Professor Atkinson by Hawkins' claims based on=20 Bernoulli's law of statistical chance. "The probability quoted is wrong; = the=20 method of testing the hypothesis is wrong; and the restriction of the = possible=20 sightlines ... is wholly inadmissible."

The final blow came when it was shown that the 56 year cycle of lunar = eclipses, first allegedly discovered by the Stonehengers, does not exist = in=20 nature. Yet this was the only basis for identifying the 56 Aubrey holes = and with=20 them the entire Stonehenge complex as an ancient computer. "Such = eclipses repeat=20 every 65 years (in periods of 19, 19 and 27 years) and not every 56 = years (19,=20 19 and 18 years) as claimed by Hawkins", write R. Colton and R. L. = Martin in=20 Nature for February 4, 1967, in a paper titled "Eclipse Cycles = and=20 Eclipses at Stonehenge." They also produce a table of eclipses for the = last=20 hundred years to demonstrate the true cycle. "The Aubrey holes at = Stonehenge=20 were not constructed to predict eclipses on a 56 year cycle."

Thus of the entire theory not one thing is left. But this is = significant in=20 itself. Stonehenge emerges as an obsolete observatory, in the same state = as the=20 ancient sundials and waterclocks found in Egypt. These also do not work = today;=20 they disclose a ratio of the longest day in the year to the shortest day = that is=20 very different from what is valid at the latitudes of Egypt in the = present=20 arrangement of the world (c.f. W in C., section "The Shadow = Clock" and=20 "The Water Clock"). However, Stonehenge could be re-arranged to meet a = new=20 order, not so the water clocks and sun dials.

That Stonehenge was actually and repeatedly re-arranged is not given = to=20 question.

I will quote Hawkins as well as Atkinson, his own authority on the=20 archaeology of Stonehenge. The history of this monument during = construction is=20 divided by Atkinson into periods I, II, IIIA, IIIB, and IIIC, altogether = some=20 400 years. "As in many of our later cathedrals and churches, not all of = the=20 structures we see at Stonehenge today were built at the same time."

To Period I, according to Atkinson, belong the bank and ditch, the = Heel=20 Stone, and the Aubrey holes. "Nothing is known about the ceremonies for = which=20 they were used."

Period II "About 150 years later" the monument "was radically = remodelled. At=20 least 80 bluestones, weighing up to four tons apiece, were brought from = the=20 Prescelly Mountains in Pembrokeshire," a place over 130 miles away (but = as=20 rollers roll and rafts float, 240 miles), and were set to form "a double = circle=20 in the center of the site." With an entrance on the north-east side, = this double=20 circle had a new axis: "on the opposite side was a large pit, which may = have=20 held a stone of exceptional size.... In order to make the entrance of = the old=20 earthwork fit this new axis, about 25 ft. of the bank on the east side = of the=20 entrance gap was thrown back into the ditch, to widen the original = causeway."=20 The builders of this period, at the end of the Neolithic age "may = possibly have=20 introduced the idea of sky- or sun-worship." They "never completed their = work."

Period IIIA. "The double circle of bluestones, still unfinished, was=20 dismantled and its stones put on one side. In their place over 80 = enormous=20 blocks of sarsen stones were dragged from the Marlborough Downs"; they = are what=20 make the monument so impressive.

Period IIIB. Soon thereafter, "rather more than twenty of the = dismantled=20 bluestones were selected, carefully dressed to shape, and erected in an = oval=20 setting." The "exact plan is still uncertain."

"It seems clear that to complete the monument the builders intended = to use=20 the remaining 60 bluestones; and it is almost certainly to hold these = that the=20 two rings of Y and Z Holes were dug. But for some reason, perhaps an = unforeseen=20 catastrophe or an unlucky omen, the project was abandoned unfinished ... = the=20 whole design was given up, and the oval setting of dressed bluestones in = the=20 center was demolished."

Period IIIC. "The final reconstruction of Stonehenge probably = followed almost=20 at once. The uprights of the dressed oval structure were re-set in the=20 horse-shoe of bluestones we see today." Other changes .were made and = some stones=20 were "battered down." "The rest of the circle was made up of the = undressed=20 bluestones which had earlier been intended for the Y and Z Holes. = Originally the=20 total number of stones in this circle must have been at least 60 . . . = The=20 largest bluestone of all, the Altar Stone, was probably set up as a tall = pillar=20 in front of the central sarsen trilithon and has since fallen down."

"The date of this final reconstruction is not known for certain; but = it seems=20 likely that all three stages of Period III followed closely on one = another, and=20 that Stonehenge as we see it today was already complete by 1400 = B.C."

Hawkins, speaking of Stonehenge II and "a pattern of radiating = spokes" of=20 stones, says: "This was an unusual pattern. Could the spokes enclosing = the=20 sacred center have been meant to serve as sighting lines from or over = that=20 center? Were the stones only a ritual barrier? Or was the design a = blunder?"=20 Whatever it was, "for some reason the whole double bluestone circle = structure=20 was abandoned, apparently in a hurry."

An interesting detail. Just as the 56 holes in the Aubrey circle = served=20 Hawkins for his theory that Stonehenge was a computer, so four = "stations" or=20 points rather symmetrically positioned along that circle served him for = his=20 initial theory about the extent of solar and lunar movements along the = horizon.=20 Atkinson claims that of these four points (none corresponds with any of = the 56=20 holes) one is nothing but a. hole left by a dead tree, and another of = the four=20 stations was simply postulated by Hawkins (no mark present) for the sake = of=20 symmetry. With the erection of the sarsen monoliths, the most important = lines of=20 sight were obstructed, and Hawkins readily admits this. The question = then is:=20 Why should the builders of the monument disregard the purpose of the = whole and=20 obstruct needed lines of vision?

"The work of decoding Stonehenge can advance if calendric and=20 astronomical texts of literate peoples of antiquity are consulted. The = cuneiform texts should be processed by computers in order to find the=20 direction of the terrestrial axis and the form of Earth's orbit in = different=20 periods of the second millennium and the first third of the first = millennium=20 before the present era."

Speaking of the sarsen circle of Stonehenge IIIA, Hawkins observes = that its=20 center did not coincide with that of the old Stonehenge I circle of = Aubrey=20 holes. The "Slaughter Stone" was probably "tipped out of its hole ... = during the=20 first centuries after the construction, perhaps because it interrupted = the Heel=20 Stone view."

In the IIIB period "the bluestones which had been taken down to make = way for=20 the sarsens were re-erected in an apparently oval formation within the = sarsen=20 horseshoe. Perhaps the 'Altar Stone' was erected. The Y and Z holes were = dug.=20 And then the bluestone oval was dismantled." "Like the Aubrey holes" the = Y and Z=20 holes were "filled soon after they were dug."

In the final stage--IIIC--"the builders re-erected the bluestones of = the=20 dismantled oval. They made the bluestone horseshoe whose remains still = stand=20 today. They also erected a circle of bluestones between the sarsen = horseshoe and=20 the sarsen circle."

Although in 1966 Professor Hawkins sent me a copy of Worlds in=20 Collision with the request to inscribe it to him, I believe that at = the=20 time he wrote his Stonehenge Decoded he did not yet know the = content of=20 my book. Writing of the bluestone spoked wheel, "If the builders did = design that=20 bluestone wheel as a moon-follower, it may be that they abandoned it so = suddenly=20 because they found" that it did not work as it should--Hawkins was just = one step=20 from making a correct deduction.

One project after another was started by the ancient builders, then = abandoned=20 and replaced with another arrangement. The similar quotations from = Atkinson and=20 Hawkins bring close the idea that for purposes otherwise inexplicable, = the=20 structure was repeatedly remodeled to conform with the changed orders of = the=20 world. It seems to me that the work of decoding Stonehenge can advance = if=20 calendric and astronomical texts of literate peoples of antiquity are = consulted.=20 In the first place, the cuneiform texts with observations and = calculations=20 performed by the ancient sages should be brought into the picture--but = first=20 themselves processed by computers in order to find the direction of the=20 terrestrial axis and the form of Earth's orbit in different periods of = the=20 second millennium before the present era. It is not an easy assignment, = and all=20 depends on the good will of specialists in cuneiform astronomy and=20 calendarology. There exists, for instance, a cuneiform manual--mul=20 apin--of before -700, using advanced methods, precise data, and = proper=20 mathematics, but in "complete disregard" of today's prevailing calendric = and=20 astronomical figures. The cuneiform material is the richest, but there = are=20 preserved ancient data from Egypt, India, and Mexico, as well, and a = comparative=20 study of this material--a beginning made in Worlds in = Collision--needs=20 to be pursued as a major field of research.

The last change in the celestial order took place in the beginning of = the=20 seventh century, actually on March 23, -687 (W. in C., Part II, = Ch. 2).=20 It is easily conceivable that subsequent efforts were made to adjust = once more=20 the stone markers of Stonehenge, and it is quite probable that the Heel = Stone=20 was moved from its former position. Hawkins also speaks of a "hole in = the=20 avenue, large enough to hold a huge stone, from which the stone was=20 removed."

The number 56 was sacred to Typhon, as Hawkins, advised by Professor = G. de=20 Santillana, found in Plutarch (American Scientist, = December=20 1965). This author of the first century of the present era reports that = in the=20 Pythagorean secret teaching "the figure of 56 angles [is sacred] to = Typhon" in=20 whom they see "a demoniac power." In the same work of his (Isis and = Osiris),=20 Plutarch ascribes to Typhon "abnormal seasons" and in another essay = in=20 Morals, he explains: "The sun was not fixed to an unwandering = and=20 certain course, so as to distinguish orient and occident, nor did he = [the sun]=20 bring back the seasons in order" (W. in C., P. = 121).

Other ancient writers identified Typhon with Lucifer, the Morning = Star, and=20 also with Seth (Satan). Late Renaissance chronographers, on the basis of = ancient=20 texts, claimed that the Comet Typhon shone at the time the Israelites = left Egypt=20 (Abraham Rockenbach [1602] and other writers quoted in W. in C., = pp. 82=20 ff). Thus 56 was connected by the Pythagoreans with the Morning Star; = and the=20 Morning Star by other early authorities within the Exodus. But care = should be=20 exercised not to make mathematical games out of Stonehenge.

Judging by the parallels in other civilizations and the repeated = calendar=20 changes in the next critical period, the eighth century and the = beginning of the=20 seventh, the late and massive Stonehenge III (A, B, and C) was, most = probably,=20 put together and repeatedly rearranged in that period of history to = conform with=20 the changes in the natural order. History also teaches that it took = several=20 centuries after the great devastations at the close of Middle Bronze IIB = (Middle=20 Kingdom of Egypt) in the mid-second millennium, before man could apply = himself=20 to the task of erecting massive temples and observatories.

A criterion was offered for determining the age of Stonehenge: an = antler of a=20 red deer was found under one of the stones and more antlers in the fill = of the=20 holes. But as the Lamont Geological Observatory of Columbia University = answered=20 (January 4, 1967) to an inquiry: "Antlers and bones are, in general, = unreliable=20 for radiocarbon dating." Also the Radiocarbon Laboratory of the = University of=20 Pennsylvania, in answer to a similar inquiry, let it be known that = experience in=20 polar regions proves that antlers are easily contaminated and made to = yield=20 invalid dates.

The problem of the age of the various phases of construction of = Stonehenge=20 should not obscure the obvious fact that, whatever are the dates of = various=20 rearrangements, the ancient Stonehengers had true perils on their minds = when=20 they dragged huge monoliths from afar, when they made holes and filled = them,=20 when they watched that the sun should not continue to rise past the = foreordained=20 point on the horizon; in this concern of the generations of the = ancients, the=20 modern Stonehengers should see a clue; it is in vain to search the = motive for=20 erecting Stonehenge in awe before "the perils" of lunar eclipses during = the few=20 weeks following Halloween.

PENSEE Journal I

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