Stones 0f Wonder - orientated standing stones, alignments and cairns in Scotland

Archaeoastronomy - astro archaeology and Scottish archaeology links
Archaeoastronomy and Scottish archaeology links and resources; ancient astronomy links; plus free astronomical software links and recommendations

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Stones of Wonder
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HOME PAGE

INTRODUCTION

WATCHING THE SUN, MOON AND STARS

THE MONUMENTS

THE PEOPLE AND THE SKY

BACKGROUND

ARCHAEOASTRONOMY

USING THE SITE DESCRIPTION PAGES

VISITING THE SITES

THE LEY LINE MYSTERY

THE SITES

ARGYLL AND ARRAN
MID AND SOUTH SCOTLAND
NORTH AND NORTH-EAST SCOTLAND

 WESTERN ISLES AND MULL

Data
DATES OF EQUINOXES AND SOLSTICES, 1997 to 2030 AD

DATES OF MIDSUMMER AND MIDWINTER FULL MOONS, 1997 to 2030 AD

POSTSCRIPT

Individual Site References

Bibliography

Links to other relevant pages


Contact me at : rpollock456@gmail.com


Links to archaeoastronomy pages, Scottish archaeology pages and other sites of interest


Scotland

RCAHMS - CANMORE. If you want information on any kind of ancient site in Scotland, look in Canmore, a comprehensive online database.

University of Edinburgh - Discovering Scotland.

University of Glasgow - The Archaeology of Scotland.

Rampant Scotland - Archaeology. A good set of links.

Electric Scotland's Scottish history.

Tartan Pages History and Heritage links.

Sigurd Towrie's Orkney Website. If you want information about Orkney, this is the place to go. Covers many prehistoric sites.

Ancient Scotland. Pictures and information about burial sites, megaliths, settlement sites and prehistoric art.

Pictish Pages A look at the Picts and Pictish Stones.

Britain Express has an excellent list of prehistoric sites in Scotland, compiled by Barbara Ballard.

Suite101 has a first-class collection of Scottish history links and recommendations, by Matthew White.

Celtic Trails - Jackie Queally takes visitors to Cairnpapple, Traprain Law, Culross and other interesting places around Edinburgh.

Scottish History Online - Scottish history, with good coverage of the Picts and the north-east.

Islands of the West - Scotland Web directory.

Stones of Scotland - Lists all the prehistoric standing stones, burial mounds and other ancient landmarks in Scotland, along with photographs in both low and high resolution, locations with Ordanance Survey map refernces. Also states if access is suitable or not for the disabled.

Ring of Brodgar, Stone Circle, Orkney - A beautifully detailed, photographic study of the Ring of Brodgar in Scotland, along with commentary by the photographer, archaeologically significant as one of the largest complete rings of standing stones in Britain.

Professional Photographs of Scotland - Landscape, standing stones, historical, plantlife, environmental and personal work.

Dark Isle - Photos and descriptions of historic sites in Scotland including many castles, cairns, standing stones, Pictish stones and Celtic crosses.

Duine Stane - A new group of previously unkown standing stones has been discovered in Glen Lachart, Scotland.

Ancient Stones - A guide to the standing stones, stone circles and other sites of South East Scotland.

The Megalith Map - An index of all known stone circles and rows in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, via clickable maps, created by Andy Burnham and Alastair McIvor in association with Aubrey Burl.

Recumbent Stone Circles in North East Scotland - Description and illustrated gazetteer of this distinctive type of stone circle, provided by Anna Edelsten, University of Aberdeen.

Neolithic, Bronze Age and Pictish Sites of North East Scotland - Photographs and locations of stone circles and carved stones in Aberdeenshire by George Soja.

Ancient Stones - A guide to the standing stones, stone circles and other sites of South East Scotland.

Da Heights, Foula - An excavation report is available here detailing a newly discovered stone ring oriented towards the midwinter sunrise.

Satan does Stonehenge - Interesting essay about the modern use of Callanish (despite the name of the page).

Ireland

Archaeoastronomy - Bluhorizonlines. Ancient astronomy in Ireland.

The Sacred Island. An investigation of aligned sites in Ireland, especially chambered cairns in Co. Sligo. Also has a useful map.

General / International

Stillaig.com - Astronomy
Astronomy directory and blog.

Night Sky Info
Weekly information about the night sky, astronomy articles and observations.

Italian Rock art
(Mostly in Italian) Images shown are full of interest for anyone interested iin ancient carvings.

Andy Worthington - 'Social historian - author of 'Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion' and editor of 'The Battle of the Beanfield'.'

History of Astronomy and Ancient Astronomy. An excellent set of annotated links for ancient astronomy, part of a large astronomy resource by Gary Agranat.

The Center for Archaeoastronomy. Produces the only journal devoted to research into the subject.

Stone Pages. An excellent guide to European sites (including many in Scotland).

Society for Interdisciplinary Studies. Ancient History, Archaeoastronomy, Palaeontology, Mythology, Astronomy, Catastrophism, Cosmology....

More between heaven and earth. Investigation of megaliths and astronomy and also megalithic art in Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. The creator of this site has also set up a Web camera at Maes Howe to view the midwinter sunset.

Megalithic Mysteries. Photographic guide to megalithic sites, plus a developing database of such sites on the Web.

Well Within. If you live in the USA, this organisation runs tours to Scotland, including visits to archaeological sites.

Places of Peace and Power. Anthropologist and photographer Martin Gray has visited and photographed nearly1000 pilgrimage sites and sacred places in 50 countries around the world. This web site features many of photos and writings, and has an extensive links section.

Bruno Goosens Interesting links directory, with section on Scotland (in French).

Astronomical Software

Dates of Equinoxes and Solstices. Free DOS software which generates a table of the dates of the equinoxes and solstices from 100BC to 4000AD.
Sky & Telescope Software. A large list of free Basic programs covering everything from the date of Easter to heliacal risings.

University of Arizona - Astronomical Software for DOS. Read 00Index first for program descriptions. Includes the Astra programs from Duffet Smith's Astronomy with Your PC.

Ancient Astronomy / Archeoastronomy

Aboriginal Star Knowledge - Native American Astronomy, with a focus on Lakota star knowledge.
Ancient Astronomy - Brief page discussing the evidence of astronomy at Chaco Canyon, with illustrations.
Ancient Astronomy - An interactive atlas of the world links to the archaeoastronomy and multicultural cosmology of ancient times.
AR315 Lecture Timetable - Archaeoastronomy Lecture notes and photographs from Leicester University.
Archaeo-astronomical hypotheses on some Ligurian engravings - Study of rupestral engravings in Italy.
Archaeoastronomy - Dr. Cornelius Holtorf ponders the relationship of Archaeoastronomy to the megaliths of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.
Archaeoastronomy - A comprehensive introduction to archaeoastronomy including a look at various people groups and case studies of sites.
Archaeoastronomy - A section of Chaco Canyon National Historical Culture Park, NM, that has been occupied by both Anasazi and Navajo peoples, is being surveyed for astronomically relevant features
Archaeoastronomy - Well developed site featuring articles and photographs on a number of significant sites and their Archaeoastronomy
Archaeoastronomy - Introduction to Irish megalithic complexes; includes future astronomical sight times.
Archaeoastronomy Pages - Links to all ancient astronomy related articles by James Q. Jacobs. Covers many cultures. Includes a bibliography and photos.
Archaeoastronomy - Supplement to the Journal for the History of Astronomy - Academic journal for history of astronomy and archaeoastronomy published by Science History Publications of UK. Sample article and tables of contents for previous issues.
Archaeoastronomy at Mounds State Park by Donald R. Cochran - During the 1988 Ball State University field school at Mounds Park, it was discovered that two enclosures were aligned to sunset at the summer and winter solstice when viewed from the center of the Great Mound
Archaeoastronomy in Denmark - Brief introductory article.
Archaeoastronomy in Gotland - There are about 3600 known grooves in stones in Gotland. The most important feature of the grooves is alignment. A study of 1256 grooves showed that they are aligned with certain positions of the celestial bodies, apparently the sun or the moon.
Archaeoastronomy Web Sources - Internet resources on archaeoastronomy, from About.com.
Astronomy in Japan - Astronomy in Japan with a lot of information on Japanese Star lore and astronomical history.
Atlantis Reborn Again - Archaeological analysis of the controversial theories of Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval. BBC Horizon web site.
Aztec Astronomy and Observation of Nature - Brief page explaining the astronomical basis of the Aztec Calendar.
Big Dipper Little Dipper Stone - Photograph of a sandstone artifact from Palo Alto California, and text which argues that marking carved into it are native represenations of the Big Dipper and Little Dipper.
Carving the Cosmos - Astronomical analysis of petroglyphs on sandstone panels, Arizona.
Center for Archaeoastronomy - Founded in 1978 at the University of Maryland to advance research, education and public awareness of archaeoastronomy.
Dioptra - The earliest dioptra (c.300 BCE) was a device for measuring the angle, in parts of a “Sign”, between two celestial objects. Photos and descriptions of how to make one and how they work.
The Dogon and Sirius - A detailed examination of M. Griaule's 1950 paper "Un Systeme Soudanais de Sirius" in terms of both ethnography and astronomy.
Ethnoastronomy of the Lakota - Dr. Mark Hollabaugh presents his ethnographic research of Lakota astronomy.
Heliocentric System and Precession of the Tholos of Epidavros - The circular shape of the Monument represents two astronomical theories concerning the Sun: the Geocentric theory of the Sun's apparent course and the Heliocentric theory. In depth discussion of both aspects of this Greek monument.
How the Shaman Stole the Moon - An archaeoastronomy book by William H. Calvin of the University of Washington. The book, which describes a dozen ways of predicting eclipses, can be purchased or downloaded for personal reading at no charge.
ISAAC - International Society for Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture - Contact details for this international academic society.
Kitora Kofun - Japan - Referenced article exploring this ancient Japanese kofun (burial mound). Astrological charts have been determined from the "star paintings" inside the tomb.
Lakota Ethnoastronomy - Well referenced article by Steven Mizrach upon astronomy as practiced by the Lakota.
Ligustic archaeoastronomy - Ligurian Archaeoastronomy, mainly in Italian but with some English and German translations.
Lithuanian Ethnoastronomy - An online book of the folkore in Lithuania surrounding the sun, moon and stars by Jonas Vaiškūnas.
Mythical Ireland - Explores the Irish Stone Age in the context of astronomy, art and mythology, and demonstrates how the ancient people were confidently able to predict solar and lunar events.
Orion Correlation Theory - A collection of articles examining the Orion-Giza theory from an archaeological perspective. From "In the Hall of Maat".
Oxford Conferences on Archaeoastronomy - Introduces the 'Oxford Conferences' which are held on a three-yearly basis. Contains more detailed information on Oxford V, held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
Pathfinder - Ancient American Calendar - Observe video of light/shadow interplay on 1,000+ year old rock art marking equinox sunrise at a remote, newly discovered Colorado site.
Rocks of Ale - Evidence of possible astronomical use of the megaliths at this Swedish prehistoric site. Also available in Swedish and German.
SEAC 2001 - Program details for the 2001 meeting of SEAC in Stockholm, Sweden. Papers, contact details and information on Swedish megalithic sites.
SEAC 2002 - Details the conference in Taartu, Estonia discussing records of cosmic catastrophes the human past.
SEAC - the European Society For Astronomy In Culture - Academic society with conferences and publications. English and French text.
The Shaw Butte Notebook - This site makes extensive use of Quicktime to describe and demonstrate the workings of an Hohokam observatory.
Sites in Asuka, Japan - Stone relics and monuments, of unknown age or origin, with possible Solstitial and/or Principle Term alignments. With photos.
Southern Stars: Aboriginal Astronomy - Evidence of highly complex astronomy within Australian Aboriginal society.
Star Myths and Constellation Lore - Supporting website for the book by Dr. Theony Condos. Includes sample chapter and links.
Temple Orientation and Heliacal Stars - Orientation of Greek and Egyptian temples and the role of astronomy in the setting of temple orientation.
Tiwanaku (Tiahuanaco) Phase IV - Cesare Berrini's hypotheses concerning the relationships between bas-relief carvings on the Gateway of the Sun, the annual solar cycle, and geometric time measurement.
University Massachusett's Sunwheel - A project to build a stone circle aligned to the sunrises and sunsets of the solstices and equinoxes, as well as the north pole star, for use by the community as a tool for education and outreach.
Pyramids Lined Up With The Stars - British Egyptologist puts forward an astronomical theory for the northern alignment of the Great Pyramid at Giza. BBC article. (November 15, 2000)
Ice Age Star Map Discovered - A controversial discovery of a 16,000-year-old "map of the night sky" in Lascaux caves. BBC article. (August 9, 2000)
Prehistoric Moon Map Unearthed - The BBC reports that astronomer Dr Philip Stooke has found a map of the moon in an Irish tomb that pre-dates the earliest known one by about 5000 years. (April 22, 1999)
Ancient Tomb Captured Both Sun and Moon - A unique prehistoric tomb in Ireland has been revealed to align to both the midsummer Sun and the midwinter Moon. BBC article (April 8, 1999)

Oldest Astronomical Monument Found - Discovery of a 6,500-year-old monument at Nabta, Egypt. BBC article. (April 1, 1998)

Stonehenge photos - quality photos of Stonehenge, for sale.

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