Stone Circles, the Sun, and the Stars

Abstract

ARTICLES by Mr. Norman Lockyer and Mr. Penrose, recently published in NATURE, have dealt with the positions of ancient Egyptian and Greek temples with relation to the rising sun, and to the pole star, or some star or stars in its vicinity. For some years past I have endeavoured to show, in papers read before the British Association and other Societies, that our stone circles had a relation to the rising sun, indicated usually by an outlying stone or by a notable hill-top in the direction in which the sunrise would be seen from the circle, and I have in some cases found similar indications towards the north, which may have referred to the pole or other northern star or stars. A paper containing many details as to these cases will shortly appear in the Journal of the Royal Archæological Institute.