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Drombeg Stone Circle, Ireland, analyzed with respect to sunrises and lithic shadow-casting for the eight traditional agricultural festival dates and further validated by photography
Abstract
A new survey of Drombeg Stone Circle and accurate analysis of shadow effects beginning at particular sunrises of the calendar year has led to a breakthrough in the understanding of lithic symbolism and the intentions behind the construction of this and other Irish monuments including Knowth and Newgrange that also have astronomical alignments. At Drombeg specific standing stones play critical roles at sunrise for all eight of the festival dates as known traditionally and historically for agricultural communities and as now inferred for prehistoric times following the present observation-based analysis.Crucial for Drombeg in the summer half of the year is the positioning of a tall straight-sided portal stone such that its shadow at midsummer sunrise encounters an engraving on the recumbent stone diametrically opposite. During subsequent minutes the shadow moves away allowing the light of the sun to fall on the carved symbol. It is the same for sunrises at Beltane (May Day), Lughnasadh (Lammas), and the equinoxes when shadows from other perimeter stones achieve the same coupling with the same image, each time soon replaced by sunlight. For the winter half of the year which includes dates for Samhain, the winter solstice and Imbolc, the target stone for shadow reception at sunrise is a huge lozenge-shaped megalith, artificially trimmed. Moreover, for 22 March and 21 September there is notable dramatic action by shadow and light between a precisely positioned narrow pillar stone and the lozenge stone.As a result, at sunrise at Drombeg eight calendrical shadow events have been witnessed and photographed. This attests to the precision of Neolithic planning that determined the stone positions, and demonstrates the antiquity of the calendar dates for these traditional agricultural festivals. Discussion is held as to what the concept of shadow casting between shaped or engraved stones at the time of sunrise may have meant in terms of lithic symbolism for the planners and builders. This leads to a possible explanation in terms of the ancient worldview known as the hieros gamos or the Marriage of the Gods between Sky and Earth.
The paper analyzes the Stonehenge Phase 3 II Architecture, modular structure, and their connection to the sun-induced cast-off shadows from its sarsens, and the motion of the shadows over the course of a day and throughout the year. It establishes that a direct link exists between the size of certain shadows and the design of the monument. It further documents that besides the summer solstice sunrise alignment, the vernal and autumnal equinox alignment was a major one in the monument's design. Moreover, the paper demonstrates that the Trilithons sarsens ensemble's quasi-elliptical form is a type belonging to an extension of the Alexander Thom's classification of stone enclosures.
The paper explores the use of shadows in the very design of Classical Greek temples. It also analyzes the role of cast-off and carry-on shadows in the Temples' morphology by utilizing the author's General Dynamical Theory of Shadows. Further, the paper produces a comparative analysis of five Classical Greek Temples. It also supplies an new angle to the Parthenon Marbles' inappropriate housing in Museums
This short paper’s limited objective is to provide the temporal dynamics of shadows for locations
on the Earth’s latitudes close to, on and below the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere,
as well as on the Earth’s Equator. It sets the stage for presenting the dynamics of shadows’
lengths in the Earth’s Temperate zone, within the framework of which the intended role of
shadows implanted on the Classical Greek Temples (discussed in the paper of reference [1.6]) is
to be set. Here, subjects such a basic bifurcation, phase transitions and the overall dynamics of
monoliths’ shadows within the 0
to 23
26’13”N of Earth latitudes are analyzed and the
qualitative features of their lengths’ changes over the course of a day and a year are shown, for
the case of Sun-induced shadows with sharply delineated borders. The paper sets the stage for
highlighting the importance of the Temperate Zone’ shadow qualities in the rise of Classical Greek
Temples, to the extent that shadows were incorporated into their design proper.
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