Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
F IG . 8.30 Actual track of Rigel rising, 2009 (Drawing by Richard Robertson
from working photograph, sketch by author)
What we learned from the solar events, and the more salutary
lessons from the northerly Moon and Rigel, was an unexpected
bonus. As stated above, Sighthill's intended contribution to the
megalithic debate was rather different. The Sighthill megalith is
intended primarily as a tribute to the ancient builders, and to the
scientists who uncovered the significance of the work. It's less
accurately aligned than the ancient sites for the practical reasons
given above, and in twentieth century Glasgow its astronomical
functions can in that sense be described as “ritualistic.” Even after
some hypothetical future collapse of civilization, Sighthill could
not be used to construct an accurate calendar, unless perhaps by
painstaking measurements of the length of the shadows.
Nevertheless it poses a challenge to critics of astroarchae-
ology. In designing and building the Sighthill circle, with all the
help and advice mentioned above, we strove to be faithful to the
principles of the ancient sites as we understood them. There is no
intended feature of Sighthill that does not have its counterpart
or analogy in some ancient site. Yet we are here to testify that
the design of Sighthill was primarily astronomical throughout -
to incorporate solar, lunar and stellar alignments to the greatest
accuracy attainable. Anyone who maintained that such was not
the case with the ancient sites - that the astronomical alignments
are non-existent, or coincidental - might reasonably have been
 
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