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Post by swamprat on Mar 27, 2012 19:27:42 GMT -6
4,000-Year-Old Stone Monolith Likely an Astronomical MarkerClara Moskowitz, SPACE.com Assistant Managing Editor Date: 27 March 2012 An ancient stone monolith in England was likely an astronomical marker, according to new archaeological evidence. The 4,000-year-old stone is triangular in shape and angles up toward geographic south. Its orientation and slant angle are aligned with the altitude of the sun at midsummer, researchers said. And new evidence shows that there are packing stones around the base of the 7.2-foot tall (2.2-meter) monolith, indicating that it was placed carefully in its location and position, they added. "Given the sensitivity of the site, we can't probe under the surface of the soil," astronomer Daniel Brown of Nottingham Trent University in England said in a statement. "However, through our survey, we have found a higher density of packing stones on one side, supporting the case that the stone has been orientated intentionally." The monolith is located at a ridge called Gardom's Edge in the Peak District National Park near Manchester, an area that shows evidence of human occupation extending far back though its history. Other ancient monuments such as Bronze Age roundhouses and a late Neolithic enclosure have been found nearby. The seemingly astronomical monolith is thought to have been erected by Neolithic people around 2000 B.C. www.livescience.com/19301-ancient-monolith-astronomical-marker.html
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Post by skywalker on Mar 28, 2012 20:05:47 GMT -6
This is something that I have never really understood about modern archaeology. They don't want to disturb the ground because they want to preserve whatever is buried there exactly the way it is...but if they aren't going to dig it up what is the point in preserving it? That makes no sense to me at all. I agree we don't need to go back to the days when people were using dynamite to blast around the edge of the pyramids looking for tunnels and entrances, but that doesn't mean we should just leave the ground undisturbed so everything buried in it can continue to rot away.
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