Saturday 13 October 2012

Axe-heads on the Southwest side of Stone 53

Following the publication of the English Heritage report on the Laser Scan of Stonehenge it has been fun hunting down the axe-heads they report..

The two reported on the southwest side of Stone 53 have proved a bit of a puzzle.

One is very clear, it is incised about half an inch and very visible, but difficult to photograph.

But I couldn't make out the second one at all in the light of yesterday morning. I must try again when the light is different.

3 comments:

  1. Tim,
    I find it interesting that a number of the Axe & Dagger carvings appear on the inside right of S-53, (in addition to the famous centered ones), and that a great bulk of them also occur on the lower exterior right of S-4.
    Though sprinkled here & there on other Stones, the balance of them seem to occur in these locations.

    Cardinal South passes exactly through the inside left corner of S-54 - the corner with the 3 equidistant inclusions, and adjacent to the carvings on 53. But there are no carvings on massive 54 itself for some reason. (other than the alleged 'Chief's Face' on the SW side.)

    Cardinal East just kisses the right-exterior side of S-4, and in my opinion East was considered the Anchor Direction, even over the North that we use today.

    So it begs the question that perhaps the carvings are significant to the Cardinals, or even whether they are actually 'Axes & Daggers' at all.
    Additionally, very few or none of the carvings overlap, and were made in stages over a long period of time, as indicated by old & new wear.

    Perhaps those people marked certain Solar or Celestial events with the simple carvings? Events observed to occur from those locations.
    Of course this is absolute conjecture I realize, but it does raise a few interesting possibilities.

    Best wishes,
    ND Wiseman

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks - The question why 4,5 and 53 is one that is exercising me, without much success. I can't quite get the Cardinal points to match your description from the centre point of Stonehenge, could you help me out there please.

    I like the idea that they may have been created over a long time to mark events.

    Thanks

    Tim

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tim,
    Cardinal North enters the Henge directly between A-48 & 49, skitches down along the east side of L-127, just clears the East corner of S-60, passes through the center of the Circle, exactly through the NE corner of S-54, then between S-11 & 12, to exit the Henge on the West hump of the Southern Entrance, directly between A-20 & 21.

    East enters the Henge between A-6 & 7 (though only about a degree South of A-6), kisses the North face of S-4, passes unimpeded through the Center, over the N end of L-156, kisses the South face of BS-69, passes a bit through S-57, then across the center of fallen S-19, and passes out of the Henge between A-34 & 35, with A-35 being slightly closer.

    I obviously don't have the kind of free access to Stonehenge that others may, my being in the US, but in studying the Carvings, it occurs to me that there are some very worn examples, difficult to detect even with the scans. When we compare these to the sharper, better delineated examples, it seems as though some are far older than others.

    Probably created in time-layers, it leads me to think that the Carvings marked something that occurred at certain intervals. But, I take pains to emphasize, I have no notion as to what that may have been.

    While I can in no way be construed as a "Stonehenge-Was-A-Calender" guy, or even a "Stonehenge Observatory" guy, the carvings-positions do appear to direct our attention to the Cardinals. (Which is odd, since apparently only East was relevant to the Builders.)

    I would be happy to outline my own ideas concerning Cardinal- and Solsticial Alignments, and how they ultimately define one of the more important aspects of Great Henge. Perhaps this would be better served in an alternate forum than your blog, as it would certainly steer the intended remarks here in an entirely different direction, (no pun intended!)

    Best Wishes,
    ND Wiseman

    ReplyDelete