Stonehenge an Observatory ?
نویسندگان
چکیده
In 1965, researchers found that the direction formed by two stones from Stonehenge, a mysterious ancient structure, pointed exactly to the direction of sunrise at solstice. Several similar coincidences were discovered, which lead many people to believe that Stonehenge was an ancient observatory. In this paper, we analyze this problem from a geometric viewpoint and show that similar coincidences can happen (with a probability) for randomly placed stones. Thus, Stonehenge’s coincidences cannot be viewed as proof that this place was an observatory.
منابع مشابه
Astronomy and Stonehenge
THE PORTRAYAL OF STONEHENGE in the 1960s and 1970s as an astronomical observatory or computer forms one of the most notorious examples known to archaeologists of an age recreating the past in its own image (Hawkes 1966; Castleden 1993, 18-27; Chippindale 1994, 230-1). Despite persistent popular belief, detailed reassessments of the ideas of C.A. Newham, Gerald Hawkins, Fred Hoyle and others hav...
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