Sacred Geography in Ancient Europe
Martin Gray 2006
Avebury Stone Circle
Cosmic and Cometary Induced Cataclysms, and the Megalithic Response
Page 3
The Megalithic Culture - continued
Another fascinating type of megalithic structure to be developed was the
astronomical observatory form such as the stone rings and ellipses, for
example Stonehenge and Avebury in England, and the grid patterned stone
arrangements such as that of Carnac in France.
Erected sometime after the first dolmens and menhirs (according to our
current knowledge), the astronomical observatory type of megalithic
structure mirrored ancient peoples' recognition of the periodic increase of
power place energies, their knowledge of the celestial cycles which
influenced those energetic periods, and their attempts to astronomically
predict them. Additionally, and for this understanding we have Uriel's
Machine to thank, certain of the megalithic astronomical observatories were
used to predict (and thereby prepare for) the future occurrence of cosmic
catastrophes such as cometary and meteoric impacts.
In comparison to the number of menhirs and dolmens at the power places,
there are relatively few astronomical observatories. This may perhaps be
explained by suggesting that sophisticated astronomical observatories were
only erected at power places with major energetic emanations or at power
places near social centers. In addition, it may be theorized that there were
once more stone rings and grid pattern celestial observatories at the power
places but that they have disappeared due to both natural and human causes.
Climate changes have caused vegetation to grow over and hide some stone
rings (such as occurred with the peat moss growth at the Scottish site of
Callanish), other stone rings were torn down when Christianity sought to
eradicate paganism from Europe, and still others were dismantled to provide
building materials for more recent cultures.
This dismantling of stone rings would have occurred most frequently in areas
of greater population. Throughout the remote, today mostly uninhabited moors
and hills of the British Isles, over 900 stone rings are known to exist. In
more populated continental Europe, they are far fewer in number and those
mentioned in 19th century Swiss and Italian antiquarian guidebooks no longer exist.
The most well known of the megalithic structures are certainly the stone
rings, particularly Stonehenge and Avebury in England. Research conducted
over the past thirty years, combining insights from archaeoastronomy,
mythology and geophysical energy monitoring, has conclusively demonstrated
that the stone rings functioned as both astronomical observation devices and
ceremonial centers. Simply stated, many of the stone rings are situated at
locations with measurable geophysical anomalies (so called 'earth
energies'); these earth energies seem to fluctuate in radiant intensity
according to the cyclic influences of different celestial bodies (primarily
the sun and moon but also the planets and stars); the architecture of the
stone rings was engineered to observationally determine (by horizon
astronomy) those particular periods of increased energetic potency at the
sites; and those periods were then used by people for a variety of
therapeutic, spiritual and oracular purposes.
The tradition of pilgrimage in
megalithic times thereby consisted of people traveling long distances to
visit sites known to have specific powers. Due to the absence of historical
documentation from the megalithic age it is often assumed that we cannot
know how different power places were used but this is a narrow view based
solely on the mechanistic rationality of modern science. An enlargement of
view to include an analysis of mythology will reveal that the legends and
myths of sacred sites are in fact metaphors indicating the magical powers of
the places. The ancient stories of the sacred sites and their deities and
spirits will tell you how the places may still influence you today.
Only during the last 40 years have archaeologists begun to acknowledge the
astronomical orientations of European megaliths and the extraordinary
mathematical sophistication which allowed their construction. The early
recognition of certain megalithic constructions as astronomical
observatories is almost single-handedly the accomplishment of Dr. Alexander
Thom, Professor Emeritus of Engineering Science at Oxford University. In
1934, Thom began meticulously surveying megalithic sites. By 1954, he had
surveyed and analyzed over 600 sites in Britain and France and begun to
publish his findings. Initially his discoveries were not well received.
Professor Thom was not an archaeologist, but rather an engineer, and the
archaeological community did not welcome what they considered to be
heretical views of an "untrained" outsider.
Thom's evidence, however, could not be dismissed. Both overwhelming in
quantity and painstakingly accurate in presentation, it undisputedly
demonstrated the phenomenal astronomical knowledge, mathematical
understanding, and engineering ability of ancient megalithic people. Indeed
these abilities were so advanced that they were not equaled by another
European culture for over 4000 years. Thom's excellent books, Megalithic
Sites in Britain and Megalithic Lunar Observatories, show with eloquent
certainty that megalithic astronomers knew the yearly cycle to be a quarter
of a day longer than a round figure and that they recognized the precession
of the equinoxes, the 9.3 year major and minor standstill cycles of the
moon, and the lunar perturbation cycle of 173.3 days which allowed them to
accurately predict eclipses.
Furthermore, these megalithic builders were
extraordinarily keen engineers and architects expert in advanced geometry
2000 years before Euclid recorded the Pythagorean triangle theorems and over
3000 years before the value of Pi (3.14) was 'discovered' by Indian
mathematicians. Surveying sites with the accuracy of a modern theodolite,
these ancient builders developed a unit of measure, the megalithic yard of
2.72 feet, which they used in stone monuments from northern Scotland to
Spain with an accuracy of +/ - .003 feet or about 1/200th of an inch.
Following the leadership established by Alexander Thom, the English scholars
John Michell and Robin Heath have gone on to demonstrate even more of the
brilliance of megalithic mathematicians and engineers.
Previous to Alexander Thom's site surveys and their indisputable proof of
megalithic culture's advanced scientific knowledge and social cohesiveness,
archaeologists had always assumed Europe's prehistoric inhabitants to be a
rough gathering of ignorant barbarians. Thom's discoveries, in showing this
belief to be completely untenable, had a revolutionary, albeit gradual,
impact upon the orthodox archaeological community. During the same period
that Thom was surveying the megalithic sites other scientists were having an
equally revolutionary effect upon the European archaeological community, but
from an entirely different direction. Like the engineer Thom, these
scientists were not archaeologists, yet their contributions, coupled with
the implications of Thom's site surveys, would instigate a complete
rewriting of European pre-history.
This other revolution in the European archaeological community was caused by
the discovery of carbon-14 dating by Willard F. Libby in 1949 and the
dendrochronological recalibration of this method by Hans E. Suess in 1967.
Basically, carbon-14 testing, in conjunction with dendrochronology, or tree
ring dating, is an absolutely accurate method of dating ancient organic
matter and, by extension, the archaeological sites where that matter was
found. To understand why these dating methods caused such a revolution in
archaeological thinking it is helpful to know how the archaeological
community viewed the subject of European pre-history prior to Libby's
carbon-14 discovery in 1949.
Archaeology is a relatively recent scientific endeavor. During the entire
course of its academic development, it has been powerfully influenced by the
assumption that world wide cultures "diffused" from a few primary
centers of original civilization. For more than a century, Pre-historians
had assumed that most of the major cultural advances in ancient Europe were
the result of a diffusion of influences from the great early civilizations
of Egypt and Mesopotamia. These cultures could be dated by actual historic
records, for both the Sumerians and the Egyptians had left lists of kings
and dynasties going back to 2000 and 3000 BC respectively. Given these
dates, and assuming an appropriate period of time for the diffusion of ideas
from Egypt and Mesopotamia to northern Europe, it was calculated that
Europe's megalithic structures could have been built no earlier than 1000 to
500 BC. Imagine the surprise and, at first, strident disbelief of the
archaeological community when megalithic construction dates of 4000-2000 BC
were factually established. The stone monuments of Europe were suddenly a
thousand years older than those previously believed "world's oldest
stone monuments," the Egyptian pyramids.
Carbon-14 dating had thus effectively and totally undermined the
diffusionist theories as suitable explanations for the development of
Europe's megalithic culture. This accurate archaeological dating technique,
in conjunction with Thom's site surveys, demonstrated with irrefutable
certainty that megalithic culture was indigenous to Europe, that it had
developed wholly on its own (though perhaps with a mysterious Antlantean
influence), and that it was the most scientifically advanced culture in the
world during the long ago time of 4000 to 2000 BC.
As mentioned previously, each specific power place is unique by virtue of
both its location and its energetic emanation. Certain power places were
noted by ancient people as having energetic emanations which were influenced
by particular astronomical cycles. The astronomical observatories erected at
these power places were designed in such a manner as to be oriented toward
the celestial body or bodies which influenced their power place emanations.
While there were similarities in astronomical orientations between various
observatories, there were no constant alignment patterns used, as each power
place was unique in both its Earth surface location and its astronomical
correspondence point. The energy link between these two unique points,
planetary and celestial, produced a subtle energy emanation unlike any other
place upon the Earth. As these energy emanations varied from place to place,
so also did the type of structures that were erected to study the periodic
changes in emanation of the earth energies.
Another reason for the megalithic astronomical observatories' diversity in
structural size and complexity is human innovation and the effect it may
have upon the development of scientific endeavors. As previously stated, the
earliest megalithic structures at the power places were the more simple
energy harnessing devices. These were followed by the observatories which
megalithic people utilized to predict the periodic increases of subtle
energy emanations at the power places. It is known from extensive
archaeological evidence that the first rings and ellipses were constructed
of wooden poles and only later, often after periods of a thousand or more
years, reconstructed with stones.
It also known (and for this Stonehenge is
the primary example) that the stone rings themselves went through stages of
development in both size and structural complexity. These size and
structural changes certainly indicate a greater understanding of planetary
and celestial energy correspondences as they relate to the power places, yet
they also seem to indicate the increasingly scientific use of the rings as
contrasted to their initial sacred use. Contemporary astronomers seek to
build ever more powerful optical and radio telescopes. Is there any reason
to doubt that ancient astronomers felt these same desires for more precise
observational tools and thus developed their design?
Another vitally important, though currently little understood, function of
the megalithic astronomical observatories, in particular the stone rings,
was to predict, in advance of their occurrence, the arrival of and impact by
cometary and meteoric objects, such as had occurred in 9600 BC and 7640 BC.
As explained in Uriel's Machine, the stone rings found in different parts of
northern Europe have different arrangements and alignments of stones,
dependant upon the latitude and longitude of the site, which allow them to
precisely observe the movements of celestial bodies along the horizon and
thereby gauge the long-term passage of time. Myths and legends traceable to
periods of the early Neolithic seem to indicate that a mysterious group of
'astronomer-sages' knew of the periodicity of cometary objects and their
potentially lethal effect upon the planet. Authors Knight and Lomas in
Uriel's Machine make a convincing case that the stone rings of megalithic
times were used as both calendrical indicators and cometary prediction
devices in service to mankind.
Celtic Earth-based Spirituality
Thousands of years after the decline of megalithic culture came the Celtic
age with its Druid spirituality. It is now widely accepted that Druid
spirituality derives in part from pre-Celtic (for example, megalithic)
traditions of far western Europe, which impressed the invading Celts to the
extent that they adopted some of these traditions when they settled among
the earlier-established tribes. In other words, the pre-Celtic traditions
influenced existing Celtic practices resulting in what is now commonly
called Celtic Druidism. In support of this matter, it is interesting to note
that Julius Caesar reported that Druidism began in the British Isles and was
only later exported to Gaul.
Contrary to popular belief (and the historically inaccurate writings of
various new-age novelists),
the Celts neither used the stone temples of the
earlier megalithic peoples nor continued their style of ceremonial
architecture. Stonehenge, for example, was constructed between 2800 and 2000
BC, while the Celts did not enter England until 600 BC, fully 1400 years
later. Not using the stone rings and chambered mounds, Celtic spirituality
was instead concentrated at unadorned natural sites such as mineral springs
and waterfalls, caverns and remote islands, curiously shaped peaks and
forest groves. In
Celtic spirituality the entire landscape was in fact
filled with places where spirit was present. This spirit of place or anima
loci was understood to be the essential personality of a location and the
spirit places were transformed into sacred sites when humans discovered and
acknowledged them.
As with the Megalithic people before them, the Celts believed different
types of landscape forms were inhabited or guarded by specific deities.
Sacred forest groves, called nemetoi, meaning 'clearings open to the sky'
were dedicated to various goddesses such as Andraste, Belesama and
Arnemetia. Mountains served as altars for deities, sites of divine power and
places for seeking inspiration. Towering peaks were seen as abodes of
masculine deities such as Daghda, the father god, and Poeninus, while
various hills, the breasts of the goddess, were recognized to be the
sanctuaries of Ana, the Celtic mother of the Gods, and Brigid. Caves,
believed to be entrances to the underworld or the fairy kingdom, were used
for seeking visions and for communication with the depths of the psychic
unconscious. Strangely shaped trees and rocks were considered the resting
places of elemental spirits, fairies and supernatural beings. Celtic people
made pilgrimages to all these types of sacred places, leaving offerings of
cloth, amulets and food for the resident deities, thereby seeking the
archetypal spiritual qualities of the places and praying for both physical
and psychic healing.
Conclusions and a call for further studies
From the preceding discussion it is apparent that there are several possible
explanations for the original discovery of the power places of Europe: the
archaic Neolithic nomads, the astronomer sages of the mysterious culture of
Atlantis, and the early megalithic culture. The sites found and marked by
these extremely ancient people continued to be used for thousands of years
and became in time the sacred sites and pilgrimage places of other cultures
such as the Celtic and ancient Greek.
Myths originating from these later
cultural epochs speak of the power places as being the abodes of deities,
the haunts of magical beings, and the enchanted domains of elemental
spirits. The pilgrimage traditions of the Celtic and Greek cultures are
markedly different in external form but in essence each may by understood as
an expression of early peoples' connection to and worship of the living
earth. The sacred geography of the ancient Greeks will be more deeply
examined in the next section of this essay.
Through countless years and cultural expressions human beings have made
pilgrimages across Europe, drawn by the spiritual magnetism of the power
places. Different religions and their assorted temples have risen and fallen
yet the power places remain ever strong. Still beckoning pilgrims in our own
deeply troubled times, these holy sites offer a plentitude of gifts for
body, mind and spirit. Take the time to go on a pilgrimage to the sacred
places of ancient Europe. Inspiration and health, wisdom and peace - these
and other qualities are freely and abundantly given there by the enchanted earth.
Martin Gray Biography
Martin Gray is an anthropologist and photographer specializing in the study
of sacred architecture, holy places and pilgrimage traditions around the
world. During a twenty year period, Martin Gray traveled widely in 120
countries to study and photograph more than 1000 holy places of prehistoric,
historic and contemporary cultures. Martin is an expert in the subjects of
ancient religion, sacred geography, archaeoastronomy and ecopsychology.
In 2004 National Geographic published
The Geography of Religion and Martin Gray was the principal photographer. In
August of 2006 the Japanese publisher Basilico issued a book of Martin's
sacred site photographs, and in the spring of 2007 the American company
Sterling will publish a book entitled Sacred Earth, which will feature 180
color photographs of sacred sites around the world. Martin's photographs
and writings have been featured in documentaries, newspapers, magazines,
books and web sites around the globe. Martin Gray has presented slide shows
at museums, conferences and universities, for more than 125,000 people, in
the United States, Europe and Asia. Martin's web site, Places of Peace and
Power, may be seen at
SacredSites.com
Boyne Valley Private Day Tour
Immerse yourself in the rich heritage and culture of the Boyne Valley with our full-day private tours.
Visit Newgrange World Heritage site, explore the Hill of Slane, where Saint Patrick famously lit the Paschal fire.
Discover the Hill of Tara, the ancient seat of power for the High Kings of Ireland.
Book Now