ENGLISH general

Dear reader,

Here you will find all the texts in English. However, all files, pictures, plans etc. figure only once and they can be found in the correspondent chapters. If I had to establish them threefold (in English, German and French) the effort and demand of place would be too extensive. Thank you for your comprehension !
 

STONE TIME – STONES OF TIME

Astronomy of horizons and of shadow-trajectories on cupstones – criterions and variations

Within this category of research we are confronted primarily with:

-          Geology

-          Megaliths

-          Astronomy

-          Names of toponyms and of objects (of stones)

-          Mythology / legends etc.

Before all we will face the correspondance between the megaliths (mainly cupstones) and the earliest forms of astronomy and hence the measurement of time. (Even if the expression „calende“ does exist only since the Romans (meaning the important days made public for the collection of  taxes etc.), I will use it as no other term seems better understable for the subdi- vision of the year (however primitive was this old astronomy which has been forgotten since a long time). Thus, I will describe both objects: the cupstones and the old astronomy.
 

How to use this homepage

ACTUAL
You will find here my comments on the situation of this Homepage and sometimes as well about forthcoming excursion or conferences.


CONTENTS

Enlisted are all the chapters of these pages.

ENGLISH general

Please find here all the texts on CUPSTONES and on ASTRONOMY.

ENGLISH analysis
The features and relations of the presented objects.

FILES

Here you will find – arranged according to country and postal codes (pc) (plus two numbers for an object) – all the cupstones. This may seem to be unorthodox but has a great advan- tage. If the objects were sorted in an alphabetic order, so we would have e.g. a stone in Zurich (Switzerland) just after another stone lying near Zug (Switzerland), which is another region,  whereas by arran- ging the objects according to pc usually the stones which are neighbouring in the nature will be as well close to each other in the files. I add indications about length / largeness /height or mentions of the geological material (granite, gneiss, shist, sandstone etc.). However, for you, the readers, the most important is to know the exact location of an object given here by the coordinates. Since many countries have their own systems of coordinates and whereas e.g. the French Lambert-system (in several types) does not exist in a normal GPS-device, I prefer to give these details in the geographical system with degree / minute / second, N meaning North (latitude) and E meaning East (or W for West). There are on the other hand systems for transposing one system into another of which I will talk later on this site.

Almost every object I have visited (and researched). If I did not mention any literature, this means that there isn’t any and that I found the stone by myself. Or if another person disco- vered the stone I mention his name. Later I will explain to you how you – as non-professional researcher – can discover new cupstones. (In the USA – the „citizen scientist“ already earn high respect, as the can fill important gaps, whence the official research cannot be every- where for many reasons). I must here formally protest against the socalled „treasure-sear- chers“ who – often armed with metall seeking apparatus – bring much irrevocable damage to archeological sites. I use to mark the cups with a chalk and afterwards extinguish them with water. We leave the stone as we have found it and neither should be leave any traces or that we might have had a picnic at the site. We do have a great responsibility certainly towards the younger generations!

FOTOS

Outside-pictures to facilitate it to find an object and detailled fotos to explain passages in a text or even fotos mapping a cup-surface. As well you will find some fotos taken during our many excursions.

VIDEOS

I will put here some short films which I had realized. Some were done by means of a 19 ft. long telescopic rod as used by professional window-cleaners. This enabled me to get into a picture a whole surface with cups and thereby cut out fotos. Or the same for „communicating“ cupstones.

SCHEMES-DRAWINGS

As a rule these are designed cup-surfaces showing the astronomical aspects. (Other plans to depicture menhir-settings, stone-circles and stone alleys). As well mapping the landscape to enable the wanderer to find the nearest train-station, parking and of course the objects themselves.

BIBLIOGRAPHIE

All books, newspaper-articles and links to other websites are here listed. Each becoming a number. 155/243 would for example be a book with the number 155 and the text refers to ist page 243. While we are accustomed that for each chapter in a book the bibliography is rene- wed, I have limited myself by only establishing one single list. This in turn spares a lot of un- necessary work and besides, you, the readers, dont have to ascertain in which chapter your are only to find quickly the concerned literature. Once my list will be enlarged I opt for the possibility to create another two lists, one sorting the files according to the authors and the other according to subjects. This is so since my work does not come out of one jet, but rather one by one which in turn does not automatically arrange the referred literature in a logical order.I will here as well point to conferences in which I participated (if this has a meaning to a text), or to excursions and to my own speeches and study trips.  
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I shell begin with the two most elementary items, the CUPSTONES and the HORIZON-ASTRONOMY:

CUPSTONES

This expression has before all to be explained. The still "classical" book by Urs Schwegler (022) gives a firsthand index of the Swiss cupstones and also the knowledge on the geology and as well on the rediscovery of the cupstones starting in the 19th century. The first big index of literature on the subject contains several pages and spares you of much time and energy while searching any literary source. The word „cup“ means an cavity with a cup-like form. We talk about rocks etc. with „holes“ of such types. And we have well to differenciate them since we mainly are interested into the „astronomical“ type of cupstones. We use here the system of elimination. What remains is worthy to be examined. In this way we omit any superfluous work beforehand! I wont here treat those books where is mentioned that no „astronomical“ cupstones could exist for this and that reason, And not treat those established archaeologues (who by the way know nothing about astronomy!) who treat us as self-nominated researchers, as if they had the monopoly to do researches (and to think!). But rather I shall give into the hands of the reader the knowledge and tools for him as a citizen-researcher to check himself the objects and to find out if my researches (from 1982 onwards) in big regions of Europa have an important meaning or if they are simply nonsense. There actually is no „proof“ in the archaeoastronomy. But I can cite numerous objects and do not have to stick to a single object (however well known it might be) to forward my ideas. Furthermore, it is my concern to lay open my ideas which have led to my conclusions and thus to encourage other persons to continue my researches. We distinguish the following types of cups:

a)     natural cavities. We have to make the difference between „holes“ which might have served to rituals (e.g. sacrifices). For that purposes a minimal seize was required. Are there any traces of later human treatment? In this case the plausibility for a cult is greater. Also names of stones e.g. „devil stone“ or „whitchstone“ etc. or names of landscapes might put us on the trail.

b)     Artificial cavities. We must exclude clearly recent „holes“ which cannot not be prehistorical. E.g. cups on parapets near churches or in courtyards of monast-ries. Even prehistorical and later cups  are out of our considerations if they serve to practical purpoes (e.g. millstones, postholes etc.) A particular group is built by such cases where die negatives of outbroken millstones are taken as cultic cups or where it least there is uncertainty about being a cult stone or simply the remains of a millstone. 

Just within the artificial cups (which still remain after our selections) we have now to examine if the disserve to be „astronomically“ examined. An object, which is not anymore „in situ“ (i.e. turned or even moved off, e.g. in our outsinde a museum) is „astronomically dead“ and only exceptionnaly due for astronomical considerations.Other objects have to be sorted out if the lie in a deep valley with very high horizons (e.g. the stone might have dropped down). Later I will explain the importance of the height of horizons. 

HORIZON-ASTRONOMY

You will fail to find any literature about this oldest und elementary astronomy in an ordinary bookshop! I know only very few studies about the subject and mostly are they already out of print. The reasons for this fact belong to another subject and I do not treat them on this website. In BIBLIOGRAPHIE you will find some of it  (L552, 553, 554) and Internet-links (L001). If readers know other literature I would be thank-ful about it and include it in my homepage!To begin with, the whole affair is much more simple as you ever might have thought. There suffices two things:

-          the knowledge of the directions of solstices for a certain latitude

-          a good compass

Willing to visit the stones and to examine them you are already in the midst of the things. And Nature always pays very good if we are going into it. If however, you should decide to begin with this research, additional material, some-times depending on the type of the object, is highly recommendable. All the rest you will later learn here and we shall treat various variants which either depend on the size and form of an object, on the landscape and on the height of the horizon. (Later it will be explained why the height of the horizon is so important). Also according to a region, people had preferences for putting the cups. („regionality“). At first, the course of the sun will be handled, after that also that of the moon.

The horizon-astronomy refers to the risings and settings of sun and moon. Stars could also fall in this category, but I did so far not research about them. (When we treat Italy/Southern Tirol, we learn about a colleague who made such studies). The procedure of observing these risings and settings is much alike the one when shoo-ting / hunting. Exactly 4 points matter and for each of them there is a criterion. Once understood these criterions it will be much easier for you to know the function of a stone or even to discover another one. The 4 points are:

-          Position of the observer, at the stone and of his body

-          Notch and sight (as on a gun), marked by a cup or other cavity etc.

-          Target (Point of intersection of the horizon and the rise and set of sun or moon)

Hence, the observer is the „shooter“, notch and sight are composed by a couple of cups or other markings and the target is not an animal but a point „walking“ on the horizon in the course of the year. SCHEMES (0004)

You will find here the „wind rose“ for different latitudes. SCHEMES (0001).The more to the North we are, the more separated are the directions of the sunrises and sun-sets at the solstices (end points). In order to find these values for a certain latitude I hightly recommend you to go to the site of the US Navy. (L002).As an example, for the latitude of 48°18’ (Dieffenthal in the French Alsace, near the Rine, region of Séléstat) you find here as well the values. SCHEMES (0002). Since the Earth in the course of millenaries changed slightly its declination of the axes (today approx. 23,5° and at the time of stones approx. 24,5°) while the axes „moves“ between approx. 22° and 25°, I get about 1° of difference for our values which corresponds with my experiences at the stones.

The term „solstice“ comes from the Latin „stare“ (stay, not move) and shows the aspect that the sun at those periods does apprently rise and set at the same horizon-point. The differences cannot be made out by our eyes. This periode goes for almost two weeks. The german word on the other side shows the other import quality: The word „Sonnwende“ means that the risings and settings can only reach a certain point to the north and to the south at the horizon, then they will tun („wenden“).

The expression „equinoxe“, also from the Latin, means „night of same length as days“ since in the Old Rome they counted the night-lengths and not the lengthes of the days. Again the Germans (other culture) have also another term, the say  „Tagundnachtgleiche“, meaning the same, „days and nights with the same length“.

As the ongoing of the solstices is almost for two weeks to be seen, we have on the other side a clear „wandering“ of the sunrises and sunsets on the horizon at the times of the equinoxes. On the other hand it was much easer to figure out the points of the solstices, since the sun only reaches a certain point and then goes back, whereas for the equinoxes they needed a geomtrical construction. SCHEMES (0003).You may well have remarked on this scheme that the equinoxial directions differ for 1° more to the North compared to the positions of East and West (90° resp. 270°) i.e. they lie at 89° resp. 271°. The same slight asymmetry exists fot the sommer-solstices which are as well 1° more to the North compared to those of winter (taken as axe of symmetry the East-West-line). We have then complete symmetry East-West (within on the one hand the sommer-solstices and as well within the winter-solstices). And we have a slight asymmetry North-South (within on the one hand the sunrises at the solstices and within the resp. sunsets). (The reason for this lies in the orbit of the Earth around the sun). The "makers" of cups had alread well observed these directions, even those for the equinoxes, what in turn helfps us often the better understand the function of an astronomical cupstone!

The direction of South is also important. This goes for the socalled „Indian circle“. SCHEMAS (19). this geometrical construction made independent of the height of horizons as well as of the weather-conditions and the observation-days. With a rectangular triangle containing the axes North-South and East-West and the hypothenuse giving the axe of solstices one could lie the right direction and later correct it when observation was possible. For this also we have quite some objects. So now we have explained the most import directions for the „old“ sun-astronomy. The abreviations for the horizon-astronomy of the sun are:
.
SW   = Sonnwende / SOLSTICE
SSW = Sommer-Sonnwende / SUMMER-SOLSTICE, Midsummer,  longest day
WSW = Winter-Sonnwende / WINTER-SOLSTICE, Midwinter, shortest day

TNG   = Tagundnachtgleiche / EQUINOX, spring/autumn, same length of days and nights

A        = Aufgang / Sun-RISE
U        = Untergang / Sun-SET

e.g.. "SSW-A" = Sommersonnwende-Aufgang / SUMMER-SOLSTICE-RISE (etc.) 

MS = Mittagsschatten / SHADOW AT NOON
ZS =  Zählschälchen / CUPS (IN GROUPS) FOR COUNTING 
 

ASTRONOMY OF SHADOW-TRAJECTORIES


Observation of the length of shadows at noon resp. of the angles.

Other than for the horizon-astronomy we find sometimes – but very rarely – objects which did not serve for taking aims but rather they were constructed as to measure the length of shadows at noon resp. ist angle. This had a great advantage since one was not dependent of the situation of the horizons. (as well as this goes for the construction of the „Indian circle“). We find this technique more often southwards e.g. with the ancient Egyptians! (As we find in Dieffenthal, in the French Alsace, actually two such objects of different types, shows the importance of this cultic-astronomical place).

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Cups for counting

By observing the solstices and equinoxes the year was divided into four parts. (The Celts later went on to divide it even into eight parts. Those dates later were – for practical reasons – put onto the first (or second) day of the respective month which in turn hides their original meaning. And the Christians and others used those day for their feasts, partially keeping their original character:

Imbolc         2nd February.   Candlemas

Beltaine      1st May:             Day of Labour

Lugnasad   1st August:        National Holiday of Switzerland

Samhain     1st November:   All Saints

Thus we see an tendency towards abstraction and away from the observation of Nature!

SCHEMES (03).Whereas the solstices can well be observed on the horizon (the sun „turning“), it was difficult to find out their exact days, since to the eye the solstice seems to go for almost two weeks, the risings and settings of the sun are „moving“ on the horizont to only a very tiny extent. On the other hand at the equinoxes the sun „walks“ remarkably every day, but it was difficult to find the place on the horizon (for the exact day). This asks either for a geometrical construction (middle between the solstice-axes) or to counting days. Counting days made also sense in order to „fill up“ the yearly quarters. And nothing was more apt for this than the Moon. (Already ist name betrays a link to „measure“. And with our fingers it was the oldest „abacus“ on Earth!). After three lunations (periods of full-moon) they knew that they approached again the days of solstices or equinoxes. The tiny cups in groups actually point to such counting-systems and are far away from being a „hazard“, since the usually are composed by 29 or 30 cups. (days of a lunation). And mostly they are near the cups which served for observations. 

With this we have actually presented the elements of the sun-astronomy