Records in Stone
Papers in Memory of Alexander Thom

Clive Ruggles (Edited by)

9780521531306, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 February 2003

540 pages
23.7 x 19.1 x 2.8 cm, 0.978 kg

Professor Alexander Thom, who died in 1985, was a distinguished engineer. Independently of his 'mainstream' academic career, he developed a deep and active interest in the prehistoric megalithic sites of Britain and Brittany, visiting and surveying many hundreds of them over a period of forty years. Thom's interpretations of the field data have aroused strong interest and some intense controversy. The main areas of debate are: geometry (the methods used to set out the megalithic rings, many of which appear to be non-circular); mensuration (the possible use of 'standard' units of measurement in setting out rings and rows); and astronomy (the connection between structures aligned upon the horizon and the rising and setting positions of the sun, moon or stars).

Foreword
Part I. Alexander Thom's Life and Work: 1. A personal note about my late father, Alexander Thom Archie Thom
2. A personal appreciation of Professor Alexander Thom Hans Motz
3. The career and publications of Alexander Thom Compiled by Archie Thom
4. A catalogue of the Alexander Thom archive held in the National Monuments Record of Scotland Lesley Ferguson
5. The metrology and geometry of Megalithic Man Alexander Thom and Archie Thom
6. Megalithic landscape Chris Jennings
Part II. Research Papers: Archaeological Research Inspired by Alexander Thom: 7. 'Without sharp north …' Alexander Thom and the great stone circles of Cumbria Aubrey Burl
8. Investigating the prehistoric solar calendar Euan MacKie
9. The stone alignments of Argyll and Mull: a perspective on the statistical approach in archaeoastronomy Clive Ruggles
10. A cluster analysis of astronomical orientations Jon Patrick and Peter Freeman
11. Megalithic observatories in Britain: real or imagined? Ray Norris
12. The stone rows of northern Scotland Leslie Myatt
13. Stones in the landscape of Brittany Pierre-Roland Giot
14. The orientation of visibility from the chambered cairns of Eday, Orkney David Fraser
15. The Ring of Brodgar, Orkney Graham Ritchie
16. The geometry of some megalithic rings Ronald Curtis
17. Megalithic compound ring geometry Thaddeus Cowan
18. The metrology of cup-and-ring carvings Alan Davis
19. Megalithic Callanish Margaret Ponting
20. The Thom paradigm in the Americas: the case of the cross-circle designs Anthony Aveni
21. Light in the temples Ed Krupp
Abbreviations
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX]