Possible Use of Stonehenge
HAWKINS1,2 has suggested that the Aubrey holes at Stonehenge were used to count the years of a 56-year cycle, important in the motion of the Moon and the occurrence of eclipses. Hoyle3 and Colton and Martin4 have suggested other ways that Stonehenge could have been used to predict eclipses. Here we suggest a use of Stonehenge that has nothing to do with eclipses. We suggest also that the Aubrey holes, if they were used as counters at all, were used to count intervals of 56 months rather than 56 years.
Stones, pits and Stonehenge
There have been many mathematical or astronomical explanations of the construction of certain elements at Stonehenge1–9. In 1979 a small salvage excavation at the site resulted in the chance discovery of a prehistoric pit dug to take a standing stone. The recognition that such substantial structures can exist unknown at Stonehenge is important to those who seek alignments or patterns in the locations of neolithic features. That ‘known’ arrangements could be affected by such unexpected discoveries is here illustrated with a preliminary reassessment of the significance of the Heelstone and the Station Stones (a full description of all aspects of Stonehenge is given in ref. 10).
The Biochemist and the Engineer
Biochemical EngineeringBy Dr. F. C. Webb. Pp. viii + 743. (London: D. Van Nostrand Company, Ltd.; Princeton, N.J.: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1964.) 120s.