New Views over Megalithia

[Boreades]

The Goseck circle has been mentioned previously. As a henge in Germany, it's little known by people in the UK. It's not even much known by people from Germany, who come all the way here to look at Avebury and Stonehenge.

Recall that Stonehenge is on latitude 51'18" north.

Goseck grabbed our attention, because of its curious proximity to the Stonehenge latitude. Goseck is on latitude 51'11".

Here's an even less well-known German henge: The Goloring on latitude 50' 2"

The Goloring is an ancient earthworks monument located near Koblenz, Germany ... The Goloring consists of a circular ditch of 175 metres in diameter with an outside embankment extending to 190 metres ... The outside embankment is approx. 7 metres wide and 80 cm high. The ditch has an upper width of 5–6 metres and is approx. 80 cm deep. In the interior one can find a roughly circular leveled platform, which is about elevated by about 1 metre. The platform has been created based on piled gravelled rock and has a diameter of 95 metres. Remnants of a 50 cm thick wooden post with an estimated height of 8–12 metres were excavated in the middle of this platform. The design of the ditch is unique in Germany, and makes the earthworks similar to many British monuments of the same era.

The leveled platform is similar to Marden Henge. I have recently seen suggestions that the dimensions of the henge encode its location. Like Stonehenge's latitude is self-derived. Apart from that, it's all another mystery. Suggestions on the back of an envelope to the usual address please?

Now added to the Megalithic map of the world

[Mick Harper]

It is likely to be related to what can be seen at 51 degrees plus or minus. As I have pointed out before it is very difficult setting up observatories with all around sight-lines at this latitude when one is based in the Mediterranean. If you're sea-based, the nearest place is southern England; if you are land-based, the nearest place is eastern Germany, through the Ljubljana Gap. But Coblenz as well as Gorseck weakens this argument unless there is a third route up through the Rhone/Saone/Rhine corridor. Those with maps might care to check. Cadiz, Marseilles and Venice would be the operative start points.

[Boreades]

We've already done that. The location isn't a mystery at all. Apart from the astronomical location (to get equal equinoxes, as explained a long while ago by Jon), the landscape location is the best high-ground location, bridging watersheds on cross-country routes. Same as Avebury and Stonehenge. It's the self-encoding dimensions that are the mystery.

[TisILeclerc]

Image copyright Fitzcolorado

Latitude: 54° 30' 19.35" N
Longitude: 1° 6' 26.44" W

http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/sit ... pping.html

I've been thinking about our pyramid again and looking at various documents regarding it. And there is one thing that they all seem to miss. And that is to do with its name, Roseberry Topping.

Here's a link to a pdf file with some good pictures of the place and some interesting snippets of history including where the name came from.

http://greatayton.wdfiles.com/local--fi ... opping.pdf

Another site dealing with the name among other things. The writer argues that rather than being named after Odin it may have been named after Oswy.

http://www.themythsandhistoryofredhair. ... yrose.html

And this one below is a climber's view of the rock face which was once inside the hill, the outer part of it having collapsed a hundred years ago.



http://www.climbonline.co.uk/roseberry_topping.htm

So, the Vikings named it after Odin and called it Othensberg or some such other variant.

I can't see why it should be called after Othensberg. Surely it would have had a name long before that even if the Vikings did call it after Odin. The fact that it's 'the only one' called after Odin is suspicious. Surely there would be more. There are several places named after Woden. And why pick out Roseberry for special attention?

But they do mention the red ochre which was important all over the world even Australia. I'm not sure whether it has medicinal properties or whether it just appealed to stone age people but every where it's found it's used for painting people and buildings.

I suspect the name comes from Rose or a variant referring to the colour of the ochre. As for berry that's related to burgh, burrow, broch, barrow, etc and not to berg.

Given its connections with royalty and power I would imagine it was important in very ancient times as a burgh and the tradition carried through till the Normans came I would imagine.

As for Rose, not too far away we have Rosedale. I doubt if that was named after Odin as well. At least I can't find any claims to such an idea.

'In the ninth century, Viking raiders began to attack the Yorkshire coast eventually establishing the Danelaw, which made much of the East of England a Danish kingdom with its political centre based at York. They introduced their language to the region, elements of which still remain in the local dialect, and renamed a number of settlements. It seems probable that Rosedale’s name has Viking origins, being a derivation of "Rossi", which could be a personal name or the word for horse. Another possible root is the word "rhos", which meant moor. So no roses anywhere.'

http://www.rosedaleabbey.com/history.html

So, it's named by Danes and probably means Rossi. You know, Rossi, that famous Italian ice cream seller. Er, sorry Danish bacon seller.

Or, it could be called after a word for horse. Really? I've heard of Horsey and Hoss, do they mean one of them?

Or it could be from moor. Presumably a Welsh word assuming anyone ever spoke Welsh up here that is.

But it's certainly not Rose. I'm not sure why but they seem convinced of that.

The fact that it is also a place of iron ore gets nary a mention in this respect. But I would assume that rusting iron leaching out into local becks and streams might help with the description. Or of course ochre.

Ochre (/ˈoʊkər/ OH-kər; from Greek: ὠχρός, ōkhrós, (pale yellow, pale), also spelled ocher, see spelling differences) is a natural earth pigment containing hydrated iron oxide, which ranges in color from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colors produced by this pigment, especially a light brownish-yellow.[1][2] A variant of ochre containing a large amount of hematite, or dehydrated iron oxide, has a reddish tint known as "red ochre" (or, in some dialects, reddle).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochre

So, I have a feeling Rosedale and Roseberry Topping were named for the iron ore and ochre in the area. Is there anywhere else with large amounts of ochre and with some sort of a Rose name? Yes, Roussillion in France.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roussillon,_Vaucluse

Unless Roussillion was named by Vikings after a horse, or even Odin.

What we need to find out is that given a linguistic connection what other connections are there?

[Mick Harper]

I have often wondered why the strawberry is not called the roseberry. It can hardly be mistaken for the rosehip. Presumably it was Britain's premier fruit even back in the Stone Age. The only one that has its seeds on the outside but I don't suppose that's relevant.

The writer argues that rather than being named after Odin it may have been named after Oswy.

This seems supremely unlikely given Oswy was pretty tuppeny happeny, though curiously Hatty and I were dealing with him only yesterday in relation to the Synod of Whitby. (But only to explode him.)

the outer part of it having collapsed a hundred years ago

.
This emphasises the problem of guessing what it looked like when it got its name. The present shape looks artificial but also very recent geologically.

[Boreades]

What happened to the Mulberry Topping?

[Mick Harper]

That reminds me of the day I met the loganberry. Or rather the day I found out the loganberry was a nineteenth century invention. Why is this significant? Well, it was 'accidental'. But then, I thought, how come nature hadn't invented it zillions of years ago. In TME we proposed -- a bit half-heartedly -- that the Megalithics were Masters of Domestication. And even of the invention of new domestic species. This is pooh-poohed because, basically, we can't do it so they couldn't have done it. Anyway we ought to give some thought to how much fruit -- and all the other edibles around -- truly are 'natural'. We still can't seem to do it. Except by accident.

PS You will be pleased to hear that the successor to TME went off for typesetting today.

[Boreades]

A refreshingly new view:

PREHISTORIC PEOPLE had a one-night stand with stone and enjoyed a long and faithful marriage with rope. Early humans pulled themselves upright along the evolutionary path and from rope-crafts hatched the modern sciences of measuring, geometry and engineering. Without rope The Great Pyramids of Egypt, Stonehenge and St. Paul's Cathedral could never have been built and we would exist in an unsymmetrical, two dimensional reality.

Following the timeline of rope, A Twist in Time examines the hyper-intellectual creative engineering projects of a Neolithic tribe who inhabited Orkney, a small island group on the fringes of western Europe, around 3200 B.C.E . With advanced rope-making and measuring skills a group of proto-scientists conceptualised, designed and built the stone super-structures - The Ring of Brodgar Stone Circle and Maeshowe Burial Chamber.

A Twist in Time journeys beyond the stones and examines the underlying designs, measurements and cosmologies of the lost rope-masters, finally answering how these enigmatic structures were planned, aligned, orientated and built. Challenging perceptions of the Stone Age, after reading this book you might be inclined to agree that this era should really be called, the Rope Age.

https://ashleycowie.com/a-twist-in-time/

Written by Ashley Lambie Cowie. FSA.Scot, KOTpl.

Ashley Cowie is a bit of an action man.

In his 20's Ashley was based in Caithness on the north east coast of Scotland and walked thousands of miles across ancient Neolithic landscapes collecting flint artefacts, which led to the discovery of significant Neolithic settlements. He is also Editor of the Scottish Knight Templar monthly newsletter and in 2005 became a Knight Officer.

With an entertaining video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdECQLLHs7Y

[Boreades]

Barnenez

Has this really never been mentioned on TME until now?

The Breton equivalent of Newgrange, and a tidal island. All in one untidy package.

The Cairn of Barnenez (also: Barnenez Tumulus, Barnenez Mound etc.; in Breton Karn Barnenez; in French: Cairn de Barnenez or Tumulus de Barnenez) is a Neolithic monument located near Plouezoc'h, on the Kernéléhen peninsula in northern Finistère, Brittany (France). It dates to the early Neolithic, about 4800 BC; it is considered one of the earliest megalithic monuments in Europe, as well as one of the oldest man-made structures in the world

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnenez

It sits on the Kernéléhen peninsula, which used to be a tidal island. Close to the modern port of Roscoff. One of M'lady Boreades' favourite places, because of it's strategic location for booze cruises and duty-free shopping.

[hvered]

It's not in TME but features in the PowerPoint created to accompany the Maritime Lecture that will be given by M J Harper in, well, TBA.