Alexander Thom's 1967 The Megalithic Sites of Britain argued for astronomical alignments at British megalithic sites, the same year John Michell published Flying Saucers of Vision. The video says Michell's Land's End survey uncovered previously unrecorded fallen stones by spotting gaps in alignment chains, and that Simon Broadbent later presented statistical work to the Royal Statistical Society showing more claimed alignments than a chance model predicted. It also notes the catch: remove the stone carrying eight claimed alignments and the excess nearly disappears. The video argues that this supports Thom's alignment claims, but the fragile test does not establish his proposed 2.72-foot megalithic yard.
Video argues a fragile statistical test supports Thom's alignment claims
Key facts
- Alexander Thom's The Megalithic Sites of Britain was published in 1967, the same year as John Michell's Flying Saucers of Vision, and presented Thom's arguments for astronomical alignments at British megalithic sites.
- The video describes John Michell's survey of the roughly 8-by-8-mile Land's End area and says he located previously unrecorded fallen stones by noticing gaps in proposed alignment chains.
- The video says Simon Broadbent presented statistical work to the Royal Statistical Society in which the claimed alignments occurred more often than a chance model predicted.
- Broadbent's result, as described in the video, was highly sensitive to one stone with eight claimed alignments; removing that stone brought the result close to chance.
- The test concerned the frequency of claimed alignments; it did not validate Thom's proposed 2.72-foot megalithic yard, which remains a disputed interpretation.
Sources
Alexander Thom Star Dates - The Orkney Newstheorkneynews.scot
"The only epoch in which standing stones are meaningfully aligned with the bright stars is c.2000 BC, with a spread of at most 200 years ...
The megalithic story of Professor Alexander Thom - Sixsmith - Wileyrss.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
There are four major and four minor standstills; each is an astronomical alignment (a point on the horizon) where the moon rises or sets. They ...
Archaeoastronomy papers by Alexander Thom and familyamericanroads.us
Astronomical foresights used by megalithic man, Journal for the History of ... Megalithic lunar observatories: An assessment of 42 lunar alignments, in ...
Comments on the Astronomical Alignments at Callanish, Lewisadsabs.harvard.edu
Thom, who published their studies in three monographs Megalithic Sites of Britain (1967), Megalithic Lunar Observatories (1971) and Megalithic Remains in ...
Megalithic Lunar Observatories - Alexander Thom - Google Booksbooks.google.com
This unique text discusses the mathematical principles behind Megalithic stone circles, and how these were used for observing lunar cycles in prehistoric times.
Alexander Thom: Man, Megaliths and Statistics 1spirasolaris.ca
A standard unit of length – the Megalithic Yard. (MY) = 2.72 feet used through-out Megalithic. Britain during the period 2000 –1600 BC is established. The study ...
Megalithic Yard or Megalithic Myth?adsabs.harvard.edu
by HL Porteous · 1973 · Cited by 17 — 1 His most startling conclusion was that these sites were set up with almost unbelievable accuracy, using a standard of length, which Thom calls the Megalithic…
Megalithic sites in Britain : Thom, A. (Alexander), 1894-1985archive.org
vii, 174 pages 24 cm. Includes bibliographical references (pages 169-170) Introduction -- Statistical ideas -- Astronomical background ...
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