Records in Stone
Papers in Memory of Alexander Thom
Published on 21. July 1988
Book
Hardback
544 pages
978-0-521-33381-8 (ISBN)
Description
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).
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 247 mm
Width: 174 mm
Thickness: 34 mm
Weight
1225 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-33381-8 (9780521333818)
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Schweitzer Classification
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02/2003
Cambridge University Press
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Additional editions
Book
02/2003
Cambridge University Press
€75.20
Shipment within 15-20 days
Content
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.