ABSTRACT

A myth asserts that at sunrise on the summer solstice ‘something’ came to the Calanais Stones’ central ring heralded by the cuckoo’s call. This paper investigates which of the three celestial objects easily visible at sunrise, the Sun, Moon and Venus, might be referred to. The stones have no obvious orientation with the Sun and, while a ‘window’ of the midsummer full-moons could be seen over the stone ring, complex lunar orbits preclude any precise alignments including the lunar standstill positions. Several widespread European goddesses of fertility and sovereignty were associated with both Venus and the cuckoo, astronomically symbolised by the Pleiades in northern Europe. The east -row of the Calanais Stones is aligned with crossover events of Venus. Three crossover events occurred during the period of the east row construction suggested by radiocarbon dating. The azimuth of the rising Pleiades coincided with the Venus crossover of 1677 and 1674 BC. The ‘something’ was ‘bright, shining, holy’ in Brittonic, gwen, while Gwener is the planet Venus. The appearance of the Sun and Venus at sunrise on the summer solstice might represent a divine wedding. This is believed to be the first European prehistoric monument demonstrated to be purposely aligned with Venus.

摘要

一个神话断言，在夏至日出时，布谷鸟的叫声预示着“某种东西”来到了 Calanais Stones 的中央环。这篇论文研究了在日出时很容易看到的三个天体，太阳、月亮和金星中的哪一个可能被提及。这些石头与太阳没有明显的方向，虽然可以在石头环上看到仲夏满月的“窗口”，但复杂的月球轨道妨碍了包括月球静止位置在内的任何精确对准。欧洲多位广为流传的生育和主权女神与金星和杜鹃有关，在北欧的昴宿星是天文象征。Calanais Stones 的东排与金星的交叉事件对齐。放射性碳测年表明东排建设期间发生了三个交叉事件。上升的昴宿星团的方位角与公元前 1677 年和 1674 年的金星交叉相吻合。“某物”在不列颠语中是“明亮的、闪亮的、神圣的”，gwen，而Gwener是金星。夏至日出时太阳和金星的出现可能代表着一场神圣的婚礼。这被认为是第一个被证明与金星对齐的欧洲史前纪念碑。