Ring of Brodgar - "Megalithic Yard" and Neolithic Astronomers at Brodgar

"Megalithic Yard" and Neolithic Astronomers At Brodgar

Burl notes that the diameter of the bank at Brodgar is almost exactly 175 megalithic yards, the same as the inner banks of the Avebury and Newgrange monuments in England and Ireland respectively. The so-called "megalithic yard", at 0.8297 metres (2.722 ft) per MY, is a controversial measure originally proposed by Alexander Thom. Thom's thesis, based on a statistical analysis of Neolithic monuments in the United Kingdom, is that the builders of these sites employed a common unit of measurement, implying a transfer of information that may not have existed, even if it were possible: see Pseudoscientific metrology.

Heggie casts doubt on this as well, stating that his careful analysis uncovered "little evidence for a highly accurate unit" and "little justification for the claim that a highly accurate unit was in use". Thom and his father made other controversial contentions, for example, that Brodgar and the burial mounds that surround it were designed specifically as backsights for astronomical observations of the Moon. Graham Ritchie points out that the burial mounds have not been reliably dated, and he casts doubt on the astronomical prowess of the builders.

Euan MacKie suggested that the nearby village of Skara Brae might be the home of a privileged theocratic class of wise men who engaged in astronomical and magical ceremonies at sites like Brodgar and Stenness. Graham and Anna Ritchie cast doubt on this interpretation noting that there is no archaeological evidence for the claim, although a Neolithic "low road" connects Skara Brae with the chambered tomb of Maeshowe, passing near Brodgar and Stenness. Low roads connect Neolithic ceremonial sites throughout Britain.