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Summary of the Ruggles C.L.N. book

Three types of orientations are analysed:

• Astronomical
  Structures might be aligned upon the heavenly bodies.
• Azimuthal
  Structures might be aligned north-south or in some other direction.
• Features on the ground
  Structure orientations might be towards nearby sites of a certain type, natural features such as distant mountains, or directions of local significance, or upon the lie of the land.

• monuments of free-standing megaliths
  So stone rings, settings, alignments and single standing stones, as opposed to those standing stones erected as part of more complex architectural strucutures (such like chambered cairns/mounds).
• features that are within 300m of each other

• high status stone
  • Menhir
    Standing stone which can reasonably be assumed to have been erected in prehistoric times and to have been little disturbed.
  • Slab
    A menhir which has opposite faces both of which are of maximum width at least twice that of the other faces.
• low status stone
  • Possible menhir
    A somewhat dubious contender for a menhir, for example an erect stone less than about 1 m high which might have occurred naturally, or an isolated standing stone for which some other hypothesis (e.g. constructed in later times as a trackway marker) is especially plausible.
  • Possible slab
    A possible menhir which has opposite faces both of which are of maximum width at least twice that of the other faces.
  • Boulder
    A non-erect stone whose possible significance would not be considerd but for its association with other, apparantly authentic, prehistoric standing stones.
  • Fallen menhir
    A stone which is known or can reasonanly be assumed to be a fallen menhir which has not been moved from the position where it fell.

• Observing Position (OP)
  This is the position that has a distance of 2m directly behind the indicating structure and at a height of 1.5m above present ground level.
• Indicated Azimuth Range (IAR)
  The range of horizon which can be reasonably be supposed to have been indicated by a given configuration on the ground, taking into account:
  • for oriented structures and horizon indications
    • different possible ways of providing the indications, e.g. in the case of alignment of menhirs, lining up the uppermost points of the menhirs or lining up their sides.
    • possible changes in the direction indicated due to movement of individual menhirs.
  • for inter-site indications
    • any uncertainty in defining the OP at the centre of the rear site
    • the difficulty in defining a vertical line by eye when the far site is situated considerably below/above the horizon.
• Adjacent Azimuth Range (AAR)
  This is a range of horizon extending for an azimuth AAR on either side of IAR due to the idea that structures on the ground might not have been accurately aligned upon points on the horizon or other sites. The following rules hold:
  • AAR=1^o, if IAR<=1^o
  • AAR=IAR, if IAR is between 1^o to 2^o
  • AAR=2^o, if IAR>=2^o
• exclusion of analysis
  
  • if distance is less than 1 km.
  • the IAR exceeds 5^o.

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