The Astronomical Significance of the Crucuno Stone Rectangle

Abstract

the two 3-4-5 Pythagorean triangles formed by the diagonal have sides which are multiples of 10 megalithic yards. Thom (1967, 1968) has shown that megalithic man, when constructing stone circles and rings in Britain, often dealt in multiples of 2 2, 5, and 10 megalithic yards, and employed perfect Pythagorean triangles in the geometry of the construction of numerous stone rings. Thom and Thom (1972) have shown that the main Carnac alignments were set out with a unit of 2 2 megalithic yards, and this is also found in the perimeters of practically all megalithic rings in Britain (Thom 1966, 1968). The Crucuno rectangle thus falls into line metrologically with other megalithic remains in both Britain and Brittany. At Crucuno, as elsewhere in Brittany, well-meaning people have reerected fallen stones without knowledge of the exact original positions. Knowing how accurately megalithic engineers could work, we think it unlikely that they left the untidy rectangle which we now see.4 While elsewhere, when erecting freestanding circles, they measured to the centers of the stones, here they may have placed the stones outside but touching the rectangle. This too is unlikely, but only excavation can settle the matter. On the south side of the rectangle, the whin bushes have grown so deep that some stones are obscured and are difficult to locate even when their presence is known-particularly the 3-ft. stone and the fallen stone in the southwest corner. The whin and the trees in the neighborhood make it impossible to measure the horizon alti