151
the U. S. Department of Agriculture included ‘Distance Zones’, divisions of the
particular landscape being viewed and evaluated for their scenic and resource content (Forest Service, 1974: 5, 7, 44). Three zonation categories were used:
• Foreground—limited to a quarter to half-a-mile from the observer;
• Middleground—extending from Foreground to 3–5 miles;
• Background—extending from Middleground to Infinity.
Scenic analysis for archaeological purposes was first developed by the archaeologist David Fraser (1983: 371–379) to examine the horizons surrounding 76
Neolithic cairns on Orkney, Scotland. The aim there was to understand the relationships between the builders of chambered cairns and the land in which they lived.
That study correlated the variation in horizon range surrounding each cairn with
orientation, and used three categories (of range) to do so—Restricted (<500 m),
Intermediate (500 m–5 km) and Distant (>5 km). Fraser further divided each horizon surrounding a cairn into 10° sectors on the compass and noted the bearings of
junctions where distance category changed. It was found that:
• Cairns were not located in places with extensive sectors of restricted visibility;
• Cairns were located in places affording extensive sectors of intermediate
visibility;
• There was a very high probability that cairns were intentionally located to ensure
visibility of the distant horizon;
• Distant visibility was predominantly towards two points of the compass—
between east and south, and towards the west.
Fraser also queried the need for the tomb builders of Orkney to have views with
distant visibility and in particular directions—south-east and west. At the latitude of
Orkney (+59°), winter solstice sunrise in the Neolithic would have occurred on a
horizon of angular altitude 0° at azimuth c. 140° i.e. south-east. In the west, the sun
would have set in a position spatially midway between its directional limits on the
horizon at the winter and summer solstices. Overall, his conclusions were that the
cairn builders were likely aware of the cyclical movements of the brightest bodies
in the sky but, given the precision limitations of the data, astronomical hypotheses
could neither be accepted or refuted without further work (Fraser, 1988: 335).
This type of horizon scan was also used by the archaeoastronomer Clive Ruggles
in the study of 300 western Scottish sites with upright or leaning standing stones.
That interdisciplinary project primarily investigated the axial azimuths and derived
astronomical declinations of those monuments. Horizon ranges at selected sites
were additionally recorded, allowing the following preliminary conclusions: some
of the sites had ‘local horizons’ nearer than 1 km in particular directions; there was
a lack of evidence in the data to conclude that more distant horizons were preferred
by the builders; many sites indicated a local horizon in the south that could fall
‘within the limiting lunar range’ (Ruggles, 1984a: 281, 285). Data subsequently
collected by Ruggles at other archaeological sites would see a more comprehensive
treatment of such horizon scan data with more meaningful results.
The North Sky and the Otherworld: Journeys of the Dead in the Neolithic Considered
the U. S. Department of Agriculture included ‘Distance Zones’, divisions of the
particular landscape being viewed and evaluated for their scenic and resource content (Forest Service, 1974: 5, 7, 44). Three zonation categories were used:
• Foreground—limited to a quarter to half-a-mile from the observer;
• Middleground—extending from Foreground to 3–5 miles;
• Background—extending from Middleground to Infinity.
Scenic analysis for archaeological purposes was first developed by the archaeologist David Fraser (1983: 371–379) to examine the horizons surrounding 76
Neolithic cairns on Orkney, Scotland. The aim there was to understand the relationships between the builders of chambered cairns and the land in which they lived.
That study correlated the variation in horizon range surrounding each cairn with
orientation, and used three categories (of range) to do so—Restricted (<500 m),
Intermediate (500 m–5 km) and Distant (>5 km). Fraser further divided each horizon surrounding a cairn into 10° sectors on the compass and noted the bearings of
junctions where distance category changed. It was found that:
• Cairns were not located in places with extensive sectors of restricted visibility;
• Cairns were located in places affording extensive sectors of intermediate
visibility;
• There was a very high probability that cairns were intentionally located to ensure
visibility of the distant horizon;
• Distant visibility was predominantly towards two points of the compass—
between east and south, and towards the west.
Fraser also queried the need for the tomb builders of Orkney to have views with
distant visibility and in particular directions—south-east and west. At the latitude of
Orkney (+59°), winter solstice sunrise in the Neolithic would have occurred on a
horizon of angular altitude 0° at azimuth c. 140° i.e. south-east. In the west, the sun
would have set in a position spatially midway between its directional limits on the
horizon at the winter and summer solstices. Overall, his conclusions were that the
cairn builders were likely aware of the cyclical movements of the brightest bodies
in the sky but, given the precision limitations of the data, astronomical hypotheses
could neither be accepted or refuted without further work (Fraser, 1988: 335).
This type of horizon scan was also used by the archaeoastronomer Clive Ruggles
in the study of 300 western Scottish sites with upright or leaning standing stones.
That interdisciplinary project primarily investigated the axial azimuths and derived
astronomical declinations of those monuments. Horizon ranges at selected sites
were additionally recorded, allowing the following preliminary conclusions: some
of the sites had ‘local horizons’ nearer than 1 km in particular directions; there was
a lack of evidence in the data to conclude that more distant horizons were preferred
by the builders; many sites indicated a local horizon in the south that could fall
‘within the limiting lunar range’ (Ruggles, 1984a: 281, 285). Data subsequently
collected by Ruggles at other archaeological sites would see a more comprehensive
treatment of such horizon scan data with more meaningful results.
The North Sky and the Otherworld: Journeys of the Dead in the Neolithic Considered