Prof. TERENCE MEADEN Decoding the core symbolism of Stonehenge, Drombeg and Avebury Stone Circles

Prof. TERENCE MEADEN
Decoding the core symbolism of Stonehenge, Drombeg and Avebury Stone Circles

Terence Meaden has initiated a new approach to the study and understanding of stone circles. He demonstrates that specific megaliths at Drombeg Stone Circle—which is the archetype for the present study of Neolithic and Bronze Age Irish and British monuments—were selected for size and shape and intelligently positioned such that the light of the rising sun creates shadows, classifiable as male, that make union with a waiting stone identifiable as female. This core activity may symbolize the hieros gamos or Marriage of the Gods—the union between Sun and Earth. At Drombeg this happens on 8 dates of the year at intervals of 45-46 days beginning with the winter solstice, and leads to understanding the logic behind stone selection and settings at Stonehenge, Avebury and other sites as well. The explanation has everything to do with the Sun and Earth because these monuments were planned as sunrise monuments. The reconstruction of a 365-day Neolithic calendar is another consequence of this work.

Prof. Terence Meaden, M.A (Oxon) M.Sc.(Oxon) D.Phil. (Oxon), is a professional physicist, meteorologist and archaeologist with undergraduate and doctoral degrees (1954 to 1961) in physics and a MSc in archaeology from Oxford University. He has made significant contributions to Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeology and his books include Stonehenge: The Secret of the Solstice, Secret of the Avebury Stones, The Goddess of the Stones: Language of the Megaliths, and most recently, Stonehenge, Avebury and Drombeg Stone Circles Deciphered.