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Orion's Belt and the flat top of Silbury Hill
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Nightfolio
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Orion's Belt and the flat top of Silbury Hill
Oct 23, 2021, 22:55
Hello, its my first time posting here!

I believe that I may have stumbled upon evidence for a lost spring star ceremony at Silbury Hill.

My belief is that our neolithic predecessors designed the flat top of Silbury to "receive" the three stars of Orion's belt at a night time ceremony staged around the time of the spring equinox. The conjuction of the belt with the hilltop would have been visible from the plain around Silbury from the north north east, with Waden Hill providing a backstop for the spectators.

This idea came to me by chance when I looked at a moonlit photo I had taken of Silbury from Waden itself, the star's of Orion's belt apparently on their way descending towards the flat top of the hill, which was scaled just right to receive them. Although Orion occupies a different portion of the sky now than it did in the neolithic, I have run basic computer simulations of the spring skies and believe the conjunction I suggest was in fact possible.

I have written it all up with illustrations here:

http://www.nightfolio.co.uk/night_photography_avebury_02/Avebury_092.html

Thank you for reading.
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