51. Site IV, an array of timber posts in the middle of a henge - in the middle of the greater Mount Pleasant henge, to the east of Dorchester in Dorset.  This henge, excavated by Wainwright in 1970-1971, suggests growth. 

         Site IV was designed and built by Beaker Folk, who were crawling about all over the place in 2400 BC. The carefully-placed posts in the middle of Site IV prove that the nine-megalithic-inch-long Bush Barrow lozenge - actually a rhomboid - is not geometrical as claimed by Johnson on Wikipedia but astronomical.  Its 80 by 100-degree angles pronounce it as Beaker-style astronomy, where, like the 50-degree axis of Stonehenge is confined to the nearest 10 degrees.  

        The egg-shaped-outer-ring is aligned on the northernmost setting of the moon. The second ring, also egg-shaped, is aligned with the setting summer solstice. So wrote Professor John North in his book "Stonehenge: Neolithic Man and the Cosmos."

        Increasing exponentially at every stage, in steps of 10 plus one, the five 80 by 100-degree rhomboids prove a wish for something to grow, up to and beyond thirty-six megalithic yards -- The diameter of Stonehenge. 

         Furthermore, the following diagram proves this device works equally well when the lozenge is rotated 90 degrees. 

52.  The Bush Barrow lozenge turned 90 degrees. The rhomboids still grow exponentially but at a different rate. Sizes in megalithic yards are...19, 27, 36, 46, and 57.

         The system works equally well for the 1.5 Megalithic Inch Bush Barrow lozenge, as does the 7.5 MI lozenge found in the Clandon Barrow near Maiden Castle, an Iron Age fort to the west of Dorchester. 

The Clandon Barrow Lozenge. 

Dr. Joan Taylor of Liverpool University measured this lozenge and found it to be 15.5 centimeters long by 11 centimeters wide. These figures convert to 7.5 by 5.3 megalithic inches. While not shown here, the Clandon Lozenge works equally well at proving a wish for growth.

53.  The Little Cressingham rectangle was found in a round barrow burial in Norfolk - not far from the Grimes Graves flint mines. 

       The rectangle today is housed in Norwich Castle Museum, and despite a failed request to state its size, it is found to be based on a pair of 3:4:5 Pythagorean triangles, which measure three by four by five Megalithic Inches. This scaling came from an accurate photo found in Andrew Lawson's book "Chalkland."

         The Little Cressingham rectangle represents geometric growth in steps of 6, 7, 8, 9, and maybe even 10.

54.  This is my rendition of an artifact of gold held in the Dorset museum.

This artifact, which represents the cosmos - like the Nebra Sky disc - brings the sun, moon, and stars together and should tell us all we need to know. 

55.  

One day in Ireland, many years ago, a man sat down and drew the moon on a sheet of pure gold.  He started by hard-boiling an egg, believe it or not, which he carefully halved with a sharp piece of flint.  Laying one half of this egg down, he drew around it.  Next, he cast several radii from its profile to obtain the moon shape he hoped to produce. He had indeed made a thing of great beauty, but he still wasn't satisfied; he wanted more.

         His artistic eye told him to throw two of its radii, not from around the eggs shell but from around its yolk.  In so doing, not only did he perfect the shape of his lunular of gold, but he expressed a need to tap into life itself.

56.  This artwork, found scribed on the side of Shaft 2 of Grimes Grave's flint mines, was lit by the sun at certain times of the day to convey the message that he should marry the moon.

          Consisting of lines, no two of which are the same, the artwork on the right tells the sun not to remain single. That on the left is a pairing. 

          Blow this image up to the height of an A4 sheet, and it won't be far from the actual size!

57.  Antler picks were the chief implements used to hack away the chalk to release the flint. When blunt and reaching the end of their useful life, the majority were thrown in a heap to keep the floors clean for other antlers to make the patterns seen above. These antlers were probably pristine and unused. 

The black dots represent tiny heaps of charcoal that had been brought down from outside- no evidence of fire being found in the mine itself.

Carefully placed Red-Deer antler picks found on the gallery floors after every nodule of Floorstone flint had been removed provide us with further evidence of a Neolithic preoccupation with things that come in pairs - as shown in the plates above.

Others were placed in threes to represent the family, as seen in the plate on the right.

From the out-of-print booklet "The real Grimes Graves prehistoric flint mines" ISBN 978-0-9553012-9-2, T W Flowers 2010.

Borrowston Ring. A geometric egg based on Professor Thom's survey seen on page 71 of "Megalithic sites in Britain 1967." Clarendon Press, Oxford.

One wonders how Professor Thom ever managed to find the value of the Megalithic yard when he ignored the most fundamental of facts that stone circles were internal devices. Here we see how Thom incorrectly placed his geometry to pass through the centre of the stones. Not only that, but Thom's scale is too small to be accurate - Fortunately, though, by producing a large 50-diameter circle, Thom puts thing right!

        My blued-out version shows the correct geometry that the stone circle of Borrowston Rig is based on. Not only is the monument based on a pair of, proportional to 3:4:5 Pythagorean triangles, but these triangles finally prove the Megalithic Inch as one fortieth of a Megalithic yard with no doubt.

PS. Stone Age folks were not interested in perimeters as Thom seemed to think.

        More corrected plans of Thom's are given on a sister site, Aveburydecoded, which you will be taken to, later.

58.  THE DORSET CURSUS. The Thickthorn terminal in 2017. It’s surrounding ditch can also be seen in this picture.

The Dorset Cursus, to which this terminal is connected, is a six mile long, 280 foot wide prehistoric avenue consisting of a pair of ditches excavated into chalk subsoil with external banks running parallel to the ditches. The ditch was not deep and the banks not particularly high, because the cursus's simple purpose was to connect three vitally important terminals together. The cursus is not dead straight, but makes a curving path as it travels over the Downs (hills) and across valleys gouged out thousands of years ago by torrents of glacial melt water. So, serving purely as a link, the avenue of ditches and banks have no alignments of their own.

The Thickthorn terminal is easy to find.

Leave Blandford Forum NNE via the A345 to Salisbury, and, after some six and a half miles from the centre of Blandford, (five and a half from the Blandford ring road) turn right at Thickthorn Cross and park up in the layby in Millers Lane – if there is a clear space for you to do so. Exit car in bright coloured ridiculous clothes, or do as I did in 2007 and make yourself look clown-like by holding aloft a colourful brolly on a bright summers day! All this is to keep you safe. Millers Lane is dead straight. There are no pavements, and cars drive up and down it as if everyone is late for work.

Proceed up the hill on foot. Pass hedgerows threaded with barbed wire, and continue until you reach a metal gate. Climb the gate and enter the field. You are now trespassing. You could have asked the farmers permission, I suppose, but that would let the cat out of the bag of what you are up to, and you might well get told No!

Carry on to the bottom of the field, passing several monuments, to arrive at the southern terminal of the cursus. 

59. An aerial view, courtesy of  Bing images 2017.

The Thickthorn terminal is the only terminal left standing; another, half way along the cursus, and  a third at its northern end, have been completely destroyed by the plough. Sadly, as I write this, I have to report that this one remaining terminal, having survived the hand of man for over 5,000 years, was violated by the plough in 2018. And perhaps by now, is already levelled. 

60.  Photo looking northeast from the Thickthorn Down terminal. Here the cursus crosses the Gussage valley on its way to the top of Gussage Down where it incorporates the famous long barrow known as Gussage St Michael III . We cannot walk from the terminal because a thick hedge, growing right across the cursus, blocks the way.  So, photo was taken through a gap in the hedge. Importantly, we can see how the cursus goes one way and the terminal goes another - The Thickthorn terminal is trained on the massive Wor barrow (Handley 1) and the northernmost rising of the moon. 

The Wor barrow was completely excavated in 1894 by General Pitt Rivers. It consisted of a primary and a secondary mound. The primary mound held six male skeletons. The much larger secondary mound was built using chalk taken from an outer ditch. In the ditch where two male skeletons, a man and boy.  The man had been shot. 

Also, and from the recommended book....A Landscape Revealed. 10,000 years on a Chalkland Farm by Martin Green.  Remarkably, Pitt Rivers, the excavator, also found a crouched Beaker burial to the south-east of this barrow. I would ask: What was so remarkable about it... Its early date, perhaps?

Lets take a virtual walk along the cursus to stand alongside the Gussage St Michael III long barrow, which sits on the crest of Gussage Down.

61. Looking northeast again but from in front of the long barrow of Gussage St Michael III. Here, the cursus crosses the Allan valley. Many monuments could once be seen from here and on both sides of the cursus. Most are only visible today from the air.  

Climbing out of the valley on the left of the picture is Wyke Down, where many monuments have been found.

Despite some confusion, the terminus is known as Bottlebush Down. We will walk to this terminal and turn about to see why it falls short and what the Dorset Cursus is most famous for.

62.  It's from the terminal of Wyke Down that the winter solstice sun can be seen to enter the barrow of Gussage St Michael III.  So too did the brightest star Sirius. If the terminal was any higher, the long barrow would not shape the sky line but some distant landmass would, instead.  

63.  Several pairs of long barrows are known to exist. But I don't know of any that look at one another like Gussage St Michael III and IV. But there is a reason why these two look like a pair of dogs in a face off!

64.  A view south from the Bokerley-Down Terminal at the northern end of the Dorset Cursus. 

     Once again, we see how the alignment of a terminal points one way while the cursus (white) goes another. 

     This view might not look like much, but the ridge and long barrows of Gussage St Michael III and IV would just be visible were it not for the trees of the Salisbury Plantation seen here. 

    The arrow, set normal to the Bokerley terminal, points to the southernmost setting moon and Gussage St Michael IV - AND, brings the sun and moon together by crossing the solstice alignment of the Wyke Down/Gussage St Michael III as it does so. 

     The high ridges called ‘Downs,’ and the valleys between that run from northwest to southeast across Cranborne Chace, owe their great beauty to torrents of glacial meltwater that flooded over and through the Dorset chalkland, many thousands of years ago. One especially long and level ridge took the eye of people living on the Downs some six thousand years ago for the way the most southerly sunset appeared to sink into it. That ridge is known as Gussage Down, and people had watched the sun disappear into it for many years when sitting a little below the top of the Bottlebush Down ridge, almost two miles to the north of Gussage Down.

      From around 4,000BC, generation after generation had sat and watched the sun sink into Gussage Down; and while doing so, noticed something else. The brightest star, Sirius, which also sank into Gussage Down, was getting closer and closer to where the sun sank in wintertime.

     The joining of the setting sun and Sirius finally occurred around 3,500 BC and lasted for a couple of hundred years. So; marking the position with lit braziers. people planned to build a long barrow (Gussage St Michael III) to capture them, was an obvious thing to do.

Meanwhile, other folk, who could see these braziers from five miles away at Bokerley Down, set about building a terminal aimed at the southernmost setting moon, a little to the left of Gussage St Michael III. This called for a second long barrow to be built on top of Gussage Down - Gussage St Michael IV.

This bringing of the sun, moon and a star together in one place was not enough for these ambitious folk. So they went further south and built another terminal on top of Thickthorn Down. This third terminal was aligned on where the northernmost moon rises out of the massive Wor barrow, some four miles distant.

Maximum moonrise and maximum moonset seen leaving and entering barrow mounds - catching the sun and brightest star in one place – it’s all here. What was needed now was to connect the whole lot together with a six mile long avenue, scratched into the chalk, but avoiding any alignments of its own.

65. The Dorset Cursus. 

Note how the famous solstice alignment between Wyke Down (AKA Bottlebush Down) and St Michael III, is crossed by the moon alignment coming down from the Bockerley terminal.   I am not ashamed to say that this is what I wrote in my book ‘Stonehenge Secrets 2007.’ The Dorset Cursus as a love nest. “If you had been fortunate enough to find yourself standing at the Wyke Down terminus, 4,500 years ago, and at the right time of year, you might have seen the sun as he disappeared into the long barrow known as Gussage St Michael III. This apparition occurred when the sun set in the southwest on the day of the setting midwinter sun.   If you had then travelled to the Thickthorn Down terminus at the southern end of this cursus and looked towards the northeast, you would have seen the rising moon as she left this long barrow – no doubt adjusting her dress. This was when the moon reached her most northerly point of rising. All this can still be seen today of course. But where was her baby to have been born? Presumably, and in view of her rising; this child was, perhaps, meant to be born in heaven.   As also was the case with the long barrow known as Amesbury 42 that once stood at the end of the Stonehenge Great cursus, no primary human burials were ever found in Gussage St Michael III.”  You can see from the above that I was on the right track. There are some mistakes though: First, the date for the building of the cursus is more likely to be around 3,500 BC. Secondly it wasn't one barrow but two barrows, Gussage St Michael III and IV, which acted as a pair.  To sum up, we have that both north and south terminals were dedicated to the moon. One on moonrise, the other on moonset. No wonder some ignorant shet wants the one remaining terminal at Thickthorn destroyed.  Once more I find it necessary to repeat the words of Professor Mick Aston of the Time Team.  “I’m not proud of the Time Team, it hasn’t worked. And I’m totally dissatisfied with my time at Bristol University. Archaeology in Britain is a shambles from top to bottom. The forces of darkness and evil are stalking the land again.” British Archaeology Magazine, March/April 2012.  Bibliography: The Dorset Cursus Complex: A Neolithic Astronomical Observatory? Penny. A. Journal - Royal Archaeological Institute 130 1973.