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Whilst I agree there are various loonies around who believe in all sorts of 
nonsense like 'ley-lines' and suchlike, and ascribe all sorts of significance 
from the occult to aliens with these pre-hostoric artefacts; I do not believe 
there is any significance to these "triangulated" formations (if so - show me 
the maps and analysis please).

There is a quite valid question, however, arising out of this nonsense in the 
newspapers,  which is not satisfactorily explained, and that is how did 
ancient civilisations manage to produce straight line markings across huge 
distances? - as with the geoglyphs in the Nazca desert Peru;  or the Roman 
roads everywhere in Europe.

Here in Britain for example the Roman raods emanating from London are 
incredibly straight over many miles (well over the horizon) - and must have 
been made when the land was densely forested with no obvious landmarks other 
than the hill tops.  The surveying from London to Portchester (near 
Portsmouth) say, which is over eighty miles, would not have been easy with 
only the kind of primitive surveying instuments available to the Romans, and 
the only vantage points available would have been by making towers on hill 
tops.
The fact they did it successfully and accurately is astonishing when one does not know how.

Douglas Denny.
Chichester. England.




===========================

Original Post:

Lu expressed doubts about an article in the Daily Mail, for which he
provided an attachment (though the onward links in that .pdf file didn't
work for me). He is right to be sceptical. To start with, the Daily Mail is
not regarded as a reputable journal of record.

The whole thing is complete guff. However, there are many devout believers
in such nonsense, together with such cults as of "ley-lines" and "the old
straight track".

There's a bit more information (but not much) in the Daily Mail's website
at -



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1213400/Ancient-man-used-stone-sat-nav-navigate-country.html#ixzz0R6gQT2Tr

You can see that in the transition between the website and the newspaper
article, the author has evolved from "amateur historian" and "retired
marketing executive" Tom Brooks, to "historian Tom Brooks". Such is the way
respectability is attained.

He is selling a DVD, "Prehistoric Geometry in Britain", about which I know
nothing, but if you're keen you can discover a bit more at-

http://www.prehistoric-geometry.co.uk/index.html

The country around my part of Britain is littered with standing stones,
rings, barrows, hilltop camps and other objects, some of archaeological
significance, others not. There are so many that there's no difficulty in
connecting them together with any geometrical figure you choose.

How one might use a connection by supposedly-isosceles triangles in any form
of navigation is not explained in the publicity.

However, such cults do little harm, provided they are not taken seriously,
and at least they get their proponents out into the open air.

contact George Huxtable, at  george---me.uk
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)

===================================

or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lu Abel" <lunav---net>
To: "Navigation" <NavList@fer3.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2009 1:38 AM
Subject: [NavList 9773] 5000 (terrestrial) navigation system?


| Article appeared on AOL today.
|
| I feel a bit skeptical -- it sounds a bit like the geometric equivalent
| of the way statisticians can post-facto get data to "prove" almost
anything.



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