Scholarly record

GENERATION OF COMPLEX STRUCTURES CONNECTED WITH PLANETARY TIME CYCLES IN ARCHITECTURE

Vitaly Kochergin

Abstract

Circular megalithic structures can be found all over the world. Despite the great interest they arouse in scientists, the function and reasons for construction of many of them are still unknown. In this article we present general analysis of circular megalithic structures that date back to 4th – 2nd thousand BC as calendars and calculating devices which allowed the ancient to define and fix cyclic time patterns to spatial constructions. It lies at the base of our hypothesis of the principles of how these cultic megalithic constructions were formed and structured. In this work we show the method of mathematical generalization, compilation and grouping, invented in the Paleolithic age, which, as it was found out, was widely used in building long-term chronometric constructions. In the Stone Age the number was used as a foundation for the arrangement of many sanctuaries and calendar constructions, where the ancient reified their sacred knowledge of planetary time cycles – synodic months, solar months, planet movement, lunar and solar rhythms and regularity of lunar eclipses. They discovered the way of presenting the duration of an orbital period as the product of two (rarely three) factors and used it as a basic principle for creating real spatial structures - credible time measurement systems. Thus they achieved a balanced coordination between the whole unit and its parts. The concept of the number that possesses physical meaning of natural time rhythms led to the idea of building numerous constructions, which served as calendars and measuring devices. In a Paleolithic mind Time and Space bonded due to the number. Taking as the objects of study the well-known rings of holes of Stonehenge, the Ring of Brodgar, the complex of Zorac Karer and other megalithic structures, we showed that their arrangement with mathematical exactness matches the purpose they were built with, that is, to serve as calendar and to demonstrate planetary time cycles, which governed the life of ancient people. The pattern, according to which they were built, remained the canonical rule of uniting essential architectural elements into an ensemble for many years.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgemsocial2018/6.2/S22.004

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