From: "Rich Gauszka" 


"Phil Payne"  wrote in
message news:463d782f$1{at}w3.nls.net...
>> Not really Eratosthenes (276-194 BC) calculated the circumference of the
>> earth. He also measured the tilt of the Earth's axis and the distance to
> the
>> sun and the moon.
>
> Alexander Thom (Megalithic Lunar Observatories) suggests the Orcadians
> knew
> about lunar standstills fifteen hundred years before that.
>
>

The Orcadians had a +-1000 year margin of error built into the Ring o'
Brodgar 


http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/brodgar/brodgar3.htm

Although there is undoubtedly an element of truth within Professor Thom's
theories, it must be stressed that they are not universally accepted. His
critics are keen to point out that the dates he puts forward for the
construction of the ring, based on astronomical alignments, are around
1,000 years later than the accepted date of the ring's construction.

-----

Seriously I don't have a problem with the belief that  the rings were some
sort of astronomical observatory

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5