Records in Stone
Papers in Memory of Alexander Thom

Professor Alexander Thom, who died in 1985, was a distinguished engineer. Independently of his 'mainstream' academic career, he developed a deep and active interest in the prehistoric megalithic sites of Britain and Brittany, visiting and surveying many hundreds of them over a period of forty years. Thom's interpretations of the field data have aroused strong interest and some intense controversy. The main areas of debate are: geometry (the methods used to set out the megalithic rings, many of which appear to be non-circular); mensuration (the possible use of 'standard' units of measurement in setting out rings and rows); and astronomy (the connection between structures aligned upon the horizon and the rising and setting positions of the sun, moon or stars).

Foreword; Part I. Alexander Thom's Life and Work: 1. A personal note about my late father, Alexander Thom Archie Thom; 2. A personal appreciation of Professor Alexander Thom Hans Motz; 3. The career and publications of Alexander Thom Compiled by Archie Thom; 4. A catalogue of the Alexander Thom archive held in the National Monuments Record of Scotland Lesley Ferguson; 5. The metrology and geometry of Megalithic Man Alexander Thom and Archie Thom; 6. Megalithic landscape Chris Jennings; Part II. Research Papers: Archaeological Research Inspired by Alexander Thom: 7. 'Without sharp north …' Alexander Thom and the great stone circles of Cumbria Aubrey Burl; 8. Investigating the prehistoric solar calendar Euan MacKie; 9. The stone alignments of Argyll and Mull: a perspective on the statistical approach in archaeoastronomy Clive Ruggles; 10. A cluster analysis of astronomical orientations Jon Patrick and Peter Freeman; 11. Megalithic observatories in Britain: real or imagined? Ray Norris; 12. The stone rows of northern Scotland Leslie Myatt; 13. Stones in the landscape of Brittany Pierre-Roland Giot; 14. The orientation of visibility from the chambered cairns of Eday, Orkney David Fraser; 15. The Ring of Brodgar, Orkney Graham Ritchie; 16. The geometry of some megalithic rings Ronald Curtis; 17. Megalithic compound ring geometry Thaddeus Cowan; 18. The metrology of cup-and-ring carvings Alan Davis; 19. Megalithic Callanish Margaret Ponting; 20. The Thom paradigm in the Americas: the case of the cross-circle designs Anthony Aveni; 21. Light in the temples Ed Krupp; Abbreviations; Bibliography.