Alexander Thom

Alexander "Sandy" Thom (26 March 1894 – 7 November 1985) was a Scottish
engineer most famous for his theory of the Megalithic yard, categorisation of stone
circles and his studies of Stonehenge and other archaeological sites.[1]

Contents
Life and work
BBC Chronicle – Cracking the Stone Age Code
Later use of his work
See also Long Meg and Her Daughters, the
Publications largest example of Alexander Thom's
Type B Flattened Circle
References
External links

Life and work

Thom was born in Carradale in 1894. His mother was Lily Stevenson Strang from the family of Robert Louis Stevenson. Her mother
(Thom's grandmother) belonged to a large family from Symington, upon whom had been bestowed the land by Robert the Bruce. His
father was a clever tenant farmer at Mains farm for Carradale House. His father trained the Church choir while his mother was
pianist. Thom spent his early years at Mains farm until moving to The Hill farm at Dunlop, Ayrshire. Instilled with a good work ethic
by his father, Thom taught himself industrial engineering and entered college in Glasgow in 1911 where he studied alongside John
Logie Baird. In 1912 he attended summer school at Loch Eck where he was trained in surveying and field astronomy by Dr. David
Clark and Professor Moncur. In 1913, aged just 19, he assisted in surveying the Canadian Pacific Rail Network.

Thom graduated from the Royal College of Science and Technology and the University of Glasgow in 1914, earning a BSc with
special distinction in Engineering. He suffered from a heart murmur and was not drafted during the First World War. Instead he went
to work in civil engineering of theForth Bridge and later designed flying boats for the Gosport Aircraft Company. In 1917 he married
Jeanie Kirkwood with whom he shared a long and lively marriage. He returned to the University of Glasgow and worked as a lecturer
from 1922 to 1939, quickly earning his PhD and DSc degrees. He built his own home called Thalassa in 1922, along with a windmill
to power it with electricity. His father died in 1924 and he took over running the farm where he fathered three children, Archibald,
Beryl and Alan. Thom helped to develop the Department of Aeronautics at Glasgow University and lectured on statistics, practical
field surveying, theodolite design and astronomy. From 1930 to 1935 he was a Carnegie Teaching Fellow.[2] During the Second
World War, Thom moved to Fleet in Hampshire where he was appointed Principal Scientific Officer heading the Royal Aircraft
Establishment team that developed the first high speedwind tunnel.

He later was a professor and chair of engineering science at Brasenose College, University of Oxford where he became interested in
the methods that prehistoric peoples used to build megalithic monuments. Thom became especially interested in the stone circles of
the British Isles and France[3] and their astronomical associations. In 1955, Alexander Thom published A statistical examination of
megalithic sites in Britainin which he first suggested the megalithic yard as a standardised prehistoric measurement. He retired from
academia in 1961 to spend the rest of his life devoted to this area of research. The Thom Building, housing the Department of
Engineering Science at Oxford, built in the 1960s, is named after Alexander Thom.
From around 1933 to 1977 Thom spent most of his weekends and holiday periods hefting theodolites and survey equipment around
the countryside with his family member or friends, most notably with his son Archie. From studies measuring and analysing the data
created at over five hundred megalithic sites, he attempted to classify stone circles into different morphological types, Type A, Type
B, Type B modified and Type D flattened circles, Type 1 and Type 2 eggs, ovals and true circles. He suggested several were built as
astronomical complexesto predict eclipses via nineteen-year cycles. Thom went on to identify numerous solar and stellar alignments
at stone circles, providing the foundations for the scientific discipline of Archaeoastronomy. He further suggested the prehistoric
peoples of Britain must have used a solar method of keeping calendar. Based on statistical histograms of observed declinations at
horizon marks with no convenient star at −22°, +8°, +9° and +22° (except possibly Spica at +9°) between 2100 and 1600 BC, he
suggested a year based on sixteen months; four with twenty two days, eleven with twenty three days and one with twenty four.
Thom's suggested megalithic solar year was divided by midsummer, midwinter and the two equinoxes into four and then subdivided
into eight by early versions of the modern Christian festivals of Whitsun, Lammas, Martinmas and Candlemas (see Scottish Quarter
Days). He found little evidence for further subdivision into thirty two, but noted "We do not know how sophisticated prehistoric
man's calendar was, but the interesting thing is that he obtained declinations very close to those we have obtained as ideal". Thom
explored these topics further in his later books, Megalithic sites in Britain (Oxford, 1967), Megalithic lunar observatories (Oxford,
1971) and Megalithic Remains in Britain and Brittany (Oxford, 1978), the last written with his son Archie after they carried out a
detailed survey of theCarnac stones from 1970 to 1974.[4]

Thom's ideas met with resistance from the archaeological community but were welcomed amongst elements of 1960s counter-
culture. Along with Gerald Hawkins' new interpretation of Stonehenge as an astronomical 'computer' (see Archaeoastronomy and
Stonehenge), Thom's theories were adopted by numerous believers in the lost wisdom of the ancients and became commonly
associated with pseudoscience, which saddened him greatly.

In 1975, his wife, Jeanie died. In 1981 he underwent an eye operation and in 1982 he broke a femur falling on ice. He continued to
write papers and undertook interviews and correspondence using a dictaphone with the assistance of audio typist, Hilda Gustin. He
moved in with his daughter Beryl in 1983 in Banavie. Registered as blind, he concluded a final book Stone Rows and Standing
Stones, a 557-page tome published posthumously with the assistance of Aubrey Burl in 1990. Alexander Thom died on 7 November
1985 at Fort William hospital, aged 91. His body was buried nearAyr.

His son Alan died in a plane crash in 1945 and Archie died in 1995 from a brain tumour. He is survived by his daughter Beryl Austin
and grandchildren.

BBC Chronicle – Cracking the Stone Age Code

In 1970 Thom appeared on a television documentary produced by the BBC
Chronicle series, presented by Magnus Magnusson and featuring well known
archaeologists, Dr. Euan Mackie, Professor Richard J. C. Atkinson, Dr. A. H. A.
Hogg, Professor Stuart Piggott, Dr. Jacquetta Hawkes, Dr. Humphrey Case and Dr.
Glyn Daniel. The programme discussed the difference between orthodox
archaeology and the radical ideas of Thom. A pinnacle of his career, Thom finally
got to publicly deliver his message on national television.[5] Despite the heavy
criticism, he never vented his frustration on the archaeological profession as he said The Broken Menhir of Er Grah
in the Chronicle program "I just keep reporting what I find". suggested by Thom to have been
once used for major lunar alignments
in BBC Chronicle – Cracking the
Later use of his work stone age code
Thom's proposed length for the Megalithic yard has been reused as such in several
controversial books that claim this unit of measurement is a subdivision of the
Earth's circumference in an alleged 366-degree geometry. One such book is 'Civilization One: The World is Not as You Thought It
Was', by Christopher Knight and Alan Butler who propose the366 geometry theory.
Clive Ruggles has said that both classical and Bayesian statistical reassessments of Thom's data "reached the conclusion that the
evidence in favour of the MY was at best marginal, and that even if it does exist the uncertainty in our knowledge of its value is of
the order of centimetres, far greater than the 1mm precision claimed by Thom. In other words, the evidence presented by Thom could
be adequately explained by, say, monuments being set out by pacing, with the 'unit' reflecting an average length of pace."[6] David
George Kendall had previously argued that pacing would have created a greater difference in measurements between sites, he
concluded after investigation for the Royal Academy, that "The hypothesis of a smooth, non-quantal distribution of circle diameters
(for Scottish, English and Welsh true circles) is thus rejected at the 1% level."[7][8]

Douglas Heggie casts doubt on Thom's suggestion as well, stating that his careful analysis uncovered "little evidence for a highly
[9]
accurate unit" and "little justification for the claim that a highly accurate unit was in use".

Euan MacKie, recognising that Thom's theories needed to be tested, excavated at the Kintraw standing stone site in Argyllshire in
1970 and 1971 to check whether the latter's prediction of an observation platform on the hill slope above the stone was correct. There
was an artificial platform there and this apparent verification of Thom's long alignment hypothesis (Kintraw was diagnosed as an
accurate winter solstice site) led him to check Thom's geometrical theories at the Cultoon stone circle in Islay, also with a positive
result. MacKie therefore broadly accepted Thom's conclusions and published new prehistories of Britain.[22] In contrast a re-
evaluation of Thom's fieldwork by Clive Ruggles argued that Thom's claims of high accuracy astronomy were not fully supported by
the evidence.[23] Nevertheless, Thom's legacy remains strong, Krupp[24] wrote in 1979, "Almost singlehandedly he has established
the standards for archaeo-astronomical fieldwork and interpretation, and his amazing results have stirred controversy during the last
.[10]
three decades." His influence endures and practice of statistical testing of data remains one of the methods of archaeoastronomy

In his book Rings of Stone: The Prehistoric Stone Circles of Britain and Ireland. Aubrey Burl calls the megalithic yard "a chimera, a
grotesque statistical misconception."[11]

In his book Genes, Giants, Monsters and Men,Joseph P. Farrell states, "If Thom is right, the development of human history will have
[12]
to be rewritten." This Farrell surmises is why Thom encounters such opposition from certain groups.

See also
Archeoastronomy
Euan Mackie
Robin Heath
Anne Macaulay
Hugh Harleston Jr.

Publications
Archaeoastronomical publications.

Thom, Alexander (1955). "A Statistical Examination of the Megalithic Sites in Britain".
Journal of the Royal Statistical
Society. Series A (General). 118 (3): 275–295. doi:10.2307/2342494. JSTOR 2342494.
Thom, Alexander (1961). "The egg-shaped standing stone rings of Britain". Archivs internationales d'Histoire des
Sciences. 14: 291–303.
Thom, Alexander (1961). "The Geometry of Megalithic Man".The Mathematical Gazette. 45 (352): 83–93.
doi:10.2307/3614618.
Thom, Alexander (1962). "The megalithic unit of length".Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A. 125: 243–
251. doi:10.2307/2982328.
Thom, Alexander (1964). "The larger unit of megalithic man".Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A. 127:
527–533. doi:10.2307/2343934.
Thom, Alexander (1966). "Megaliths and mathermatics".Antiquity. 40: 121–128.
Thom, Alexander., Megalithic sites in Britain,Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1967ISBN 978-0198131489.
Thom, Alexander (1968). "The metrology ofcup and ring marks". Systematics. 6: 173–189.
Thom, Alexander., Megalithic Lunar Observatories, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1970.
 Thom, Alexander; Thom, Archibald (1971). "The astronomical significance of the large Carnac menhirs". Journal for
the History of Astronomy. 2: 147–160. Bibcode:1971JHA.....2..147T. doi:10.1177/002182867100200301.
Thom, Alexander (1972). "TheCarnac alignments". Journal for the History of Astronomy. 3: 11–26.
Bibcode:1972JHA.....3...11T. doi:10.1177/002182867200300103.
Thom, Alexander (1972). "The uses and alignments atLe Menec, Carnac". Journal for the History of Astronomy. 3:
151–164. Bibcode:1972JHA.....3..151T. doi:10.1177/002182867200300301.
Thom, Alexander (1973). "TheKerlescan cromlechs". Journal for the History of Astronomy. 4: 169–173.
Bibcode:1973JHA.....4..168T. doi:10.1177/002182867300400303.
Thom, Alexander (1973). "A megalithic lunar observatory inOrkney". Journal for the History of Astronomy. 4: 169–
173.
Thom, Alexander (1973). "The Astronomical Significance of the Crucuno Stone Rectangle". Current Anthropology.
14: 450–454.
Thom, Alexander (1974). "The Kermario alignments".Journal for the History of Astronomy. 5: 30–47.
Bibcode:1974JHA.....5...30T. doi:10.1177/002182867400500104.
Thom, Alexander; Stevenson Thom, Archibald; Strang Thom, Alexander (1974). "Stonehenge". Journal for the
History of Astronomy. 5: 71–90. Bibcode:1974JHA.....5...71T. doi:10.1177/002182867400500201.
Thom, Alexander (1975). "Further work onBrogar Lunar Observatory". Journal for the History of Astronomy. 6: 100–
114. Bibcode:1975JHA.....6..100T. doi:10.1177/002182867500600203.
Thom, Alexander; Stevenson Thom, Archibald; Strang Thom, Alexander (1975). "Stonehenge as a Possible Lunar
Observatory". Journal for the History of Astronomy. 6: 19–30. Bibcode:1975JHA.....6...19T.
doi:10.1177/002182867500600103.
Thom, Alexander (1976). "Avebury volume 1: A new assessment of the geometry and metrology of the ring".Journal
for the History of Astronomy. 7: 183–192. Bibcode:1976JHA.....7..183T. doi:10.1177/002182867600700303.
Thom, Alexander; Thom, Archibald; Foord, T .R. (1976). "Avebury volume 2: the West Kennet Avenue". Journal for
the History of Astronomy. 7: 193–197. Bibcode:1976JHA.....7..193T. doi:10.1177/002182867600700304.
Thom, Alexander; Thom, Archibald; Gorrie, J.M. (1976). "The two megalithic lunar observatories at Carnac". Journal
for the History of Astronomy. 7: 11–26. Bibcode:1976JHA.....7...11T. doi:10.1177/002182867600700102.
Thom, Alexander (1977). "Megalithic Astronomy".Journal of Navigation. 30: 1–14.
doi:10.1017/s0373463300043575.
Thom, Alexander (1977). "A Forth Lunar Foresight for the Brogar Ring". Journal for the History of Astronomy. 8: 54–
55. Bibcode:1977JHA.....8...54T. doi:10.1177/002182867700800107.
Thom, Alexander (1978). "A reconsideration of the Lunar Sites in Britain".Journal for the History of Astronomy. 9:
170–179. Bibcode:1978JHA.....9..170T. doi:10.1177/002182867800900302.
Thom, Alexander., Megalithic remains in Britain and Brittany, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1978.
Thom, Alexander (1979). "The standing stones inArgyllshire". Glasgow Archaeological Journal. vi: 5–10.
doi:10.3366/gas.1979.6.6.5.
Thom, Alexander (1980). "A new study of all lunar lines".Archaeoastronomy: Supplement to the Journal for the
History of Astronomy. 2: 78–94. Bibcode:1980JHAS...11...78T.
Thom, Alexander (1980). "Astronomical foresights used by Megalithic man". Archaeoastronomy: Supplement to the
Journal for the History of Astronomy. 2: 78–94. Bibcode:1980JHAS...11...78T.
Thom, Alexander, Thom Archibald Stevenson, Burl, Aubrey., Megalithic rings: plans and data for 229 monuments in
Britain, British Archaeological Reports, 1980,ISBN 978-0-86054-094-6
Thom, Alexander, Statistical and philosophical arguments for the astronomical significance of standing stones, in
D.C. Heggie, Archaeoastronomy in the Old W orld, Cambridge University Press, 53–82, 1982.
Thom, Alexander, Statistical and philosophical arguments for the astronomical significance of standing stones with a
section on the solar calendar, in D.C. Heggie, Archaeoastronomy in the Old World, Cambridge University Press, 53–
82, 1982.
Thom, Alexander (1983). "Observations of the moon in megalithic times". Archaeoastronomy: Supplement to the
Journal for the History of Astronomy. 5: 57–66.
Thom, Alexander (1984). "The two major Megalithic observatories in Scotland". Journal for the History of Astronomy.
15: 129–148. Bibcode:1984JHAS...15..129T.
1990. Thom, Alexander and Burl, AubreyStone Rows and Standing Stones: Britain, Ireland and BrittanyB.A.R.
1990, ISBN 978-0-86054-708-2

References
1. Robin Heath (May 2003).Alexander Thom: Cracking the Stone Age Code(https://books.google.com/books?id=Dmn
HGAAACAAJ). Bluestone Press. ISBN 978-0-9526151-4-9. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
 2. Ruggles, Clive (2003).Records in Stone: Papers in Memory of Alexander Thom
. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 978-0-521-53130-6.
3. Hutton, Ronald The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British IslesBlackwell Publishing 1993ISBN 978-0-631-18946-6
p. 111 [1] (https://books.google.com/books?id=ifjw5Ce_NgEC&pg=RA1-P A1&dq=Thom+stone+circles+british+isles&
ei=lU_mSIyyEpGgswPyyP3VDw&client=firefox-a&sig=ACfU3U24Ft-H4YH62av-LwPh2Zg5pk5vEg)
4. Alexander Thom (1 August 1967).Megalithic Sites in Britain(https://books.google.com/books?id=UviAAAAAMAAJ)
.
Oxford Univ Pr on Demand. pp. 107-.ISBN 978-0-19-813148-9. Retrieved 4 June 2011.
5. The Spectator (https://books.google.com/books?id=oBw-AQAAIAAJ)
. 1970. p. 608. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
6. Ruggles, Clive (1999).Astronomy in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland. Yale University Press. p. 83.ISBN 978-0-300-
07814-5.
7. David H. Kelley; Eugene F. Milone; Anthony F. (FRW) Aveni (28 February 2011).Exploring Ancient Skies: A Survey
of Ancient and Cultural Astronomy(https://books.google.com/books?id=ILBuYcGASxcC&pg=P A163). Springer.
pp. 163–. ISBN 978-1-4419-7623-9. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
8. David George Kendall; F. R. Hodson; Royal Society (Great Britain) (1974).The Place of astronomy in the ancient
world: a joint symposium of the Royal Society and the British Academy, Hunting Quanta (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=FHLvAAAAMAAJ). British Academy. Oxford University Press for the British Academy. pp. 249, 258.
Retrieved 22 April 2011.
9. Heggie, Douglas C. (1981).Megalithic Science: Ancient Mathematics and Astronomy in North-west Europe
. Thames
and Hudson. p. 58. ISBN 0-500-05036-8.
10. MacKie 1977, Gingerich 2000, Krupp 1979:18, Hicks 1993
11. Balfour, M; O GIngerich (1980)."Book-Review – Stonehenge and its Mysteries"(http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/fu
ll/seri/JHAS./0011//0000104.000.html). Journal of Historical Astronomy. SUPP. VOL.11, P.S104. Retrieved 3 May
2011.
12. Farrell, Joseph (2011).Genes, Giants, Monsters and Men. Feral House. p. 35.

External links
Thom's publications at the Astrophysics Data System
Biography
"Astronomy before History", by Clive Ruggles and Michael Hoskins, a chapter from theCambridge Concise History
of Astronomy, Michael Hoskin ed., 1999
Alexander Thom, obituaryby D. C. Heggie, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society
, Vol 28, No 2, p 178-
182
BBC Archive – Chronicle | Cracking the Stone Age Code
Video footage of his home at Dunlop in Ayrshire

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