Alexander Thom - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Alexander "Sandy" Thom (26 March 1894 – 7 November 1985) was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

engineer most famous for his theory of the Megalithic yard

Megalithic Yard

A Megalithic Yard is a unit of measurement, about , that some researchers believe was used in the construction of megalithic structures. The proposal was made by Alexander Thom as a result of his surveys of 600 megalithic sites in England, Scotland, Wales and Britanny...

, categorization of stone circle

Stone circle

A stone circle is a monument of standing stones arranged in a circle. Such monuments have been constructed across the world throughout history for many different reasons....

s and his studies of Stonehenge

Stonehenge

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...

and other archaeological sites.

Life and work

Thom was born in Carradale

Carradale

Carradale is a picturesque village on the east side of Kintyre, overlooking the Kilbrannan Sound and the west coast of the Isle of Arran, approximately 14 miles from Campbeltown...

in 1894. His mother was Lily Stevenson Strang from the family of Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....

. Her mother (Thom's grandmother) belonged to a large family from Symington

Symington

-People:*J. Fife Symington Jr. , American diplomat*Fife Symington III , American politician; Governor of Arizona*Gaye Symington , American politician, Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives...

, upon whom had been bestowed the land by Robert the Bruce. His father was a clever tenant farmer

Tenant farmer

A tenant farmer is one who resides on and farms land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management; while tenant farmers contribute their labor along with at times varying...

at Mains farm for Carradale House. His father trained the Church choir

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

while his mother was pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

. Thom spent his early years at Mains farm until moving to The Hill farm at Dunlop

Dunlop, East Ayrshire

Dunlop is a village and parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It lies on the A735, north-east of Stewarton, seven miles from Kilmarnock. The road runs on to Lugton and the B706 enters the village from Beith.-The village:...

, Ayrshire

Ayrshire

Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the...

. Instilled with a good work ethic

Work ethic

Work ethic is a set of values based on hard work and diligence. It is also a belief in the moral benefit of work and its ability to enhance character. An example would be the Protestant work ethic...

by his father, Thom taught himself industrial engineering

Industrial engineering

Industrial engineering is a branch of engineering dealing with the optimization of complex processes or systems. It is concerned with the development, improvement, implementation and evaluation of integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information, equipment, energy, materials, analysis...

and entered college in Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

in 1911 where he studied alongside John Logie Baird

John Logie Baird

John Logie Baird FRSE was a Scottish engineer and inventor of the world's first practical, publicly demonstrated television system, and also the world's first fully electronic colour television tube...

. In 1912 he attended summer school at Loch Eck

Loch Eck

Loch Eck is a loch located on the Cowal peninsula, north of Dunoon, Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is seven miles long. Apart from Loch Lomond, it is the only naturally occurring habitat of the powan.-External links:*...

where he was trained in surveying and field astronomy

Astronomy

Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...

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

Royal College of Science and Technology

The Royal College of Science and Technology, situated at 138 George Street in Glasgow, Scotland was the principal predecessor institution of the University of Strathclyde, and now serves as one of the main educational buildings of the campus.-History:...

and the University of Glasgow

University of Glasgow

The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...

in 1914, earning a BSc

BSC

BSC is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to:Science and technology* Bachelor of Science , an undergraduate degree* Base Station Controller, part of a mobile phone network; see: Base Station subsystem...

with special distinction in Engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

. He suffered from a heart murmur

Heart murmur

Murmurs are extra heart sounds that are produced as a result of turbulent blood flow that is sufficient to produce audible noise. Most murmurs can only be heard with the assistance of a stethoscope ....

and was not drafted

Conscription

Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...

during the First World War. Instead he went to work in civil engineering

Civil engineering

Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...

of the Forth Bridge

Forth Bridge

The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge over the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, to the east of the Forth Road Bridge, and 14 kilometres west of central Edinburgh. It was opened on 4 March 1890, and spans a total length of...

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

Lecturer

Lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, lecturer is a position at a university or similar institution, often held by academics in their early career stages, who lead research groups and supervise research students, as well as teach...

from 1922 to 1939, quickly earning his PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

and DSc

DSC

-in academia:* D.Sc., Doctor of Science* Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine* Dalton State College, Georgia* Daytona State College, Florida* Deep Springs College, California* Dixie State College of Utah...

degrees. He built his own home called Thalassa in 1922, along with a windmill

Windmill

A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...

to power it with electricity

Electricity

Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...

. 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

Aeronautics

Aeronautics is the science involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of airflight-capable machines, or the techniques of operating aircraft and rocketry within the atmosphere...

at Glasgow University and lectured on statistics

Statistics

Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....

, practical field surveying, theodolite

Theodolite

A theodolite is a precision instrument for measuring angles in the horizontal and vertical planes. Theodolites are mainly used for surveying applications, and have been adapted for specialized purposes in fields like metrology and rocket launch technology...

design and astronomy

Astronomy

Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...

. From 1930 to 1935 he was a Carnegie Teaching Fellow

Carnegie Corporation of New York

Carnegie Corporation of New York, which was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding," is one of the oldest, largest and most influential of American foundations...

. During the Second World War, Thom moved to Fleet

Fleet, Hampshire

Fleet is a town and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England, located 37 miles south west of London. It is part of Hart District. The 2007 population forecast for Fleet was 31,687.-History:...

in Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

where he was appointed Principal Scientific Officer heading the Royal Aircraft Establishment

Royal Aircraft Establishment

The Royal Aircraft Establishment , was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence , before finally losing its identity in mergers with other institutions.The first site was at Farnborough...

team that developed the first high speed wind tunnel

Wind tunnel

A wind tunnel is a research tool used in aerodynamic research to study the effects of air moving past solid objects.-Theory of operation:Wind tunnels were first proposed as a means of studying vehicles in free flight...

.

He later was a professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

and chair of engineering science at Brasenose College, University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

where he became interested in the methods that prehistoric peoples used to build megalithic monuments. Thom became especially interested in the stone circle

Stone circle

A stone circle is a monument of standing stones arranged in a circle. Such monuments have been constructed across the world throughout history for many different reasons....

s of the British Isles

British Isles

The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...

and France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

and their astronomical associations. In 1955, Alexander Thom published A statistical examination of megalithic sites in Britain in 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

Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford

The Department of Engineering Science is the focus of study of engineering science at Oxford University, England. It is located on the triangular plot formed by Banbury Road to the west, Parks Road to the east and Keble Road to the south. The main building is the tall 1960s Thom Building that...

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 also attempted to classify stone circles into different morphological

Morphology (linguistics)

In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...

types, Type A, Type B, Type B modified and Type D flattened circles, Type 1 and Type 2 eggs, oval

Oval

An oval is any curve resembling an egg or an ellipse, such as a Cassini oval. The term does not have a precise mathematical definition except in one area oval , but it may also refer to:* A sporting arena of oval shape** a cricket field...

s and true circles. He suggested several were built as astronomical complex

Astronomical complex

An astronomical complex or commemorative astronomical complex is a series of man-made structures with an astronomical purposes. It has been used when referring to a group of Megalithic structures that it is claimed show high precision astronomical alignments...

es to predict eclipse

Eclipse

An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object is temporarily obscured, either by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer...

s 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

Archaeoastronomy

Archaeoastronomy is the study of how people in the past "have understood the phenomena in the sky how they used phenomena in the sky and what role the sky played in their cultures." Clive Ruggles argues it is misleading to consider archaeoastronomy to be the study of ancient astronomy, as modern...

. He further suggested that prehistoric man in Britain must have used a solar method of keeping calendar. Based on statistical histogram

Histogram

In statistics, a histogram is a graphical representation showing a visual impression of the distribution of data. It is an estimate of the probability distribution of a continuous variable and was first introduced by Karl Pearson...

s of observed declination

Declination

In astronomy, declination is one of the two coordinates of the equatorial coordinate system, the other being either right ascension or hour angle. Declination in astronomy is comparable to geographic latitude, but projected onto the celestial sphere. Declination is measured in degrees north and...

s at horizon marks with no convenient star at -22°, +8°, +9° and +22° (except possibly Spica

Spica

Spica is the brightest star in the constellation Virgo, and the 15th brightest star in the nighttime sky. It is 260 light years distant from Earth...

at +9°) between 2100 and 1600 BC, he suggested a year based on of sixteen month

Month

A month is a unit of time, used with calendars, which was first used and invented in Mesopotamia, as a natural period related to the motion of the Moon; month and Moon are cognates. The traditional concept arose with the cycle of moon phases; such months are synodic months and last approximately...

s; 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

Midsummer

Midsummer may simply refer to the period of time centered upon the summer solstice, but more often refers to specific European celebrations that accompany the actual solstice, or that take place on a day between June 21 and June 24, and the preceding evening. The exact dates vary between different...

, midwinter and the two equinox

Equinox

An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator...

es into four and then subdivided into eight by early versions of the modern Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

festivals of Whitsun

Whitsun

Whitsun is the name used in the UK for the Christian festival of Pentecost, the seventh Sunday after Easter, which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Christ's disciples...

, Lammas

Lammas

In some English-speaking countries in the Northern Hemisphere, August 1 is Lammas Day , the festival of the wheat harvest, and is the first harvest festival of the year. On this day it was customary to bring to church a loaf made from the new crop...

, 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

Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...

, 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 the Carnac stones

Carnac stones

The Carnac stones are an exceptionally dense collection of megalithic sites around the French village of Carnac, in Brittany, consisting of alignments, dolmens, tumuli and single menhirs. The more than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones were hewn from local rock and erected by the pre-Celtic people...

from 1970 to 1974.

Thom's ideas met with resistance from the archaeological community but were welcomed amongst elements of 1960s counter-culture. Along with Gerald Hawkins

Gerald Hawkins

Gerald Stanley Hawkins was an English astronomer and author most famous for his work in the field of archaeoastronomy. A professor and chair of the astronomy department at Boston University in the United States...

' new interpretation of Stonehenge

Stonehenge

as an astronomical 'computer' (see Archaeoastronomy and Stonehenge

Archaeoastronomy and Stonehenge

The prehistoric monument of Stonehenge has long been studied for its possible connections with ancient astronomy. Archaeoastronomers have claimed that Stonehenge represents an "ancient observatory," although the extent of its use for that purpose is in dispute...

), Thom's theories were adopted by numerous believers in the lost wisdom of the ancients and became commonly associated with pseudoscience

Pseudoscience

Pseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status...

, which saddened him greatly.

In 1975, his wife, Jeanie died. In 1981 he underwent an eye operation and in 1982 he broke a femur

Femur

The femur , or thigh bone, is the most proximal bone of the leg in tetrapod vertebrates capable of walking or jumping, such as most land mammals, birds, many reptiles such as lizards, and amphibians such as frogs. In vertebrates with four legs such as dogs and horses, the femur is found only in...

falling on ice

Ice

Ice is water frozen into the solid state. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions...

. 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

Banavie

Banavie is a small settlement near Fort William in the Highland Council Area of Scotland. One of the closest villages to Ben Nevis, it is about 4 km north east of Fort William town centre, next to Caol and Corpach.It has been suggested that Banavie is one of the possible birth places of Saint...

. Registered as blind

Blind

Blind may refer to:* The state of blindness, being unable to see* A window blind, a covering for a windowBlind may also refer to:-Electronics, engineering, and science:...

, he concluded a final book Stone Rows and Standing Stones, a 557 page tome published posthumously with the assistance of Aubrey Burl

Aubrey Burl

Harry Aubrey Woodruff Burl MA, DLitt, PhD, FSA, HonFSA Scot is a British archaeologist most well known for his studies into megalithic monuments and the nature of prehistoric rituals associated with them. Prior to retirement he was Principal Lecturer in Archaeology, Hull College, East Riding of...

in 1990. Alexander Thom died on November 7, 1985 at Fort William

Fort William, Scotland

Fort William is the second largest settlement in the highlands of Scotland and the largest town: only the city of Inverness is larger.Fort William is a major tourist centre with Glen Coe just to the south, Aonach Mòr to the north and Glenfinnan to the west, on the Road to the Isles...

hospital, aged 91. His body was buried near Ayr

Ayr

Ayr is a town and port situated on the Firth of Clyde in south-west Scotland. With a population of around 46,000, Ayr is the largest settlement in Ayrshire, of which it is the county town, and has held royal burgh status since 1205...

.

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

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

documentary

Documentary

A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...

produced by the BBC Chronicle series, presented by Magnus Magnusson

Magnus Magnusson

Magnus Magnusson KBE was a television presenter, journalist, translator and writer. He was born in Iceland but lived in Scotland for almost all of his life, although he never took British citizenship...

and featuring well known archaeologists, Dr. Euan Mackie

Euan MacKie

Euan Wallace MacKie is a British archaeologist and anthropologist. He is a prominent figure in the field of Archaeoastronomy.-Biography:...

, Professor Richard J. C. Atkinson

Richard J. C. Atkinson

Richard John Copland Atkinson CBE was a British prehistorian and archaeologist.-Biography:He was born in Evershot, Dorset and went to Sherborne School and then Magdalen College, Oxford, reading PPE...

, Dr. A. H. A. Hogg, Professor Stuart Piggott

Stuart Piggott

Stuart Ernest Piggott CBE was a British archaeologist best known for his work on prehistoric Wessex.Born in Petersfield, Hampshire, Piggott was educated at Churcher's College and on leaving school in 1927 took up a post as assistant at Reading Museum where he developed an expertise in Neolithic...

, Dr. Jacquetta Hawkes

Jacquetta Hawkes

Jacquetta Hawkes was a British archaeologist.Born Jessie Jacquetta Hopkins, the daughter of Nobel Prize-winning scientist, Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins, she married first Christopher Hawkes, then an Assistant Keeper at the British Museum, in 1933. From 1953, she was married to J. B. Priestley...

, Dr. Humphrey Case and Dr. Glyn Daniel

Glyn Daniel

Glyn Edmund Daniel was a Welsh scientist and archaeologist whose academic career at Cambridge University specialised in the European Neolithic period. He edited the academic journal Antiquity from 1958–1985...

. The programme discussed the difference between orthodox

Orthodoxy

The word orthodox, from Greek orthos + doxa , is generally used to mean the adherence to accepted norms, more specifically to creeds, especially in religion...

archaeology and the radical ideas of Thom. A pinnacle of his career, Thom finally got to publicly deliver his message on national television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

. Despite the heavy criticism, he never vented his frustration on the archaeological profession as he said in the Chronicle program "I just keep reporting what I find".

Later use of his work

In the last decade Thom's proposed length for the Megalithic yard

Megalithic Yard

has been extensively reused as such in many controversial books which claim this unit of measurement is a subdivision of the Earth's circumference

Circumference

The circumference is the distance around a closed curve. Circumference is a special perimeter.-Circumference of a circle:The circumference of a circle is the length around it....

in an alleged 366-degree geometry

366 geometry

366 geometry or 366-degree geometry is the name given to an hypothetical geometry supposedly used and perhaps created by an alleged megalithic civilization of Britain and Brittany, France, according to British authors Alan Butler and Christopher Knight, and French author Sylvain Tristan...

. This theory, however, has been met with much skepticism by mainstream science which generally labels it as pseudoscience

Pseudoscience

Publications

Archaeoastronomical publications.

Thom, Alexander., The egg-shaped standing stone rings of Britain, Archivs internationales d'Histoire des Sciences, 14, 291-303, 1961.
Thom, Alexander., The geometry of megalithic man, Mathematical Gazette, 45, 83-93, 1961.
Thom, Alexander., The megalithic unit of length, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, A 125, 243-251, 1962.
Thom, Alexander., The larger unit of megalithic man, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, A 127, 527-533, 1964.
Thom, Alexander., Megaliths and mathermatics, Antiquity, 40, 121-128, 1966.
Thom, Alexander., Megalithic sites in Britain, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1967.
Thom, Alexander., The metrology of cup and ring mark
Cup and ring mark
Cup and ring marks or cup marks are a form of prehistoric art found mainly in Atlantic Europe and Mediterranean Europe although similar forms are also found throughout the world including Mexico, Brazil, Greece, and India, where...

s, Systematics, 6, 173-189, 1968.
Thom, Alexander., Megalithic Lunar Observatories, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1970.
Thom, Alexander and Thom, Archibald., The astronomical significance of the large Carnac menhirs, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 2, 147-160, 1971.
Thom, Alexander., The Carnac
Carnac
Carnac is a commune beside the Gulf of Morbihan on the south coast of Brittany in the Morbihan department in north-western France.Its inhabitants are called Carnacois...

alignments, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 3, 11-26, 1972.
Thom, Alexander., The uses and alignments at Le Menec, Carnac, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 3, 151-164, 1972.
Thom, Alexander., The Kerlescan cromlechs, Jornal for the History of Astronomy, 4, 169-173, 1973.
Thom, Alexander., A megalithic lunar observatory in Orkney, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 4, 169-173, 1973.
Thom, Alexander., The Kermario alignments, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 5, 30-47, 1974.
Thom, Alexander., Further work on Brogar Lunar Observatory, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 6, 100-114, 1975
Thom, Alexander., Avebury volume 1: A new assessment of the geometry and metrology of the ring, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 7, 183-192, 1976.
Thom, Alexander., Thom, Archibald and Foord, T.R., Avebury volume 2: the West Kennet Avenue, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 7, 193-197, 1976.
Thom, Alexander., Thom, Archibald and Gorrie, J.M., The two megalithic lunar observatories at Carnac, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 7, 11-26, 1976.
Thom, Alexander., Megalithic Astronomy, Journal of Navigation, 30, 1-14, 1977.
Thom, Alexander., A Forth Lunar Foresight for the Brogar Ring, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 8, 54-55, 1977.
Thom, Alexander., A reconsideration of the Lunar Sites in Britain, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 9, 170-179, 1978.
Thom, Alexander., Megalithic remains in Britain and Brittany, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1978.
Thom, Alexander., The standing stones in Argyllshire, Glasgow Archaeological Journal, vi, 5-10, 1979.
Thom, Alexander., A new study of all lunar lines, Journal for the History of Astronomy: Archaeoastronomy, 2, 78-94, 1980.
Thom, Alexander., Astronomical foresights used by Megalithic man, Journal for the History of Astronomy: Archaeoastronomy, 2, 78-94, 1980.
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 World, 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, Observations of the moon in megalithic times, Archaeoastronomy, 5, 57-66, 1983.
Thom, Alexander, The two major Megalithic observatories in Scotland, Journal for the History of Astronomy, 15, 129-148, 1984.
1990. Thom, Alexander and Burl, Aubrey Stone Rows and Standing Stones: Britain, Ireland and Brittany B.A.R. 1990, ISBN 978-0-86054-708-2

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Life and work

BBC Chronicle - Cracking the Stone Age Code

Later use of his work

See also

Publications

External links