LexiLine Journal #85 - 2002 : Ballyedmonduff County Dublin Ireland Andromeda Planisphere

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To our file folder on Ancient Ireland
I have uploaded
in addition to
ballyedmonduff.gif
and
ballyedmonduff.tif
also the files
ballyedmonduff2.gif
ballyedmonduff2.tif
and
ballyedmonduff3.gif
ballyedmonduff3.tif

The site of Ballyedmonduff in County Dublin, Ireland teaches us several important lessons about megalithic sites.

Except for stones added or moved since the creation of any megalithic site, the following is generally true:

1. ALL of the stones at Neolithic megalithic sites, whether big megaliths OR small stones, are there by intention to serve a particular purpose. They are not there by chance. They have been selected for their position out of many megaliths and stones available to the builders. Especially megaliths made of quartz or granite or being of a particular color deserve special attention. The ancients intended it that way - it is not chance. Relative sizes are also significant, often marking the brightness of stars.

2. Many of the stones at megalithic sites have been carved to give them a "living identity", i.e. generally an eye and a mouth at least, and often the entire stone is in the form of some bird or animal or human head - not always identifiable. Maybe all stones are so marked, but due to weathering this is impossible to tell.

3. Many of the stones at megalithic sites have been carved with figures to represent a star or a group of stars. The process looks complicated but is simple. First you carve a large megalith into a particular form. Then you carve more figures onto the already created figure. Within those figures, or even overlapping, you carve even more figures, and so on, until the megalith is covered with carvings, all of course representing various stars in various areas of the sky - some larger, some smaller.

4. Some areas of worked stone seem to weather differently and sometimes are marked by a form of whitish mold. Perhaps the worked areas are a a bit deeper than the normal surface and thus offer mold a better grip.

5. Some of the quartz stones are carved so that the carved figures literally blaze in darkness, much like objects under ultraviolet light. Look e.g. at some photos online of Arthur's Stone Maen Ceti (a gigantic quartz stone in Wales) and then darken the picture in stages in your graphic program - the figures "in the stone" will become apparent marked by fiery colored stars. I am sure this is intentional but I do not know how the ancients did it. If they carved the stones in cold winters in caves using torchlight - as a form of occupation (or calling) - the dim light would have forced them to emphasize lighter grains in the stone to see their own work. Reliefs would literally then dance in the flickering torch light. Perhaps that is how the art of megalith sculpting came to its peak.

6. Many of the stones have visible stars marked on them which mark the particular region of heavens represented by a particular stone. I wish I had known this to begin the decipherment, where I concentrated only on cupmarks of major stars. However, as I have continued this work, magnifying photographs of megalithic sites in my graphic programs, it has become clear that many darker "dots" which appear on magnified pictures are in fact intentional man-made "additions" to the stone, marking stars not so bright, but helping enormously in identifying the stars intended.

Ballyedmonduff, for example, shows the star alpha-Pegasi and the darker dots around this star represent the other smaller (less bright) visible stars around it. In this manner alpha-Pegasi is identified without great doubt, thereby giving greater credence to the entire decipherment. Once a star is established with certainty, the other stars can be identified by logical consequence.

Ballyedmonduff is a so-called "court tomb". In reality, it is not a tomb at all, but a geodetic astronomical planisphere.

Ballyedmonduff is similar to Creevykeel in Sligo, except that Creevykeel marks Virgo and Ballyedmonduff marks Andromeda.

The largest megalith on the site of Ballyedmonduff marks Andromeda. The other stones mark all of the other major stellar constellations of the heavens. EVERY stone counts. Some of my matches of stones and stars are surely provisional, based only on two photos, but I am certain that the general identification of many of the stones will turn out to be correct in the long term.