Abstract

dvances in technology have allowed the landscape positioning of British Neolithic and Early Bronze Age monuments circa 4000 1600 BC to be investigated in ways that were virtually impossible before the twenty first century Since using this technology I have plotted hundreds of alignments amongst the British prehistoric landscapes and my research indicates that there was a surveying technique being applied to the landscape on a scale never previously considered before This technique follows a specific formula whereby the location for a monument in its respective landscape setting was determined by using elements of astronomy and measuring so that the intended monument could be aligned towards either another monument or a natural feature within the landscape In the first part of this two-part article I shall discuss how such technology has been used to investigate for alignments amongst prehistoric monuments within the Peak District National Park and then in part 2 I shall consider the prehistoric ritual landscape surrounding Stonehenge Figure 1