B.L. Freeborn (c) 2013, updated Sept. 2022

Neolithic art is something we do not spend too much time studying. We class it with ancient graffiti, decorative art, or a bit of bragging about the recent hunt. We do not really expect it to tell us anything in the way of communication of important ideas. If it does say anything, we assume they are simple messages from simple minded people and move on. An article by Dr. Philip Stooke in 1994, “Neolithic Lunar Maps at Knowth and Baltinglass, Ireland,” proposed that several works of art found in the Knowth Passage Mound, Ireland are images of the moon’s surface. Most of the art at Knowth and the nearby sites are an odd assortment of lines, swirls and dots. One stone simply depicts 16 circles. Then there is the other extreme. There is another stone so covered with markings it looks like a piece of overused doodle paper.

We are going to look at a few kerbstones found at Knowth, Ireland. These stones are some 5500 years old.

The first stone to be studied is the aforementioned simple 16 circle image drawn on Kerbstone 42 depicted above. It is one of the 127 kerbstones at Knowth.

Another author has proposed that these Neolithic artists counted their year in 16 months and therefore each circle is a month. It is suggested here the 16 circles simply represent the distance Earth travels in a day. ??? Yes. It travels 1.6 million miles on average in any given day.

Now it would be logical for you to scoff and say these artists did not measure in miles, nor were they even aware the Earth moves or even rotates. Since we believed until quite recently in our own history that the Sun circled the Earth we assume they were as simple minded as we are/were.

As far as measuring in miles, they left us another clue that they did measure in miles and perhaps we should hold up on the scoffing. That 16 is written as two pairs of 8 circles, the upper line and the lower line. 8 and 8 as in 88. We all remember that 88 x 60 = 5280 and that is how many feet are in a mile. There is a group of 6 in a neat array on the right side to remind us of 6 and 60 and the minutes in an hour.

Now would be a good time to declare, “That it is purely co-incidental!”

Before tossing the whole idea out as a sour apple we might note the left group forms 9 circles and the right group 7 circles. There are 2 lines of circles. 7, 9 and 2 ?? 792??   As in 7920 miles in the diameter of Earth?

Yet we might say the left group has 8 circles in a neat square array and the right group has 6 circles in a neat square array as in 8 6. The Sun’s diameter is 864 thousand miles.

But we have forgotten the one hanging out at the beginning and end. We could say we have a series 1 8 6 1 which looks remarkably like the diameter of Earth’s orbit at 186 million miles.

Now we discover a second way to determine 5280 feet. Note that the group of 8 times the group of 6 times one on each end for 11 equals 8 x 6 x 11 = 528.

There is an expected number still missing. The number 56 should appear in the message since this number consistently appears at ancient sites.

3200 is 56.56². The image has 16 circles. They are depicted in two lines. So we might say 2 x 16 gives us the 32.

Recall that the Great Pyramid was constructed only 750 years after these tombs and it displays celestial measurements encoded into its structure. Knowth is a large earthen mass with two narrow halls that emit light into the structure. The pyramids are similarly designed.

Perhaps you think this is too much knowledge for a stone age man to possess? The name of the place is Knowth which means “to know” and this only adds to the curiosity of it all. So, for a Neolithic doodle this one packs a powerful mathematical message. This artist has written in a language we can understand and yet we still do not trust our eyes.

Very shortly we will look at Kerbstone 52, a much more complex doodle and that will really leave us wondering.

Have a great day!

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