pyrenean stone circles, Cromlechpyrene, astral religion

WHAT IS THE PYRENEAN STONE CIRCLE AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

What are Pyrenean stone circles?
Pyrenean cromlechs are stone circles of varying shapes and sizes ranging from the stone circle in the strictest sense: "stones driven into the ground in the shape of a circle", to the tumulus understood as: "a circular pile of stones".
There are several intermediate architectural monuments between these two extremes. Not unlike the above, are the "tumular cromlechs" and the "tumuli with the occasional kerb stone driven into the ground".
These monuments have traditionally been assigned an exclusively burial function.

What is the diameter of these monuments?
Normally from 4 to 10 metres, although they can occasionally be found as small as 2 and as large 20 metres in diameter.

What main factor differentiates one monument from another?
Their conservation. Only cromlechs in good condition can be considered to offer reliable data on the two basic parameters required in order to obtain information: the diameter and the orientation of its principle witnesses.
Beginning to understand the stone circles with monuments of doubtful definition is the best way to propagate a series of sensible and reassuring arguments, without ever discovering the true meaning of these circles.

What do we need to obtain the greatest possible amount of information about a circle?
The appropriate definition of its centre. This is a simple and reliable task when dealing with a circle in good condition, but becomes more complicated and hazardous when the circle in question is not so well conserved. This said, no matter whether the circle is in good or bad condition, its centre still has to be precisely defined. Defining the centre of a circle gives us its diameter, permits us to correctly locate its main witnesses and thus accurately calculate its references in order to obtain an exact topographical reading of the group to which it belongs.

What are the "witnesses" of a monument?
These are the stones that define a circle's periphery. Singular witnesses are considered to be those which, due to a particular shape, size, colour; the fact that they face a representative mountain or nearby landmark; or the extent to which man has had a hand in their construction, etc., clearly stand out from the others. As stated above, the important parts of a witness are its appearance and the direction in which it faces. A great deal has been written on the aleatory aspect and insignificant meaning of the location of these representative witnesses in the circles; but how could the people who built the cromlechs have gone to so much trouble to carve and choose their monoliths, some of which are fairly impressive in size, just to have placed them at random within the circle? The location of these representative witnesses on the periphery of the cromlech must have a meaning. The function of the Pyrenean cromlech is presently considered by the experts, as already said, as no more than purely burial. It is difficult, from the suspicious position of a private eye, to convince them that the cromlech conceals a mystery, the key to which is not to be found on the earth but, above us, in the skies, in the direction indicated by the representative witnesses of the circles.

Where can we find cromlechs?
In the Pyrenees, at least as far as the area around the Pico de Aneto in the east and to the Bay of Biscay in the west. In fact, the recognised western limit is marked by the River Leizar�n, tributary of the River Oria, of which it becomes a part at the town of Andoain in the province of Guip�zcoa.
The stone circles stand in enclaves, the most remarkable of which, sufficient in itself to demonstrate and interpret the Pyrenean cromlech, runs along the Atlantic foothills of the Pyrenees, from the Pico de Orhi to the Bay of Biscay. This said, likewise worthy of mention are the groups of cromlechs located in the Valle de Hecho and those around the Midi d'Ossau Peak.

Are the different groups of stone circles arranged on the land in any particular way?
Yes. Sketch nº1, drawn to a scale of 1:300.000, gives a clear idea of the distribution of cromlech settlements on the Atlantic foothills of the Pyrenees from the Pico de Orhi to the Bay of Biscay. This is a summarised drawing intended to highlight the alignment of groups of cromlechs in keeping with the topography of the land and corresponding to U.T.M. national grid reference co-ordinates. On this sketch, we must highlight the following outstanding alignments, set out according to the extent to which they help us to understand the Pyrenean cromlech:

In the first place, that drawn by the line running from the Pico de Orhi to Pe�as de Aia on the bearings centred at 120-300 sexagesimal degrees, which underlined, on both sides of the Milky Way, the ascension of the Canis Major in synchrony with the death of Cygnus and of Scorpio on the simultaneous and sequential setting of the stretch of the ecliptic that intersected the Milky Way from Taurus to Gemini, underlined by the death of Capella. Somewhere around 600 B.C., the risings of Sirius and Antares coincided at this exact point under the pyramidal tutelage of Pico de Orhi seen from the proximity of the Pe�as de Aia.
The line drawn by the exact situation on the E-W axis of certain mountains such as Izu-Adarra-Izarraitz on axis A of sketch 1 or Auza-Mendaur-Abade Kurutz-Hernio, on axis B. We can draw an enormous source of inspiration and meditation from contemplating on the horizon, from the cromlechs of Izurrizti I in the direction of the main witness of the group and of mount Adarra –270�– the latter's superposition with Izarraitz, or the superposition of mount Mendaur over Auza at exactly 90� as seen from Abade Kurutz.
Those standing on the N-S axis.

How many circles are we talking about?
In the book On the Pyrenean Cromlech (the astronomical decoding of a forgotten religion), Editorial Txertoa (1998), Juan Jos� Ochoa de Zabalegui classifies the stone circles on the Atlantic foothills of the Pyrenees in strictly geographical order based on the hydrographic basins in which the monuments are to be found, starting from the west: 01 Urumea, 02 Oiartzun, 03 Bidasoa, 04 Nivelle and 05 Nive.
The monuments standing in the two basins studied: Urumea and Oiartzun, come to a total of 326 circles classified in 68 groups. The number of groups classified in the area as far as the Pico de Orhi, in addition to those existing in the three basins now under study, stands at somewhere around 170, and the number of monuments comes to over 700 cromlechs.

What do the stone circles represent?
ALL OF THE PYRENEAN CROMLECHS REPRESENT STARS–all of them !. That was the conclusion of the complete study of all of the stone circles to be found in the basins of the Urumea and Oiartzun rivers.
The diameter of the circle, built in proportion to the brightness of the star, gives an idea of the size of the star to which it corresponds, and the outstanding witnesses give us a clue to the astronomical ephemerides represented, due to the fact that they face the stars in question at a specific moment –often coinciding with the moment of the rising or setting of the star represented– and in relation to the landscape framing the firmament.
The Pyrenean cromlech is a phenomenon that must be visited in situ. It is presently impossible to study the cromlech while sitting at an office desk, nothing has been written on the subject as a whole. We have to climb up into the mountain in order to attempt to read the stones and the landscape, to do which, we first have to be totally convinced that they do actually conceal something.
In view of the said fact that cromlechs have to be visited in situ, we have attached a page with photographs showing different examples of cromlechs and markers in order to give a graphic idea of the differences explained above.

How has the conclusion been reached that all of the Pyrinean cromlechs represent stars?
This has been a slow process, in principle preceded by the study of other possibilities. However, what started out as a simple work hypothesis has gradually turned up more and more evidence, which, more than simply acting as proof, continues opening the doors to the mystery locked inside the Pyrinean cromlech, uncovering new lines of research in the process.
During my early studies of the "star = stone circle" hypothesis, I immediately came to the conclusion that, if this hypothesis was in fact true, the nearby circles with which they formed a group could well represent asterisms. I therefore set off in search of asterisms, but without much success at that time –1988 and 1989. I did however locate the following:

The full "Summer Triangle" complete with accompaniment at Errekalko, in the Urumea basin.
The "Three Kings of Orion" at Ezio and Lepoko Estua in the Urumea basin, and Arrataka in the basin of the Nive.
Aldebaran with the Hyades at Urlegi, in the basin of the Bidasoa river.

Small reward for so much work. However, these results were responsible for the birth of a reasonable belief that, if some groups of stone circles represented stars with meridian evidence, it seemed logical to believe that the same would therefore apply to the others. The high point of my efforts was to take place in Pagolletako Ga�a on 11th February 1995 on discovering, after years of dead ends, the definitive orientation on which to base the astronomic decoding of the Pyrenean cromlech. On that day, the author of these pages became physically aware of the existence of stellar synchronisms underlined on the horizon by the landscape. My search until then had been dominated by the search for asterisms among the cromlechs.
The works of Arato, G�mino and Higino, among others, underline the attention placed in antiquity on the "synchronisms of risings and settings", and on "simultaneous risings and settings".
In short, "asterisms" and the "synchronisms of rising and settings" were the key to astronomically decoding the Pyrenean cromlech. Classifying this decoding a posteriori at least requires us to make an attempt at regrouping the different cases found, a subject which could seem somewhat premature given that I have only exhaustively studied and presented the cromlechs located on the hydrographic basins of the Urumea and Oiartzun rivers. Regarding the Atlantic basins lying as far as the Pico de Orhi: Bidasoa, Nivelle and Nive, I have but unravelled the most important and best conserved, taking a topographic reading of the other groups, which will have to be perfected, and an entry made in many of them regarding the orientation of their witnesses, but their final decoding is not yet complete. This said, I think I should summarise my work to date, mainly from the astronomical point of view. In this sense, leaving the classification open to future organisation, due to the kind of astronomical symbolism found, the group of cromlechs studied, depending on the occasion, represent: Asterisms, Synchronisms and Alignments.

Asterisms

Asterisms in use: the Three Kings of Orion; Taurus; Piscis Austrinus; Canis Major, etc.
Simplified asterisms of presently existing constellations: very wide use was made of those referring to Cygnus, occasionally represented only by Deneb and Sadr, sometimes followed by Albireo.
Unusual asterisms –Pyrenean: the Three Kings of Orion with accompaniments other than those of its constellation, Aldebaran for example; the entire Canis Major plus two of Orion's stars; the most typically Pyrenean ones offer varied representations of the doorways of the ecliptic that intersects the Milky Way: Taurus and Gemini to the north, the door of men through which souls descended from the skies towards earth; and the southern doorway, that of the gods, running from Scorpio to Capricorn, through which souls rose to the place of their own immortality in order to situate themselves next to the gods as described by Microbius in Chapter XII of his Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, by Cicero. This latter author from the 5th C. A.D. however specifically locates these doorways in the solstitial constellations of his period, Cancer and Capricorn, which follow, on the firmament, the said intersections of the ecliptic on the Milky Way –the Pyrenean representations of both doorways are as great in number as they are remarkable and seem to give a sound idea of the possible beliefs of the cromlech builders; a series of unusual asterisms pointing towards the north, in many cases following the direction provided by the Altair-Vega-Dragon's Head alignment, giving the impression that they were making specific mention of the Polar Circle where nothing moved and which was the home of the gods at that time. The k of the Dragon repeatedly appears as the star closest to the Pole of the period, etc.

Synchronisms

Classical synchronisms: at the rising of Sirius, reference witnesses were used to point out the orientations of the simultaneous rising of Regulus and setting of Altair, while Alkaid, h of the Ursa Major, culminated the lower turning of this constellation, a synchronism of Babylonian background, which was shown with precision on representative mountains of the already mentioned Pagolletako Ga�a, on Ezkirurritako Gaina, and on the remarkable although dilapidated Sirius of Olegi; the synchronism which takes place at the rising of Arthur, while Sirius and Orion majestically shone to the south, ephemerides which had previously provided Hesiod with inspiration for the beautiful verses 609 and 610 of his Works and Days: "When Orion and Sirius reach the centre of the skies and the pink-fingered Aurora can see Arthur, Oh Persses!,..." before being reflected, with stone circles, in another medium but of similar correction and beauty, at least, at the sites of Eteneta II, Unamene and Lepoko Estua.
Unusual synchronisms, strictly Pyrenean: the rising of the Winter Triangle - setting of the Summer Triangle while the Ursa Major began its inferior culmination, meeting to the south the celestial sea running from the Whale to the Fish including the Austral, not long after the departure of Fomalhaut, prophet of the most incredible celestial image in the history of humanity, in the wake of which a great many of today's religions set down now forgotten roots. Sirius newly born to its solstice and the Milky Way at the zenith of the celestial diadem packed with signs showing a way, the Way towards the Ocean at Finisterre, which, subsequently, a few centuries later, was to become that of Santiago –but that's another story. The main example of this position is shown on the E-W axis running from the cromlechs of Maistrugain, at the foot of mount Gorramendi, to Izarraitz, along the Izu-Altueta-Adarra-Izarraitz axis, the borders of which correspond to the U.T.M. national grid reference published by the Instituto Geogr�fico Nacional de Espa�a on the latitude and between co-ordinates (47) 84000 and 85000, where the builders with their cromlechs left an indelible mark, now somewhat faded, of the said sublime stellar ephemeris.
We should likewise include as a Pyrenean synchronism that corresponding to the movement of the Austral Fish, from rising to setting, in relation to the inferior culmination of the Ursa Major, magistrally taken into account at Elutxo Arria in combination with Birango and from another point of view in the Kauso, in Arriurdi�eta, and in Auntzbizkar, and in the already mentioned Maistrugain. We likewise often see the synchronism of the relation between the rising of Antares and the setting of the northern doorway of the ecliptic in the Milky Way, of which Agi�a I may be a remarkable, if deteriorated, example.

Alignments
In addition to asterisms and synchronisms, star alignments are an example of Pyrenean stellar representations: one excellent example of these is Errenga, which shows the stars of the Milky Way in their E-W position extremely close to the northern horizon, from Cygnus to Procyon. Also often repeated are those which point northwards, among which we can mention those of Erregelo and Mendizabale, located on the summit of mount Baigura and that, complex and on the point of disappearing, of Elorrieta hill at the foot of the singular mount Auza. In addition to those already mentioned, we could underline the alignment represented in the northern asterism of the outstanding Errekalko group –21 stars for 21 circles– located in the Navarran village of Arano, a true gem of Pyrenean archaeoastronomy, the unknown importance of which is contributing to its gradual and inexorable deterioration.
This said, these may well still be early days to attempt classification. That of the Pyrenean cromlech, in its astronomical aspect, which is the least we can say when dealing with this science, is the history of a precision: that of tracing the firmament while adapting it to the local land –pre-Hermetism?–, here there is no place for half-way measures. Either we hit the target with a demonstrable, mathematical and repeated whole, or we take the proposal to pieces on the basis of logic.