In the previous post, we discussed some aspects of the mysterious stone structures found in the Americas which must be added to the other varied forms of evidence pointing to the possibility that ancient civilizations could and did cross the oceans.
While conventional archaeologists and historians generally insist that these stone sites were the product of colonial European settlers (at the earliest), the astronomical alignments of many of these sites argues strongly against a colonial European origin. The conventional view is that these are nothing more than "root cellars" built by early European settlers to store their root crops, or perhaps to keep their beer cool or to dry out sheep hides for vellum in some cases. When site after site is shown to contain astronomical alignments, however, it is more and more difficult to make the case that these alignments are simply coincidental.
The alignments at a site called Mystery Hill in New Hampshire contains numerous such alignments and provides further evidence that these stone sites of New England may have been Celtic or Phoenician (or even Minoan) in origin.
First reported in 1826, the stone structures were found on a broad hill that had not been previously used by colonial settlers. The site contains numerous stone chambers and structures, including some which incorporate very large slabs, and one very large flat stone with a deep groove carved all the way around its perimeter -- presumably a task which would take significant time and effort.
Perhaps most interesting, however, was the discovery of large, irregular standing stones among the many stone walls criss-crossing the site -- standing stones that observers in the 1960s began to suspect might have indicated significant astronomical events, such as solstice sunrises or sunsets. Beginning in 1970, these suspicions were confirmed, and now it is clear that the large angular standing stones positioned around the central structures on Mystery Hill indicate the rising points of the summer solstice sun, the equinoctial sun, and the winter solstice sun, as well as the setting points of the summer solstice sun, the equinoctial sun, and the winter solstice sun. Further, there is a standing stone which indicates true north from the central location as well.
This feature of Mystery Hill raises the possibility that at least some of the innumerable stone walls that are found all over New England predated the colonial settlers as well, and may have astronomical significance.
Those who dismiss Mystery Hill as a hoax, perhaps the product of early twentieth-century eccentrics who wanted attention, as some have suggested, must explain why those fraudsters did not point out these solstitial and equinoctial alignments if they created them, and why those alignments were not discovered until the 1970s.
If it is argued that laborers in the 1970s erected these stones (which nobody has suggested, since the site had been well known for too long by that point in time), it can be pointed out that Mystery Hill was constructed on the best vantage point in the area for such a solar observatory (see terrain map below) and it stretches credulity to suggest that one set of pranksters created structures in the exact point that would work best for astronomical observations, and that seventy or a hundred years later some other set of pranksters took advantage of that fact by erecting stones that would mark such observations. Besides, tree stumps with roots that go down through some of the structures were found to antedate 1826, demonstrating that they were not made by anybody after that time. Carbon dating of charcoal and other organic material found around the site indicates the probability that the stone structures were put together much earlier than that -- perhaps hundreds or even thousands of years BC.
The astronomical alignments present at Mystery Hill can be seen in the diagram on the final page of the Tour Guide Map available at the site and on the "America's Stonehenge" website (the owners of the property renamed Mystery Hill "America's Stonehenge" in 1982). Studying the descriptions of the astronomical alignments on that fourth and final page should convince the reader that the alignments at Mystery Hill are authentic and that they were not created by modern fraudsters. An examination of the standing stones themselves clearly indicates that they were not brought there in the 1970s. Many have modifications which enable a more accurate observation of the rising or setting sun, such as a "gunsight" V-notch in their upper edge, or a shallow scoop in their upper edge into which the sun would settle, or distinctive fingerlike points in their uppermost corner. These features were not carved recently, as the stones are now of a uniform color and often overgrown with various lichens.
A visit to Mystery Hill to see it for yourself is well worthwhile. On the solstices, equinoxes, and cross-quarter days, the site is open until sunset to enable solar observations (open sunrise to sunset on the solstices and equinoxes).
