Megalithic Eras of Construction in Europe Manifest a 480-Year Calendric Cycle Determined by Astronomy and Precession of the Equinoxes

In 4320 BC, the Autumn Equinox in the stars was located "at" (modernly "near") the Galactic Center of our Galaxy near Alnasl, gamma2 Sagittarii, or, alternatively, 3 Sagittarii), with the arrowhead of the arrow of the bow of Sagittarius pointing to that galactic center. Modernly, the spout of the "teapot" asterism of Sagittarius points in that same galaxy-centered direction.

Such a central Autumn Equinox location in the stars would surely appear to be a likely reason for the presumed choice of the date 4320 BC as a calendric landmark by the ancients. Some of our still "modern" constellations of the Zodiac may have been "drawn" then, for the arrow of Sagittarius points to the Galactic Center, and was surely so intended by the ancient constellation makers, with the arrowhead placed at gamma-2 Sagittarii by historical tradition although 3 Sagittarii might be a better and closer candidate for the original placement.

We would then expect the following major calendar reform dates somewhere in the C14 record, idealized to conform to 240, 480, 960, and 1440-year intervals, with 240-year intervals also in evidence e.g. at the (by us) presumed 3117 BC start of the dynastic Pharaonic Egyptian Calendar and the  ca. 237 BC Restoration of the Etruscan Secular Games, an interval of 2880 years.

MAJOR CALENDAR and CALENDER REFORM DATES EXPECTED FOR
4320 BC - 3840 BC - 3360 BC - 2880 BC etc.

Here is what we find in the older calibrated radiocarbon dates of Europe in Paulsson's article, as we take "averages" of dates per location to show the above identified idealized intervals, whereas the actual dates need not exactly correspond to the above dates, but they are close:

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4320 BC - a "Megalithic" Calendar is Instituted
The 1st surge viz. "wave" of megalith building:4320 BC

• the Autumn Equinox is located in the stars at the Galactic Center in Sagittarius, indeed, at the arrowhead point of the bow, Alnasl, but perhaps, more correctly, as an extended arrow, at 3 Sagittarii 
• we date Staraya Zalavruga on the White Sea in Karelia and the Hermitage Planisphere of Lake Onega, Karelia to about this era: see The Star Map of Staraya Zalavruga, Karelia, Russia is Oriented to the Milky Way and The Hermitage Planisphere : An Ancient Milky-Way Oriented Sky Map from Lake Onega, Karelia, Russia
• as for the "origins" of the first megalithic seafarers, nothing against France, but all bets are open, especially given the 8000-year old Mesolithic era boat found in 1999 in submerged waters around Bouldnor Cliff on the Isle of Wight (cal 6200 to cal 6000 BC). See the Maritime Archaeology Trust at Bouldnor Cliff, as also Secrets of the Solent and Britain's Atlantis

Please click on the graphic below for a larger image.

Averaging the calibrated radiocarbon dates shows them to be close:

Western France (Carnac)

4794 + 3999 = 8793 / 2 = 4396 BC

4770 + 4034 = 8804 / 2 = 4402 BC

Southern Spain/France

4722 + 4068 = 8890 / 2 = 4445 BC

4581 + 4267 = 8848 / 2 = 4424 BC

Sardinia

4733 + 3986 = 8719 / 2 = 4360 BC

Corsica

4327 + 4266 = 8593 / 2 = 4297 BC

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3840 BC - 480 years later than 4320 BC - 120-Day Calender Reform
The 2nd surge viz. "wave" of megalith building: 3840 BC

• the Autumn Equinox in the Stars has moved North to the stars of Ophiuchus, but is still in the Milky Way
• measurement on Earth is moved to conform to that new location (Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales), with the flower of Ophiuchus marked in the hair of a large female profile on Long Meg
• this date conforms to the Hebrew Calender, which is said to start on 3760 BC, but at "the Creation" it is said that "80 years is a day" -- a one-day error there ? -- so that 3840 BC is possible.

Please click on the graphic below for a larger image.

Averaging the calibrated radiocarbon dates shows them to be close:

Scotland

4295 + 3495 = 7790 / 2 = 3895 BC

3800 + 3560 = 7360 / 2 = 3680 BC

Ireland

3885 + 3440 = 7325 / 2 = 3663 BC

3715 + 3530 = 7245 / 2 = 3623 BC

England and Wales

3971 + 3805 = 7776 / 2 = 3888 BC

3960 + 3880 = 7840 / 2 = 3920 BC

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3360 BC - 480 years later than 3840 BC - 120-Day Calender Reform
The 3rd surge viz. "wave" of megalith building: 3360 BC

• the Autumn Equinox in the Stars has moved Northeast to the edge of the Milky Way between Ophiuchus and Scorpio near 24 Ophiuchi
• this is marked by the glyphs of King Scorpion of Egypt, with Ophiuchus as a "flower" in the hair of the figure above Scorpio - also seen on "Long Meg" and her daughters in Scotland (cf. Latvian Mīlenbaha - Endzelīna latviešu valodas vārdnīca: "puķe ... auch puķis, Demin. puķītis ... 1) die Blume" [= "flower"])
• measurement on Earth is moved to conform to that location (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, North Germany, Netherlands)
• start of the protodynastic period, Gerzeh Culture in Egypt - likely involving a migrated seafaring people, based on an analysis of predynastic rock drawings of boats in the wadis, e.g. the Wadi Abu Subeira or Wadi Hammamat

Please click on the graphic below for a larger image.

Averaging the calibrated radiocarbon dates shows them to be close:

Sweden, Norway

3635 + 3112 = 6747 / 2 = 3374 BC

3619 + 3351 = 6970 / 2 = 3485 BC

3504 + 3349 = 6853 / 2 = 3427 BC

3409 + 3364 = 6773 / 2 = 3387 BC

Denmark

3500 + 3300 = 6800 / 2 = 3400 BC

North Germany

3475 + 3417 = 6892 / 2 = 3446 BC

Netherlands

3400 + 3050 = 6450 / 2 = 3225 BC

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2880 BC - 480 years later than 3360 - 120-Day Calender Reform
The 4th surge viz. "wave" of megalith building: 2880 BC

• the Autumn Equinox in the Stars has moved further North, to the head stars of Scorpio, and now finds itself outside of the stars of the Milky Way
• the hieroglyphs in the serekh of Khasekhemy's name show two downward arrows as arguably signs for the Equinox-balanced Autumn Equinox, with the Falcon and Seth, as Ursa Minor and Ursa Major, Latvian siet-iņš, "the sieve", erroneously identified in Milenbachs-Endzelins as a different group of seven stars, sitting above the rectangle of the serekh, where the latter two in this era face each other across the Celestial Meridian.

Belgium, North France

3013 + 2626 = 5639 / 2 = 2830 BC

2918 + 2696 = 5614 / 2 = 2807 BC

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2400 BC - 480 years later than 2880 BC - 120-Day Calender Reform
The 5th surge viz. "wave" of megalith building: 2400 BC

• the Autumn Equinox has moved just beyond the head of Scorpio toward the stars of Libra, well outside the Milky Way, while the Vernal Equinox is between the stars of the Hyades and the Pleiades

It is at ca. 2400 BC that we find use of the Temples of Malta to come to an end. See Caroline Malone, Nathaniel Cutajar, T. Rowan McLaughlin, Bernardette Mercieca-Spiteri, Anthony Pace, Ronika K. Power, Simon Stoddart, Sharon Sultana, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Elaine Dunbar, Alex Bayliss, Frances Healy, Alasdair Whittle, Island questions: the chronology of the Brochtorff Circle at Xagħra, Gozo, and its significance for the Neolithic sequence on Malta, Archaeol Anthropol Sci [Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences pp 1–56] (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00790-y, first online 20 February 2019. Are we "current"? Ja, ja, ja.

Above is a photograph of the present author, Andis Kaulins, at the Temples of Malta, here at the famed Temple of Tarxien in 1986, at age 40, a photo on the back cover of my book, Ancient Signs, The Alphabet & the Origins of Writing, as published at www.epubli.de, ISBN 9783844220179. Way back when, 32 years ago, I saw that these temples were astronomical in orientation and nature. Verily.

Mediterranean

2472-839
2441-1306
The gap between the upper and lower values of these dates is so large that there is no point in taking averages. Obviously, "apples and oranges" have been mixed in the data. The maximum outer dates are the relatively correct ones.
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Conclusion. Please take it for what it is worth.

For any given academic problem or mystery, there are always various possible solutions that must be examined, nothing wrong with that.

However, for best results, one cannot permit preconcpetions and "school of thought" paradigms to automatically limit the scope of examination or research.

In the case of Archaeology, especially as regards the study of the prehistoric and ancient past, ancient astronomy must be included in the scope of possible explanations for the data and evidence at hand.

Otherwise, scientists are just simply wasting their time, and will never get closer to the truth of  human history. You have to be on the right road to get there.

Ancient men were stargazers, who used the movement of the stars to develop their first concepts of science and religion. Astronomy was their most important guiding "sky earth" preoccupation ... not pottery. Just sayin':

As Bertand Russell wrote in Human Knowledge: Its Scope and Limits:

"Astronomy is the oldest of the sciences,
and the contemplation of the heavens,
with their periodic regularities,
gave men their first conceptions of natural law."

Don't forget it.