Post by Sharon Faulkner on Jul 20, 2006 7:40:58 GMT -5
Ranch Tales: Equinox At The Crack Cave
7/19/2006
From the beginning, every civilization has tried to keep track of time, and the Crack Cave in Southeastern Colorado is just one way some ancient people, we don’t really know who, did this.
The spring of 1982 was the first time we (Bill McGlone, Phil Leonard and I) saw the Crack Cave display. I remember I was watching inside the cave, where the little marks are, when the sun first came up and I saw little sparkles (from the minerals in the sandstone wall) across the marks where the first rays of light fell. Oh gosh, it was exciting to see that the sun actually fell on the marks just like we thought they would!
I’ve written about the equinox at the Crack Cave, which is in Picture Canyon about 50 miles from our ranch, for this magazine several times already. I have also shown a few slides and given programs on the subject, but I have always felt that perhaps I haven’t explained this complicated subject very well, I’ll try to do that in this column.
There are two times each year that are called the equinoxes. The first, spring equinox, occurs on or about March 29. This is called the Vernal Equinox. The second, or fall equinox, is on or about September 23, and it is called the Autumnal Equinox. A fairly simple calendar has been made using quarter days, starting with spring. It reads like this:
— March 21 – Spring — September 21 – Autumn
— May eve – Beltane — Nov. eve – Samhain
— June 21 – Midsummer — Dec. 21 – Imbolc
— August 21 – Lughnasadh — February eve – Beltane
None of the dates are exact due to time changes. Each season is therefore marked for use in the celestial calendar.
I think we have only run into a “blank sky” twice. That is when there were clouds that meant we couldn’t see the sun come up: but most years, including this year, the equinox at the Crack Cave is a spectacular sight.
Actually, there are a number of similar equinox sites in this area, and also other solar sites. We listed about twenty such sites in our book, ‘Archaeoastronomy of Southeast Colorado and the Oklahoma Panhandle’, which was written by Bill McGlone, Phil Leonard and myself. Our book was published in 1999. (The book is available from the authors, and can be ordered by writing the Territorial Magazine, PO Box E, Garden City, KS 67846. It is $20.00 plus postage.)
Source: Ted Barker, Territorial Magazine
www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?ContentId=53449
7/19/2006
From the beginning, every civilization has tried to keep track of time, and the Crack Cave in Southeastern Colorado is just one way some ancient people, we don’t really know who, did this.
The spring of 1982 was the first time we (Bill McGlone, Phil Leonard and I) saw the Crack Cave display. I remember I was watching inside the cave, where the little marks are, when the sun first came up and I saw little sparkles (from the minerals in the sandstone wall) across the marks where the first rays of light fell. Oh gosh, it was exciting to see that the sun actually fell on the marks just like we thought they would!
I’ve written about the equinox at the Crack Cave, which is in Picture Canyon about 50 miles from our ranch, for this magazine several times already. I have also shown a few slides and given programs on the subject, but I have always felt that perhaps I haven’t explained this complicated subject very well, I’ll try to do that in this column.
There are two times each year that are called the equinoxes. The first, spring equinox, occurs on or about March 29. This is called the Vernal Equinox. The second, or fall equinox, is on or about September 23, and it is called the Autumnal Equinox. A fairly simple calendar has been made using quarter days, starting with spring. It reads like this:
— March 21 – Spring — September 21 – Autumn
— May eve – Beltane — Nov. eve – Samhain
— June 21 – Midsummer — Dec. 21 – Imbolc
— August 21 – Lughnasadh — February eve – Beltane
None of the dates are exact due to time changes. Each season is therefore marked for use in the celestial calendar.
I think we have only run into a “blank sky” twice. That is when there were clouds that meant we couldn’t see the sun come up: but most years, including this year, the equinox at the Crack Cave is a spectacular sight.
Actually, there are a number of similar equinox sites in this area, and also other solar sites. We listed about twenty such sites in our book, ‘Archaeoastronomy of Southeast Colorado and the Oklahoma Panhandle’, which was written by Bill McGlone, Phil Leonard and myself. Our book was published in 1999. (The book is available from the authors, and can be ordered by writing the Territorial Magazine, PO Box E, Garden City, KS 67846. It is $20.00 plus postage.)
Source: Ted Barker, Territorial Magazine
www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?ContentId=53449
