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dimensions of the prehistoric sites were determined by a common unit of measurement, about 2.72 feet in length, which he termed the
megalithic yard.
Thom proposed that these sites were meant to express magical ideas and symbolize important belief systems by making use of astronomical observations of the sun, moon, and stars.
    This time, some archaeologists took notice with uneasy embarrassment, for it was becoming obvious that their elderly peers, in their zeal to defend their coveted turf, might have been too hasty in rejecting the research of Lockyer, Hawkins, and Hoyle. Alexander Thom’s impeccable data and the razor-sharp mathematical logic in his book
Megalithic Sites in Britain
could not be ignored by unbiased archaeologists. Thom also managed to have articles published in the reputable and peer-reviewed
Journal of the History of Astronomy,
which gave much credence to his ideas. It seemed that, finally, the new science of archaeoastronomy had made a crack in the wall of archaeology.
    Since Alexander Thom’s days, the science of archaeoastronomy has gained much ground and popularity among the public and even with some Egyptologists and archaeologists of the new generation. Starting in the late 1960s, serious investigators began to feel more comfortable coming forward with their ideas on the astronomical alignments of ancient Egyptian temples and pyramids. The first major breakthrough came with the astronomer Virginia Trimble, who codiscovered the stellar alignments of the shafts in the King’s Chamber of the Great Pyramid in 1963. This discovery opened the way for more research on the Egyptian pyramids and also encouraged others to come forth and brave the firewall of academic
Egyptology. 15 Today many new players have entered this fascinating field of research, mostly because computer and satellite technology such as Google Earth, GPS, and user-friendly astronomy software have allowed amateurs to investigate ancient sites on a screen in the comfort of their office or home. Further, with the arrival of the Internet coupled with the exponential growth of computer and digital technology and electronic communication with easy access to downloading scientific publications, research on ancient cultures is no longer the monopoly of closed-door archaeological institutions or university and museum departments. Even so, Egyptologists and archaeologists still pull rank when new ideas threaten to topple their coveted applecart. We speak from our own experience when we published
The Orion Mystery
in 1994 and, later, in 2002,
The Origin Map.
We too endured from Egyptologists and archaeologists the all-too-familiar war of words and the debunking that is passed off as criticism.
    There are, nonetheless, signs of a growing acceptance that connections do exist between astronomy and the orientation, alignments, and location of ancient sites. In 1981 the First International Conference on Archaeoastronomy was held at Oxford, in England, where astronomical alignments of temples were discussed openly and seriously. Then, in 1983, there took place the First International Conference on Ethnoastronomy at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. In 1993 the world’s attention was galvanized by the German engineer Rudolf Gantenbrink and his daring exploration with a miniature robot of the star shafts in the Queen’s Chamber of the Great Pyramid of Giza and his stunning discovery of doors at their ends. Finally, in 2002,
National Geographic
staged a live television event in an attempt to open the Gantenbrink doors in the Great Pyramid. An estimated six hundred million viewers around the world saw the program. Thanks to the persistence of a new breed of archaeoastronomers such as Archie Roy of Glasgow University, Giulio Magli of Milano Politecnico, Edwin Krupp of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, Anthony Aveni of Colgate University, Alex Gurstein of the International Astronomical Union, and Juan Belmonte of the Tenerife