451

1 INTRODUCTION

NorthernlabyrinthscanbefoundinEngland,Iceland,

Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and

Russia. They are located on isles, peninsulas, near

harbors and in river mouths. Their picture is

complicated but organized. In terms of structure,

there are unispiral, bispiral, concentric and radial

types. In terms of outer shape: circles, ovals, rarely

squares (Yeliseyev, 1883; Vinogradov, 1927; Guri

na,

1948;Kuratov,2008;Kern,2000).

Hypotheses about the designation of stone

labyrinths can be divided intotwogroups:calendar

andnon‐calendar.Itshouldbenotedthatdespiteall

thediversityoffactsofnon‐calendaruse,mostpartof

themisoftenassociatedwithti

meandstageoflife.

Hypothesis of calendar designation of labyrinths

are mainly based on the assumption of a direct

projection of the trajectory of space objects on the

Earthʹs surface(HermanWirth, Daniel Svyatskiy) or

considerpatternoflabyrinthasarecordoftheresults

ofdirectsightoftheannualva

riationoftheSun(Yuri

Chekmenev). However, direct sight cannot explain

the technology for using the labyrinth: 1) it is

impossible to explain the quantitative ratios of the

trajectoryofacelestialobjectanditsreflectioninthe

stone pattern; 2)itis even more difficulttoimagine

the use of the pa

ttern‐with a diameter of 20‐30

meters, it is impossibleʺto readʺ from the human

height;3)theproblemofmonitoringthetrajectoryof

the sun is that bright light dazzles eyes, just after

sunriseitsmovementtakesofffromlandmarks.

Theproposedconceptofthelabyrint

h‐gnomon–a

toolofbacksightofthesun‐fromtheshadowsetin

thecenteroftheobject,opensthepossibilityofitsuse

as a sundial compass and calendar (Paranin &

Paranina2009;Paranina&Paranin2009a,2009b,2014,

2015, 2016; Paranina2009, 2010, 2011ab

, 2012abc,

2013,2014,2016).Theshadowoftheobjectiseasyto

observe, record, measure, and its movement reflects

and a form‐encodes all the movements of the sun

andisconsistentwiththepositionoftheelementsof

The Research o

Northern Labyrinths as Navigation

Network Elements

A.N.Paranina&R.Paranin

HerzenStatePedagogicalUniversity,St‐Petersburg,Russia

ABSTRACT:Theauthorsofthearticleconsiderthestonelabyrinthsassolarcalendars.Inthecenterofthese

structuresthereareusuallyalreadyinstalledgnomons–verticalobjectsthatgiveshade.Middayshadowpoints

tonorth,andthechangeofitslengthduringayeariscorrelatedwiththediameterofthearcsofthelabyrinth.

Pointsofsunrise/sunsetattheequinoxesandsolsticesareveryoftenfixedinthepa

tternofthelabyrinth, as

wellasthebeginningoftheannualcycle.Ingeneral,patternsoflabyrinthsareofthesametype,thedifferences

reflect the regional charact

eristics of illumination, the differences in latitude and topography (shape of the

horizon).Theuniformityofthetechnologyandthelocationonthewaterwaysgiveanopportunitytoconsider

stonelabyrinthsasancientelementsoflocalandregionalnavigationnetworks.

http://www.transnav.eu

the International Journal

on Marine Navigation

and Safety of Sea Transportation

Volume 10

Number 3

September 2016

DOI:10.12716/1001.10.03.10