A Statistical Study of Lunar Alignments at the Newark Earthworks

Abstract

Previous work has presented evidence that the Circle-Octagon Earthworks at Newark Ohio contain numerous features that are aligned to the lunar standstills (extreme rise and set points of the Moon). A Monte Carlo study of randomly constructed octagons is presented to investigate the statistical significance of this evidence. The study investigates the sensitivity of the statistics to a variety of plausible assumptions about the design of the earthworks, the capabilities of the builders, and the type and precision of the astronomical alignments. The results of the quantitative study establish that the statistical significance of the evidence for deliberate astronomical alignment over the entire range of plausible assumptions is far too high to be dismissed. The study reveals that the hypothesis of deliberate astronomical alignment predicts the otherwise unexplained shape of both octagonal earthworks constructed by the Hopewell Culture. The analysis compares the Newark dataset to hypothetical datasets which have no statistical significance, so that the difference is clearly established. We also show the evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that the astronomical alignments were established from observations made from high points where the effects of local horizons were negligible.

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