CAITLIN MATTHEWS
Temporal Resonance: Timeless Belonging: Sounding the Ancestral Landscape

We inhabit a land whose sacred monuments were created by ancestors for their descendants, not only for themselves. In this practical session, Caitlín will explore the ancestral signature of those places that still call to each of us, to understand ourselves as part of a community through time. We will also sound our participation in the Perpetual Choirs of Song, whereby we infuse with song the sacred land, bridging time and timelessness in one bond.

Caitlín Matthews is the author of over 80 books on the myths and sacred traditions, including, The Art of Celtic Seership, The Lost Book of the Grail, Celtic Book of the Dead, and Time-Changer’s Tarot. She has had a shamanic healing practice in Oxford for the last 35 years, and teaches internationally. www.hallowquest.org.uk

Dr. TERENCE MEADEN
How Pytheas the Greek Discovered Iron-Age Britain, Stonehenge and Thule

Pytheas the Greek in the fourth century BC was the first literate explorer to reach England and visit Stonehenge which he identified as a Temple to the Sun. From his description of the priesthood, we can tell that the monument was still in use. He recounts how it had been visited in what he called 'ancient times' by holy men from Greece bearing gifts. This could allude to the early Mycenaean era, likely recorded at Stonehenge by the carving of a Mycenaean dagger. Temples typically accommodate one or more idols to divinities in their inner sanctum. Stonehenge has two. One is a significant, hitherto unrecognised, carved phallic icon, now fallen and overlooked, which used to stand axially near the middle of the monument. The other is the female-symbolic recumbent Altar Stone which is united by shadow with the external Heel Stone at sunrise in midsummer week. Also discussed is the integrated lunar-solar calendar planned into the stones of the sarsen circle. Pytheas’ onward journey included the Cornish tin mines, St Michael’s Mount, Scotland, Shetland, Arctic packed sea-ice, and the amber coasts of Denmark

Prof. Terence Meaden, M.A (Oxon) M.Sc.(Oxon) D.Phil. (Oxon), is a professional physicist, meteorologist and archaeologist with undergraduate and doctoral degrees (1954 to 1961) in physics and a MSc in archaeology from Oxford University. He has made significant contributions to Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeology and his books include Stonehenge: The Secret of the Solstice, Secret of the Avebury Stones, The Goddess of the Stones: Language of the Megaliths, and Stonehenge, Avebury and Drombeg Stone Circles Deciphered.

MARIA WHEATLEY
The Secret History of Stonehenge

Maria will explore how the various stages of Stonehenge were constructed by two very different civilisations. She questions the excepted architecture of the site and unearths buried stone settings, missing stones and long-gone timber temples to restore the monument to its former glory. Maria also discusses the diverse earth energies that underpin Stonehenge’s vast ceremonial landscape that led to the location of two lost avenues and other hidden features. Turning her attention towards two of the most powerful forms of earth energy – the coil of the dragon and the geodetic magick square – she shows the esoteric relationship that Stonehenge and other sites have with the Sun. She uncovers mysterious round barrows and strange burials that show there is a history lost to time and she is its voice.

Maria is a second-generation dowser taught by European Master Dowsers, her late father and Chinese geomants. She is a leading authority on geodetic earth energies and ley lines, and an author of books on sacred sites and dowsing. She has continued her father’s dowsing research into the esoteric design canons of prehistoric sites, Druidic ceremonial enclosures and the Knights Templars’ churches and cathedrals. Maria has studied Neolithic Britain and Bronze Age prehistory and combines her knowledge of archaeology and earth energies with state of the art equipment to detect and interpret the hidden frequencies the Earth emits. She is an expert on locating and analysing energies at sacred sites across Europe and offers tours for small or large groups from Stonehenge to Malta. www.theaveburyexperience.co.uk

HOWARD CROWHURST
The Megalithic Solstice Line of Southern England

An incongruous sentence in a text by Pliny led to a surprising discovery. While talking about the Arctic Circle, Pliny suddenly changes the subject and mentions the ancient seat of knowledge of the Druids in England. In doing so, he gives indications of an ancient place of capital importance, Castle Dore. From there, Howard Crowhurst was to discover a line running along the axis of sunrise at the summer solstice, linking the deepest gorges in southern England with its highest peaks, passing through megalithic sites and places of power. In this talk, he presents it for the first time.

Howard Crowhurst was born in North Wales. He has been living in Brittany since 1986 and has become one of the leading experts on the megaithic monuments of the Carnac area. From 1990 to 2004, he was vice president of the Association Archéologique Kergal and as such he took part in the french TV documentary, Carnac. In 2006, he launched the Summer Solstice in Plouharnel event with the Plouharnel Tourist Office. He founded the ACEM-Association for the Knowledge and Study of Megaliths, whose aim (amongst other things) is to create a 3D computer model of the Carnac megalithic complex. He appeared at Megalithomania in 2009 when he introduced his incredible research on geometry and metrology to the world. Website

MARTIN SWEATMAN
Meteor Strikes Recorded in Prehistoric Art: From Göbekli Tepe to Lascaux

Earth has endured an episode of coherent catastrophism over the last 20-30 thousand years or so. This means strikes by comet fragments were much more common and violent during this period than the long-term average. Over most of this time, humans were unable to record these comet strikes in writing. But, it seems they were still able to record what happened to them, and when, with a form of proto-writing that involved constellations, precession of the equinoxes. Here, I describe evidence for two cosmic impacts recorded on stone; Pillar 43 at Göbekli Tepe and the Lascaux Shaft Scene. Each is an artistic masterpiece designed to endure. The impact described at Göbekli Tepe is probably the well-known but controversial Younger Dryas impact, around 10,850 BC. This, it seems, was a pivotal moment in pre-history, as it ushered-in the agricultural transition in the Fertile Crescent. The impact probably recorded by the Lascaux Shaft Scene is currently unknown. Nevertheless, it appears to have had an equally dramatic effect on the Magdalenian hunter-gathers of south-west France around 15,300 BC. One that took millennia to recover from. Both these cosmic impacts seem to be described using almost the same kind of proto-writing and similar constellations. Are there other prehistoric examples where cosmic impacts are recorded in art, waiting to be decoded?

Martin Sweatman is a scientist at the University of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. His research, which involves statistical analysis of the motion of atoms and molecules to understand the properties of matter, has helped him to solve one of the greatest puzzles on Earth - the meaning of ancient artworks stretching back over 40,000 years. martinsweatman.blogspot.com

GWILYM MORUS-BAIRD
Taliesin's Grave: The Greatest Celtic bard

The Taliesin myth has deep roots in the landscape of Wales, and none deeper than in the ancient burial mound of Bedd Taliesin ('Taliesin's Grave'). The mound is part of a much greater complex of monuments, cairns, stones and earthworks scattered over the southern shore of the Dyfi Estuary. By paying attention to place names, local legend and myth, in this talk we will seek to uncover a ceremonial route that follows this ancient story of bardic initiation.

Dr Gwilym Morus-Baird has dedicated his life to researching Celtic wisdom, literature, myth and history;, helping others all around the globe to do the same through his richly immersive and engaging online courses. He is also an accomplished musician, having released several Welsh language albums, and has over two decades of experience in songwriting and performing ,as well as in production, theatre and storytelling. https://celticsource.online

ANI WILLIAMS
Pyrenean Megaliths and the Way of the Stars

Ani Williams will share some of the highlights from her recent release Guardians of the Dragon Path, including an ancient star path in Northern Spain marked by dolmens, menhirs, and cromlechs, parallel to, but predating the medieval Camino de Santiago de Compostela by 5000 years. Williams found another major alignment along the Paris Meridian established thousands of years earlier and marked with dolmens, menhirs, engraved and worked stones, which she calls a Dragon Path. These two ancient axes form a stunning landscape cross spanning the Pyrenees connecting ancient Gaul and Iberia. Time after time, Neolithic, then Greek, and Roman cultures built their sanctuaries and temples on these same star paths, with later medieval Maria Magdalena and Knight Templar sites marking the Way of the Stars, likely the oldest and most popular pilgrimage initiation path on Earth.

Ani Williams is best known for her dozens of music albums, distributed world-wide since 1981. She is a composer, harpist, and singer of cross-cultural sacred music. In 1992 she founded Songaia Sound, incorporating Voice Diagnostics and Bio-Acoustic Medicine for international clientele, and currently conducts an online training program. Williams incorporated her knowledge of sound science in her work at ancient sites—using her music to open communication with the guardians, the stones, and the stars, she measured and documented an increase in the harmonious life force in those sanctuaries. Williams describes this in her long-awaited book Guardians of the Dragon Path, a stunning compendium on ancient cultures in Pyrenean region of France and Spain, and the result of eighteen years of walking the land, extensive scholarly research, and a series of uncanny dreams that guided her quest of discovery. www.aniwilliams.com

ADAM TETLOW
Ancient Metrology: From the Ridiculous to the Sublime - The John Michell Memorial Lecture

Why is metrology a key to our study of the ancient world? How old could this science be? How do we use ancient metrology and avoid errors of reasoning in our analysis? How does the great pyramid teach us about this ancient science and about the nature of number itself? These questions have haunted and enlightened metrologists from past to present including the pioneer of the subject, John Michell. Join Adam Tetlow for a matho-mythical exploration of the implications of metrology and its revelations of number and harmony.

Adam Tetlow is an artist, writer and teacher exploring the intersection be-tween art, mathematics and ancient thought. He studied with Keith Critchlow at the PSTA, and has spent the last five years working closely with John Neal. He is author of 'Celtic Pattern', 'Ancient Metrology'(forthcoming 2019) and contibutor to 'Quadrivium','Trivium' and 'Designa' all pulished by Wooden Books. He teaches traditional geometry and celtic art courses with the PSTA and with www.sacredartofgeometry.com in Sussex.

PETER KNIGHT & SUE WALLACE
Landscapes of Memory – Questing in the Footsteps of our Ancestors

Peter and Sue return to Megalithomania to give another of their inspiring powerpoint presentations and this will be the official book launch of their new publication. They will present a blend of the latest research into megaliths, our prehistoric ancestors, and sacred landscapes, along with their own experiences over nearly 30 years of travelling around the world seeking ancient wisdom and sacred places. Their story will take you all over the UK, as well as to Ireland, Egypt, Greece, Malta, Menorca, Portugal and Brittany, as they share some of their magical experiences and the wisdom they were gifted. Their talk will end with live earth-healing chanting and drumming.

Pete Knight and Sue Wallace founded and facilitate Stone Seeker Tours. They are environmentalists, and lead shamanic and mindfulness tours and workshops across England and Wales. Between them they have now published 14 books about megalithic sites, leys and ancient wisdom. Through their books and tours Peter and Sue help people to dowse the earth energies, meditate at megalithic sites and in caves, as well as feel the awesome power of the acoustic properties inside caves and Neolithic chambers using sacred shamanic drumming. Through their work, they explain what was in the hearts and minds of ancient people how they were symbiotically connected to the landscape. Pete and Sue’s belief is that by better understanding and absorbing ancient wisdom, we can reconnect with our landscapes and Planet Earth in more fulfilling and sustainable ways. www.stoneseeker.net

JJ AINSWORTH & HUGH NEWMAN
What's Going on at Göbekli Tepe? - New Discoveries and more Controversy

Hugh and JJ share new research from southeast Anatolia, looking at the 11,600 year-old site of Göbekli Tepe, and how new research by archaeologists is painting an updated picture of what is happened there. Recent discoveries include painted statues, human remains and smaller buildings which are being labelled as domestic dwellings. Questions are now also being asked why the late Klaus Schmidt and his groundbreaking discoveries he initially made at the site are being undermined, which he called 'The World's First Temple'. This, along with any 'fringe' ideas still being ridiculed and dismissed, including proven astronomical alignments also come under the spotlight. Hugh and JJ taks a close look at the new discoveries and have realised that certain conclusions can't be made just yet, providing alternative narratives that are just as consistent with what has been unearthed so far. JJ will also present a simple and effective explanation for Pillar 43 or the 'Vulture Stone' and how it links to her research on the 'Golden Gate of the Ecliptic.

JJ Ainsworth is a researcher and explorer based in the US, who is an expert on ancient symbolism and connections between sites worldwide. She has featured on numerous radio shows, has published articles on www.ancient-origins.net, and has presented at Megalithomania on numerous occasions. Hugh Newman is an explorer, megalithomaniac and author of Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe: The World's First Megaliths (2023), Earth Grids: The Secret Pattern of Gaia’s Sacred Sites (2008), Stone Circles (2017) and co-author of Giants on Record (2015), Megalith: Studies in Stone (2018), Geomancy (2021) and The Giants of Stonehenge and Ancient Britain (2021). He lives very close to Stonehenge.

HUGH EVANS
The Origin of Time and the Great Sirius Observatory

An advanced ancient civilisation created the heavens and conceptualised Time in all its forms. Now we have the key to understanding their great design, and this is explained in The Origin of Time. Time in the present at all its scales, the past and the future, time since creation and the human journey, and time of the spirit 'until eternity' was created by our ancestors and presented as the constellations. These ancient astronomers named all the constellations, the planets, and stars to reflect their ideas. For the first time in human history we can understand this great design and credit their ingenuity. The Origin of Time is a journey from Egypt & Gobekli Tepe, Rome& Athens, back to Lascaux & Gwynedd

Hugh Evans is a graduate engineer and finance professional with a lifelong fascination of the stars. Having studied Astrophysics at University, Hugh graduated in Aeronautical Engineering. Hugh entered business on graduating his Masters and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Now pathfinding a fascinating trail back in time and myth, Hugh is following his passion: the stars and ancient history. Hugh is applying scientific theory, engineering rigour and professional scrutiny to understand our ancient astronomer ancestors. A chance set of circumstances resonated with Hugh's lifelong research and sent him on the odyssey around North Wales and the heavens. The result is Hugh's first book, Origin of the Zodiac, Cadair Idris and the Star Maps of Gwynedd. A startling achievement, identifying the largest Neolithic site on Earth, and perhaps the most ancient 'mechanism'. Hugh's work is continuing and illuminating the distant antediluvian past that links the ancients including Sumeria and the Pharaohs to Atlantis. The ramifications will shake everything we think we know about ancient history and our origins. https://originofthezodiac.com

JOHN MARTINEAU
Speakers Forum Host

John is the regular host of the speakers forum at Megalithomania, and this year he will be doing so once more, but online! So if you have any questions for the speakers, please put them in the chat box and John will choose the most sensible ones, and comment on the not so sensible questions!

John founded Megalithomania with Hugh Newman and Gareth Mills in late 2005 and has spoken regulary at Megalithomania and other conferences in Britain, South Africa and Europe. John graduated in Philosophy from Bristol University and spent a few years in the early computer games industry before completing a Master’s degree at the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts. John’s project at the School was focused on geometry and harmony in the solar system, and culminated in his Book of Coincidence, which he published under a new imprint, Wooden Books, a series of richly-illustrated and fascinating books exploring the age-old themes of nature, pattern, cosmos, design, ancient sites and geometry. Wooden Books now lists more than 60 titles, with 2.5 million printed copies in 25 languages; in 2007, it won Best Non-Fiction Series at the New York Book Show. He lives in Suffolk, UK.