Anne Macaulay (11 March 1924 – 1998) was a Scottish
musicologist, author and lecturer.
Biography
Macaulay was born in Aithernie, Fife in Scotland near
Lundin standing stones, the youngest child of Alison and Sir David Russell.
Her family soon moved to
Silverburn near
Lundin Links where her father managed a paper-making business through the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
and had interests in religion,
archaeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
, industry and a good sense of family values.
She attended
St Leonards School in
St Andrews
St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...
during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
going on to briefly attend the University of Edinburgh which she departed for South Africa she learned how to fly an
aeroplane
An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectr ...
. Around this time her brother, Patrick Russell died and she accompanied her father to
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
where he had funded an
archaeological
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
excavation. It was here that she met Bill Macaulay,
curator
A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...
of the
Glasgow Museum of Art and an expert in
mosaics
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
and
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
art whom her father held in high esteem. In 1953, they married and moved to ''Johnsburn House'' in
Balerno near the
Pentland Hills. Together they had five children, the last in born in 1957. She developed an interest in classical guitar, which she learned to play to a high standard. This led to an interest in
Pythagorean mathematics and its relationship with music. It was from this that her interest in
stone circle
A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The be ...
s and
prehistoric geometry
Tom Brooks (writer and theorist), born in London, England, is British author, draftsman and a proponent of Prehistoric geometry theories.
Brooks was born in London and attended East Sheen Grammar School before returning to his family home in Dev ...
developed and she began to read the work of
Alexander Thom
Alexander Thom (26 March 1894 – 7 November 1985) was a Scottish engineer most famous for his theory of the Megalithic yard, categorisation of stone circles and his studies of Stonehenge and other archaeological sites.
Life and work Early l ...
. Over the next several years, she proceeded to resurvey much of Thom's work and travelled widely to Turkey,
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
, Egypt, Greece and throughout the
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
in search of further evidence of his ideas.
After the break up of her marriage to Bill in 1971 she worked for 17 years trying to bring her work and the mass of data she had recorded into order. Her work became well known to other academics and musicians such as Professor
Jay Kappraff
Jay Kappraff was an American professor of mathematics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and author.
Biography
Kappraff was trained in engineering, physical sciences and mathematics, earning a B.Ch.E. in chemical engineering at New York ...
,
Keith Critchlow
Keith Barry Critchlow (16 March 1933 – 8 April 2020) was a British artist, lecturer, author, Sacred Geometer, professor of architecture, and a co-founder of the Temenos Academy in the UK.
Biography
Critchlow was educated at the Summerhill ...
,
Andrew Glazewski
Canon Andrew Konstanty Glazewski (1905 – 6 November 1973) was a Polish Catholic priest, lecturer in spirituality, healer and researcher into dowsing, the Earth's magnetic field, and paranormal phenomena. He settled in Britain in 1947 after ser ...
and Paul Segovia. She lectured at conferences and
symposia
''Symposia'' is a genus of South American araneomorph spiders in the family Cybaeidae, and was first described by Eugène Simon in 1898.
Species
it contains six species in Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic o ...
in the United States and the UK and in 1994 was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
.
Macaulay's research interests included the origin of the alphabet, history of the guitar, the deity Apollo, and pythagorean mysteries. She was a
trustee
Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...
of the Salisbury Centre in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
and lectured for the ''Research into Lost Knowledge Organization'' (RILKO). She died early, in 1998, but her family said of her ''"She was fortunate to walk with many who knew the ancient ways, and she uncovered the truth as easily as drinking a cup of tea"''.
Megalithic measures and rhythms
Macaulay's work was posthumously collated, edited and published in 2006 by Vivian T. Linacre, a
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
based
surveyor
Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...
who is president of the
British Weights and Measures Association
The spread of metrication around the world in the last two centuries has been met with both support and opposition.
Metrication
All countries except Liberia have adopted the Metric System as their primary system of measurement, although Liberi ...
(an advocacy group for
Imperial units and Richard A. Batchelor, an honorary
Research Fellow at the
University of St Andrews
(Aien aristeuein)
, motto_lang = grc
, mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best
, established =
, type = Public research university
Ancient university
, endowment ...
, geologist and investigator into the
geometry
Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...
of
Fife
Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...
.
The book contains a critical re-assessment of the geometry used in over one hundred and eighty of the stone circles surveyed by Alexander Thom (who surveyed over two hundred) along with their mensuration using the
megalithic yard and the megalithic rod. From Professor Fernie's 1981 studies of the
Metrological Relief in the
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...
,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
(which Macaulay gives by its previous name The Arundel Stone) she claimed a similarity between the
Greek Fathom and the megalithic rod of 2.072 m. She also suggested that many of the megaliths had been designed using a "third
yardstick" length of one Greek Foot, depicted on the Metrological relief at 0.296 m, or one seventh of a megalithic rod.
Concerning this claim,
Jay Kappraff
Jay Kappraff was an American professor of mathematics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and author.
Biography
Kappraff was trained in engineering, physical sciences and mathematics, earning a B.Ch.E. in chemical engineering at New York ...
wrote "However, according to the archaeological record, there was no standard unit of a 'foot' in ancient Greece." She found that the best direct evidence for the use of an ancient unit of measure in megalithic Britain at the fan of stone rows in
Mid Clyth
Clyth is a remote scattered coastal crofting village, in eastern Caithness, Scottish Highlands and is in the Scottish council area of Highland.
Upper Clyth, Clyth Mains, Mid Clyth, Hill of Mid Clyth, West Clyth and East Clyth are all associated ...
.
Douglas Heggie had found this gave the strongest evidence for an early unit of measure of any site in the UK.
Heggie was very dubious about the existence of the megalithic yard, stating that his careful analysis uncovered "little evidence for a highly accurate unit" and "little justification for the claim that a highly accurate unit was in use".
Macaulay suggested that a high culture of
bard
In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise t ...
s (or
druid
A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...
s) emerged following an influx of
Indo-European farming techniques into Britain in the fifth millennium
BC. This culture were able to determine pythagorean mathematics from harmonious sounding
triads played on ancient
Lyre
The lyre () is a stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the lute-family of instruments. In organology, a lyre is considered a yoke lute, since it is a lute in which the strings are attached to a yoke ...
s.
Sherbon, Michael A., Pythagorean Geometry and Fundamental Constants, SSRN Classics: Journal of Philosophical & Scientific Texts (27 October 2007).
/ref> These mathematics were then suggested to have been used in the construction of stone circles and exported back to Greece via the tin trade.
References
External links
Floris Books – Megalithic Measures and Rhythms
The Megalithic Portal – Megalithic Measures and Rhythms – Book Review by Dr Nick Kollerstrom
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macaulay, Anne
Scottish musicologists
Scottish antiquarians
Scottish non-fiction writers
People educated at St Leonards School
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Academics of the University of Edinburgh
Scottish scholars and academics
People from Fife
1924 births
1998 deaths
20th-century British musicologists
Scottish women academics
20th-century antiquarians