Two recent crop pictures from Morgan’s Hill on August 24, 2008 or West Kennett Longbarrow on April 19, 2009 show the history or astronomy of solar eclipses

A new crop picture which appeared on April 19, 2009 near West Kennett Longbarrow, in yellow oilseed rape, represents an extraordinary challenge to field researchers and theorists for so early in the season! Normally a picture of such complexity would not appear until June or July, based on an observation of past years 1990-2008 (see www.cropcircle.tv or www.lucypringle.co.uk).  

Yet the symbolic message of that new crop picture seems to represent a logical continuation from that of several other crop pictures during the summer of 2008 (as will be explained below). Thus, we can be fairly sure that they were all made by the same small group of “artists”.  

Here we will try to explain the symbolic message of that April 19 crop picture as simply and clearly as possible, by comparison to other pictures in past years, for which meanings are completely and securely understood.  

Two crop pictures near Silbury Hill tell about “eclipses”  

First, it should be noted that the new crop picture of April 19, 2009 appeared in almost the same field as a related crop picture from June 9, 2008, and also in close proximity to Silbury Hill: 

That previous crop picture from June 9, 2008 is very well understood. It shows a classic “spiral” structure for shadows along the Earth’s surface during any Saros series of eclipses, when viewed from above the north or south pole. It also shows 48 or 50 small segments in two different spiral arms, which symbolize “50 or 48 weeks between successive eclipses” (see westkennett2008b).  

Now the new crop picture of April 19, 2009 shows 46 small, radial segments, and it lies in essentially the same field location as the earlier one from 2008 with 48 or 50 segments. Thus, one would be tempted to say: “46 weeks between eclipses!” And indeed, such a simple interpretation seems to hold up to further scrutiny, as will be discussed further below.  

The new crop picture from April 2009 also resembles Morgan’s Hill of August 24, 2008

Close to the end of the 2008 season, a small but elegant crop picture appeared near Morgan’s Hill on August 24. It seems to provide a clear stylistic precedent for the new picture of April 19, 2009: 

Both pictures contain two long overlapping ellipses, and both show a four-armed cross or petal at their centres: 

The standard interpretation for such a “cross” in ancient Britain would have been “four seasons” (see astronomy). Likewise in ancient north America, any circle containing a four-armed cross represented the four yearly events of winter-summer solstice and spring-autumn equinox, or else “four seasons” (see nahist).  

Morgan’s Hill 2008 seems to tell about the world’s oldest recorded eclipse  

Many different crop pictures from the summer of 2008 described “eclipses” (see 080808). Then on August 24 at Morgan’s Hill, we saw two overlapping ellipses that might symbolize “Moon” and “Sun” during an eclipse, along with a central diamond or “lozenge” shape: 

What could this mean? That “lozenge” shape was noted recently in reference to the world’s oldest recorded eclipse from Loughcrew in Ireland (see 3340eclipse):  

"Irish astronomer Paul Griffin has now announced a confirmation of the world's oldest recorded eclipse. A stone carving made at Loughcrew in Ireland 5300 years ago shows such an event. The new Moon rose at 7:29 UT on November 30, 3340 BC with a horizon azimuth of 114 degrees. The Sun then rose at 7:55 UT with an azimuth of 117 degrees, and was eclipsed by the Moon shortly afterward. A flattened elliptical appearance of Sun and Moon during that eclipse was due to refractive effects of the Earth's atmosphere, when large objects approach the horizon."  

Each of those “lozenge” shapes in the Loughcrew carving represented a stone pillar north of the cairn. The same symbol can also mean “four seasons” when it is divided into four equal parts.  

There seems to be no other reason why those crop artists should have drawn a "lozenge” at the centre of Morgan’s Hill, or "flatten" two overlapping circles into ellipses for Sun and Moon in the same picture, except in reference to ancient recordings of eclipses from the British Isles.  

West Kennett Longbarrow 2009 seems to show the symbolism of a cross spider from pre-Columbian north America!  

Now in complete contrast to the Celtic imagery used at Morgan’s Hill in 2008, the new crop picture from West Kennett Longbarrow on April 19, 2009 seems to show a long-forgotten symbolism from pre-Columbian north America: namely that of a common garden or “cross spider”, which displays a big white cross across its back: 

What a bizarre imagery to use in an English crop picture! Those crop artists even added two small standing swirls of crop just above the four-armed cross, to represent that spider’s “eyes” (two yellow arrows as shown above).  

Could one of their children have been responsible for making this new, almost comical crop picture? In a previous report, Andrew Buckley told about seeing a mysterious young girl near Tawsmead Copse during August of 2005, on the night before a child-like “insectogram” appeared in crops nearby. That insectogram likewise showed “two small eyes” (see February 27, 2007, www.earthfiles.com).  

The cross spider in pre-Columbian north America was a symbol for “four seasons” or “Sun”  

Now the cross spider is a real animal, with a small white cross displayed across its back (see www.flickr.com):  

Native American people would often draw such “spider” images on their pottery or jewellery. Their spider symbol also had astronomical significance, a fact which has been forgotten except by a few experts: 

“The spider was an important symbol to people of the Mississippian culture. Archaeologists think that their four-armed cross was a symbol for Sun” (see Spider_Gorget_Lesson)  

“The shell engraving of a water spider found in Perry County, Missouri shows on its back a native American symbol for our Sun as a four-armed cross. That symbol was widely known among pre-Columbian native Americans, and has been found in archaeological remains from New Madrid (Missouri), Etowah (Georgia), Spiro (Oklahoma) or shell gorgets (Alabama)” (see ancientamerican)  

This is not the only time when native American themes have appeared in English crops! On August 5, 1999, an excellent representation of Serpent Mound in Ohio appeared near Barbary Castle in England (see time2007k). Then in August of 2003, an authentic crop picture appeared near Serpent Mound itself, and was witnessed forming the night before by unknown lights in the sky, before it appeared on the ground (see cropcircleresearch or serpent-mound-crop-circle-lights).  

A circular region of crop surrounding that spider image was divided into 46 radial sectors, to symbolize “46 weeks between eclipses”  

In order to give their April 19 picture a more serious significance, our crop artist friends divided a broad circular region of crop surrounding that “spider” image into 46 nearly equal radial sectors:  

Since another crop picture in the same field had shown “48 or 50 weeks between eclipses” one year before on June 9, 2008 (see above), then the most likely interpretation of this new picture would be simply “46 weeks between eclipses” as noted earlier.

Three small balls of variable size were added both left and right of its central four-armed cross, in order to suggest that one astronomical body (the Sun) might be passing in front of (or behind) another (the Moon). 

Solar or lunar eclipses may be separated in time by 50, 48 or 46 weeks 

Various intervals of time between solar or lunar eclipses as 50, 48 or 47 weeks have been implied in crop pictures over the years (see time2007x).  

When we study the astronomy of such effects (well known in ancient Greece or Babylon), we see that solar and/or lunar eclipses during the years 2006 to 2008 were separated in time by 52, 50, 48 or 46 weeks:

Thus the 46-week interval shown at West Kennett Longbarrow on April 19, 2009 represents a lower limit to all possible spacing over a one-year period.  

Harold Stryderight and Marina Sassi (with help from Mike Reed)  

P.S. We would like to thank Russell Stannard, Nick Nicholson, Steve Alexander and Stuart Dike for some of the photographs used here.  

P.S.S. A UFO sighting with many detailed photographs was reported only a few days ago on the Earthfiles website, while we were working to understand this new “spider” crop picture. That UFO was described in the following terms: We did not hear any sound. It looked like a spider” (see www.earthfiles.com).