Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2006;29:S286-S290
© 2006 Elsevier Science NL
Stonehenge and the heart: similar construction
Gerald D. Buckberg
a
,
b
,
*
a Option on Bioengineering, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
b Department of Surgery, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 10833 Le Conte Avenue, 62-258 CHS, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1741, USA
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 310 206 1027; fax: +1 310 825 5895. (Email: gbuckberg{at}mednet.ucla.edu).
Stonehenge is a structure that originated 3500 B.C. and took 1800 years to build. Its form captures the imagination and interest of the world. The harmony of its construction transcended over 50 generations, suggesting an underlying building principle that was passed over many generations. Our fascination with its configuration may be linked to the harmonious integration of its parts. The Sarsen Circle (Fig. 1
) comprises the outer walls that contain the inner markers of the Bluestone Trilithon Horseshoe whose arms are pointed toward the distant Heel Stone. Vision of the disc of sunrise at the first day of summer (Fig. 2
) is possible by focus past the open part of the Horseshoe, toward a point beyond the distant Heel Stone. This focal point starts from the Altar Stone existing in a central area within these walls. This report will suggest a similarity between the basic construction of Stonehenge and the heart, thereby underscoring the common presence of a guiding principle.
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Fig. 1. Overview cartoon of Stonehenge with organization of the Sarsen Circle, Bluestone Trilithon Horseshoe, and Heel Stone. Courtesy of Christopher Witcombe, Ph.D., Earth Mysteries: Stonehenge.
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Fig. 2. Image of Stonehenge (above) and Heel Stone framed in archway at Stonehenge (below). Courtesy Döltzi, The Power of Limits, Shambhala Publications.
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My fascination stems from new knowledge of the spatial configuration of the helical heart, containing an external buttress and an internal cone-shaped apical loop containing a double helix configuration as (Fig. 3
) taken from the work of Torrent-Guasp et al. [1,2] and shown on video (http://www.gharib.caltech.edu/
heart/). My purpose is to search for a common origin and to define the comparisons. The heart has a helical form that tapers to a vortex at the conical apex, and efficiently functions within a wrapped basal support. Stonehenge selects the sun as the pivotal point, and contains an inner framework with a reproducible central site for visualization of the sun's guiding light that becomes evident at specific time frames during the yearly sequential motion of the cosmos.
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Fig. 3. Spatial heart configuration of Torrent-Guasp showing intact heart (upper level), unwrapping the basal loop with transverse muscle fibers and exposing the oblique apical loop helix (second row) whose fibers go to the apex (descending segment) and reciprocally turn at the apex (ascending segment) to obliquely go toward the aorta. Further apical loop unwrapping of helix showing the completely unwound descending and ascending segment band (third row), and completely unfolded heart with complete ventricular myocardial band extending between pulmonary artery and aorta (lowest level). Courtesy of Clemente, Anatomy: A Regional Atlas of the Human Body, 5th edition; Moore and Dalley, Clinically Oriented Anatomy, 5th edition.
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The central theme is that Nature embodies a mathematical pattern of components that balances the interweaving integral parts. Simplicity is the centerpiece, and my search and appreciation for this concept is guided by the inquisitive actions of Da Vinci, Einstein, and other scientists who linked mathematics and nature. A recent book by Doczi ‘The Power of Limits’ [3] analyzes the harmony of nature, considers Stonehenge, and introduces ‘dinergy,’ a term where opposite energy arises to produce internal support through complementary activity. Included is a description of how the simple construction of Stonehenge containing the mathematical components of the circle, square, rectangles, Pythagorean triangles, and reciprocal relationships merge into a single structure that has become eternal by its harmonic simplicity. My concept extends this mathematical observation by suggesting that Stonehenge construction also reflects the heart's architectural form. This position is achieved by employing known events and then broadening our view.
My conceptual jump takes advantage of learning from Cook's book in 1914, ‘The Curves of Life’ [4], which defines how Nature repeats itself to retain the most efficient components in a vast arena of interrelationships between patterns. My recent summary in ‘The Helix and the Heart’ [5] suggests that cardiac form follows this blueprint by containing a helical spiral weave that involves its ventricular muscle, the underlying collagen [6], actin, myosin, tropomyosin, calcium [7], and an electrical network [8].
I believe that Stonehenge construction mirrors the external cardiac geometric configuration shown in Fig. 3, much as the aortic vortices described by Da Vinci (Fig. 4
) are mathematically linked to the natural pattern of architectural pillars of Greek temples, Neolithic tombs of Ireland at 5000 B.C., or spirals of the Nebula shown in Fig. 4. By taking guidance from the ancient Greek scholars, I will initially correlate these relationships to Stonehenge and then to the heart, Pythagoras defined the harmonious relationship of the golden section, where the small is to the large, as the large is to the whole. This proportionality is seen in the rectangle shown in Fig. 5
, which also demonstrates how a spiral is formed by joining a series of diminishing partitioned rectangular forms. A radial line across a spiral clarifies the proportionality of one spiral to another, and the relationship between parts is 0.618 ... an infinite number that contains minor variations that mimic natural design. This proportional harmony is reflected mathematically in the Fibonacci numbers, a numerical summation developed in 1200 A.D. that shows (a) the logarithm that interweaves the proportional sequence of a spiral form, and (b) describes plant growth by connecting reciprocal spirals [9].
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Fig. 4. Spiral configuration of flow in the aorta by Da Vinci (upper left), Eastern Portico of Ereththeum (upper right), Neolithic tombs made at 5000 B.C. (lower left) and Nebula of cosmos (lower right). Courtesy of Cook, Curves of Life, Dover Publications.
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Fig. 5. The upper rectangle (upper) has the Golden section proportions defined by Pythagoras, when a square is placed within the side of the rectangle. Logarithmic spiral (lower) formed by ‘whirling squares’ and golden rectangles growing in harmonic progression from center. Growth rate is by Fibonacci numbers (0.618 ...) in logarithmic spirals.
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Breakdown of the construction of Stonehenge shows, in Fig. 6
, how the outer Sarsen Circle contains within it (a) a rectangle and square by the width of the inner Bluestone Trilithon Horseshoe and the diameter of outer surrounding Sarsen Circle, and (b) reciprocal rectangles by connecting each outer circle edge to the inner square. When the square dimension is given a 1.0 value, each reciprocal addendum to the outer square edge will have a value of 0.618, thereby making a summation of reciprocal rectangles that is proportionate to the Golden section. Three Pythagorean triangles emerge from further analysis in Fig. 7
of the Sarsen archway's four framing outer wall pillars that contain three beams or lintels atop of them. Stonehenge construction thus brings into full play the spectrum of interacting mathematics of vital parts within this harmonic megalith.
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Fig. 6. Alignments for Stonehenge III. Sarsen Circle's diameter and width of Bluestone Trilithon Horsehoe are in golden section relationship. Courtesy of Doczi, The Power of Limits, Shambhala Publications.
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Fig. 7. Sarsen archways framing the Heelstone (H) at the tip of which the disc of the sun appears on the first day of summer. Proportions of archways are 3–4–5 Pythagorean triangles. Courtesy of Doczi, Power of Limits, Shambhala Publications.
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Vista from the mid-circle centerpiece shows the eternal mid-summer sunrise, a focal point that introduces an apical tip beyond the megalith. The simple connection of lines from the tip (Fig. 8
) to the edge of the inner mid-internal parts creates a cone which becomes surrounded by an external buttress. These two outer shell-supporting structures are the small that compare with the large (center square) and define the Golden section. Comparison of this amended structure to the Stonehenge structural configuration provided by Doczi yields a cone wrapped by an external buttress, a pattern that precisely mimics the helical cardiac configuration shown in Figs. 3 and 8. Furthermore, unwrapping of the cardiac spiral shows, in Fig. 9
, that the proportionality of the ascending and descending segment of the apical loop of the helical heart has a 0.618 relationship, thereby mirroring the Golden section that defines the proportionality of reciprocal rectangles of Stonehenge.
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Fig. 8. Comparative geometry of Stonehenge (right) and heart (left) showing an interposed line with a conical connection between the inner arms of the Bluestone Trilithon Horseshoe and Heel Stone. This line is dimensionally expanded when it reaches toward the mid-summer sunset. Note the surrounding (now hatched) area of the connections between the Bluestone Horseshoe and Sarsen Circle that forms an embracing shell, and its similarity to the heart with the apical and basal loops (with hatching added). Courtesy of Peggy Firth.
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Fig. 9. The unfolding the helical heart and mathematic relation to the spiral (upper level). The aorta (AO) and pulmonary artery (PA) are marked. The completely unfolded heart (lower level) shows the golden proportion relationship of the descending (DS) and ascending (AS) segments of the apical loop. Courtesy of Buckberg, The Helix and The Heart, Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.
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A common structure/function counterpart exists, whereby views from different Stonehenge sites show motion of cosmic reality, a pattern closely linked to a heart that allows rhythmic cardiac efficiency. The purpose of building Stonehenge is unknown, and concepts range from a ‘temple to the sun’ to an astronomical calculator. I suspect that this structure reflects a harmony between architecture and biology, as humans created this megalith to focus upon the power of the earth's status in the mobile galaxy. This pattern reflects the heart, whose motion within a structure containing a pivotal point at the apical vortex that feeds nourishment and may allow humans to create architectural form with these massive markers from earth's scaffold to reproducibly focus upon the mobile cosmos.
Perhaps the eternal wonder of Stonehenge is linked to the simplicity of a working relationship of construction that includes each of the basic mathematical elements of circle, square, rectangle, and triangle that are reproducible gauges to the balance of seeing the guiding light of the sun at its apex. One simple extra step, taken by connecting the tip with the internal edges of this enduring architectural form, creates the geometry of the heart where the working vortex of the tip comprises the living functional component of life. Consequently, the commonality between Stonehenge architecture and the human heart exists when we, the living, bring its vital rhythm.
The dinergic concept is evident, as the underlying theme shows that power becomes expanded by the internal support of one structure for the other. The heart is simply another natural form that preceded Stonehenge, but carries the ‘dinergy’ that solidifies the integrated structure. The heart configuration is eternal, and human vision has rendered this monolithic structure the same harmonious accord. A 5500-year-old architectural form thereby mimics nature, with endurance of critical elements and discarding of extraneous elements. There may be a biologic comparison to the pumping heart, a persistent structure that started in the fish >400,000 years ago, and contains an underlying architectural pattern that resembles the construction of humans who created an evolving monolith of similar structure.
I suspect that nature provides us with guiding principles that convey harmony, and humans use these torches to introduce beauty and balance. For example, the Church has a Gothic design, supported by external buttresses and its integrated form resembles the construction of icebergs (Fig. 10
) that were created without human influence many millennia ago. Each design connotes strength and complementary support with a unifying theme that exists between nature and human's intuitive recognition that leads to building structures with reproducible similarity.
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Fig. 10. Similar geometric configurations of cathedral (upper) with dome and external buttresses, heart with gothic apical and embracing basal loop (lower left), and iceberg in lower right. Courtesy of Corbis Images.
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Incorporated into this theme between megaliths of earthly structure and visions of the organized and rhythmic universal cosmos are the mathematical tools that allow simple calculation, and define the harmony of the human spirit. Built-in attributes include the proportionality of the Golden section, Pythagorean triangles, and geometric configurations of circles, squares and rectangles as mathematical seeding elements of our capacity to make reproducible creations. This living ability is allowed by the heart, a viable guiding force within each of us that has the same architectural constraints of a base and conical dome that characterizes Stonehenge, where the powers of the megaliths of fixed earth and mobile cosmos are structurally interwoven.
References
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- Doczi G. The power of limits. Proportional harmonies in nature, art, and architecture. Shambhala Publications, Inc.; 1981.
- Cook T. The curves of life. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.; 1979.
- Buckberg GD. Basic science review: the helix and the heart. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2002;124(5):863-883.[Free Full Text]
- Lunkenheimer PP, Muller RP, Konermann Chr, Lunkenheimer A, Kohler P. Architecture of the myocardium in computer-tomography. Invest Radiol 1984;19:271-278.
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- Ball P. The self-made tapestry. Pattern formation in nature. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1999.
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