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ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN AFRICA
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| sections > historical > expeditions > arc of the meridian |
| Arc of the Meridian Photo Gallery: Archaeological Excavation |
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Return to Arc of the Meridian main page For
more visual material on the Arc of the Meridian Project: Maps
and Drawings. |
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Archaeological Excavations:
When Maclear measured his baseline on the Grand Parade in Cape Town,
he decided to mark out a permanent base line in order that future landsurveyors
will have a standard against which to measure their surveyor chains.
Thus Maclear buried two old canons with exact precision and plugged
a pin into the centre of each barrel. The distance between the two pins
for a while became the standard length for South Africa. |
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Source:
MNASSA 1989, Vol.48, No.5, Cover
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Maclear's
Baseline at the Grand Parade, with Rupert Hurly at the cannon that marked
the one marker point.
Source: MNASSA 1989, Vol.48, No.5, p.51 |
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The
excavation site where the canon was recovered.
Source: MNASSA, vol 49, p 173. |
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Baseline
for Maclear's Arc of the Meridian.
Source: MNASSA, vol 49, p 173. |
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Members
of the Cape Centre of the Society (ASSA) visited the two pyramids in
the Swartland plains which mark the ends of the the baselind laid out
by Maclear between October 1840 and April 1841..
Left to Right: Alan Cameron, Audrey Joubert, Brian Skinner, David van Heerden, Charles Allen, Bianca Skinner and Joe Joubert. Source: MNASSA 1989, Vol. 48, No. 3, cover. |
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Director Historical Section: Chris de Coning - siriusa@absamail.co.za Webmaster: Christian Hettlage - webmaster@assa.saao.ac.za |