`alaska' Gives Benedict Chance To Act Against Type 
Actor Is Thrilled To Develop His Character In This New Family Adventure Film

Amvets Show They Care -- The Amvets Of

Monday, August 12, 1996 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 3A 





Ancient mysteries never grow old &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 ``Visionary'' isn't the word that leaps to mind during a first encounter
with &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Alban WallBut listen long enough to the bespectacled retiree and a
different Alban Wall emerges. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 This Alban Wall is a druid incarnate. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 For nearly 40 years, the Mountaintop area resident has devoted much of his
abundant energy to the study of Stonehenge and other ancient mysteries. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Like the druids of old, Wall is driven by a love of, and thirst for,
knowledge. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "There's always another question," he says. "Another question that's not
been answered." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 It all started in the early 1960s, when Wall chanced upon a TV program
featuring a famous astronomer who claimed Stonehenge was built to predict
eclipses. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I thought he was all wet," Wall says. "Eclipses are so rare, why would
they expend all that energy to predict them?" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 From that moment on, Wall's obsession was launched, fueled by speculation
over the true architects of the stone megaliths. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 There is no absolute proof. But Wall asserts that telltale marks on the
giant stones carry Celtic "fingerprints." From that one site, he believes,
newfound knowledge was disseminated across the world by Celtic voyagers. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 When writing of Stonehenge, Wall uses romantic language, likening the
weather worn monument on Salisbury Plain in England to "bleached bones of an
extinct dinosaur washed up on the shore of some primeval sea." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But his chief theory is based on hard numbers. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 It goes like this: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The great stones in Britain are located on the site of an ancient
data-gathering observatory. The massive columns actually mark a calender based
on a 19-year cycle. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The calender is most remarkable in that it keeps both lunar time, as most
ancient calenders did, as well as solar time, like modern calenders. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Wall is certain the most significant alignment at Stonehenge occurs at
sunset in the years when the moon is full at the winter solstice. That's when
the sun sets between one of the great stones and the full moon rises over the
stone solstice marker. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Further, says Wall, the 56 so-called "Aubrey holes" -- depressions in the
ground at the site -- are actually half-day marker positions, making a 28-day
cycle, the approximate length of a solar month. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "They observed the sunrise, connected it to the moon phase and devised a
calender that was vital to life," Wall explains. "They had to regulate their
civil and religious affairs. The huge stones are a temple to memorialize what
they did." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 One scientist has hailed Wall's theory as "a genuine breakthrough in the
refractory puzzle of Stonehenge." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The founder of the Epigraphic Society -- Barry Fell -- was Wall's idol and
mentor. In a 1990 letter, Fell referred to Wall as "an important critic of
former views and a significant interpreter of matters previously ignored." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Wall's theory has been published in the society's magazine as well as in
other journals dedicated to myth and science. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Unlike many of his fellow epigraphers -- those dedicated to deciphering
ancient writings -- Wall does not have a college or graduate degree. After
high school, he served as an astronomy instructor at the U.S. Marine Academy.
He then worked as an office manager, eventually marrying an English governess
and raising three children. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But his star-gazing led to a lifelong study of early archaeological sites
oriented to the sun, moon and planets. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "We very seldom go out at night to look at the moon," he says. "But it was
very vital to the ancients." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 A true Renaissance man, Wall also draws and writes poetry. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 His heart-breaking poem, "The Boat That Never Sailed," was reprinted in a
travel book. The same piece also won him top prize in a poetry contest. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 From a fat briefcase he pulls a vast trove of personal treasures, evidence
of his many curiosities: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 A black and white photo of Sir Edmund Hillary on South Franklin Street that
Wall snapped in 1962 when the great explorer was here for a lecture. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 A signed letter from Dr. Martin Luther King, written shortly before his
assassination, in response to a poem Wall entitled "To My Black Brother." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In the letter, the civil rights leader thanks Wall for his "personal
commitment to our search for freedom and justice." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Over the years, Wall's fascination with history, archeology, anthropology
and astronomy has led him to English plains, Virginia caves and Canadian
bedrocks. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The petroglyphs he's explored speak to Alban Wall. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 When he studies the early stone pictures he hears long-silent tongues and
sees a long-dead people. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 He sees his ancestors. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "There's so many things," he says. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "It's inexhaustible." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Alban Wall &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Up Close &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Dawn Shurmaitis &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Ancient Mysteries Never Grow Old ``visionary'' Isn't The Word That Leaps To Mind During A First Encounter With Alban Wall.