Abstract. A general account and progress report is presented concerning the aims of, and conclusions drawn from, two extensive seasons of fieldwork on Scottish megalithic sites. Topics discussed fall into three main categories: reassessments of existing work by A. Thom & A.S. Thom; suggestions for methodological improvements; and fresh site investigations carried out according to a more explicit methodology. It is concluded that the case in favour of high precision astronomical sightlines, as a primary function of many sites, is unproven on the basis of the evidence currently available. The suggestion is made that future work in British archaeoastronomy should concentrate on rougher astronomical alignments and indications, regarding them as merely one of any number of factors that might have given rise to any particular structure orientation. It is also recommended that more attention should be focussed upon groups of sites which are demonstrably similar archaeologically, where marked orientation trends are evident at the outset, rather than upon archaeologically somewhat diverse collections of sites, which has often been the case up to the present.