I had a few places I thought this should go from a Lost mythology standpoint. Either at the north end of the Island, at the south end of the Island, or somewhere in the middle. These three photos were used in my calculation.

The first is a shot of the Barrack from the premiere of season 3.

(via lostpedia)

The second is a patched together version of the map Ben is using at the end of season 3 while his people are on their way to the Temple. He uses it to calculate distance to the radio tower.

(via lostpedia)

The third is a high rez photo of the map Sayid took from Rousseau’s. It’s an overhead of the island. Her notes have been translated into English. This map, like many fan maps online, served as the basis for my Island overhead.

(via lostpedia)

All three were used on the show, and all three mark The Barracks. In the first we see what looks like the entire wreckage, both tail and fuselage, far from The Barracks. We assume that we’re looking to the south, which could put the Barracks at the north end of the Island. But according to the map drawn by Rousseau in Season 1, the only mountains at the far north end of the island are in the western peninsula. It’s relatively flat up there.

Now, that first image does look a bit like the Barrack are in a crater, so I thought perhaps the Barrack were in that crater on the south side of Rousseau’s Island. We know from the Dharma classroom scene in Season 3, that the Island has a volcanic eruption in it’s history. So maybe the Barracks were built in… the crater it left? That would be… smart.

Of course, that would put the crash sites in the first photo to the north. Which according to Ben’s map does seem to be right. That is if we assume the map is facing north. Or at least “north” as we’ve come to understand it by that point in the show.

Here’s why I chose not to put it there. Not why I think the crater placement is wrong, or that the north end of the Island is wrong… but why I decided that my placement is no worse.

1.) At the end of season 2, Sayid, Sun, and Jin are sailing Desmond’s boat to “get to the north shore”. That means their camp is not on the north part of the Island, right? Logical.

2.) In season 1, When Sayid takes his “Solitary” journey after torturing Sawyer, he walks with the ocean on his right.

According to Rousseau’s map if the Beach Camp was on the north shore, Sayid would be walking west around over half of the island before finding the cable. That journey would be part jungle, rock cliffs, as well as beach.

3.) The Tailies took a collective 6 days to cross through the Island, whereas Sayid took under 2 days to get to the cable.

4.) Goodwin, however, can run to the Tailies in an hour.

5.) According to Rousseau’s map the radio tower is on the western mountains. According to Ben’s map, that tower is in the eastern mountains, and The Barracks just to the southwest.

6.) The Pascal Flats (which is where Ben and his people are passing through to get to the Temple) are even further southeast of the Barracks… the Pearl just slightly north. Both of these landmarks would centralize the Barracks rather than put them on any shore… or peninsula.

7.) If we were to turn Ben’s map upside down so that both maps’ radio towers were in the western mountains, then The Barracks would be just to the northeast of it… Pascal Flats further northwest… and I assume the Temple even further northwest.

How far northwest is hard to tell since we don’t know the scale of these maps.

It’s also hard to say why Ben’s map has the camp to the north. In fact, later in the episode he even reiterates to Alex that they’re traveling north.

But according to this map by Faraday, the beach camp is to the south.

(via lostpedia)

Are the creators trying to tell us something about direction on this Island? Wouldn’t a 325° or a 305° compass bearing always point north?….. OR (uh oh, here comes some theory) would it sometimes inexplicably point south? Sayid comments that Locke’s compass seems defective. Do the magnetic properties of the Island make it a sort of massive compass itself… in a sense loosely floating… constantly shifting it’s magnetic polarity with the movement of the earth?

Anyway, to sum up Otherton, it’s possible that what we’re seeing in that first picture are the Barrack simply located in a valley. And we have several valleys north of the beach camp… one nice valley, in fact, dead center of the Island… in the area that Rousseau describes on her map as the most dangerous place… a place in which you might need to put up a sonar fence if you got one.

Is it exactly where the creators imagine it… probably not.

Is it generally where the creators imagine it? You tell me.

I’m eager to hear your thoughts on placement. Perhaps it’ll inspire me to make revisions at the end of Season 6.

Stay tuned for one last Lost goodie before the Premiere. And yes, I have seen the first 4 minutes… and no, never in a MILLION YEARS would I ever consider spoiling it for anyone.