Circular enclosure solar observatory
Observatorio solar de fosos circulares (Kreisgrabenanlage)
- Date
- c. 4900 BCE · confidence high
- Place
- Goseck, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
- Credited to
- Stroke-ornamented ware culture (Stichbandkeramik)
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
A 75 m ditch-and-palisade enclosure with gates aligned to sunrise and sunset at the winter solstice. It is the oldest verified architectural solar observatory, one of more than a hundred similar enclosures in central Europe.
What it led to
- Fixing the solar year by horizon observation for the agricultural calendar
- Regional ceremonial centres bringing several villages together
- An astronomical-architecture tradition culminating in Stonehenge and Nabta Playa
Built on
- Lunisolar pit calendarc. 8000 BCE
- Warren Field lunisolar calendar
- Solstice observation
Made possible
- Megalithic astronomical alignmentc. 4800 BCE
- Julian calendar45 BCE
- Solar calendar
- Nabta Playa astronomical alignment
- Megalithic circles