Solstitial alignment of megalithic monuments

What was discovered

Newgrange, Stonehenge and other monuments were oriented with precision to the sunrise at the solstices, demonstrating empirical knowledge of the solar year and the lunar extremes.

Stonehenge (Wiltshire, 51.18, -1.83) has a similar alignment towards the summer solstice.

What it led to

• Agricultural solar calendar
• Archaeoastronomy as a discipline
• Link between religion, power and the sky

Built on

• Lunar cycle tallies and earliest calendarsc. 30000 BCE

Made possible

• Celestial pole and stellar navigationc. 2500 BCE
• Julian calendar45 BCE
• Solar calendar
• Astronomically oriented architecture

Links