Stonehenge is known for its alignment with the solar, which is why guests flock to the traditional web site initially of summer season.
However 5,000 years in the past, the traditional Wiltshire monument may have been fastidiously constructed with our lunar satellite tv for pc in thoughts.
Consultants suppose a number of the well-known upright stones have been organized to align with the moon throughout an occasion referred to as ‘main lunar standstill’.
Occurring simply as soon as each 18.6 years, that is when moonrise and moonset are furthest aside alongside the horizon, as seen from Earth.
Hundreds of years in the past, historic Brits could have worshipped on the web site throughout main lunar standstill, identical to they did for the summer season and winter solstice.
Stonehenge is known for its alignment with the solar, however the historic monument could have additionally been fastidiously designed to align with the actions of the moon
Occurring simply as soon as each 18.6 years, main lunar standstill is when moonrise and moonset are furthest aside alongside the horizon, as seen from Earth
A undertaking to analyze Stonehenge’s hyperlink with the main lunar standstill is being led by consultants on the universities of Oxford, Leicester and Bournemouth.
Dr Fabio Silva, senior lecturer in archaeological modelling at Bournemouth College, mentioned this ‘main lunar standstill season’ runs from February 2024 to November 2025.
‘It occurs twice a month for about 1.5 to 2 years,’ he advised MailOnline.
‘For instance, this previous Saturday the moon was at its northernmost restrict, and in a fortnight it will likely be at its southernmost.
‘This can repeat each month for the remainder of 2024 and most of 2025.’
How precisely the moon will align with Stonehenge’s particular person stones is but to be seen.
However consultants suppose that through the main lunar standstill, the moon shall be in alignment with Stonehenge’s historic ‘Station Stones’.
Though solely two are nonetheless standing, the Station Stones marked the corners of an ideal rectangle with its central level within the precise centre of the monument.
One of many sides of this rectangle seems to be pointing in a southeast route, similar to the place the moon shall be rising throughout main lunar standstill.
‘We wish to assess whether or not that is prone to be by likelihood or whether or not it was intentional,’ Dr Silva advised MailOnline.
Consultants suppose that through the main lunar standstill, the moon shall be in alignment with Stonehenge’s historic ‘Station Stones’. Though solely two are nonetheless standing, the Station Stones marked the corners of an ideal rectangle with its central level within the precise centre of the monument
The Station Stones are components of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge. Initially there have been 4 stones, resembling the 4 corners of a rectangle. Pictured is Station Stone ‘S93’ on the south-west nook of the Station Stone Rectangle
Stonehenge is a prehistoric megalithic construction on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, two miles (3 km) west of Amesbury
‘So we wish to assess the place one wants to face, how many individuals may successfully witness the alignment, whether or not after rising/earlier than setting the moon shall be obscured by different stones which will diminish the expertise, whether or not moonlight casts shadows contained in the circle.
‘These are the issues that, put collectively, could assist us construct an argument for or in opposition to these alignments.’
It is already well-known that the entire format of Stonehenge is positioned in relation to the summer season and winter solstices – when the Earth’s tilt in the direction of the solar is at its most excessive, both on the north or south pole.
Within the northern hemisphere, the summer season solstice happens when Earth’s north is most drastically tilted in the direction of the solar, and the winter solstice happens when it is titled away from the solar.
Stonehenge was intentionally constructed to align with the solar on the solstices, based on English Heritage, which manages the positioning.
It explains: ‘At Stonehenge on the summer season solstice, the solar rises behind the Heel Stone within the north-east a part of the horizon and its first rays shine into the center of Stonehenge.
‘Observers at Stonehenge on the winter solstice, standing within the enclosure entrance and going through the centre of the stones, can watch the solar set within the south-west a part of the horizon.’
Within the northern hemisphere, the summer season solstice happens when Earth’s north is most drastically inclined in the direction of the solar, and the winter solstice happens when it is titled away from the solar
Largely as a result of it is a whopping 5,000 years previous, the origins of Stonehenge, together with why and the way it was constructed, are nonetheless a supply of frenzied debate.
Professor Timothy Darvill, an archaeologist at Bournemouth College, thinks Stonehenge served as an historic photo voltaic calendar, serving to folks observe the times of the 12 months.
The British researcher behind the idea thinks Stonehenge’s nice sandstone slabs, referred to as sarsens, every represented a single day in a month, making your entire web site an enormous time-keeping machine.
Nonetheless, one other group of consultants poured chilly water on this principle, describing it as ‘completely unsubstantiated’ and primarily based on ‘pressured interpretations, numerology and unsupported analogies’.
Different theories embody that it was a cult centre for therapeutic, a temple, a spot the place ancestors have been worshipped or perhaps a graveyard.
Between 3000 and 2500BC, a number of centuries earlier than the massive stones have been dropped at Stonehenge, folks have been burying cremated stays within the ditch and financial institution that now surrounds the stone circle, English Heritage says.
