(ORDO NEWS) — In 2022, scientists at Bournemouth University theorized that Stonehenge is a huge solar calendar. Now a new study completely refutes this theory, calling it “completely unfounded.”
Last year, an archaeologist published the results of a study of Stonehenge, one of the most famous ancient monuments on the planet, erected some 5,000 years ago.
While we have always come across many theories as to its purpose and origin, one of the most popular has to do with some kind of giant stone calendar.
A study published in 2022 in the journal Antiquity by researchers at Bournemouth University gave weight to this hypothesis, showing that it could function as a solar calendar based on a year of 365.25 days, with each of the sarsen’s great circle stones representing one day in month.
According to the study, the key to this calendar system was the discovery in 2020 of the fact that most of the sarsen stones were mined in the same place, 25 kilometers apart, and that they were placed in Stonehenge at about the same time.
According to experts, this suggests that they displayed the calendar year, which helped the ancient inhabitants of Wiltshire keep track of days, weeks and months.
“The proposed calendar works very simply. Each of the 30 stones of the sarsen circle represents one day in the month, divided into three weeks, each of which consists of 10 days,” the authors explain.
Now, a new article published in the same journal Antiquity disproves a theory proposed last year that an ancient megalith served as a solar calendar.
Italian and Spanish experts argue that this claim is “completely unfounded” and is based on “compulsory interpretations, numerology and unfounded analogies”.
The researchers show that the builders of Stonehenge showed great interest in the solar cycle, which was likely linked to the connection between the afterlife and the winter solstice in Neolithic cultures.
There is no doubt about this, because the monument coincides perfectly with the Sun at both the rising of the summer solstice and the setting of the winter solstice.
But experts say that a lot depends on the fact that this is a giant solar calendar.
Although no one knows exactly why Stonehenge was created, it has long been assumed that it served as an ancient calendar.
Some interpretations even said it was a place of healing, a temple, a place of ancestor worship, or even a cemetery.
But Stonehenge is a very complex monument.
Among other things, the researchers note that almost half of the stones in the circle were lost, and “perhaps they were also small, which destroyed the magic of the hypothesis” of the giant solar calendar.
In addition, they point out that the “key number” of the proposed calendar, the 12th, is not recognizable anywhere in this place, nor is the concept of a leap year.
This means that the theory suffers from a selection effect in which only favorable elements are extracted from the material, leaving a large gap in the theory.
“A more or less precise alignment of the sun could perhaps be used to tie in with the Lunar New Year, but this would hardly be enough to develop a valid solar calendar.
Before the invention of the telescope, this would have required such precise devices as the Jantar Matar sundial on the island of Jaipu.
Obviously, Stonehenge is not such a device,” the authors conclude.
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in Wiltshire, England, believed to have been built in several phases starting around 3000 BC and ending around 1600 B.C.
The first stage of construction included the construction of a circle of ditches and embankments (3000 BC).
The second stage is the first circle of stones (2500 BC) and the third stage, in which the second circle of stones was built and the stones were set in their final position (around 2000 BC).
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.