Ancient Solstice Site Near Stonehenge Rewrites Early Solar Rituals
TL;DR Summary
Archaeologists have uncovered a 5,000-year-old, solstice-aligned monument at Bulford near Stonehenge, dated to about 3000 BC. The two wooden posts, 120 metres apart, with surrounding pits, appear to have marked the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset, suggesting an early prototype for Stonehenge’s solar alignments. A nearby disc-shaped flint knife may symbolize the sun, and radiocarbon dating places the structure at 2950 BC, highlighting a long-standing religious focus on solstices in the Wiltshire landscape.
- Solstice-aligned 5,000-year-old monument ‘once in a lifetime find’, say archaeologists The Guardian
- Simpler, older version of Stonehenge found three miles from famous site BBC
- Archaeology team unearths 'prototype' of world-famous Stonehenge monument just a few miles away AP News
- 'This was a pioneering achievement': Stone Age people put up posts to observe the solstices near Stonehenge long before the stones of sacred site were placed Live Science
- Archaeologists Have Found Stonehenge's Ancestor, And Half Of It Is Under Someone's Living Room IFLScience
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