A new study recently showed that the largest stones at Stonehenge in southwest England might symbolize a solar calendar with 365 ¼ days every year, nearly the same as the 365.2425 used in modern-day solar calendars.
According to the new research, NBC News reported that Stonehenge may have served as a calendar to keep track of the sun's yearly movement, proposing a prehistoric link to the Sun worship in the eastern Mediterranean.
While some calendar function has long been suggested for Stonehenge, none of the philosophies sufficiently explained the manner it might have worked, and this new study published in Antiquity is the only possible because of a better insight of the ancient site, explained Timothy Darvill, an archeology professor at Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom and an author of the study.
It appears that Stonehenge was mainly aligned to the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere on December 22, 2021, as the modern calendar showed when the sun rises and sets at its southernmost points, leading to the year's longest night and the shortest day.
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The sun rises at the prehistoric monument Stonehenge near Amesbury in southern England on January 19, 2022.
Aligning Stonehenge to the Solstice
Darvill said, "By aligning Stonehenge to the solstice," and then utilizing it to count the days in one year, the ancient monument could have precisely reflected the yearly solstices and seasons for many centuries.
The main circle of Stonehenge now has 17 large stones, also called "sarsens," a word coined from the medieval English term "Saracen," which once referred to Arabs although came to mean anything pagan.
However, empty sockets found in the ground reveal the structure was built as a full circle of 30 sarsens, others of which have been since hauled away, perhaps for other roads or buildings.
According to the theory of Darvill, the sarsen circle reflects a "month" of 30 days. Each year, the theory specified, would have 12 months with 360 days in all, succeeded by five "epagomenal" days marked by five massive "trilithons."
These are pairs of sarsens covered by a third lintel stone within the main circle, described Darvill. Two of the trilithon uprights and two of the lintels are either missing or fallen.
A Totally 'Speculative' Theory?
Some other experts do not agree with the new theory, though. According to consultant archeologist Matt Leivers, at Wessex Archeology in the United Kingdom who studied Stonehenge for decades, Darvill's was an "interesting hypothesis," although like each attempt to prove that Stonehenge was a calendar, "that's all it can ever be."
The archeologist emphasized there's no way to prove such things one way or the other. He noted too that while numerical symbols 30, 5, and 4 are exemplified in Stonehenge, the number 12, which is supposed to be the number exemplifying month, is not.
Darvill noted this as well, suggesting that the 12 months may have been represented by stones that have been taken out.
Meanwhile, as specified in a similar News Nation USA report, the director of the Griffith Observatory in Lost Angeles, Ed Krupp, who's also the author of several books on ancient astronomy, said this interpretation of Darvill is totally "speculative."
Ancient monuments, Krupp explained, frequently sought to integrate the so-called cosmic principles with astronomical alignment.
He added no one needs to go to all of the trouble to build a gigantic monument "to keep track of the calendar." He also said such a structure is not a good investment of resources.
Related information about Stonehenge is shown on Vox's YouTube video below:
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