no one is entirely sure why or even how
the mighty stonehenge was built around
5000 years ago a study published
recently in the journal antiquity shows
the largest stones at stonehenge in
southwest england may embody a solar
calendar with 365 and one-quarter days
each year almost the same as the
365.2425 days used in modern solar
calendars
to understand how the stonehenge
calendar worked the research looked at
numerology which is the study of the
meaning of numbers with the stones
themselves
the research has analyzed the numbers
and positioning of stonehenge's great
sandstone slabs called sarsons
sarsons form all 15 stones of
stonehenge's central horseshoe the
uprights and lentils of the outer circle
as well as outlying stones such as the
heel stone the slaughter stone and the
station stones
the entire site was the physical
representation of one month lasting 30
days the 30 stones in the sarson circle
each represented one day within the
month
it's thought that people at stone have
simply marked the days of the month each
represented by a stone perhaps using a
small stone or a wooden peg
although no one can be certain why
stonehenge was built it was thought that
it served as an ancient calendar that
has long existed
other theories include that it was a
cult center for healing a temple a place
where ancestors were worshipped or even
a graveyard
stonehenge has long been thought to
incorporate some kind of calendar
although its specific purpose and
exactly how it worked remained far from
clear
understanding the sarson elements as a
unified group and recognizing the
numerical significance of the elements
in each component opens up the
possibility that they represent the
building blocks of a simple and elegant
perpetual calendar based on the
365.25 solar days in a mean tropical
year
it's already known that the whole layout
of stonehatch is positioned in relation
to the solstices or the extreme limits
of the sun's movement as english
heritage explains at stonehenge on the
summer solstice the sun rises behind the
heel stone in the northeast part of the
horizon and its first rays shine into
the heart of stonehenge
observers of stonehenge at the winter
solstice standing in the enclosure
entrance and facing the center of the
stones can watch the sunset in the
southwest part of the horizon
with this new study it seems like
dwellers at the famous hedge not only
used to track times of the year but days
of the month too
recent research had shown that
stonehenge's sarsons were added during
the same phase of construction around
2500 bc
they were sourced from the same area and
subsequently remained in the same
formation indicating they worked as a
single unit
when stonehenge was built one month
consisted of three weeks each of these
weeks consisted of 10 days
there are distinctive stones in the
circle that mark the start of each of
these three weeks in the month
the 10-day week was a key part of the
egyptian civil calendar from about 2600
bc
such a solar calendar was developed in
the eastern mediterranean in the
centuries after 3000 bc and was adopted
in egypt as the civil calendar around
2700 and was widely used at the start of
the old kingdom about 2600 bc
this raises the possibility that the
calendar tracked by stonehenge may stem
from the influence of one of these other
cultures
nearby fines handed such cultural
connections the nearby amesbury archer
buried nearby around the same period was
born in the alps and moved to britain as
a teenager
additionally an intercalary month of
five days and a leap day every four
years were needed to match the solar
year
the intercalary month probably dedicated
to the deities of the site is
represented by the five trilithins in
the center of the site
the four station stones outside the
sarson circle provide markers to notch
up until a lead day
as such the winter and summer solstices
would be framed by the same pairs of
stones every year
one of the trilifens also frames the
winter solstice indicating it may have
been the new year
this solsticial alignment also helps
calibrate the calendar any errors in
counting the days would be easily
detectable as the sun would be in the
wrong place on the solstices
finding a solar calendar represented in
the architecture of stonehenge opens up
a new way of seeing the monument as a
place for the living
a place where the timing of ceremonies
and festivals was connected to the very
fabric of the universe and celestial
movements in the heavens