Stonehenge and the Solstices

Druids have long held Stonehenge high as a supernatural site, where the sun, moon and earth are brought together in harmony. And the way that the megalithic monument aligns with the summer and winter solstices certainly seems to suggest some sort of deliberate sun-centric design plan. But is Stonehenge really a centre for spiritual mysticism, or just an accident of prehistoric engineering?

The Alignment

First thing’s first – Stonehenge does line up to the midwinter and midsummer sun. Every year around the 21st of June, the sun rises directly over the Heel Stone, a sarsen which marks the avenue surrounding the inner stone circle, as seen from the centre of the monument through the horseshoe arrangement. As such, rays shine directly into the site’s core, which gives it an ethereal edge as throngs of revellers cram in from all corners of the spiritual world. This year will mark a decade since English Heritage reopened the site to the public on each such occasion, leading to a colour-soaked festival of dance, music and mysticism which lasts through the night.

This peculiar phenomenon was first noticed, in the modern era, by the 17th century British antiquarian John Aubrey, with whose name the Aubrey Stones are taken, commented that Stonehenge may have been some sort of Neolithic religious hub. Later on, the charismatic 18th century ancient religious expert William Stukeley would cement the link with a series of assertions about its ritualistic use. These assertions were taken to heart by the world’s druid community, and Stukeley surmised that Stonehenge must have been deliberately aligned so as to enhance prehistoric religious practice. The area would soon be awash with new-agers and agnostics wanting to see the newly named centre for mystical worship for themselves; the site was even fenced off in 1900 by its owner Edward Antrobus to avoid the throngs of revellers damaging his priceless property.

Criticism

Stukeley’s spiritual statements stuck – yet his theories have aroused criticism in some quarters, who say Stonehenge was nothing more than a sort of prehistoric palace. These theories seem to gain weight when it’s considered that there are very few burials actually inside the stone complex. Burial pits have been excavated in the vicinity of Stonehenge, but the lack of bodies interned within its hallowed station seems to indicate a societal use. Some digital restorations have even pictured the site as a palace, with wooden walls propped up by the interminable sarsens and bluestones.

Some have even suggested that the sun does NOT rise over the Heel Stone, pointing to a fractional discrepancy between the stone’s position and the sun’s route. This may be true, but many argue the moving earth may have put the stone out ever so slightly – or even that our medieval cousins may have attempted faulty restoration projects: certainly Aubrey’s work, and that of William Cunnington in the early 19th century, have come under heavy posthumous criticism for their lack of precision in replacing some of the stones. Another counter to the claim is that there were in fact two Heel Stones laid next to each other.

An Early Calendar?

The Stonehenge theory with the most weight behind it appears to be its apparent use as a prehistoric astronomical calendar, with the equinoxes and solstices merely two facets to its many heavenly alignments. Many phases of the moon can be seen at various stages through the stones of the monument, and some have even suggested the site was used to record and predict solar and lunar eclipses.

This idea was most vehemently argued by the 20th century astronomer Sir Norman Lockyear, whose 1965 work Stonehenge Decoded proffered a plethora of angles and alignments, most of which were directed through the 56 circumventing Aubrey Holes, which seemed to predict lunar eclipses. His theories fitted nicely with those of his near-contemporary Alexander Thom, who had also championed Stonehenge as a megalithic predictor. Yet Lockyear’s diagrams are migraine-inducing to a modern reader, and would surely have been nigh-on impossible to decipher for someone living between four and five thousand years ago – when even the world’s greatest civilizations were struggling to make sense of the stars. Also, the West Country of England is hardly notorious as a great site to witness an eclipse, and many of them – which don’t exactly come around like Christmas – would have been invisible to ancient Britons.

Still, Stonehenge’s validity as a calendar, even by marking as few astronomical events as are currently celebrated, does hold some significant sway. Agriculture was all its people had, and tracking the sun at the zenith and nadir of its virility would have been infinitely useful in determining when and when not to sow and harvest. The Aubrey Holes, in fact, can be used to count the phases of the moon, if a marker was moved two stones anticlockwise along the track each day. Likewise, a sun marker would have had to move in the same direction once every 13 days to complete a full year. This sounds complicated, but when compared to Lockyear’s ideas, it’s mere child’s play.

There will always be theories and explanations for Stonehenge’s surreal alignment with the solstices, and the modern era has thrown up plenty of new-age thinkers willing to impose mysticism upon its meaning. Aliens have even been offered forth as a reason for the site’s astronomical arrangement – though why aliens would want to come to earth just to build a stone circle is beyond this writer, at least. What’s true is that Stonehenge does line up with the sun at various points in its cycle, and when you look at the 30,000-plus who travel from across the globe to witness the feat, it’s hard to think it a mere accident.

Images by Willow Pearson and Simon Wakefield.
 

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About The Author

Sean Williams

Last three pieces by this author:

Join Heritage Key Live from Stonehenge Spring Equinox | Celebrate St. Patrick's by Visiting Loughcrew for Spring Equinox | What can you Expect from Stonehenge Spring Equinox 2010?

Sean is an English Literature graduate, who currently works as a writer and journalist in London. He enjoys ancient history, theatre and sport. He does not enjoy Big Brother.