A research team from Wessex Archaeology, led by Phil Harding, has announced the discovery of a Stonehenge ‘prototype’ structure, similarly aligned with the solstices, that may have served as an early proof of concept for the more famous structure built 500 years later.
The team behind the historic discovery said that the ancient date represents the earliest known alignment with the solstices and offers potential insights into the religion, belief systems, scientific knowledge, and worship practices of the ancient monument builders.
Location of Stonehenge Prototype Excavated a Decade Earlier
According to a statement announcing the discovery of the Stonehenge prototype, the structure is located 5 kilometers from the better-known stone circle. They also note that Stonehenge’s earliest earthworks were beginning construction around this same time.
Previous expeditions to the site conducted between 2015 and 2017 unearthed 48 pits, which those researchers dated to more than 2,000 years before the new find, or roughly 2,950 BCE. Still, the team notes that earlier efforts uncovered samples of pottery, animal bones, flints, and charcoal, suggesting that “large numbers of people gathered here over a relatively short period of time” to celebrate the longest day of the year.
Notably, one of the pits unearthed in the earlier excavations included what the team described as a possible “viewing station.” The pit also contained a disc-shaped knife, which the team notes “was deliberately placed here possibly as a symbolic reference to the sun disc.”
Still, the original effort left several tantalizing clues, leading to the new excavations.
Wooden Poles Align With the Solstices to Within One Degree
Instead of exploring the previously discovered pits, the team focused on the rest of the site. This effort led to the discovery of a pair of wooden pole pits placed 120 meters apart. According to the Wessex Archaeology team’s statement, the site’s ancient builders positioned the poles in the pits “to form a line pointing directly at the rising sun during the summer solstice and at the setting sun during (the) winter solstice.”
Although little of the structure remains, except for the pits where the poles once stood, the team was able to extract enough organic material to date the likely construction period of the structure. A radiocarbon analysis showed that the summer solstice poles were likely set around 5,000 years ago, more than 2,000 years earlier than the other pits at the same site. Perhaps even more surprisingly, the date placed the construction of the wooden poles roughly 500 years before ancient engineers built the world-famous site of Stonehenge.
To confirm the astronomical alignment, the team reached out to archaeologist Fabio Silva. According to the team’s statement, Dr. Silva, a Skyscape Archaeologist at Stone x Sky and the Skyscape Academy, used ancient reconstructions of the sky and the landscape to show that the structure would have aligned with the summer solstice “within an accuracy of one degree.”
When discussing the site’s potential uses, the researchers note that it would have served as a temporary gathering place for ancient celebrations of the summer and winter solstices until a more permanent structure could take its place. They even suggest that a similar structure may have been used in Stonehenge’s earliest phases, while conceding that traces of any similar alignment would have been erased by later construction.
Harding, who led the excavations, said the discovery of a possible Stonehenge prototype “is probably one of the greatest finds of my career,” while adding that the early date is what makes it so exceptional.
“Up till now, our knowledge of this ancient feat of astronomy was based on Stonehenge and other monuments of a similar period, but what we’ve discovered at Bulford is 500 years earlier than the famous stones we know so well,” Harding explained. “It makes me incredibly proud to be an archaeologist.”
“Part of a Much Longer Conversation Between People, the Land, and the Sky”
Although the ancient structure revealed a scientific knowledge predating Stonehenge by several centuries, Dr Matt Leivers, Senior Research Manager at Wessex Archaeology, said the discovery of a clearly religious site is “fundamental” because it is the earliest example of people building structures at this historically significant location “that aim directly at the solstice.”
“When we talk about the solstice, we’re talking about religion,” Dr. Leivers said. “About how prehistoric peoples understood the cosmos, the world, and their place in it.”
“It’s likely their way of saying to their deities, please keep us in mind, keep us warm and safe,” he added.
Dr Silva noted the historical significance in relation to Stonehenge, since the site shows that ancient communities “were already engaging with both the summer and winter solstices” in the same general area hundreds of years before the larger, more famous stones were put in place. The researcher also said the findings allow historians to see Stonehenge as more than a singular creation, but “as part of a much longer conversation between people, the land, and the sky.”
“Rather than marking the beginning of a story, Stonehenge now more clearly appears to have emerged from traditions and practices with much deeper roots in this landscape,” Dr. Silva concluded.
Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.