In 1966, scientists discovered 3 wood posts at Stonehenge, what follows is a little story I wrote based on my knowledge of Stonehenge to help people understand what the monument means.
On a mid December evening, ancient man had placed a totem pole into the ground and stood next to it observing the sun setting on the horizon during successive evenings. As the days kept getting shorter, ancient man noticed the sun was setting just a little bit farther southerly each evening. He noted this movement until the third week of December when sun stopped its progressive sunsets southward. Ancient man then placed a post out a ways from the totem pole in a direct line of the sunset to mark the point where the sun stood still along the horizon. (Solstice is translated as “stand still”.)
Ancient man just created the humble beginnings of Stonehenge by marking the winter solstice sunset which is the shortest day of the year. From this time forward, the sunsets will progress northward for 6 months. Ancient man then went on to mark the sunset along the horizon of the longest day of the year with another post, the summer solstice sunset.
With just three pieces of wood sticking up from the ground, ancient man made several important discoveries.
The solstice sunsets will always occur exactly at the same point along the horizon each year, this never changes.
Ancient man discovered that the two poles that marked the winter solstice sunset also marked the summer solstice sunrise in the exact opposite direction.
The two poles marking the summer solstice sunset also marked the winter solstice sunrise in the opposite direction, amazing!
Since ancient man now knew the where the winter and summer sunsets would occur, the point in between is the equinox, equal day and night. The equinox sunset is always due west and the equinox sunrise is always due east. This never changes, matter of fact it holds true no matter where you stand on the earth except directly on the north or south poles.
Hold on, it gets better yet. When looking at the winter solstice sunset at Stonehenge, the most northerly moonset of the year is a perfect 90* angle to the right, the most southerly moonrise is a perfect 90* angle to the left.
I find it simply shattering that ancient man with three pieces of wood could have marked 4 major astrological solstice alignments, 2 equinox alignments and 2 lunar alignments. Ancient man now has figured out that his universe has an order to the year, the seasons and he now has a sense of direction. All of this can be repeated today by anyone with 3 simple wooden posts.
Scientists have dated the pinewood pulp still at the bottom of the three poles as being between 7000 and 8000 years BC. They are located 253 meters north west of present day Stonehenge. Three white circles now mark their positions as a visitor’s car park was built over them.
Nobody can say for certain that those posts were the first creation of Stonehenge but modern Stonehenge completed over 5000 years ago was built around these exact astronomical alignments as described. Scientists have discovered many more alignments indicating that ancient man really did have knowledge of his universe.