Keeping time at Stonehenge

Timothy Darvill

doi:10.15184/aqy.2022.5

Abstract

Scholars have long seen in the monumental composition of Stonehenge evidence for prehistoric time-reckoning—a Neolithic calendar. Exactly how such a calendar functioned, however, remains unclear. Recent advances in understanding the phasing of Stonehenge highlight the unity of the sarsen settings. Here, the author argues that the numerology of these sarsen elements materialises a perpetual calendar based on a tropical solar year of 365.25 days. The indigenous development of such a calendar in north-western Europe is possible, but an Eastern Mediterranean origin is also considered. The adoption of a solar calendar was associated with the spread of solar cosmologies during the third millennium BC and was used to regularise festivals and ceremonies.

Highlights

Located on the chalk downlands of southern Britain, Stonehenge has long been thought to incorporate some kind of calendar, its specific purpose and exactly how it worked remain far from clear
Recent remodelling of the developmental sequence at Stonehenge shows that the three sarsen structures—the Trilithons, Sarsen Circle and the Station Stone Rectangle—all belong
I examine the evidence at Stonehenge to suggest how such a time-reckoning system might have worked, going on to address the question of its origins and development, and to ask why such a calendar might be materialised in the architecture of this exceptional monument

Summary

Introduction

Located on the chalk downlands of southern Britain, Stonehenge has long been thought to incorporate some kind of calendar, its specific purpose and exactly how it worked remain far from clear. I examine the evidence at Stonehenge to suggest how such a time-reckoning system might have worked, going on to address the question of its origins and development, and to ask why such a calendar might be materialised in the architecture of this exceptional monument.

Results

Conclusion