The connection between Stonehenge and the sun is hard to miss - especially at the summer solstice. But what does the stone circle have to do with the moon?
Amesbury - The stone monument Stonehenge near Amesbury in southern England was built so that the stones are precisely aligned with the position of the sun on the summer and winter solstices. The sun rises exactly behind the so-called “Heel Stone” on the summer solstice on June 21st. The sun's rays fall into the center of the stone circle. It is clear that Stonehenge is connected to the sun, even if researchers still do not know exactly what the stone circle was once used for. But does the megalithic structure also have a connection to the moon?
A rare event called a “great lunar turn” will soon allow researchers to take a closer look at a theory about the connection between the moon and Stonehenge. The “great lunar change” takes place every 18.6 years, the next time in January 2025. Moonrise and moonset then reach their furthest points on the horizon. The “lunar season” is already in full swing.
Stonehenge and the Moon: Is there a connection?
Some experts assume that the people who built Stonehenge from 3000 BC knew about the “great lunar change” and buried their dead in a certain area of the stone circle. Stonehenge's four so-called "station stones" coincide with two of the extreme positions of the moon during lunar transition - leading to debate among experts as to whether the positions were chosen intentionally and why.
A team of archaeoastronomers and archaeologists now want to take advantage of the opportunity to investigate the “great lunar change” to see whether there is a connection between Stonehenge and the moon. The research is scheduled to begin in spring 2024 and be carried out until mid-2025.
“Great Lunar Change” is intended to show whether there is a connection between Stonehenge and the moon
The connection between Stonehenge and the sun is obvious. “What is less clear, however, is whether there are physical connections between the monument and the moon,” Clive Ruggles, emeritus professor of archaeoastronomy at the University of Leicester, tells the
Guardian
. According to the expert, it would not be surprising if people had noticed the moon back then.
“Humans have been aware of the phase cycle of the moon for tens of thousands of years. I think that this may have been the case at Stonehenge, and that is what we want to explore: around the time of a major lunar change, people noticed that the moon was rising or setting unusually far to the north or south, realized that that this was something special and began to venerate and ultimately monumentalize the directions in question,” said the expert.
Extremes of the moon are not easy to track
He could imagine “the ancients remembering a time when they saw the moon in a sacred direction, and then, a generation later, the awe of people when they began to see this again.” The archaeologist Amanda Chadburn from the University of Oxford believes in the
Guardian
: observing first-hand the connection between the lunar turn and Stonehenge is “crucial”.
The researcher continues: “It is not easy to track the extremes of the moon because it requires certain time and weather conditions. We want to understand something about what it was like to experience these extreme moonrises and sunsets and observe their visual effects on the stones, such as patterns of light and shadow.”
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