Archaeologists Find 5,500-Year-Old Solstice-Aligned Poles Near Stonehenge

Thousands of people gathered at Stonehenge in southern England on Sunday to watch the sunrise on the northern hemisphere’s summer solstice. Many arrived dressed as druids and pagans. Five kilometres away at Bulford, archaeologists from Wessex Archaeology released details of a structure they excavated between 2015 and 2017.

The structure consisted of two wooden poles set 120 metres apart and aligned to the rising sun on the summer solstice and the setting sun on the winter solstice. The poles predate Stonehenge by about 500 years. The dig formed part of archaeological work required by the British defence ministry’s program to house troops withdrawn from Germany.

Phil Harding, 76, who has appeared for many years on the Channel 4 series Time Team, led the team. He said people on a nearby hillside overlooking modern-day Bulford were “revering and celebrating the sunrise on Midsummer’s Day” 5,000 years ago. Excavators recovered pottery, animal bones and a rare disc-shaped knife at the site.

Harding described the discovery as the highlight of his career. “Opportunities like this probably only come once in a career, in a lifetime,” he said. ” Stonehenge was built in stages on Salisbury Plain beginning 5,000 years ago.

The central stone circle was erected about 2500 BC. The monument is one of Britain’s largest tourist attractions and a World Heritage site. The findings will be published in the newsletter of the Prehistoric Society.

In Australia, the same calendar date marks the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.