Archaeologists Uncover Wooden Posts Aligned to Summer Solstice Near Stonehenge

Archaeologists have found the remains of two postholes at Bulford in the UK that once held wooden posts aligned to the summer solstice sunrise. The postholes sit 120 metres apart and taper from 1.2 metres wide at the top to 0.5 metres at the base, filled with chalk rubble. One contained charcoal from an ash tree.

@NewScientist reported that radiocarbon dating of 40 samples from the site clustered around 2950 BC. The site was occupied for a short period, possibly about a decade, according to Phil Harding of Wessex Archaeology, who led excavations conducted between 2015 and 2017 ahead of Ministry of Defence housing construction.

Pits at the location also held grooved ware pottery linked to late Neolithic peoples.

The alignment measures 48.1 degrees, matching the midsummer sunrise direction. Fabio Silva of Stone x Sky calculated that, after accounting for posts up to 50 cm wide, the orientation matches the summer solstice sunrise exactly, with less than a 0.5 per cent chance of occurring randomly.

The wooden monument predates Stonehenge's earliest earthwork phase around 3100 BC and its major stones around 2500 BC.

Susan Greaney of the University of Exeter called the site a really important Middle Neolithic settlement. Matt Leivers of Wessex Archaeology noted that Neolithic people in the area incorporated the sun into ceremonial architecture from the earliest times.

A similar rough solar orientation appears at a 3700 BC enclosure at nearby Larkhill, whose entrance faces northeast toward the midsummer sunrise over Sidbury Hill.