Keeping time at Stonehenge

Authors: Darvill, T.

Journal: Antiquity

Volume: 96

Issue: 386

Pages: 319-335

ISSN: 0003-598X

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.

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/36703/

Source: Scopus

Keeping time at Stonehenge

Authors: Darvill, T.

Journal: ANTIQUITY

Volume: 96

Issue: 386

Pages: 319-335

eISSN: 1745-1744

ISSN: 0003-598X

DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2022.5

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/36703/

Source: Web of Science (Lite)

Keeping time at Stonehenge

Authors: Darvill, T.

Journal: Antiquity: a quarterly review of archaeology

Volume: 96

Issue: 386

Pages: 319-335

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

ISSN: 0003-598X

DOI: 10.15184/aqy.22.5

Abstract:

Advances in understanding the phasing of Stonehenge highlight the integrity of the sarsen structures. Here it is suggested that the numerology of the sarsen elements materialize a perpetual calendar based on a tropical solar year of 365.25 days, starting at the winter solstice. The indigenous development of such a calendar in north-west Europe is possible, but a source in the eastern Mediterranean is also considered. The adoption of a solar calendar, perhaps a replacement for an earlier lunar calendar, was associated with the spread of solar cosmologies during the third millennium BC and was used to regularize festivals and ceremonies.

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/36703/

Source: Manual

Keeping time at Stonehenge

Authors: Darvill, T.

Journal: Antiquity: a quarterly review of archaeology

Volume: 96

Issue: 386

Pages: 319-335

ISSN: 0003-598X

Abstract:

Advances in understanding the phasing of Stonehenge highlight the integrity of the sarsen structures. Here it is suggested that the numerology of the sarsen elements materialize a perpetual calendar based on a tropical solar year of 365.25 days, starting at the winter solstice. The indigenous development of such a calendar in north-west Europe is possible, but a source in the eastern Mediterranean is also considered. The adoption of a solar calendar, perhaps a replacement for an earlier lunar calendar, was associated with the spread of solar cosmologies during the third millennium BC and was used to regularize festivals and ceremonies.

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/36703/

Source: BURO EPrints