/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/5a/00/5a000fa7-b6e9-4d55-b926-04710c61bded/stonehenge.jpg)
Archaeologists Discover Evidence a Wooden Prototype for Stonehenge May Have Aligned With the Solstice 500 Years Before the Stone Circle
Key takeaways
- This weekend, thousands of people are expected to gather at Stonehenge to celebrate the summer solstice.
- Researchers with the British organization Wessex Archaeology discovered the remains roughly three miles from Stonehenge in southern England.
- Stonehenge was built in stages between 3000 B.C.E. and 1520 B.C.E.
This weekend, thousands of people are expected to gather at Stonehenge to celebrate the summer solstice. Jessicaphoto Archaeologists think Stonehenge was constructed to align with the rising and setting sun on the solstices, the longest and shortest days of the year. Now, they’ve discovered the remains of a wooden monument nearby they say may have been a prototype of the famous stone circle.
Researchers with the British organization Wessex Archaeology discovered the remains roughly three miles from Stonehenge in southern England. Based on artifacts found at the site, archaeologists suspect it was constructed around 2950 B.C.E., during the late Neolithic period, also known as the New Stone Age.
Stonehenge was built in stages between 3000 B.C.E. and 1520 B.C.E. The standing stones that seem to have been intentionally aligned with the sun on the solstices were erected around 2500 B.C.E., roughly 500 years after archaeologists think the wooden monument was built.