Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 13 hours ago
NEW DISCOVERY NEAR STONEHENGE
A team of archaeologists led by Phil Harding at @wessexarchaeology and working just 5km from Stonehenge uncovered what can be considered a 'prototype' for solar alignment and celebration in the Salisbury Plain. 🌄
At the site of Bulford, two Late Neolithic Post Holes were uncovered, alongside a bunch of pits filled with refuse such as pottery and animal bones. These finds date to 2950 BCE, an early phase of Stonehenge, and 500 years before the Sarsen stones were set in their own solstitial alignment! 🪨
The alignment of the poles with the solstice was confirmed in analysis conducted for Wessex Archaeology by skyscape archaeologist, Dr Fabio Silva. He used reconstructions of the ancient sky, landscape, and horizon to create a simulation of how the structure would have aligned with the solstices to within an accuracy of one degree.
The discoidal knife was also find more or less along the same solar alignment, meaning it could have had some ritual or symbolic significance to those celebrating the solstices at Bulford. 🌅
Photos by Wessex Archaeology, animation by Dr. Fabio Silva
#archaeology #newdiscovery #stonehenge#prehistory #ancientbritain | ancient england | prehistoric archaeology | breaking news | archaeological discovery | summer solstice | winter solstice | ancient astronomy | astronomy | solstices | salisbury england |
NEW DISCOVERY NEAR STONEHENGE
A team of archaeologists led by Phil Harding at @wessexarchaeology and working just 5km from Stonehenge uncovered what can be considered a 'prototype' for solar alignment and celebration in the Salisbury Plain. 🌄
At the site of Bulford, two Late Neolithic Post Holes were uncovered, alongside a bunch of pits filled with refuse such as pottery and animal bones. These finds date to 2950 BCE, an early phase of Stonehenge, and 500 years before the Sarsen stones were set in their own solstitial alignment! 🪨
The alignment of the poles with the solstice was confirmed in analysis conducted for Wessex Archaeology by skyscape archaeologist, Dr Fabio Silva. He used reconstructions of the ancient sky, landscape, and horizon to create a simulation of how the structure would have aligned with the solstices to within an accuracy of one degree.
The discoidal knife was also find more or less along the same solar alignment, meaning it could have had some ritual or symbolic significance to those celebrating the solstices at Bulford. 🌅
Photos by Wessex Archaeology, animation by Dr. Fabio Silva
#archaeology #newdiscovery #stonehenge#prehistory #ancientbritain | ancient england | prehistoric archaeology | breaking news | archaeological discovery | summer solstice | winter solstice | ancient astronomy | astronomy | solstices | salisbury england |
