Theories About Stonehenge - Secular Calendar Theory

Secular Calendar Theory

Most theories have guessed at a cultic purpose behind the astronomical design of the monument, on the grounds that such a mammoth undertaking must have had an ideological rather than practical basis. They derive from anthropology rather than from cultural and technological history. Joseph Norman Lockyer (Stonehenge Astronomically Considered, 1906) and others have pointed out the practical value of astronomical observation at a time when there was no other way to establish precise calendar dates, whether these were needed for agricultural, social, or seasonal-religious reasons.

The double-level circle and the central stone of the monument define an observational vantage-point from which the precession of constellations could be accurately established. It would have been known from earlier and less massive constructions that these events corresponded precisely with the cycle of seasons, but wooden edifices, earth-mounds and even standing-stone circles would not retain accuracy over any long period. Without at least one authoritative standard, events and seasons had no chronological index, since the exact length of the year (including part-days) was not known, nor would the mathematics have been available to extrapolate from it. There was a good reason for a massive and permanently immobile construction at a flat inland location where all sides of the sky could be equally measured.

The modern view of astronomy as a pure-science, which would seem to be of little practical use to primitive Britons, can make us forget that astronomy was a key factor in the transition from the hunter-gatherer culture to an agricultural one. The motivation for the sort of co-operative effort needed by such a large constructive undertaking can be appreciated in relation to the unique value of accurate dating for the whole region of southern Britain, but our ignorance of the social context of the time makes it difficult to speculate on how it might have been organised.

Since there was a considerable dividend for the whole population, Stonehenge could have been the culmination of lesser regional investments in this kind of technology over a long period. What sort of society might have existed which could draw labour and commitment from a wide geographical area, and over presumably a long period of years while the monument was being erected? Perhaps the astro-technology of that era was sufficiently trusted and valued to make this possible. Lunar Eclipses The first stage of Stonehenge was the 3100 BC ring of fifty-six Aubrey Holes. On the night of an eclipse of the full Moon, a marker was placed on a Hole designated ONE. A lunar month later at the full Moon, a move forward was made to Hole TWO. A count of 'ONE' was made. Next full Moon the count was TWO. A count around the 56 Aubrey Holes four times is 223, a full Moon on the occasion of the next eclipse. The Lunar Eclipse Cycle named after Babylonian astronomer Saros c.1000 BC was known at Stonehenge c.3100 BC. The cycle frequency is 223 full Moons = 18 years and 11 days. The second major re-build of Stonehenge, c.2300 BC when the sarsen columns were erected included five trilithons and nineteen bluestone pillars. A count of forward steps from the first bluestone pillar to the next, eighteen times, then a count of forward steps from the 18th pillar to the ten trilithon columns and back to the first bluestone again is eleven, 18 years and 11 days.