The rising and setting of the sun at Stonehengeespecially during the summer and winter solstices, still evoke joy, fascination and religious devotion.
Now a project has been launched to delve into the less understood links that may exist between the monument and the moon during a one-time lunar event.
A “great lunar solstice”, which occurs once every 18.6 years, when moonrise and moonset reach their farthest points along the horizon, will occur in January 2025.
It will give archaeologists, astronomers and archaeo-astronomers a rare chance to test theories surrounding the event and the ancient people of Stonehenge. Some experts believe that the people who built the monument were aware of the great lunar eclipse and may have buried their dead in a specific part of the site because of the connection with the phenomenon.
It is also possible that four “station stones” that form a rectangle on the site – two of which are still standing – may have been positioned to mark the great lunar solstice.
Within a year or so either side of a major lunar solstice, the moon can occasionally be seen rising or setting unusually far to the north or south, providing a healthy window for studies.
English Heritage plans to live stream the southernmost moonrise and host a range of events throughout the shutdown season, including talks, a pop-up planetarium, stargazing and storytelling sessions and a new show in the exhibition space.
Clive Ruggles, emeritus professor of archaeoastronomy at the University of Leicester, said the alignment of the monument to the sun at midsummer and midwinter meant there was little doubt about its significance to the builders of Stonehenge. “But what we are much less clear about is whether there are any physical connections between the monument and the moon,” he said.
During the early phase of Stonehenge, between about 3000 and 2500 BC, people were burying the cremated remains of the dead and placing offerings in the ditch and bank of the henge, and in the so-called Aubrey Holes – 56 pits within the ditch that may have originally held upright wooden posts.
Many of these cremations were concentrated to the southeast of the monument, which broadly aligned with the southernmost rising position of the moon.
The station stones were probably put in place around the same time as the large sarsen stones as they came from the same place, West Woods in Marlborough.
Ruggles said: “The station rocks match the moon’s extreme positions, and researchers have debated for years whether this was intentional, and – if so – how it was achieved and what its purpose might have been.”
He said it would not be surprising if ancient people did take notice of the moon. “People have been aware of the phase cycle of the moon going back tens of thousands of years. What I think may have been the case at Stonehenge, and this is what we are interested in exploring, is that around the time of a great standstill, people noticed the moon rising or setting unusually far to the north or south, and realized that it is something special, and has come to honor and ultimately monumentalize the relevant directions. You can imagine how the elders remember a time when they saw the moon in a sacred direction and then, a generation later, people’s awe to start seeing it again.”
Jennifer Wexler, a Stonehenge historian for English Heritage, said: “We are excited to be working with a brilliant team of archaeo-astronomers to explore the fascinating connection between Stonehenge and the great lunar solstice. This opportunity allows us to delve deeper into the monument’s ancient mysteries and its relationship with celestial phenomena.”
English Heritage is also working with counterparts at the University of Colorado, Boulder and the US Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service for a series of events comparing lunar alignments at Stonehenge and at Chimney Rock, Colorado, an ancient Chacoan settlement. “I think it will really surprise people,” Wexler said. “We are so focused on the sun at Stonehenge. We hardly ever mention the moon.”
Amanda Chadburnan archaeologist and member of Kellogg College, University of Oxford, said: “It is crucial to observe this connection first-hand in 2024 and 2025. Tracking the moon’s extremes is not easy, which specific timing and weather conditions. We want to understand what it was like to experience these extreme moonrises and sets and to see their visual effects on the rocks, for example patterns of light and shadow.”
