The Longest Day

For many of us, the movements of the sun and the changing skies above us can pass by largely unnoticed as we go about our busy lives. It is easy to forget these changes in the world around us. But for prehistoric people, who were mostly farmers and gardeners, travellers and builders, the movements of the sun and the changing seasons were very important. The skies were important for practical information about the weather, timekeeping and navigation.

Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England was carefully designed to align with the movements of the sun. The enormous sarsen stones and smaller bluestones, set up in the centre of the site in about 2500 BC, were precisely arranged for two particular events in the year: the sunrise at summer solstice (21st June), and the sunset at winter solstice (21st December). These are the extreme limits of the sun’s movement; the word solstice is derived from the Latin sol (“sun”) and sistere (“to stand still”).

Standing in the centre of the monument on midsummer’s day, the sun rises just to the left of the outlying Heel Stone to the north-east and the first rays of the day shine into the heart of Stonehenge. Here are a couple of interesting facts about the site.

Firstly, in 2013, a team of archaeologists excavated the cremated remains of 50,000 bones at the site, belonging to 63 men, women and children. These bones date back as early as 3000 BC, though some are only dated back to 2500 BC. This suggests that Stonehenge may have been a burial ground at the start of its history, though it is not clear if that was the site’s primary purpose.

Secondly, some of the stones were brought from over 200 miles away. They were quarried near the Welsh town of Maenclochog and somehow transported to Wiltshire – a feat that would have been a major technical accomplishment at the time.

Normally, more than 10,000 people gather to watch the sun rise over the

stones on the longest day of the year and annually more than 800,000 people visit Stonehenge each year. That many people can't be wrong, so if you get the opportunity why not pay it a visit!

Until next time.......

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