No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Archaeoastronomy and the alleged ‘Stonehenge calendar’
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 March 2023
Abstract
In a recent Antiquity article, Darvill (2022) proposed that the mid third-millennium BC Stage 2 sarsen settings of Stonehenge (comprising the Trilithon Horseshoe, Sarsen Circle and the Station Stone Rectangle) were conceived in order to represent a calendar year of 365.25 days—that is, a calendar identical in duration to the Julian calendar. In the present article, the authors argue that this proposal is unsubstantiated, being based as it is on a combination of numerology, astronomical error and unsupported analogy.
- Type
- Debate
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd
References
Aveni, A.F. 2001. Skywatchers: a revised and updated version of skywatchers of ancient Mexico. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Aveni, A.F. (ed.).2008. Foundations of New World cultural astronomy. Boulder: Colorado University Press.Google Scholar
Belmonte, J.A. 2002. The decans and the ancient Egyptian skylore: an astronomer's approach. Memorie della Societa Astronomica Italiana 73: 43–57.Google Scholar
Belmonte, J.A. 2003. Some open questions on the Egyptian calendar: an astronomer's view. Papers on ancient Egypt (TdE) 2: 7–56.Google Scholar
Belmonte, J.A. 2009. The Egyptian Civil Calendar: a masterpiece to organize the cosmos, in Belmonte, J.A., Rubiño, J.A., Prada, F. & Alberdi, A. (ed.) Cosmology across cultures (A.S.P. Conference Series 409): 116–27. San Francisco (CA): Astronomical Society of the Pacific.Google Scholar
Belmonte, J.A. 2012. Pirámides, templos y estrellas: astronomía y arqueología en el Egipto antiguo. Barcelona: Crítica.Google Scholar
Belmonte, J.A. 2015. Ancient “observatories”: a relevant concept?, in Ruggles, C. (ed.) Handbook of archaeoastronomy and ethnoastronomy: 133–45. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6141-8_9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belmonte, J.A. 2021. Archaeoastronomy/cultural astronomy, in Read, P. (ed.) Oxford research enyclopedia of planetary science: 1–28. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190647926.013.215Google Scholar
Belmonte, J.A., Perera Betancort, M.A. & González-García, A.C.. 2019. Calendario, signo y símbolo: tres claves para una aproximación al poblamiento del Archipiélago Canario, in Chávez-Álvarez, E., Massieu, D. Camalich & Socas, D. Martín (ed.) Un periplo docente e investigador: estudios en homenaje al profesor Antonio Tejera Gaspar: 207–32. La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna.Google Scholar
Boutsikas, E., McCluskey, S.C. & Steele, J. (ed.). 2021. Advancing cultural astronomy: studies in honour of Clive Ruggles. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64606-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darvill, T. 2022. Keeping time at Stonehenge. Antiquity 76: 319–35. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2022.5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dudley, U. 1997. Numerology, or, what Pythagoras wrought. Washington, D.C.: Mathematical Association of America.Google Scholar
Fagan, G.G. (ed.). 2006. Archaeological fantasies: how pseudoarchaeology misrepresents the past and misleads the public. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gaffney, V. et al. 2018. Durrington Walls and the Stonehenge Hidden Landscape Project 2010–2016. Archaeological Prospection 25: 255–69. https://doi.org/10.1002/arp.1707CrossRefGoogle Scholar
González-García, A.C. & Belmonte, J.A.. 2007. Which equinox? Archaeoastronomy: the Journal for Astronomy in Culture 20: 95–105Google Scholar
Hannah, R. 2008. Time in antiquity. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203392478CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krauss, R. 2011. Stellar and solar components in ancient Egyptian mythology and royal ideology, in Rappenglück, M., Rappenglück, B., Campion, N. & Silva, F. (ed.) Astronomy and power (British Archaeological Research International Series 2794): 137–42. Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Magli, G. 2013. Architecture, astronomy and sacred landscape in ancient Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139424554CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magli, G. 2020. Archaeoastronomy: introduction to the science of stars and stones. Cham: Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45147-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neugebauer, O. & Parker, R.A.. 1960. Egyptian astronomical texts, vol. I: the early decans. Providence (RI): Brown University.Google Scholar
Parker Pearson, M. et al. 2020. Stonehenge for the ancestors. Part 1: landscape and monuments. Leiden: Sidestone. https://doi.org/10.1080/00665983.2021.1894754Google Scholar
Quirke, S. 2001. The cult of Ra: sun-worship in ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Ruggles, C.L.N. 1997. Astronomy and Stonehenge. Proceedings of the British Academy 92: 203–29.Google Scholar
Ruggles, C.L.N. 2015. Stonehenge and its landscape, in Ruggles, C. (ed.) Handbook of archaeoastronomy and ethnoastronomy: 1223–38. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6141-8_118CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruggles, C.L.N. & Cotte, M.. 2017. Heritage sites of astronomy and archaeoastronomy in the context of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Bognor Regis: Ocarina.Google Scholar
Stern, S. 2012. Calendars in antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199589449.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar