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A sunset at Stonehenge, perhaps not the Winter Solstice. Source: Nicholas/Adobe Stock

Stonehenge Activates On the Winter Solstice Sunset, Not Sunrise

Today, as the northern hemisphere experiences the Winter Solstice, English archaeoastronomers remind us that Stonehenge was built to honor the sunset on this crucial date, and not just the Summer...
Winter Solstice at Newgrange Tomb in Ireland.	 Source: Declan Hillman/Adobe Stock

The Winter Solstice at Seven Amazing Megalithic Sites

The winter solstice marks the shortest day and longest night of the annual cycle centered around 21st December; a turning point of the year venerated by ancient cultures worldwide. Accurately built...
Archaeologists unearthed the remains of an exceptionally uncommon Neolithic tomb dating back 5,000 years.      Source: National Museums Scotland

5000-Year-Old Neolithic Tomb and Human Remains Unearthed In Orkney

Archaeologists in the north of Scotland have unearthed the remains of an “exceptionally rare” Neolithic tomb dating back 5,000 years. Having suffered extensive damage in the 19th century, the...
Stonehenge stargazers. Source: vencav / Adobe Stock.

Neolithic Stargazers: Stonehenge's Astronomical Secrets (Video)

Stonehenge , an ancient marvel built over millennia, holds intriguing insights into Neolithic astronomy. The massive trilithons, standing at 30 feet, raise questions about their transportation. The...
The Inca sun temple or Qorikancha in Cusco city during Inti Raymi, hence the solar disk. Source: SL-Photography/Adobe Stock

Ancient Astro-Architecture of the June 21 Winter/Summer Solstice

Even the most well-read history buffs among us often go cold when they read about ancient cultures calling today, 21 June - the “winter solstice”. Let’s delve into solstice mechanics, and explore why...
The Piedras Blancas tomb with La Peña de los Enamorados behind it. Source: M. Ángel Blanco de la Rubia / Antiquity Publications Ltd

5,000-Year-Old Astro-Tomb Discovered On Spanish Giant

As archaeologists in Spain were researching a rock formation known as the Sleeping Giant, they noticed something curious. From a distance, they identified a feature on the giant’s chest, which turned...
Inside Egypt's oldest known example of a tomb aligned with the winter solstice. Source: University of Malaga

Oldest Egyptian Tomb is Aligned with the Winter Solstice

Precisely oriented to the rising sun of the winter solstice, researchers have found a tomb in the necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa ( Aswan ) that registered the entire solar cycle related to rebirth...
Majestic sunrise at Castlerigg Stone Circle in the Lake District, one of many sites located on ley lines. Source: Danoz/Adobe Stock

Ley Hunters: Were Bronze Age Britons Really Following Ley Lines?

Google Earth is an amazingly useful tool for investigators to explore the sacred landscapes of prehistoric Britain. For sure, its accuracy cannot be denied. Indeed, one can even survey and measure...
Overview of Karahan Tepe with the Winter Solstice alignment.	Source: Author provided

Karahan Tepe: Stunning New Discovery of Winter Solstice Sunrise Alignment

A recently excavated archaeological site in the Tek Tek Mountains in the Şanlıurfa Province of Anatolia is shedding new light on the ingenuity and astonishing creativity of the Neolithic people from...
Tracing Scotland’s Neolithic Civilization Back To Armenian And Sardinian Roots

Tracing Scotland’s Neolithic Civilization Back To Armenian And Sardinian Roots

Around 5300 BC a revolution occurred on Orkney. A group of unnamed astronomers and seafarers dared to sail across one of the most hostile waterways in the world to establish the earliest stone...
Summer Solstice Sunset at Stonehenge, UK (Phil/ Adobe Stock)

The Lonely Stones That Square The Cosmic Circle

Both beneath and beyond Stonehenge in England, the Great Sphinx and Pyramid of Khafre in Egypt, Machu Picchu in Peru, Chichen Itza in Mexico and Newgrange in Ireland, exists an underlying code that...
Prehistoric Calendar Revealed at Stonehenge

More Than Summer Solstice - Prehistoric Calendar Revealed at Stonehenge

As the Summer Solstice for the northern hemisphere has come around, the craving to celebrate at the world-famous Stonehenge Neolithic site has again proven irresistible to crowds of people wishing to...
One of the Junapani stone circles in Maharashtra, India, which are now increasingly viewed as astronomically aligned burial sites.                   Source: Ganesh Dhamodkar, CC BY-SA 3.0

Junapani Stone Circles: India’s Astronomical Megalithic Tombs

India has a rich historical and archaeological record. Something that may be less known about the Indian subcontinent is its many megalithic sites. Many of these sites are found across India. The...
Monumental Discovery! More of the Stonehenge Origin Story Comes to Light

Monumental Discovery! More of the Stonehenge Origin Story Comes to Light

Are you familiar with the monoliths at Waun Mawn? Maybe not, but a team of researchers believes that the dismantled stone circle in the Preseli Hills of west Wales is extremely significant. They have...
Sunbeams illuminating a church

A Sacred Light in the Darkness: Surprising Winter Solstice Illuminations at Spanish Missions

On Monday, Dec. 21, nations in the Northern Hemisphere mark the winter solstice – the shortest day and longest night of the year. For thousands of years people have marked this event with rituals and...
While exploring the Argimusco Plateau, you’ll come across the Eagle. Is it the work of an ancient megalithic culture? Or one of nature's spontaneous works of art? Source: ildiora / Adobe Stock

The Enigmatic Argimusco Plateau: A Glimpse into Sicily’s Distant Past

Sicily is well known for its rich and unique history. The largest island of the Mediterranean Sea, it hides a turbulent story and hosted some very distinctive ancient cultures. Before the age of...
Stonehenge will be empty for the summer solstice in 2020. Source: Stephen /Adobe Stock

The Summer Solstice at Stonehenge - A History-Making Livestream

In the northern hemisphere, when the summer solstice occurs around June 21, the North Pole is tilted about 23°27´ toward the Sun, which itself is traveling its longest path through the sky, and that...
Chichén Itzá’s shadow revealed during the spring equinox on Kukulcán.

Chichen Itza's Shadows: Unexpected Light Shed on Ancient Maya

What we see is not always what we expect, whether from nature or man-made. This is often true with archaeological remains of cities or human settlement, when new discoveries shed unexpected light on...
December 21, the longest night and shortest day of the year, is a special event at Newgrange in County Meath, Ireland. This photo was shot August 24, 2014.

Winter Solstice: Stone Age People in Ireland built a Fantastic Monument to the New Year

Tomorrow, 22 December, the Irish will celebrate the Winter Solstice as they did thousands of years ago – at Newgrange, a 5,000-year-old megalithic monument into which the sun shines at sunrise on the...
Beltane Fire Festival Celebrations.

The Pagan Wheel of the Year: What Elaborate Rituals and Events Mark this Sacred Cycle?

As more and more people describe themselves as ‘spiritual’ rather than religious, experts expect eco-friendly pagan movements will continue to grow. Already there are perhaps a million pagans in the...
Image representing Spring Equinox

How Ancient People Marked the Equinox Around the World

For those in the Northern Hemisphere, today marks the vernal, or spring equinox, while for those in the Southern Hemisphere, it is the time of the autumnal equinox . It marks the day when the sun...
Coming together for a solstice feast in ancient Peru. Robert Gutierrez.

How Feasting Rituals Helped Lead to a Civilized World

Charles Stanish / The Conversation “ The Epic of Gilgamesh ” is one of the earliest texts known in the world. It’s the story of a god-king, Gilgamesh, who ruled the city of Uruk in Mesopotamia in the...
The alignment of the rising sun on the winter solstice with the Saywas in the Atacama desert, Chile.

Sun and Earth Aligned: Ancient Andean Calendar is Illuminated on the Atacama Desert

On the winter solstice of 2017 a dedicated historian at Chile’s Pre-Columbian Art Museum in Santiago, Dr. Cecilia Sanhueza, was following a hunch in the Atacama Desert, Chile. She observed “a row of...

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