Scientists have criticized Stonehenge’s theory of the calendar function. article about it published in antiquity.
Several theories have been put forward about the work, meaning, and function of Stonehenge, which was erected around 2600 BC. Archaeologists agreed that, like many other pagan temples, this was the “ancestral place”, set in a remarkable landscape. Archaeoastronomy played an important role in this interpretation, as the monument is clearly facing the Sun, indicating the sunrise point at the winter and summer solstices. In many Neolithic cultures, people associated the winter solstice with the afterlife and held commemorations on that day. Recently, an article in the journal Antiquity theorized that the stone monument was an actual astronomical calendar, identical to the modern calendar. That is, it allegedly contains 365 days a year “encrypted”, 12 months divided by 30 days plus five epogomenal days, with an additional day added every four years. This theory is based on a complex interpretation of the location and number of different types of stones. For example, 30 horizontal jumpers are associated with the number of days in a month.
Now Juan Belmonte of the Institute for Astrophysics of the Canary Islands and his colleagues have criticized this theory. First, the orientation of the monument to the solstice, although very accurate, does not allow it to be used as a calendar. On the days closest to the solstice, the sunrise takes place almost at the same point, while the stones set this direction very roughly and do not allow, for example, to distinguish between December 22nd and December 20th. to determine direction with an accuracy of a few arc minutes or 1/10 of a degree.
Secondly, connecting various stone elements to the calendar is based on playing with numbers. In other words, the number 12 (according to the number of months) is not included in the monument. Conversely, the Stonehenge portal is made of two stones, but the number 2 does not appear in theory. Therefore, calendar theory uses only elements that support the desired interpretation.
Finally, the theory does not fit into the global cultural context. The first solar calendar, with 365 days + 1 leap year every 4 years, appeared only in Egypt, more than two thousand years later, in the Hellenistic period. It was the Egyptian calendar that was borrowed by all cultures of the Ancient World, while the Egyptians never built buildings and other “calendar” buildings similar to Stonehenge.
Thus, scholars conclude that the calendar theory is completely untenable and that its authors are wishful thinking.