Stonehenge And The Orbits Of The Planets. Do The Ancient Wood Posts Surrounding Stonehenge Mark The Planets Orbits?

Abstract – A question that has long surrounded Stonehenge is the reason for the wooden posts that encircle the central ditch and stone circles. Why are they not perfect circles? What were they used for? And why were they left to rot and disappear? In this study the overlap between the location of the wooden posts and the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and Saturn is studied. With only Jupiter missing from the list, this suggests that another circle of wooden posts might exist.

Introduction

Concerning the theory that Stonehenge can be linked to the motion of the planets the English Heritage website states¹

“ALTHOUGH PEOPLE TODAY GATHER AT STONEHENGE AT THE SPRING AND AUTUMN EQUINOXES TO WATCH THE SUNRISE, ARCHAEO-ASTRONOMERS THINK IT UNLIKELY THAT THE EQUINOXES MEANT ANYTHING TO PREHISTORIC PEOPLE. THE STARS AND VISIBLE PLANETS MAY ALSO HAVE BEEN IMPORTANT TO PEOPLE IN PREHISTORY, BUT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW ANY BELIEFS RELATING TO THEM.”

The problem is it is not impossible to assign the layout of the stone circles at Stonehenge to the orbits of the planets. However, though Michael W. Saunders, who was an electronics engineer, argued that the orbits of the planets are reflected in the diameters of the stone circles², his argument was based on the assumption that the large Sarsen circle represented the orbit of Earth, then Venus was represented by the Bluestone circle, Mercury by the Bluestone Horseshoe, and finally the sun by the Trilithon horseshoe. However, the orbits of the planets are not consistent with these diameters.

In addition the various circles differ substantially in their structure, and in their heights and also in their shapes.

So, the question is what happens if the general theory is correct and “Stonehenge” did mark the orbits of the planets, but we simply used the wrong circles?

Today, the problem is only the Stone Circles are visible, and because they are the most impressive, they often attract the most interest.

Stonehenge was created in several phases, and a number of incomplete and incorrect rebuilds, and it can be argued that perhaps the only undisturbed parts of Stonehenge remaining are the parts that can no longer be seen.

It is argued that Stonehenge began circa 5,000 years ago, with the creation of the Earthwork and a series of wooden-post circles. In this early stage there were no stone circle. Then, circa 2,500 years ago, the stone circles were installed, but over time some stones were moved and perhaps pulled down. Thus, the current circle that we now see is a recent rebuild, which might not be 100% accurate.

For example, the pictures from 1901³, which show engineers restoring the tallest stones to what they believed were the original positions; and from within the public notes published on the English Heritage website¹, it is also recorded that

“In 1952, after securing the backing of a wealthy financier, [a Mr R S Newal] wrote again to the Ministry of Works enquiring about the possibility and the costs of [restoring the Stonehenge site]”.

In the 1950s the Ministry had adopted a policy of leaving Stonehenge alone. It took the firm view that any [further] restoration would alter its then well-known ruined appearance and that it might be difficult to ascertain the exact original positions of all the stones. Moreover, it pointed out that restoration would be ‘a formidably large undertaking.”

They thus initially denied the request by Mr Newal, but this was then followed by a much stronger request to restore the ruin by Atkinson, Piggott and Stone, who together wrote a report for the Society of Antiquaries. In this letter they asked for the restoration of the entire trilithon, and they enveloped their letter with a request that they should do the repairs in order to enhance the value of the monument for the student².

After taking some time to think about the various issues that they raised, and with sponsors promising the money to complete the project, the authorities in charge of Stonehenge finally relented, and between 1958 to 1959 an engineering project was undertaken to restore the site. It was this restoration that resulted in the circle that we now see.

The old wooden circles, were not touched during these restorations, and it is these hidden circles that are now part of this test.

In the following I found that if the known orbits of the planets from Mercury to Saturn are scaled and placed over Stonehenge, such that the orbit of Saturn is placed over the outermost car park posts that were uncovered by chance in 1966 during construction work (this carpark is circa 270 meters distant from the centre of Stonehenge); then all the inner planets generate orbits that overlap with the known positions of the other inner wood circles. These being the hidden Aubrey X and Y circles and the orbit of the inner planet, Mercury, overlaps with the location of the seldom studied Stonehenge Q-holes.