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ScienceQuiet 22d · day 24

Czech Neolithic sanctuary at Chleby found older, more precise than Stonehenge

A 6,500-year-old circular enclosure near Prague shows deliberate solar and lunar alignments a millennium before Stonehenge's.

What to know

  • The Chleby enclosure, near Prague, is dated to about 6,500 years ago—roughly 1,000 years older than the comparable solar alignment at Stonehenge.
  • Its 230-meter ditch and twelve entrances were deliberately positioned to track solstice sunrises/sunsets and an 18-year lunar cycle.
  • Ritual evidence includes bull skulls and horns near entrances and, from earlier research, a Bronze Age Únětice burial of about 18 people.
  • Unlike Stonehenge, which saw repeated reuse, Chleby appears to have lost its ceremonial role by the Iron Age and was later settled over.

“We assume that they may originally have decorated monumental gateways leading into the enclosure. The cult of the bull was an important religious symbol among the first farming communities.”

Jan Turek, Archaeologist, Charles University · UWB press release · Aug 31

Petr Krištuf Lead archaeologist, University of West BohemiaJan Turek Archaeologist, Charles UniversityJan FišerJan Fišer Researcher, University of Hradec Králové

The record 4 articles and posts · last 24 days

  1. summary covers to here · Sep 2, 1:52 AM · 2 pieces above arrived after
  2. Archaeologists Uncover a Circular Sanctuary That Tracked the Sun and Moon 1,000 Years Before Stonehenge press · Gizmodo · Matthew Phelan · 24d ago
  3. A thousand years older than Stonehenge: Archaeologists explore a Czech sanctuary L: https://… post · Mastodon · hkrn@mstdn.social · 22d ago
  4. Good morning https:// gizmodo.com/archaeologists-unc over-a-circular-sanctuary-that-tracked-the-sun-and-moon-1000-years-… post · Mastodon · andrewtroth@mstdn.party · 22d ago
  5. A thousand years older than Stonehenge: Archaeologists explore a Czech sanctuary post · Hacker News · nairboon · 24d ago · 8▲

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