Stonehenge: Times Square BC

Where would you be without your diary to check your appointments for the week, or your calendar to work out dates? Whether we realise it or not, we are all ruled by hours, days, weeks and months, from getting up in the morning, to working out schedules to planning holidays and important functions. Although most of us have heard about the mysterious and starkly beautiful world-renowned monument of Stonehenge, and wondered as to its construction, how often have we given any thought to...
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Where would you be without your diary to check your appointments for the week, or your calendar to work out dates? Whether we realise it or not, we are all ruled by hours, days, weeks and months, from getting up in the morning, to working out schedules to planning holidays and important functions. Although most of us have heard about the mysterious and starkly beautiful world-renowned monument of Stonehenge, and wondered as to its construction, how often have we given any thought to how - and why - this Heritage Site came about? Are we aware of the key role it played in the concept of time and in our New Year celebrations? Both historians and archaeologists are now realising that the winter solstice at Stonehenge was a time of huge celebration. Why was this? What was celebrated there? Were they perhaps heralding in the New Year? Yes they were indeed, but something more was going on there... Once you have an understanding of the four ancient calendars, revealed and explained in this fascinating window into the past, you too will realise that Stonehenge was a site of enormous importance and significance to the ancients. The monument was in fact a device, a tool, for telling the exact date of the year.Perhaps the next time you welcome in the New Year, you can raise your glass to the early designers who made the first calendar possible, and who still give us something to celebrate today.