Discovery Channel :: News - Archaeology :: Stonehenge-Like Tomb Also Marks Solstice

Bryn Celli Ddu - "The Mound in a Dark Grove"

This 6,000 year old monument is aligned to the Midsummer sun.

Discovery Channel :: News - Archaeology :: Stonehenge-Like Tomb Also Marks Solstice

June 22, 2006 — An ancient British tomb monument contemporary with the first phase of Stonehenge’s construction suggests one prehistoric culture built the two structures to mark the summer solstice, according to archaeologists.
The tomb is called Bryn Celli Ddu, which in Welsh translates to "the mound in a dark grove." It is located on the island of Anglesey off the northwest coast of Wales. New radiocarbon dating of postholes outside of the burial monument determined the mound is over 6,000 years old. Stonehenge dates to around 2800 B.C., but some historians think it could be much older.

Although Stonehenge and the mound were erected at approximately the same time, Burrow told Discovery News that the construction of the mound "reflects a much older tradition."

Since the Salisbury Plain megalith also marks the winter solstice, some archaeologists have argued that winter may have been a more important time for its builders. Summer now appears to have been at the heart of many probable early rituals.

Fascinating stuff, innit?

Slán