The world's oldest solar observatory

It took archaeologists 12 years to realise that a giant circular trench hidden under a field in Germany was the remains of an ancient solar observatory.

Goseck Circle after reconstruction. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

According to Ancient Origins, in 1991, German government inspectors were photographing the town of Goseck from the air when they discovered a giant circular trench hidden under a field. Years later, archaeologists discovered that it was the remains of an ancient solar observatory.

Also in this area, archaeologists discovered traces of fire rituals and human bones with cut marks. They came to the conclusion that this was not only a place to observe the sky but also to perform human sacrifice rituals.

The Goseck Circle is a Neolithic structure, with entrances aligned with the rising and setting of the Sun on the solstices. It was built by the first European civilization, long before the cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt with their pyramids.

Dubbed the German “Stonehenge,” this circle of standing stones dates back to 4900 BC. Hundreds of these wooden circles were built over the 200 years around this time. Archaeologists previously mistook the circular channels for ancient fortifications. The German circle is the most thoroughly studied, with 250 similar ones found across Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Croatia.

From the pottery fragments found, scientists determined that the Germanic culture of Stichbandkeramik built this structure. These pottery fragments were determined to date to around 4700 BC. Thus, it can be seen that this observatory area was used for about 200 years.

These pottery pieces mark the transition from linear pottery, characterized by straight-line decorations, to hand-painted pottery. Archaeologists have not found any information about the language or the people who built the circle, only speculation about their religious beliefs.

Some believe the circles were a kind of calendar that farmers used to calculate planting dates. However, when excavating this 6,000 square meter area, archaeologists also found the remains of headless skeletons and animal bones, suggesting that sacrificial or burial rituals may have taken place here.

From the remaining traces, they determined the original structure of the Goseck circle, consisting of two wooden fences, an earthen mound and four concentric circles. The outer diameter of the circle was 75 m. A narrow ditch surrounded the wooden walls, with three doors opening to the North, Southwest and Southeast.

If you stand at the center of the structure on the winter solstice of December 21, you can see the sun rise at the southeast gate and set at the southwest gate. The gates are designed to be smaller towards the center, so that the sunlight can be directed along a narrow path. The role of the north gate is still being studied.

The Goseck Circle is considered the world’s oldest solar observatory. It is located at the same latitude as Stonehenge in England, and its longitude is only one minute north (1,000 meters). Both are located at the exact latitudes where the midsummer sunrise and sunset are at right angles to the moon’s rising (north) and setting (south). The circle’s location is also one of only two places in the world where the full moon can be seen at its highest point (zenith) directly overhead.

One of the interesting features of the Goseck circle is its similarity to a bronze disk found 25 km away, called the Nebra Sky Disk. The disk is 32 cm in diameter and dates back to around 1,600 BC.

The disc contains what are considered to be the oldest cosmological depictions, including a full moon, a crescent moon, and a cluster of seven stars, identified as the Pleiades. There are also three arcs. All of these motifs are made of gold leaf, on a blue-violet background.

The angle between the southwest and southeast gates of the Goseck circle is 82 degrees, which is exactly the angle of the horizon lines marked on the disk. The two opposite arcs on the disk, with the angle between their lowest points being 97.5 degrees, represent the sunrise and sunset on the winter solstice in central Germany at that time. Similarly, the angle between their highest points marks the sunrise and sunset on the summer solstice.

Today, the positions of sunrise and sunset on the solstices vary slightly, according to Wolfhard Schlosser, an astronomer at Ruhr University. As a result, the angles are slightly off from the angles on the disc and ring (1.6 degrees at sunrise and 2.8 degrees at sunset).

Today, Goseck is considered a major archaeological discovery, providing scientists with insight into the spiritual world of early European farmers. They worshiped the Sun as the God who gave life and the changing seasons. Observing seasonal changes in weather played an important role in people’s understanding of nature. In 2005, the Goseck town government spent more than $100,000 to restore the ancient observatory.

According to VnExpress