Astronomical observatories were built and designed to map celestial events throughout the year. Ancient man discovered that celestial events follow cycles and needed a way to track them. Approximately 5,000 years ago early man devised a way to place stones in a certain positions to align for events like the seasons, lunar phases, solar phases and so on. As mankind has always been fascinated by the heavens, their mythologies reflecting many of these monuments connected to the Gods and Goddesses their civilization worshipped.

In examining the observations of such peoples, it is possible to gain a certain insight into the ways in which they constructed their own universes and therefore provide a more holistic understanding of the means and motivations of the culture as a whole.

The astronomical inquiry of the ancients must be looked upon as a mechanism of observation and prediction which closely tied them to their environments, depending upon their cultural, religious and mythological bases for validation in the process.

The erection of these monuments was a great task created by the astronomers, priests, and stone builders of each culture. This was a global phenomenon. These ancient people are presently referred to as the Megalithic Stone Builders erecting huge edifices around the planet, many of which were placed on sacred grid points, indwells and outwells of powerful energy. The remnants of their achievements can be found throughout the planet especially where the power grids intersect.

The ancient Megalithic Stone Builders used this knowledge to better calculate when the Earth energies would be at their peak. If the energy-ley lines that run down the major axis of their observatory or power site is oriented to the Summer Solstice Sunrise, then that would be the day that particular site will experience a peak of power. They used this opportunity to visit these places which became temples for meditation, a place to talk to their Gods, or to move through 'interdimensional doorways'.

Astronomical Observatories Around the World



England




Stonehenge Winter Solstice

Ireland



Newgrange solstice and NASA - December 20, 2008

Once a year, at the winter solstice, the rising sun shines directly along the long passage into the chamber for about 17 minutes and illuminates the chamber floor. The sun enters the passage through a specially contrived opening, known as a roofbox, directly above the main entrance. Although solar alignments are not uncommon among passage graves, Newgrange is one of few to contain the additional roofbox feature The alignment is such that although the roofbox is above the passage entrance, the light hits the floor of the inner chamber. Today the first light enters about four minutes after sunrise, but calculations based on the precession of the Earth show that 5000 years ago first light would have entered exactly at sunrise.

The solar alignment at Newgrange is very precise compared to similar phenomena at other passage graves such as Dowth or Maes Howe in the Orkney islands, off the coast of Scotland.

Current-day visitors to Newgrange are treated to a re-enactment of this event through the use of electric lights situated within the tomb. The finale of a Newgrange tour results in every tour member standing inside the tomb where the tour guide then turns off the lights, and lights the light bulb simulating the sun as it would appear on the winter solstice. Anyone visiting the historic site can experience an approximation of the phenomenon any time of year, and is often the highlight of the tour. A lottery is held annually for "tickets" to be allowed into the tomb to view the actual event. The popularity of this event was the reason a lottery was introduced, and also why the lights were installed.

At dawn on Winter Solstice every year, just after 9:00 am, the sun begins to rise across the Boyne Valley from Newgrange over a hill known locally as Red Mountain. Given the right weather conditions, the event is spectacular. At four and a half minutes past nine, the light from the rising sun strikes the front of Newgrange, and enters into the passage through the roofbox which was specially designed to capture the rays of the sun. For the following fourteen minutes, the beam of light stretches into the passage of Newgrange and on into the central chamber, where, in Neolithic times, it illuminated the rear stone of the central recess of the chamber. With simple stone technology, these wonderful people captured a very significant astronomical and calendrical moment in the most spectacular way.

Newgrange appears to have been used as a tomb. The recesses in the cruciform chamber hold large stone basins into which were placed cremated human remains. During excavation, the remains of five individuals were found. It is speculated that the sun formed an important part of the religious beliefs of the neolithic ("New" Stone Age) people who built it. Formerly the mound was encircled by an outer ring of immense standing stones, of which there are twelve of a possible thirty-seven remaining. However, it seems that the stone circle which encircled Newgrange is not contemporary with the monument itself but was placed there some 1,000 years later in the Bronze Age.

According to Irish mythology, Newgrange was one of the sidhe, or fairy-mounds, where the Tuatha Dé Danann lived. It was built by the god Dagda, but his son Oengus later tricked him out of it. It is named for the goddess Boann, the mother of Aengus, who is also credited with the creation of the River Boyne. According to some versions of the story, the hero Cúchulainn was conceived there. However, most of the mythical cycles associated with Newgrange date from the Celtic era of Irish history and mythology. The monument was already in existence for well over 2,000 years before the Celtic era.

Cairn T



Shaft of light creates a circle with an eight-petalled flower effect

Germany

German "Stonehenge" marks oldest observatory
December 8, 2003 - Scientific American





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goseck_circle

Goseck Circle Wikipedia

Egypt


The Temple at Karnac is oriented toward

It has been long recognized that the ancient Egyptians possessed a great knowledge of geometry, mathematics and astronomy , all being the basis for the Great Pyramid of Giza which for 5000 years has stood as a monument to the great cultures that once populated the Nile River Valley. One of the greatest achievements of the Egyptians is the creation of a calendrical system which relied heavily on lunar observations.

By 3000 B.C., they had devised a solar calendar of 365 days, the starting point of which hinged on the helical rising of Sirius, which also happened to coincide with the time of the summer solstice and the annual flooding of the Nile. While this all may seem to be rather unimpressive it serves to solidify the intrinsic necessity for ancients to be in touch with natural surroundings, through tracking celestial phenomenon, the Ancient Egyptians were able to predict events of great significance in their desert environment.There are other celestial observatories like it in Egypt.

In the News ...

Sahara Astronomical Site Older Than Stonehenge - AP - April 1, 1998

Researchers have found a complex of slabs and stones in the Sahara Desert that might be the oldest known monument built with astronomical considerations in mind - far older than England's Stonehenge. It was constructed by nomadic cattle-herders as much as 7,000 years ago in southern Egypt, and probably was intended for rituals rather than astronomical observations. An expert in ancient astronomy said that it would be among the oldest astronomical monuments known, but that the ages of such monuments are so uncertain it's impossible to know if the Egyptian complex is the oldest. He also said the study presents suggestive evidence, but not proof, for astronomical design.

The monument was discovered over several years of field work ending in 1997. Stonehenge was first used about 5,000 years ago and gained some of its current stones about 4,000 years ago. The stones indicate the points of midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset, but nobody knows just what people used Stonehenge for. The Egyptian stone complex, which isn't circular like Stonehenge, is spread over an area 1.8 miles by three-quarters of a mile. It includes 10 slabs some 9 feet high, 30 rock-lined ovals, nine burial sites for cows, each under a pile of 40 to 50 rocks weighing up to 200 or 300 pounds apiece, and a "calendar circle" of stones. Many of these features line up in five radiating lines, one of them running east-west.

The calendar circle is a 12-foot-wide arrangement of slabs about 18 inches long, most of them lying down. Two pairs of upright stones stand directly across the circle from each other, defining a view that would have displayed sunrise at the summer solstice, the researchers said. That would be an important day to the cattle-herders, because summer is when monsoon rains would begin. But the circle wouldn't have been a very accurate indicator of when the solstice was occurring. It was "more symbolic than practical. The circle also contains two other pairs of standing stones that defined a north-south view. Charcoal from hearths around the circle and wood from one of the burial sites date to about 7,000 years ago. It's not clear when most of the rest of the monument was erected, but it was at least 5,000 years ago.

Peru

Towers point to ancient Sun cult
BBC - March 1, 2007




Pre-Inca Observatory Is Oldest in Americas, Study Says
National Geographic - March 1, 2007



Peruvian citadel is site of earliest ancient solar observatory in the Americas
PhysOrg - March 1, 2007
Fortified stone temple, ceremonial complex, at Chankillo is approximately 2,300 years old.

Intihuatana Stone - Hitching Post of the Sun







One of Machu Picchu's primary functions was that of astronomical observatory. The Intihuatana stone (meaning 'Hitching Post of the Sun') has been shown to be a precise indicator of the date of the two equinoxes and other significant celestial periods. The Intihuatana (also called the Saywa or Sukhanka stone) is designed to hitch the sun at the two equinoxes, not at the solstice (as is stated in some tourist literature and new-age books).
At midday on March 21st and September 21st, the sun stands almost directly above the pillar, creating no shadow at all. At this precise moment the sun "sits with all his might upon the pillar" and is for a moment "tied" to the rock. At these periods, the Incas held ceremonies at the stone in which they ³tied the sun² to halt its northward movement in the sky. There is also an Intihuatana alignment with the December solstice (the summer solstice of the southern hemisphere), when at sunset the sun sinks behind Pumasillo (the Puma's claw), the most sacred mountain of the western Vilcabamba range, but the shrine itself is primarily equinoctial.
Shamanic legends say that when sensitive persons touch their foreheads to the stone, the Intihuatana opens one's vision to the spirit world (the author had such an experience, which is described in detail in Chapter one of Places of Peace and Power, on the web site, www.sacredsites.com). Intihuatana stones were the supremely sacred objects of the Inca people and were systematically searched for and destroyed by the Spaniards. When the Intihuatana stone was broken at an Inca shrine, the Inca believed that the deities of the place died or departed.
The Spaniards never found Machu Picchu, even though they suspected its existence, thus the Intihuatana stone and its resident spirits remain in their original position. The mountain top sanctuary fell into disuse and was abandoned some forty years after the Spanish took Cuzco in 1533. Supply lines linking the many Inca social centers were disrupted and the great empire came to an end. The photograph shows the ruins of Machu Picchu in the foreground with the sacred peak of Wayna Picchu towering behind. Partway down the northern side of Wayna Picchu is the so-called Temple of the Moon inside a cavern. As with the ruins of Machu Picchu, there is no archaeological or iconographical evidence to substantiate the new-age assumption that this cave was a goddess site.