Lloyd, David F. (Author)
Archaeoastronomy: The Journal of Astronomy in Culture
Volume: 22
Pages: 34--52
Godmanchester was a large Neolithic trapezoidal structure 228 m across at the open end, 336 m long, with an "entrance" 168 m wide. Located in Cambridgeshire, England, the structure included a cursus extending to the river Ouse. The site was carefully excavated and recorded during the late 1980s under a rescue archaeology program by English Heritage's Central Excavation Unit. The site included 24 large post pits set inside an internal bank with an external ditch 4 m wide. Charcoal from post pipes within the post pits was carbon-dated to 5050-4850 B.P., the beginning of the fourth millennium B.C. Paired posts offered accurate bearings to a nearby low-lying horizon at possibly significant astronomical azimuths. Calculations and analysis presented in this article demonstrate that the post-hole alignments did indicate a full set of the limiting positions of the Sun and Moon at the solstices, equinoxes, and major and minor lunar standstills to very good accuracy. A statistical analysis suggests that these alignments were extremely unlikely to have occurred by chance. The site is discussed in the context of current thinking on Neolithic cosmology
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