Fajada Butte solar daggers: spiral carvings mark solstices and equinoxes at midday. Fajada Butte in North America contains three stone slabs with carved spirals At equinox noon, two daggers of sunlight pierce through the spirals At summer solstice noon, one solar dagger penetrates the middle of the spiral
At Fajada Butte in North America, three stone slabs with carved spirals create precise solar and lunar markers at noon. At equinox, two daggers of sunlight pierce through the spirals. Summer solstice noon brings one solar dagger through the spiral's center, while winter solstice creates two flanking daggers. The minor lunar standstill illuminates half the spiral, and the major standstill (every 18.6 years) lights only the smaller spiral's corner. Whoever created this required at least 18.6 years of observation to map these cycles - demonstrating sophisticated understanding of both solar and lunar patterns encoded into a single monument.
Key Facts
- Fajada Butte in North America contains three stone slabs with carved spirals
- At equinox noon, two daggers of sunlight pierce through the spirals
- At summer solstice noon, one solar dagger penetrates the middle of the spiral
- At winter solstice, two daggers of light appear on either side of the spiral
- On the minor standstill of the moon, half the spiral is illuminated
- On the major standstill of the moon, only the smaller spiral corner is illuminated
- Observers had to spend at least 18.6 years at the site to map these cycles
- The site demonstrates sophisticated understanding of both solar and lunar cycles
Related site: Painted Rock Petroglyph Site — view location, images, and history on the Ancient Nerds map.
Source: Stuart Mason | Decoding The Long Man of Wilmington and Archaeoastronomy | Megalithomania Interview by MegalithomaniaUK