Nabta Playa, Egypt: ~6,500 year old stone circle predates Stonehenge by ~2,000 years. Megalithic stones aligned to summer solstice sunrise and Sirius. Late Neolithic astronomical engineering
Nabta Playa: oldest astronomically aligned structure predating Stonehenge by 1,000 years
Site mentioned
📍 Nabta Playa, Egypt🌍 Show on the globe
Key facts
- Nabta Playa is located 60 miles near the Egyptian-Sudanese border in a 5,000 square kilometer natural depression
- It is the oldest astronomically aligned structure on the planet, approximately 1,000 years older than Stonehenge
- The megalithic structures are 6,000-7,000 years old (late Neolithic period)
- Stones are quartzite sandstone, 6 ft wide by 9 ft high, sourced from 0.5 km away
- Stones cast no shadow when the sun passes directly overhead, marking the sun's passage 3 weeks before and after the solstice
- The alignments correspond to sunrise on the summer solstice and rising positions of Sirius, Dubhe, and Orion's Belt
- Humans occupied the area for about 11,000 years until approximately 4,800 years ago
- The site signals the onset of summer monsoons from central Africa
Sources
Nabta Playa: A mysterious stone circle that may be the world's oldest ...livescience.com
Nabta Playa in Egypt is an ancient stone circle that researchers suspect was used to determine the summer solstice, which signaled rain was on the way.
A Computer-Aided Interpretation of the Nabta Playa Stone Circleirispublishers.com
The Nabta Playa circle consists of 29 stones - an unmistakable nod to the lunar month - that surround taller central stelae. The circle's small ...
Nabta Playa: A mysterious stone circle that may be the world's oldest ...space.com
Nabta Playa in Egypt is an ancient stone circle that researchers suspect was used to determine the summer solstice, which signaled rain was ...
Nabta Playa Stone Circle - Ancient Egypt Onlineancientegyptonline.co.uk
At around 4800 BC the stone circle was erected to mark the summer solstice, and further megalithic structures followed until around 3600 BC. The rich ...
Nabta Playa: The world's first astronomical site was built in Africaastronomy.com
It was built more than 7,000 years ago, making Nabta Playa the oldest stone circle in the world — and possibly Earth's oldest astronomical ...
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