Nabta Playa’s stone circle dates to about 4,800 BC—roughly 2,000 years before Stonehenge and about 2,000 years before Egypt’s Old Kingdom. In the late 1990s, archaeoastronomer Thomas Brophy proposed that six central uprights formed two sightlines toward summer-solstice sunrise and sunset. He also argued that other megaliths framed stars, including Orion’s Belt, as they appeared around 4,800 BC; that remains his disputed interpretation.
Nabta Playa’s 4,800 BC stone circle may align with the solstice and stars
Site mentioned
📍 Nabta Playa, Egypt🌍 Show on the globe
Key facts
- The main stone circle dates to about 4,800 BC, roughly 2,000 years before Stonehenge and about 2,000 years before the Egyptian Old Kingdom.
- In the late 1990s, archaeoastronomer Thomas Brophy analyzed the circle’s solar and stellar alignments.
- Brophy interpreted the six central uprights as two sightlines marking summer-solstice sunrise and sunset.
- He proposed that other megaliths framed stars, including Orion’s Belt, as they appeared around 4,800 BC; this remains a debated interpretation.
- In Brophy’s interpretation, paired upright slabs function as gates or windows framing specific sightlines.
Sources
nature.com
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Nabta Playaen.wikipedia.org
Around 4800 BC a stone circle was constructed, with narrow slabs approximately aligned with the summer solstice, near the beginning of the rainy season.
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