A prehistoric structure discovered at Bulford in Wiltshire may represent the earliest known solstice alignment in the Stonehenge landscape, according to Wessex Archaeology. Radiocarbon dating places the site at around 2950 BC, approximately 500 years before the alignment of the stones at Stonehenge.
The structure was identified through 48 pits uncovered during excavations carried out between 2015 and 2017. The pits are thought to have held two wooden poles positioned about 120 meters apart. Analysis conducted for Wessex Archaeology by skyscape archaeologist Fabio Silva indicates that the line between them would have pointed toward the rising sun at the summer solstice and the setting sun at the winter solstice, with an accuracy of about one degree.
Only the postholes remain, and the site is not accessible to the public. It was found during archaeological work south of the Salisbury Plain Training Area, ahead of construction connected with the Ministry of Defence’s Army Basing Programme. Bulford lies about 5 kilometers from Stonehenge.
The excavation also produced pottery, animal bone, worked flints and charcoal. Wessex Archaeology says the evidence suggests that large gatherings took place at the site over a relatively short period, potentially involving feasting and ceremonies connected with the solar cycle. One pit, possibly a viewing station, contained a rare disc-shaped flint knife. Its deliberate placement may have carried a symbolic association with the sun disc, although that interpretation remains tentative.
The site was contemporary with the earliest phase of Stonehenge, when its first earthworks were built. The excavation team suggests that a comparable temporary structure may once have existed at Stonehenge, but any traces could have been removed by later construction. The Bulford evidence therefore offers a possible earlier example of practices that were later expressed through more permanent monuments.
Wessex Archaeology archaeologist Phil Harding, who led the excavations, said the discovery indicates that people in the area were tracking and celebrating the solstices long before the familiar stones were raised. Matt Leivers of Wessex Archaeology described the alignment as evidence of how prehistoric communities understood time, the cosmos and their place within it.
Silva said the find suggests Stonehenge emerged from longer-standing relationships between communities, the landscape and the sky, rather than representing an isolated creation. The discovery is scheduled to be discussed in an upcoming Prehistoric Society newsletter and in a larger publication on the Army Basing Programme findings later this year.
