Ancient Astronomy
Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 4:06 pm
Peak District monolith is astronomically aligned
Astronomy Now | Dr Emily Baldwin | 28 March 2012
![Image](http://i.space.com/images/i/16203/iFF/ancient-monolith.jpg?1332798831)
Astronomy Now | Dr Emily Baldwin | 28 March 2012
![Image](http://i.space.com/images/i/16203/iFF/ancient-monolith.jpg?1332798831)
A 2.2 metre high monolith located in the Peak District National Park is a 4,000 year old astronomical marker that points to geographic south, say researchers at the Nottingham Trent University.
The triangular-shaped monolith is situated at Gardom’s Edge, less than an hour’s drive from Manchester, where the National Astronomy Meeting is being held this week. Presenting the findings, Daniel Brown explained that the orientation and inclination of the monolith’s slope is aligned to the altitude of the Sun at mid-summer.
“The stone would have been an ideal marker for a social arena for seasonal gatherings,” he told the conference. “It’s not a sundial in the sense that people would have used it to determine an exact time. We think that it was set in position to give a symbolic meaning to its location, a bit like the way that some religious buildings are aligned in a specific direction for symbolic reasons.”