'Locked to the Sun and Moon': The startling 1960s theory that Stonehenge was a prehistoric ... - BBC
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A 1960s astronomer claimed Stonehenge's stones align so precisely with the Sun and Moon it functioned as a prehistoric computer — the first academically testable Stonehenge theory ever proposed.
ArchaeoastronomyHypothesis TestingCognitive EvolutionIntentionality Attribution
Theory Briefing
- Gerald Hawkins argued in the 1960s that Stonehenge's layout was deliberately "locked to the Sun and Moon" as an astronomical observatory.
- His was reportedly the first theory about Stonehenge's purpose ever considered academically testable, raising the stakes for all later interpretations.
- The claim reframes prehistoric builders not as ritual monument-makers but as systematic sky-watchers capable of tracking celestial cycles.
- Debate persists over whether the alignments reflect intentional astronomical design or coincidental geometry in a large stone arrangement.