5 Ancient Monuments that are Astronomically Aligned

There are several ancient monuments proving that our predecessors possessed a vast amount of knowledge of astronomy and used it for practical purposes. In recent decades, this has generated some theories that are not scientifically substantiated.

There are ancient sites that show that humans could determine the times of the solstice and equinox, or the method by which to track seasons. This is the case with Stonehenge in England and Machu Picchu in Peru.

Then there are theories that cause scientists to frown in disbelief. Such theories posit that certain alignments of archaeological sites are gateways to the stars. This mainly pertains to the three pyramids in Giza, Egypt. Theories surrounding the Giza pyramids are plentiful but have been dismissed for lack of scientific evidence.

The famous Giza Pyramid Complex, with the three main pyramids, the Pyramid of Menkaure, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Great Pyramid of Giza—as well as the Sphinx at the site—is scientifically controversial.

The constructions based on the study of the stars had cultural significance, playing an important role in how the societies were organized and their social and religious life. The sites served as markers of significant dates for communal activities and religious rituals.

Ancient Monuments Based on Astronomy

People have always tried to mark the turning of seasons. Solstices and equinoxes take place simultaneously around the world, since they are based on Earth’s orbit around the Sun and tilt on its axis. Therefore, ancient peoples made constructions to mark the seasons.

Below are five of the most well-known archaeological sites built to mark the solstices and equinoxes based on astronomy.

1. Stonehenge

Most probably the best known of ancient constructions aligned with the stars, Stonehenge has thousands of people in the summer every year traveling to Wiltshire, England to see the massive stones which mark the summer solstice.

The stones have been arranged in a circle since around 3000 BC, marking the Sun’s effect on the generation of our planet’s seasons. When the Sun rises directly above the Heel stone at the entrance of the monument, it is the beginning of the summer solstice.

To this day, researchers do not know who built this awe-inspiring prehistoric stone monument and what its actual purpose was.

2. Machu Picchu

The sacred city of the Incas was built at the top of an Andes mountain overlooking the Urubamba Valley in Peru around 1500 AD.

A giant stone sits at the top of the sacred mountain called Intihuatana, which means “the place when the sun gets tied.” The stone is perfectly positioned so that each corner sits at the four cardinal points (north, south, east, and west) and at an angle of about thirteen degrees northward, casting shadows throughout the day.

At exactly noon on the Spring or Fall equinox date, the Sun casts no shadow at all, which means the stone precisely indicates the date of the two equinoxes.

3. The Great Sphinx and the Pyramid of Khafre

Whereas the astronomical alignment of the three pyramids in Giza, Egypt is a topic of controversy, the Sphinx and the Pyramid of Khafre indeed indicate the marking of the equinoxes.

On the spring or fall equinoxes, if one stands directly facing the Sphinx at sunset on the date of either equinox, as the Sun nears the horizon, it settles directly onto the Sphinx’s right shoulder. From this angle, the Sun can also be seen behind the Sphinx at the southern corner of the Pyramid of Khafre.

4. Chichen Itza

The flat-top pyramid in Mexico was built by the Mayans around 1000 AD. The ancient site sees crowds gathering every year to witness the turning of the seasons. During equinoxes, shadows form a zig-zag pattern on the stairs to resemble a giant snake.

The pyramid itself serves as a giant calendar with ninety-one steps on its four stairways, plus the top platform amounting to the 365 days of the year. It is a monument definitely exhibiting superior knowledge of astronomy.

5. Chaco Canyon

Another ancient monument showing knowledge of astronomy stands in today’s Chaco Canyon in New Mexico in the United States. The ancestral Native Americans in the Southwestern United States, the Puebloans, were expert sky watchers and used to carve spiral designs into rocks to track the seasons and record the passage of time.

In the Chaco Canyon, there is an ancient city where there are many walls that are built on a north-south, east-west axis, and shadows mark the solstice, equinox, and other celestial events. There is also a petroglyph called the Sun Dagger, named so because of the way in which the Sun’s wedge-shaped beams strike it at midday during solstices.

Theories about the Giza Pyramids

For decades, researchers have attempted to solve the mystery of the celestial alignment of the Giza Pyramid Complex—Giza, Khafre, Menkaure—and the Sphinx.

Experts and researchers have proposed a handful of possible celestial alignments for the pyramids, especially with the Giza Pyramid Complex. This famous site outside Cairo includes, as formerly mentioned, the Great Sphinx and three main pyramids: the Pyramid of Menkaure, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The pyramids were built in the decades around 2500 BC. In the 1980s, a researcher named Robert Bauval made a suggestion that has since been quite influential. He pointed out that there are similarities between the layout of the three pyramids of the Giza Complex and the relative separation between the three stars of Orion’s Belt in the Orion constellation.

His book The Orion Mystery, published in 1995, became a bestseller. The main notion in the book is that “the pyramids were created to serve as a gateway to the stars.” Bauval claimed that the Orion constellation guided the construction of all the pyramids. His idea came to be known as the “Orion correlation theory.”

What made this theory controversial is the notion that each of the three pyramids were specifically positioned and oriented to represent Orion’s Belt. With the first view after overlaying the pyramids’ placement and the stars of Orion’s Belt, one sees the similarities. However, the alignment is not perfect enough to justify “the gateway to the stars.”

Furthermore, It had been 4,500 years between the construction of the pyramids and Bauval’s theory. Most scientists seriously doubt that the celestial alignment would be the same after four and a half millennia.