The Shortest Day?

Today marks the 2018 Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. To be precise, the exact solstice will happen about five minutes after I am typing this.

I thought I would re-post a photo I took on a cruise to Europe last spring, showing the Stonehenge, a place where the ancients celebrated such events as the Solstices and Equinoxes, or so I am told. I am curious whether other folks here have visited and photographed other places where such events were celebrated. I encountered a web article on this topic this morning at this site. If you do have such photos from your travels, please post them for our entertainment and enlightenment.

My Stonehenge photo:

A little south and east of Sedona, AZ there is a national heritage site called "V-Bar-V", (the name that was used by the ranchers who previously owned the site). You can read more about it here:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/coconino/recarea/?recid=55424

The main draw of the site is a long wall that reportedly has a little over 1,000 petroglyphs. Some of those petroglyphs interact with existing and human-inserted stones that worked with the sun to make a rudimentary solar calendar.

A couple of years ago I was there on the day of the vernal equinox, and took this image:



You'll notice two black shadows caused by the sun hitting the rocks about it. According to the docents they believe the upper rock was placed there naturally while the bottom one was placed there by the Sinagua people roughly 900-1,000 years ago. Or vice versa, I don't remember.

Notice the circle at the edge and between the 2 shadows. That's what happens on the solstice; it appears between the 2 shadows. Here's a closer image of it:



And when they saw that they knew it was time to start planting. About halfway up the lower shadow, (as seen in the above image), you'll see what looks kind of like stair steps. These were also used for planting; when the sun hit that spot they did the second planting, then the third, etc.

There are also a couple of things I found to be fascinating. The first is show in the upper image above. In the crevice where the rocks show shadows you'll notice a lighter colored very thin rock. When the sun shines on that rocket it projects a shadow to the adjacent rock which is nearly an exact match to the San Fransisco Peaks, roughly 50 miles north.

At another point on the wall there is a "squiggle" going up and down. That squiggle is nearly an exact match for a section of the Verde River, about 10 miles away.

If you enjoy these kinds of things you'll find quite a few of them in the Sedona area.

Hullabaloo, that is exactly the kind of response I was hoping for, both the photos and the description.

I can't remember whether I have ever been in Sedona, but I know I have been in that area -- to Prescott, Camp Verde and such.

Maybe other members have similar experiences and photos to share! Hope they will.

Yup, when I read your initial message I figured that what I had was what you were looking for. It doesn't look like many others either have something similar or are interested in this thread.

It's amazing how many places there are in the West that have thousand year old artifacts that you can just walk in and see. And if you dig around a bit you can find some that are rarely visited with few people that know about them.

But what I don't know of is any other sites that have definitive solar calendar associations. I'd guess there are some, but I've not heard of them.

The only other one I know of is in Salem, NH, which they call "American's Stonehenge"

https://newengland.com/today/travel/massachusetts/americas-stonehenge/

I'm not a huge photographer so usually for me it's "just the facts" but below is an artsy-fartsy image I took of Cathedral Chapel in Sedona:



Might as well have at least one more pretty picture to look at :)

Maeshowe on the Orkney Islands north of Scotland. When I went there with the ex around 20 years ago, it was so isolated we were the only people there when we went. Walking distance was the "Standing Stones of Stenness", which is basically another Stonehenge. As opposed to Stonehenge which is 'over touristed', at this northern Scottish treasure gives you more a feel of centuries ago. Skara Brae is the unearthed village there which is also amazing.

Newgrange in Ireland not far from Dublin is another underground masterpiece that has a room which is illuminated only on the winter solstice. Fiance and I went in the summer, and you get to enter your names in a drawing to be able to go inside on the winter solstice. I forgot how many are allowed in, but it is a very small number, maybe a dozen.

Mnajdra, on Malta, is a temple which had specific areas lit up depending whether it was an equinox or solstice. Was there with the ex 25 years ago or so. Malta has more interesting archaeological sites in a small geographic area than any other place I've been to.

All great trips.

Sam Hill (he as in "What in the Sam Hill...") built a full size replica of the stonehenge structure as part of his estate in Maryhill, Wa. long ago.

The structure still stands.

An eccentric's eccentric, Sam's legacy is preserved and embodied in the Maryhill museum, located a few miles from the reconstructed henge.

The museum is surprisingly cool: very eclectic, worth visiting if you are in the area (a couple hours east of Portland, overlooking the Columbia River, at the eastern terminus of the gorge).

Quote: MrV

Sam Hill (he as in "What in the Sam Hill...") built a full size replica of the stonehenge structure as part of his estate in Maryhill, Wa. long ago.

The structure still stands.

An eccentric's eccentric, Sam's legacy is preserved and embodied in the Maryhill museum, located a few miles from the reconstructed henge.

The museum is surprisingly cool: very eclectic, worth visiting if you are in the area (a couple hours east of Portland, overlooking the Columbia River, at the eastern terminus of the gorge).

Gee, I lived out there 9 years and missed this completely. Thanks! Can the henge be seen from the river?

Quote: beachbumbabs

Gee, I lived out there 9 years and missed this completely. Thanks! Can the henge be seen from the river?

Yes, as the pic below shows it can.



For those with an interest in such things I suggest googling up / looking into Sam Hill / Maryhill: very, very unusual, especially for those days and times.

About 15 miles east of Gila Bend Arizona near Theba, [Inter. #8] is the Painted Rocks monument. If you click on the link, the tall split rock is supposed to line up with a hill to the sse IIRC, which on Winter Solstice shines the sunbeam through the crack in the rocks. I don't know if I read it or was told, the hills top had been removed by hand many years ago to line up with the crack in the rock? It's worth seeing, but like all of the petroglyphs, they are starting to weather badly after this many years and being touched with human oils.

https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x80d4e0354ed63283:0x19ab421d9968af13!2m22!2m2!1i80!2i80!3m1!2i20!16m16!1b1!2m2!1m1!1e1!2m2!1m1!1e3!2m2!1m1!1e5!2m2!1m1!1e4!2m2!1m1!1e6!3m1!7e115!4shttps://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/explore/painted-rock-petroglyph-site/!5spainted+rock+petroglyph+-+Google+Search&imagekey=!1e1!2shttps://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/6.-SDC14258.jpg&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj748624rbfAhVOG6wKHTBwBGsQoiowDnoECAYQBg

Quote: Doc

Today marks the 2018 Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. To be precise, the exact solstice will happen about five minutes after I am typing this.

For those that may have not already known:

"The December solstice can be on December 20, 21, 22, or 23. The North Pole is tilted furthest from the Sun. It is the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, where it is the darkest day of the year. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is the summer solstice and the longest day of the year."

So those people celebrate summer in the middle of the winter? No wonder Dony doesnt want them here. Imagine having a Fourth of July BBQ in the winter. Anyone who think July is winter is the antithesis of the values this country needs.
Merika for Merikans M4M.

Quote: petroglyph

About 15 miles east of Gila Bend Arizona near Theba, [Inter. #8] is the Painted Rocks monument. If you click on the link, the tall split rock is supposed to line up with a hill to the sse IIRC, which on Winter Solstice shines the sunbeam through the crack in the rocks.

Thanks for the info.

I did a little more digging and found this site:

http://dana.ucc.nau.edu/~jjz4/Notes/n374petrified_forest_solar_calendars.htm

It says there are 14 "solar almanacs" at Painted Rocks. They have a drawing of one:

with the text being:

Quote:

One-eighth of a year from winter solstice, sunlight filters through cracks in the ‘Cave of Life’ wall and falls on a spiral petroglyph inside the cave. As the sun sinks toward the horizon, the ‘light-dagger’ becomes bright orange, progresses from left to right though several abstract symbols, and disappears at the center of this large cross at the moment of sunset. In this same cave, at spring and fall equinoxes, sunlight passes though the entrance and falls on a petroglyph covered rock . . .

There is also a 2 second video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2kREul7e7s

Thanks to those that have posted. There are probably a lot of them around the world, but I'm not as aware of the ones that are outside the US.

My Avatar is from Petrified forest.