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Hello! Welcome to The Sky at Night. | 0:00:35 | 0:00:38 | |
This month's programme is coming from Stonehenge, | 0:00:38 | 0:00:41 | |
where we've joined the crowds to celebrate the summer solstice. | 0:00:41 | 0:00:44 | |
In just a few hours' time, | 0:00:44 | 0:00:46 | |
the sun will rise in a very special location | 0:00:46 | 0:00:48 | |
over the heel stone. | 0:00:48 | 0:00:50 | |
People have argued about the significance of this place | 0:00:50 | 0:00:53 | |
and its connection to astronomy for more than 100 years. | 0:00:53 | 0:00:56 | |
We've looked at the connection between these magnificent stones | 0:00:56 | 0:00:59 | |
and the skies above our heads, | 0:00:59 | 0:01:01 | |
particularly at the moon. | 0:01:01 | 0:01:03 | |
The creation of Stonehenge by our Neolithic ancestors | 0:01:07 | 0:01:11 | |
still inspires us, thousands of years later. | 0:01:11 | 0:01:14 | |
Why was it built? What was it for? | 0:01:16 | 0:01:18 | |
And is the controversial link with the moon real or imaginary? | 0:01:18 | 0:01:23 | |
Stonehenge still perplexes us today. | 0:01:24 | 0:01:27 | |
It was around 5,000 years ago | 0:01:29 | 0:01:31 | |
that the first architects on this site built the grass bank and the ditch | 0:01:31 | 0:01:35 | |
with 56 post holes around the inner ring. | 0:01:35 | 0:01:38 | |
Then came the stones. | 0:01:40 | 0:01:41 | |
The blue stones are thought to have come from west Wales, | 0:01:41 | 0:01:45 | |
a feat that still impresses. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:47 | |
These stones have been rearranged many times | 0:01:48 | 0:01:50 | |
in what some speculate was an attempt | 0:01:50 | 0:01:53 | |
to chart the celestial calendar. | 0:01:53 | 0:01:55 | |
The striking Sarsen stones are from closer to home. | 0:01:57 | 0:02:00 | |
They're from Marlborough, just 20 miles away. | 0:02:00 | 0:02:03 | |
But this is our idea of how Stonehenge would have looked | 0:02:04 | 0:02:08 | |
in its prime. | 0:02:08 | 0:02:09 | |
Professor Clive Ruggles is a world expert in the study of astronomy in ancient civilisations. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:18 | |
Clive is going to help The Sky at Night pin down the link between Stonehenge, astronomy, | 0:02:18 | 0:02:24 | |
and in particular, the moon. | 0:02:24 | 0:02:26 | |
The first mystery to solve is that of The Avenue, | 0:02:26 | 0:02:29 | |
a track in the landscape | 0:02:29 | 0:02:31 | |
which lines up on its approach to Stonehenge | 0:02:31 | 0:02:34 | |
with the solstice sun. | 0:02:34 | 0:02:36 | |
Clive, you've brought us to a field, which I'm assured is very important for Stonehenge. | 0:02:36 | 0:02:42 | |
There's a feature here called The Avenue. | 0:02:42 | 0:02:44 | |
But I'm finding it hard to sense this feature. Tell me about it. | 0:02:44 | 0:02:47 | |
You don't see a lot in the long grass. You're standing in it. | 0:02:47 | 0:02:50 | |
Chris is standing in a ditch on one side of it, | 0:02:50 | 0:02:52 | |
the other ditch is over there. | 0:02:52 | 0:02:54 | |
So it's a long avenue that led straight up to Stonehenge in this direction. | 0:02:54 | 0:02:58 | |
This clearly was the way you'd come on important occasions. | 0:02:58 | 0:03:01 | |
I should say you don't see much here, | 0:03:01 | 0:03:03 | |
but if you look at it from an aerial photo, you see it very clearly. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:06 | |
The Avenue, far from being created just anywhere, | 0:03:07 | 0:03:10 | |
is based on a natural feature. | 0:03:10 | 0:03:12 | |
Recent excavations have shown it to follow | 0:03:12 | 0:03:15 | |
the line of a channel carved by glaciers. | 0:03:15 | 0:03:18 | |
It's this natural alignment that first connected this landscape | 0:03:20 | 0:03:24 | |
with the summer and winter solstice suns | 0:03:24 | 0:03:26 | |
and it might even be the reason that Stonehenge was here in the first place. | 0:03:26 | 0:03:31 | |
If you're somewhere in this landscape, hundreds of years before there's anything here, | 0:03:32 | 0:03:36 | |
and you see these striations and you see the sun on the shortest day of the year setting in line with them, | 0:03:36 | 0:03:41 | |
surely that to you is going to make it a special place. It's going to be a sacred place. | 0:03:41 | 0:03:47 | |
Because it's already lined up to this feature that we care about. | 0:03:47 | 0:03:50 | |
To us, it's a coincidence of nature, | 0:03:50 | 0:03:51 | |
but to them, what more can you ask for, | 0:03:51 | 0:03:54 | |
to show that this is a really special place. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:57 | |
Perhaps that's why Stonehenge is where it is, | 0:03:57 | 0:04:00 | |
because this is a place that acquires that significance | 0:04:00 | 0:04:03 | |
to do with the sunset all through. | 0:04:03 | 0:04:06 | |
And then gradually people build things. A ditch, a bank, some timber things, | 0:04:06 | 0:04:09 | |
and then eventually it gets enhanced and turns into what we now see. | 0:04:09 | 0:04:13 | |
The Sky at Night has been to Stonehenge before. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:18 | |
Hello to the first ever Sky at Night from Stonehenge. | 0:04:19 | 0:04:22 | |
It is, in fact, midsummer morning. | 0:04:22 | 0:04:24 | |
There are a great many people here | 0:04:24 | 0:04:26 | |
and in a few moments, the druids will begin their main procession. | 0:04:26 | 0:04:30 | |
SINGLE DEEP HORN NOTE | 0:04:30 | 0:04:32 | |
In 1972, Sir Patrick Moore investigated the link | 0:04:32 | 0:04:36 | |
between Stonehenge and the moon. | 0:04:36 | 0:04:38 | |
Patrick wanted to know if the monument could be used | 0:04:38 | 0:04:41 | |
to chart the lunar calendar. | 0:04:41 | 0:04:43 | |
Patrick also saw a magnificent sunrise the day before the summer solstice. | 0:04:43 | 0:04:49 | |
Through that great arch, the heel stone in the distance, | 0:04:49 | 0:04:53 | |
the alignment absolutely perfect | 0:04:53 | 0:04:55 | |
as the sun comes up to its rising point over the top of the stone. | 0:04:55 | 0:04:58 | |
And there it is. There are very many people who've never actually seen this. | 0:04:58 | 0:05:04 | |
I've never myself seen it before. It really is a superb sight. | 0:05:04 | 0:05:08 | |
In fact, the sunrise over the heel stone can be seen for a couple of days either side of the solstice. | 0:05:09 | 0:05:16 | |
So you don't have to join the druids on the day itself! | 0:05:16 | 0:05:19 | |
Radio astronomer Professor Gerald Hawkins | 0:05:23 | 0:05:26 | |
was one of the advocates of the idea that Stonehenge could be used to chart eclipses | 0:05:26 | 0:05:32 | |
and the movements of the moon. | 0:05:32 | 0:05:34 | |
The Aubrey Holes. 56 of them. A significant number? | 0:05:35 | 0:05:39 | |
Very, very, of course. | 0:05:39 | 0:05:41 | |
The most critical number for the moon. | 0:05:41 | 0:05:43 | |
It's three nodal revolutions of the moon's orbit. | 0:05:43 | 0:05:47 | |
When the Stonehenge people came here, | 0:05:47 | 0:05:50 | |
they started with these holes, the ditch of the bank and this circle. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:54 | |
Because of the 56 Aubrey holes | 0:05:54 | 0:05:57 | |
and because of the alignments here at Stonehenge, | 0:05:57 | 0:05:59 | |
it could be said to be more a moon observatory | 0:05:59 | 0:06:02 | |
than an observatory for the sun. | 0:06:02 | 0:06:04 | |
And just as the sun rises over the heel stone at midsummer, | 0:06:04 | 0:06:08 | |
the moon rises over the heel stone at midwinter. | 0:06:08 | 0:06:12 | |
If this theory is true, | 0:06:13 | 0:06:15 | |
then the builders of Stonehenge | 0:06:15 | 0:06:17 | |
would have achieved a remarkable degree of astronomical sophistication. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:21 | |
After all, the moon's hard to pin down. | 0:06:21 | 0:06:24 | |
Its movements seem to have a touch of lunacy about them | 0:06:24 | 0:06:27 | |
and that's because of its orbit. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:29 | |
Well, if bits of Stonehenge really are aligned with the movements of the moon, | 0:06:29 | 0:06:34 | |
then the builders must have understood some quite complex geometry. | 0:06:34 | 0:06:38 | |
Let's see if we're as good as they were! | 0:06:38 | 0:06:40 | |
I've got here the Earth. We'll need the orbit of the moon. | 0:06:40 | 0:06:43 | |
Here's the orbit of the moon. | 0:06:43 | 0:06:45 | |
It's slightly tilted in respect of the Earth's orbit around the sun, | 0:06:45 | 0:06:48 | |
which is very ably held by Clive over there. | 0:06:48 | 0:06:51 | |
We'll exaggerate that tilt for the purposes of this demonstration. | 0:06:51 | 0:06:54 | |
I'm going to bring in the moon and put it directly opposite the sun | 0:06:54 | 0:06:58 | |
so that it's in the full moon phase. | 0:06:58 | 0:07:00 | |
Now, the moon takes 27 days to do one complete lap of the Earth | 0:07:00 | 0:07:04 | |
and ends up where it started, back at full moon. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:07 | |
But, of course, while the moon's been doing that, we've all moved relative to the sun. | 0:07:07 | 0:07:11 | |
So we're over here by now. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:13 | |
And that means that the moon is no longer in the full moon phase | 0:07:13 | 0:07:17 | |
when it's at this point. It has to move on a couple of days | 0:07:17 | 0:07:19 | |
to be aligned with the sun. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:21 | |
If that was all that was going on, building Moon-henge would be easy, | 0:07:21 | 0:07:25 | |
because the moon would rise and set at the same points on the horizon every single month. | 0:07:25 | 0:07:30 | |
So you'd only need a couple of stones and the job would be done. | 0:07:30 | 0:07:33 | |
But things are more complicated than that. | 0:07:33 | 0:07:35 | |
The complication is something called procession, | 0:07:35 | 0:07:37 | |
and that makes this experiment a little more cumbersome! | 0:07:37 | 0:07:40 | |
So I'm going to get out the way | 0:07:40 | 0:07:42 | |
and hold the Earth from down here. | 0:07:42 | 0:07:44 | |
All procession is is a wobble. | 0:07:44 | 0:07:46 | |
That means that the moon's orbit, which is tilted, moves around, | 0:07:46 | 0:07:50 | |
and the position of full moon gradually sinks lower. | 0:07:50 | 0:07:54 | |
It takes years for this to take place. | 0:07:54 | 0:07:57 | |
But then it gets to its lowest point and then gets higher again and eventually returns to there. | 0:07:57 | 0:08:02 | |
That's why it takes almost 19 years | 0:08:02 | 0:08:05 | |
for the full moon to appear in our sky in the position where it started. | 0:08:05 | 0:08:10 | |
The rising and setting of the moon | 0:08:13 | 0:08:15 | |
seems to be unpredictable and unintuitive. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:19 | |
It pops up all over the place! | 0:08:19 | 0:08:21 | |
And that's because of its complex orbit. | 0:08:21 | 0:08:23 | |
But we can chart the moon's movements | 0:08:25 | 0:08:28 | |
and it seems there might just be a connection to Stonehenge. | 0:08:28 | 0:08:32 | |
Clive is going to help us map out what the moon is doing | 0:08:33 | 0:08:36 | |
over the course of its 19-year cycle. | 0:08:36 | 0:08:39 | |
But to set the scene, we first have to explain | 0:08:39 | 0:08:42 | |
what the sun is doing. | 0:08:42 | 0:08:44 | |
Clive, we're on the most important part of Stonehenge, | 0:08:44 | 0:08:47 | |
-at least... -On the axis. -Exactly. | 0:08:47 | 0:08:49 | |
So why is this axis important? Why is this line important? | 0:08:49 | 0:08:52 | |
Because when you look along the axis, | 0:08:52 | 0:08:54 | |
that's where the sun is rising on midsummer's day. | 0:08:54 | 0:08:56 | |
Just over this heel stone. | 0:08:56 | 0:08:58 | |
And that happens around midsummer, it'll happen tomorrow. | 0:08:58 | 0:09:01 | |
-It happens around the summer solstice, exactly. -What about the rest of the year? | 0:09:01 | 0:09:05 | |
Well, if you were to come here every morning and look, | 0:09:05 | 0:09:08 | |
you'd start to see the sun rising just a little to the south every morning. | 0:09:08 | 0:09:13 | |
And then further and further to the south. | 0:09:13 | 0:09:15 | |
And then it starts to get going faster! | 0:09:15 | 0:09:18 | |
-So by the time you get towards the equinox... -Mid-September. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:21 | |
It's rattling along the horizon day by day. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:23 | |
As we approach December, we slow down again | 0:09:23 | 0:09:26 | |
-and we're right here. -And we meet the mid-winter sun. | 0:09:26 | 0:09:29 | |
Thank you, Paul. If you were here any midwinter, | 0:09:29 | 0:09:32 | |
you'd see sunrise in this position. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:34 | |
Yes. Any time in the year, you'll see sunrise somewhere on this arc of the horizon. | 0:09:34 | 0:09:39 | |
So in any given year, | 0:09:40 | 0:09:42 | |
the sun has two extreme positions. | 0:09:42 | 0:09:44 | |
Its summer sunrise and its winter sunrise. | 0:09:44 | 0:09:47 | |
The moon does something similar, | 0:09:47 | 0:09:49 | |
but it takes 27 days, the lunar monthly cycle. | 0:09:49 | 0:09:53 | |
We're going to mark out the extremes of moonrise over the course of a month. | 0:09:58 | 0:10:02 | |
Pete is holding one lunar position, and Chris is holding the other. | 0:10:02 | 0:10:06 | |
But the complexities of the lunar orbit means these points change position | 0:10:07 | 0:10:12 | |
over the course of that 19-year cycle. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:15 | |
OK, so that's moonrise now, | 0:10:16 | 0:10:18 | |
but over the course of a month, the moon rises at different positions. | 0:10:18 | 0:10:21 | |
Exactly. You'd see it moving up and down an arc on the horizon, | 0:10:21 | 0:10:25 | |
just like the sun, but doing it up and down in 27 days. | 0:10:25 | 0:10:29 | |
And it would reach all the way to Pete, | 0:10:29 | 0:10:32 | |
the most northerly extent of moonrise up there. | 0:10:32 | 0:10:34 | |
But that's true now, | 0:10:34 | 0:10:36 | |
but of course because of the complexities of the moon's orbit, | 0:10:36 | 0:10:39 | |
we need to move Chris and Pete again. | 0:10:39 | 0:10:42 | |
Yes, because with the moon, these limit positions every month | 0:10:42 | 0:10:46 | |
change gradually. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:47 | |
So if we now roll the time forward | 0:10:47 | 0:10:50 | |
to eventually 2015, that's enough, | 0:10:50 | 0:10:53 | |
then we're going to reach a position here | 0:10:53 | 0:10:56 | |
and so by 2015, you'll find the moon is only going up and down between these upper limits. | 0:10:56 | 0:11:02 | |
But then it starts to come back again | 0:11:02 | 0:11:04 | |
and if you both move out, and we go over another almost ten years... | 0:11:04 | 0:11:08 | |
Past the point of midwinter sun... | 0:11:08 | 0:11:11 | |
..right out the same distance in the other direction, | 0:11:11 | 0:11:14 | |
this is where the moon is going up and down in 2025. | 0:11:14 | 0:11:18 | |
It's called a major standstill year. | 0:11:18 | 0:11:19 | |
And in that time, there are certain times every month | 0:11:19 | 0:11:23 | |
when the moon is going to be rising extremely far south, | 0:11:23 | 0:11:26 | |
much further south than the sun ever rises, and also much further north. | 0:11:26 | 0:11:30 | |
And those are the things that we think there might be alignments from Stonehenge. | 0:11:30 | 0:11:34 | |
That's where some things do appear to be aligned at Stonehenge. | 0:11:34 | 0:11:37 | |
Let's go into the centre of the circle and look at those alignments. | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
Once every 19 years, | 0:11:43 | 0:11:45 | |
the moon will rise at its most southerly position. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:48 | |
Just over nine years later, | 0:11:52 | 0:11:53 | |
the moon will set at its most northerly position, | 0:11:53 | 0:11:57 | |
in exactly the opposite direction. | 0:11:57 | 0:11:59 | |
The question is, did Neolithic Man use Stonehenge | 0:12:00 | 0:12:04 | |
to mark these points? | 0:12:04 | 0:12:06 | |
This reconstruction of Stonehenge | 0:12:07 | 0:12:09 | |
shows four stones around the edge. | 0:12:09 | 0:12:11 | |
Called the station stones, | 0:12:11 | 0:12:13 | |
these seem to mark the limits where the most southerly moonrise | 0:12:13 | 0:12:17 | |
and the most northerly moon set occur. | 0:12:17 | 0:12:20 | |
Today, two of those stones are missing, | 0:12:20 | 0:12:23 | |
so we've sent The Sky at Night team to mark the places where they once stood. | 0:12:23 | 0:12:27 | |
So those are the station stones. What exactly are they lined up with? | 0:12:27 | 0:12:33 | |
Most importantly, they're lined up with the axis of the monument. | 0:12:33 | 0:12:36 | |
That makes us think generally - we don't know exactly - | 0:12:36 | 0:12:39 | |
it makes us think they're put there much the same time as the big stones. | 0:12:39 | 0:12:43 | |
So how does that get us to the moon? | 0:12:43 | 0:12:45 | |
The other way, they're pointing in two of these lunar directions, | 0:12:45 | 0:12:50 | |
give or take a degree or two. | 0:12:50 | 0:12:52 | |
So to the north-west, they're pointing very closely to where the moon theoretically would set | 0:12:52 | 0:12:58 | |
as far north as it ever sets. | 0:12:58 | 0:12:59 | |
To the south, a bit closer to where the moon rises at its furthest south. | 0:12:59 | 0:13:04 | |
The station stones do stand out. | 0:13:04 | 0:13:07 | |
It's intriguing that they do have this lunar direction to them. | 0:13:07 | 0:13:11 | |
-People talk about a Neolithic observatory. -Right. | 0:13:11 | 0:13:14 | |
Is that justified? Can we go that far? | 0:13:14 | 0:13:16 | |
I don't like the word observatory | 0:13:16 | 0:13:18 | |
because that implies that people built this for astronomy, | 0:13:18 | 0:13:20 | |
and that that was its exclusive or main purpose. | 0:13:20 | 0:13:23 | |
I'm sure that wasn't the case. But neither did it have nothing to do with astronomy. | 0:13:23 | 0:13:27 | |
Clearly this solsticial axis meant something. | 0:13:27 | 0:13:29 | |
I don't think they were using it to time the longest and shortest day accurately in our terms at all. | 0:13:29 | 0:13:34 | |
But I do think they were timing seasonal ceremonies, festivities, other activities, | 0:13:34 | 0:13:40 | |
which in their way of thinking of things | 0:13:40 | 0:13:42 | |
would have been absolutely essential to keep all the seasonal things functioning. | 0:13:42 | 0:13:46 | |
Ancestral spirits could be used to help regenerate crops | 0:13:46 | 0:13:50 | |
or whatever needed to be done to bring things about | 0:13:50 | 0:13:52 | |
successfully in the next year. | 0:13:52 | 0:13:54 | |
It's seven o'clock now, and they've just opened up the site | 0:14:08 | 0:14:11 | |
to all the excited visitors. | 0:14:11 | 0:14:13 | |
And also, the sun's come out, and the moon is rising behind us. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:17 | |
When you're in a landscape like this, | 0:14:17 | 0:14:18 | |
it's hard not to think about what's happening in the sky relates to us here on Earth. | 0:14:18 | 0:14:23 | |
For some, the moon rising or setting over the station stones | 0:14:26 | 0:14:30 | |
is just an intriguing coincidence. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:33 | |
Simon Banton is a keen amateur astronomer | 0:14:35 | 0:14:37 | |
who dresses as a druid, but only to impart cosmic wisdom. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:41 | |
..the centre of The Avenue is looking to the north-east in that direction... | 0:14:41 | 0:14:45 | |
Simon has studied the moon's movements at Stonehenge | 0:14:45 | 0:14:50 | |
and for him, the coincidences add up to something more. | 0:14:50 | 0:14:53 | |
But he's still got to convince Pete and Paul, who are a little sceptical. | 0:14:53 | 0:14:57 | |
You believe there's an association with lunar astronomy, | 0:14:57 | 0:15:01 | |
you're not quite convinced. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:03 | |
I'll tell you why I'm not convinced. Because... | 0:15:03 | 0:15:06 | |
the way the sun comes up every day, and the way it moves across the horizon, is intuitive. | 0:15:06 | 0:15:11 | |
-But the moon isn't. The moon is a tricky devil to predict. -It hops about. | 0:15:11 | 0:15:15 | |
It hops about a lot. So I have a great deal of difficulty | 0:15:15 | 0:15:19 | |
with a culture that is trying to get all the details of the moon | 0:15:19 | 0:15:23 | |
-and they can't write anything down. It's all by word of mouth! -Yes. | 0:15:23 | 0:15:26 | |
Firstly, I think you underestimate the capability of oral tradition | 0:15:26 | 0:15:30 | |
to transmit knowledge effectively. | 0:15:30 | 0:15:32 | |
And I did stand here on the north barrow in 2006 | 0:15:32 | 0:15:36 | |
at the greatest southerly moonrise | 0:15:36 | 0:15:39 | |
and watched the moon rise over the station stone that Hawkins identified | 0:15:39 | 0:15:44 | |
as being a marker for that event. | 0:15:44 | 0:15:47 | |
The problem is the markers are marking the positions | 0:15:47 | 0:15:51 | |
where the moon goes to its maximum extent and then back again. | 0:15:51 | 0:15:54 | |
It's important to say "roughly". | 0:15:54 | 0:15:56 | |
The precision aspect of it may sometimes get overburnt. | 0:15:56 | 0:16:00 | |
So that's a watch for at least 18.6 years | 0:16:00 | 0:16:03 | |
and probably for several of those cycles. | 0:16:03 | 0:16:05 | |
It is important to note, though, | 0:16:05 | 0:16:07 | |
that if you do watch the moon rise over the hills there, | 0:16:07 | 0:16:10 | |
it can rise in a range that's to the right of it and to the left of it. | 0:16:10 | 0:16:14 | |
And when it rises over the heel stone in the same way that the sun does, | 0:16:14 | 0:16:17 | |
then there will be an eclipse either of the moon that night, the full moon, | 0:16:17 | 0:16:22 | |
or two weeks later of the sun. | 0:16:22 | 0:16:24 | |
-It's quite incredible, really. -Now, I don't say that it's planned, | 0:16:24 | 0:16:27 | |
but to notice that. | 0:16:27 | 0:16:29 | |
To notice it and then go, "That's interesting! Let's count." | 0:16:29 | 0:16:33 | |
Because these people have got counting. They're not idiots. | 0:16:33 | 0:16:36 | |
There are no written records from the people who built Stonehenge | 0:16:42 | 0:16:45 | |
and who worshipped here. | 0:16:45 | 0:16:47 | |
But they did leave behind their burial mounds, called barrows, | 0:16:47 | 0:16:50 | |
which contain some of the objects they treasured. | 0:16:50 | 0:16:54 | |
At Stonehenge, Bush Barrow contained a truly amazing find | 0:16:54 | 0:16:59 | |
which shows that when Stonehenge was less than 1,000 years old, | 0:16:59 | 0:17:02 | |
the people who lived here understood mathematics and geometry. | 0:17:02 | 0:17:07 | |
Chris North has gone to the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes | 0:17:07 | 0:17:10 | |
in search of the gold lozenge. | 0:17:10 | 0:17:13 | |
The Wiltshire Museum is full of artefacts found in ancient barrows. | 0:17:19 | 0:17:24 | |
200 years ago, well-meaning amateur archaeologists | 0:17:25 | 0:17:28 | |
dug into the Bush Barrow, | 0:17:28 | 0:17:30 | |
just half a mile from Stonehenge. | 0:17:30 | 0:17:32 | |
Inside, they found some remarkable objects | 0:17:32 | 0:17:35 | |
which have challenged our perception of early Bronze Age people. | 0:17:35 | 0:17:39 | |
Museum curator David Dawson looks after the objects | 0:17:39 | 0:17:43 | |
and has a new exhibition opening this October. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:45 | |
They've carefully recreated the grave site, | 0:17:45 | 0:17:48 | |
showing how all the objects were laid out. | 0:17:48 | 0:17:50 | |
This is the centrepiece of our display. | 0:17:51 | 0:17:54 | |
This is a reconstruction of a burial at Bush Barrow. | 0:17:54 | 0:17:57 | |
He was a man who was stout and tall. | 0:17:57 | 0:17:59 | |
He's buried with an axe at the top, two daggers, | 0:17:59 | 0:18:03 | |
a dagger fitting, and most important, the gold lozenge | 0:18:03 | 0:18:08 | |
that was on his chest. | 0:18:08 | 0:18:10 | |
The fact that he was buried with such artefacts | 0:18:10 | 0:18:14 | |
and the daggers and axes and so on, | 0:18:14 | 0:18:16 | |
he was an important chap in their society. | 0:18:16 | 0:18:20 | |
Absolutely. He must have been the top of the tree | 0:18:20 | 0:18:23 | |
as a chieftain, a warrior. We call him the Bush Barrow Chieftain. | 0:18:23 | 0:18:26 | |
And he was buried in this prominent place | 0:18:26 | 0:18:29 | |
so that when they returned to Stonehenge | 0:18:29 | 0:18:31 | |
for hundreds or thousands of years afterwards, they'd still see his... | 0:18:31 | 0:18:35 | |
His descendants would see him and say, "On the hillside, that's where our ancestors are buried." | 0:18:35 | 0:18:39 | |
Upstairs, David has a special treat for us. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:42 | |
The real 4,000-year-old gold lozenge. | 0:18:42 | 0:18:46 | |
This is rather special! | 0:18:46 | 0:18:48 | |
That is...absolutely astonishing! | 0:18:51 | 0:18:53 | |
This is 4,000 years old? | 0:18:53 | 0:18:56 | |
-Right. -Thereabouts. This looks like a solid piece of gold. | 0:18:56 | 0:19:00 | |
Actually, it's not. It's less than a millimetre thick. | 0:19:00 | 0:19:04 | |
It's been very carefully smoothed and thinned out. | 0:19:04 | 0:19:07 | |
It was mounted on a wooden backing plate. | 0:19:07 | 0:19:10 | |
Today it's perspex. But see that tiny piece of gold there? | 0:19:10 | 0:19:14 | |
See the way the edges are lapped over? | 0:19:14 | 0:19:18 | |
It's just like wrapping a Christmas present. | 0:19:18 | 0:19:20 | |
But much more expensive! | 0:19:20 | 0:19:23 | |
-Much more expensive, and rather better than I can manage! -Yes! | 0:19:23 | 0:19:26 | |
But the amazing thing is you can see the lines. | 0:19:26 | 0:19:29 | |
-Look how straight they are. -Dead straight. | 0:19:29 | 0:19:31 | |
And the zig-zags in between. | 0:19:31 | 0:19:33 | |
Clearly whoever laid the design out knew about geometry. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:37 | |
It had to be made out using three concentric circles. | 0:19:37 | 0:19:41 | |
Then the straight lines are tangents. | 0:19:41 | 0:19:43 | |
A bit like a Venn diagram. | 0:19:43 | 0:19:46 | |
So to get those triangles, the four zigs along one straight line, | 0:19:46 | 0:19:50 | |
-you'd need an understanding of geometry. -Geometry and mathematics. | 0:19:50 | 0:19:55 | |
And the fact that this is so intricate | 0:19:55 | 0:19:57 | |
it says it was far more... | 0:19:57 | 0:19:59 | |
Far more sophisticated. It seems a very peaceful society, | 0:19:59 | 0:20:03 | |
very stratified. Everyone knew their place. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:05 | |
These precious clues from objects thousands of years old, | 0:20:07 | 0:20:10 | |
paint a picture of a long-dead society | 0:20:10 | 0:20:13 | |
which was sophisticated, orderly and intelligent. | 0:20:13 | 0:20:17 | |
And capable of feats which are still impressive today. | 0:20:17 | 0:20:21 | |
CHANTING | 0:20:21 | 0:20:24 | |
We're just having the opening ceremony right now. | 0:20:29 | 0:20:32 | |
One of the leading druids has started the celebrations, as you can hear. | 0:20:32 | 0:20:36 | |
It's a bit like church service I went to as a kid. | 0:20:36 | 0:20:38 | |
We've had communal singing, a bit of a sermon, | 0:20:38 | 0:20:41 | |
and everyone's happy to be here. | 0:20:41 | 0:20:42 | |
And it's not raining, so maybe there's something in it. | 0:20:42 | 0:20:45 | |
Every aspect of Stonehenge has attracted attention over the years. | 0:20:50 | 0:20:54 | |
And that includes its sound. | 0:20:54 | 0:20:56 | |
Dr Rupert Till has created a model of Stonehenge | 0:20:56 | 0:21:00 | |
as it was when it was complete. | 0:21:00 | 0:21:02 | |
CHANTING CONTINUES | 0:21:02 | 0:21:04 | |
He says the sound inside the circle would have reverberated and echoed, | 0:21:04 | 0:21:09 | |
being amplified by the stones and drawing everyone in. | 0:21:09 | 0:21:13 | |
Paul is finding out how noisy Stonehenge can get. | 0:21:15 | 0:21:18 | |
Rupert, here we are on a lovely summer solstice evening, outside Stonehenge. | 0:21:18 | 0:21:22 | |
And the one thing that strikes you | 0:21:22 | 0:21:24 | |
is the beats coming out of there. The acoustics are good. | 0:21:24 | 0:21:27 | |
This is what you've been investigating, isn't it? | 0:21:27 | 0:21:29 | |
My background is sound, | 0:21:29 | 0:21:31 | |
so what struck me immediately about this space was how it sounded inside. | 0:21:31 | 0:21:34 | |
We wanted to model that sound to hear what it might have sounded like 5,000 years ago. | 0:21:34 | 0:21:39 | |
So you've developed a time machine, if you like, | 0:21:39 | 0:21:42 | |
that allows people to go back what, 5,000 years or so? | 0:21:42 | 0:21:44 | |
About then, to when Stonehenge was first built. | 0:21:44 | 0:21:47 | |
And possibly to look at how it changed over time | 0:21:47 | 0:21:50 | |
and also where the sun rose might change slightly in terms of where the stones are. | 0:21:50 | 0:21:55 | |
So we can see that with our model. | 0:21:55 | 0:21:57 | |
Presumably, sound was quite different if there were many more stones? | 0:21:57 | 0:22:00 | |
Yes, it really encloses you. | 0:22:00 | 0:22:03 | |
When you go inside, you can't really see out. You can't see in. | 0:22:03 | 0:22:06 | |
And the sound is the same. | 0:22:06 | 0:22:08 | |
It's kept inside the space. | 0:22:08 | 0:22:09 | |
Sound would have been part of the ritual | 0:22:14 | 0:22:16 | |
in the way it is in most cultures. | 0:22:16 | 0:22:18 | |
It's not all about sound. It's one piece of a jigsaw. | 0:22:19 | 0:22:22 | |
PEOPLE CHEER AND SHOUT | 0:22:22 | 0:22:24 | |
Some of the revellers are settling down for the night, | 0:22:40 | 0:22:43 | |
but all the time, people are streaming into the site. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:46 | |
The estimate is that more than 20,000 people will be here for sunrise. | 0:22:46 | 0:22:50 | |
It's very lively, but it's friendly | 0:22:52 | 0:22:55 | |
and I think it's not too far from how our ancestors would have celebrated their solstice. | 0:22:55 | 0:23:00 | |
Right now, the sky is looking good. | 0:23:02 | 0:23:04 | |
The moon is out and it's only a few days away from being full. | 0:23:04 | 0:23:08 | |
Pete, Lucie and I find a quiet spot away from the crowds. | 0:23:09 | 0:23:12 | |
This month, we're launching our latest observing challenge. | 0:23:12 | 0:23:16 | |
And it's all about Sir Patrick Moore's favourite object - | 0:23:16 | 0:23:19 | |
the moon. | 0:23:19 | 0:23:21 | |
Called The Moore Moon Marathon, | 0:23:23 | 0:23:25 | |
we want it to be something everyone can take part in. | 0:23:25 | 0:23:28 | |
Pete, you've devised some real treats for us. What's in store? | 0:23:29 | 0:23:33 | |
The moon is one of the loveliest things we can see in the night sky. | 0:23:33 | 0:23:37 | |
I hope I've put together something which makes it very accessible for people. | 0:23:37 | 0:23:41 | |
This is the nice thing about looking at the moon. | 0:23:41 | 0:23:44 | |
-Finding the moon is the easiest astronomical task! -Absolutely. | 0:23:44 | 0:23:47 | |
There are things you can notice even with the naked eye. | 0:23:47 | 0:23:49 | |
So we start off in the first of the sections with the lunar seas. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:54 | |
You can see them just with the naked eye. | 0:23:54 | 0:23:55 | |
That's right. The lunar seas are easy to pick out. | 0:23:55 | 0:23:58 | |
Then we progressively move on. | 0:23:58 | 0:24:01 | |
We move into crater territory on the next section. | 0:24:01 | 0:24:03 | |
And then into what I call shaded craters. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:06 | |
The ones you can see close to the terminators. | 0:24:06 | 0:24:09 | |
The first ones are easy. You can pick the first ones out on a full moon. | 0:24:09 | 0:24:12 | |
Give us a flavour. What are some of your favourite objects in there? | 0:24:12 | 0:24:16 | |
I've had a bit of fun at the end of the marathon. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:19 | |
I've got what I call lunar specials. | 0:24:19 | 0:24:21 | |
Things like the basketball player in the moon. | 0:24:21 | 0:24:24 | |
I've never seen the basketball player! | 0:24:24 | 0:24:28 | |
The lunar seas, when you look at them, you can make shapes out of them. | 0:24:28 | 0:24:31 | |
-It's like seeing faces in clouds. -Like the man in the moon? -Right. | 0:24:31 | 0:24:34 | |
Basketball player is there, | 0:24:34 | 0:24:36 | |
and he's throwing a ball - that's the Mare Crisium. | 0:24:36 | 0:24:39 | |
Oh, off on its own? OK. | 0:24:39 | 0:24:41 | |
Once you've seen these things, you can't stop seeing them. | 0:24:41 | 0:24:45 | |
If you'd like to get involved, just go to our website: | 0:24:45 | 0:24:47 | |
Download the forms, give it a go, and see how far you get! | 0:24:51 | 0:24:54 | |
Already the night is almost over. | 0:25:03 | 0:25:05 | |
We're joining the throng back at Stonehenge | 0:25:05 | 0:25:08 | |
for sunrise. | 0:25:08 | 0:25:10 | |
I'm going to try and get inside the circle | 0:25:10 | 0:25:12 | |
with the drumming druids! | 0:25:12 | 0:25:14 | |
RHYTHMIC DRUMMING AND CLAPPING | 0:25:14 | 0:25:16 | |
From out here, we can't even see the heel stone. | 0:25:16 | 0:25:19 | |
The sun will rise over there in about 20 minutes. | 0:25:19 | 0:25:23 | |
But it's only people on the axis, the very middle of the monument, | 0:25:23 | 0:25:27 | |
that actually get a good look. | 0:25:27 | 0:25:28 | |
Lucie and the rest of the team have bagged a safer spot, | 0:25:34 | 0:25:38 | |
away from the more "enthusiastic" celebrants! | 0:25:38 | 0:25:41 | |
So we're here, waiting for the sunrise. | 0:25:41 | 0:25:44 | |
Only about 20 minutes to go, now, | 0:25:44 | 0:25:46 | |
and the excitement in this area is really picking up! | 0:25:46 | 0:25:49 | |
It's heaving, isn't it? | 0:25:49 | 0:25:51 | |
It's remarkable how quickly the sky has brightened in the last ten minutes. | 0:25:51 | 0:25:55 | |
Yeah. You did wonder if the sun was going to appear! I still wonder that! | 0:25:55 | 0:26:00 | |
It's so murky! | 0:26:00 | 0:26:02 | |
-It's very cloudy. -It's been a good evening. | 0:26:02 | 0:26:05 | |
On the whole, a good session here. | 0:26:05 | 0:26:06 | |
-The whole atmosphere is really most interesting. -It really was. | 0:26:06 | 0:26:10 | |
It's just a couple of minutes before sunrise. | 0:26:13 | 0:26:15 | |
The focus is still on the circle. | 0:26:15 | 0:26:17 | |
But we're where the action is, with the heel stone right behind us. | 0:26:17 | 0:26:20 | |
Well, I'm afraid there are no breaks in the cloud. | 0:26:36 | 0:26:39 | |
It's another damp, drizzly, summer solstice sunrise! | 0:26:39 | 0:26:43 | |
-Now, Clive, I think you know what I'm going to say, don't you? -I do know what you're going to say! | 0:26:43 | 0:26:48 | |
So the sun has risen, but there was almost no response from the crowd. Why is that? | 0:26:48 | 0:26:54 | |
Well, does it surprise you? There was no sun! | 0:26:54 | 0:26:57 | |
People are looking to actually see the sun | 0:26:57 | 0:26:59 | |
and if you don't see the sun, they don't cheer! | 0:26:59 | 0:27:01 | |
People in the Neolithic, I'm sure, were the same. | 0:27:01 | 0:27:04 | |
This is why Stonehenge wasn't a calendar, in our sense, | 0:27:04 | 0:27:07 | |
because any day around what we know to be the solstice would have done. | 0:27:07 | 0:27:11 | |
When they actually saw the sun, when the weather was good, | 0:27:11 | 0:27:14 | |
that would be the day of celebration. | 0:27:14 | 0:27:16 | |
So it really is just about the celebration. | 0:27:16 | 0:27:18 | |
In fact, it feels to me a bit like an endurance event. | 0:27:18 | 0:27:21 | |
It's about staying up all night! | 0:27:21 | 0:27:23 | |
Are you dedicated enough to stay up all night and stay there for the sunrise, | 0:27:23 | 0:27:27 | |
and if you are, you've done your celebration and you've paid your respects to the rising sun? | 0:27:27 | 0:27:32 | |
I think you're too negative. | 0:27:32 | 0:27:34 | |
I think it's enjoyment! It's about enjoyment! | 0:27:34 | 0:27:37 | |
Sharing this often absurd, but still entrancing event | 0:27:42 | 0:27:46 | |
with 20,000 people has been quite an experience. | 0:27:46 | 0:27:49 | |
It's one I will not forget. | 0:27:49 | 0:27:51 | |
And I might well come back. | 0:27:51 | 0:27:53 | |
The moon's role at Stonehenge will always provoke debate | 0:27:57 | 0:28:01 | |
and speculation. | 0:28:01 | 0:28:03 | |
After all, we'll never really know whether the position of the stones | 0:28:03 | 0:28:06 | |
was deliberate or just a coincidence. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:09 | |
But I hope whoever put them there | 0:28:09 | 0:28:12 | |
would at least be pleased that we're still arguing about them | 0:28:12 | 0:28:15 | |
all these thousands of years later. | 0:28:15 | 0:28:17 | |
In next month's programme, we celebrate a very special birthday | 0:28:20 | 0:28:24 | |
as NASA's Curiosity Rover reaches its first anniversary on Mars. | 0:28:24 | 0:28:29 | |
-And so, until next month, from The Sky at Night, goodbye. -Goodbye! | 0:28:29 | 0:28:33 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:28:51 | 0:28:55 |