5,000-Year-Old Calendar Rock Found in Sicily Excites Archaeologists

A team of researchers exploring the southern coast of Sicily have found an intriguing prehistoric calendar rock. After conducting some empirical observations, they discovered the rising sun of the winter solstice aligns perfectly with a large hole in a rock formation on a hill near a prehistoric necropolis. They also discovered a fallen megalith would have stood directly in front of the hole. Stonehenge-like comparisons abound in the media.

Seeker reports that the team came upon the 3.2 ft. (.98 m) diameter hole in a rock formation while surveying the area around Gela for World War II-era bunkers. After noting the man-made appearance of the hole, they decided to look for its possible purpose – and a connection to the seasons made sense.

The summer and winter solstices were key points in time for many prehistoric peoples. The huge Stone Age megalithic monument in Ireland known as Newgrange, the Pictographs of Paint Rock, Texas, the fortress of Saqsayhuaman in Peru, and of course – the most famous of them all – Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England, are just some of the archaeological sites that have shown the interest ancient peoples had in the sun and the changing seasons.