Astronomical alignments in ancient monuments — solstices, lunistices, and stellar risings
Many Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments show precise astronomical alignments that could only have resulted from deliberate design. Stonehenge's main axis aligns with the summer solstice sunrise (azimuth ~51°) and winter solstice sunset. Newgrange passage tomb lights up at winter solstice sunrise for just 17 minutes — the passage orientation is accurate to within a fraction of a degree. The Karnak temple in Egypt aligns with the winter solstice sunset, and Chichen Itza's El Castillo pyramid casts a serpent-shadow at equinoxes. These alignments encode sophisticated naked-eye astronomical knowledge accumulated over generations.