4000+ year old Frisian sun observatory found

[Nordic]

So there are news going around that a 4000+ year old Frisian sun observatory akin to Stonehenge has been found. I wonder if this could be used to date the segment in OL on the pre-2194 BC era:

Sun rose higher, and there was seldom frost. (Source: OL MS 047)

[Coco]

Translation:

Solar calendar along the Waal: archaeologists discover 'Stonehenge of the Netherlands' near Tiel

An extraordinary historical discovery in Tiel: archaeologists have found an 'open-air sanctuary' some 4,000 years old here, they announced today. The complex was three football fields in size and people probably gathered there for sacrifices, burials, celebrations and rituals. The researchers themselves speak of a "spectacular find that is unique to the Netherlands".

A total of one million objects have been unearthed. Among the finds is a glass bead, the oldest ever found in the Netherlands. The bead appears to originate from Mesopotamia. The researchers see this as proof that there was contact between inhabitants of the two regions back then.

Largest archaeological project ever in the Netherlands

The presentation of the results, today in Tiel, was preceded by one of the largest archaeological projects ever in the Netherlands. Excavations in the floodplains of the river Waal began in 2017.

"In total, searches were carried out in an area of about 22 hectares. An unprecedentedly large area for archaeological research in our country," says Ilse Schuuring, municipal archaeologist of Tiel. The oldest finds are estimated to date back to 2,500 BC.

Similar to Stonehenge

By studying the discolourations and elevations in the clay, archaeologists discovered that three burial mounds stood in the area. The largest mound had a diameter of 20 metres. In the mounds, archaeologists found remains of 60 men, women and children.

The researchers discovered that the largest mound also functioned as a solar calendar. Around this mound was a trench with several distinctive passages. The sun shone through these passages on the shortest and longest day of the year. "People used the calendar to determine important moments like feast and harvest days," the researchers conclude.

There is little to see at the find site and so it will not be a tourist attraction, researchers say:

[video]

In doing so, the mound is reminiscent of Stonehenge, a well-known prehistoric monument surrounded by mystery in England where this phenomenon also occurs.

It is therefore not entirely coincidental that the researchers are presenting their results today, on the day of the solstice. Unlike at Stonehenge, Tiel's solar calendar will no longer be on display, by the way. However, the archaeologists did have an artist impression made of what the sanctuary may have looked like.

Stonehenge in Engeland.jpg (158.43 KiB) Viewed 2636 times

During the excavations in 2017, it soon became clear that there were many treasures to be found in the Betuwe soil. After examining all these finds, one in particular stood out: a glass bead. It was found on the remains of a woman and is the oldest ever found in the Netherlands.

"Such beads were not made in the Netherlands at the time, but they were made in Mesopotamia and later in Egypt," says lead researcher Cristian van der Linde. "At Naturalis, the chemical composition of the bead was examined. So we found out that it came from Mesopotamia. That's the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern-day Iraq and Syria. So the bead has travelled a distance of almost 5,000 kilometres, going back four millennia."

Who the bearer of the bead was is still one of the mysteries of 'the shrine of Tiel'.

Ritual barrow landscape

Stijn Arnoldussen, associate professor of late prehistory at the University of Groningen, is impressed by the finds presented today, although he finds the term 'sanctuary' unfortunate. "That suggests there was a temple there. That was not the case, it was a ritual burial mound."

The solar calendar is an interesting discovery, he says. "It is known that farmers had been concerned with the positions of the sun since the Stone Age. Yet such a complete, coherent landscape as has now been discovered is not often seen."

The bead is also a special find, Arnoldussen agrees. "Glass was not made here, so the bead must have been a spectacular item at the time, made of a material unknown to many people."

The Groningen archaeologist considers it unlikely that the bead made the journey from Mesopotamia to the Betuwe in one go. "Items were also exchanged at that time. The bead may have been above ground for hundreds of years before it ended up in Tiel, but of course it need not have been."

[Wil Helm]

Very interesting subject.
Certainly related with the (adjusted/new) chronolgy topic.

It can become quite mindboggling when trying to fit the following into one

- the Aldland submersion (2194 BC) whereafter the sun rose lower

- hence the becoming obsolete of the then used sun observatories
fe see quote of the article
"The sun shone through these passages on the shortest and longest day of the year. "People used the calendar to determine important moments like feast and harvest days," the researchers conclude.
If they were used before Aldland sank (the sun rose higher), they had to become obsolete thereafter.
So this is an anamoly in the idea i write here, if the researchers can conclude it in modern time that the sun came in these passages. Unless those observatories date after the submersion of Aldland, then it fits.
Another thing i can't understand if people had observatories before Aldland sank, is that OLB mentions litteraly that years weren't counted, because one year was as joyfull as the other. If you use obeservatories to pinpoint special events during the year, why not having the years counted? Maybe not to take litteraly? I am not sure about this one.
Here again: it fits well when the observatories date from after Aldland sank.

- the second 'bad time', dated 1888 years after 2194 BC = 305 BC (this is all taking Kersten=Christ, modern interpretation).
If we take Kersten as the Kersten of the OLB (=Budha) the year of the second 'bad time' falls on 288 after Kersten=Budha.
So 3rd century after Kersten=Budha.

In the link below (excuse for not translated, but i assume readers can manage to do it theirselves with google translate) about the Nehellenia finds, they date some altars to approx 3th century AD (Christ modern interpretation).

"Op 14 april 1970 trof schipper K.J. Bout uit Tholen bij het vissen in de Oosterschelde nabij Colijnsplaat vier brokken steen in zijn netten aan.
Het bleken stukken van twee altaren uit de Romeinse tijd
...
Enkele altaren en stijlkenmerken van sommige stukken leidden tot een datering rond het jaar 200 na Chr. Waarschijnlijk is het heiligdom in de 3de eeuw door het water verzwolgen."

https://www.rmo.nl/museumkennis/archeol ... -en-beeld/

In OLB's (second) hard time this is described as follows
"De wouden, waarin beelden waren, werden opgeheven en een spel der winden."
"Er kwam ebbe en de wouden met de beelden dreven naar zee."

Another (for me at least) intresting point is the orientation used to describe Frya's land in good times. It seems rotated for at least 45 degree's. Twiskland in the south of Frya's land. Nord sea in the north, the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic in the West, East Sea in the east. This description is used after Aldland sank and (see East and North sea) still used by us but in the mean time North, South, East, West are rotated. I find that hard to grasp. If the height of the sun rise and the rotation of the axis should be related with the same event of Aldland sinking, why not mentionning the rotation of the poles even straight forward as the sunrise? Because that is my first inclination: the sun rose higher because of the change in degrees. Not a specialist though.

Edit: my knowledge is far to limited to pretend i can say anything definite about the question if a change in sunrise height is connected with the geographic(or magnetic north position). What i did read so far is that the height of sunrise is more influenced by the relative position to the equator. And the equator itself is primarily influenced by the distribution of the landmass. As i understood this could be unrelated to the position of the geographic (and take magnetic) north, which makes our orientation. So i think my assumption that sunrise height and orientation must be connected is not correct. Of course there could be events which could have influenced both at the same time. But otherwise round, it seems plausible that one event caused mainly the change of landmass and another event mainly the orientation. So far, this non-conclusion

[Er Aldaric]

This is really interesting, the Mesopotamian glass bead seems to be overlooked in this discovery too. I can't seem to find an image of it or anything. This brings up a good point on ancient solar observatories like Stonehenge. But how can we be sure this finding is even an observatory? I watched the video and it had a demonstration but I don't see how exactly the trenches around the mound correlate with the solstice or where the observer would stand to see it. Could this be a case of archeologists immediately assuming the function of a site? (Assuming any and every ancient building was a temple). Perhaps this is a case of confirmation bias and this mound had some other purpose.