There is no such thing as the pole star (even though we draw it, talk about it, and believe in it).
The pole is the earth's axis of rotation.
As if the earth were a ball spinning around an invisible spindle-pole pushed through the centre of the earth.
A pole star is a position occupied by a star relative to earth.
A pole star happens to be any star in the right place at the right time as the top of the invisible, non-existent spindle pole drifts one degree per 70 years, around a massive circle 26,000 years wide.
Precession.
The numbers on the yellow circle are dates.
The earth spins daily.
23 hours and 56 minutes in relation to the distant stars.
24 hours in relation to the sun.
Rotates yearly.
365 and a quarter day to travel 360 degrees around the sun.
Around about 2870 BC the pole star was Thuban.
Using Stonehenge as a reference point.
3000 BC.
At that time, Stonehenge is a circular earthwork about 110 meters in diameter. It has a bank and ditch, now called the henge. It has a North-East and South entrance/exit.
Objects and remains in the ditch are dated to around 3000-2920 BC but they may be older than the ditch. They may be 'Ancestral deposits' fragments of precious objects brought from older sites to empower and legitimize the ground.
56 (Aubrey) holes are dug around the inner edge of the bank. Usually such pits are places to bury, or return things that no longer have a place in the world of sun and change. There have been suggestions that the Aubrey holes once held the Blue Stones.
Many cremations were placed within the ditch, the bank and the Aubrey holes.
At the centre of the circle and at the NE entrance/exit, small rectangular structures were constructed from timber posts.
Small rectangular wooden structures could be almost anything, from sheds to 'tower's of silence' platforms upon which the dead were placed.
There is no definitive answer to the question - what were these structures really for.
2600-2480 BC.
About 500 hundred years latter, between 2600-2480 BC Stonehenge underwent a massive reconfiguration.
Sarcen stones were dragged from Fyfield between Marlborough and Avebury, and shaped as if made of wood.
The Sarcens were hauled into an inner horseshoe arrangement of five trilithons, aligned NE/SW.
- North east is the direction of midsummer sunrise and midwinter full moon rise.
- South west is the direction of midwinter sunset and midsummer full moon set.
2480-2280 BC
The Blue Stones are uprooted and dragged within the central trilithons.
The main ditch was re cut and an avenue is constructed. The pathway that becomes the avenue was originally created by a natural phenomenon, of glaciers cutting into the underlying rock leading from the NE entrance /exit of Stonehenge, down to the river.
A Beaker burial belonging to this time, was found in the ditch. It is probable that he had died of arrow wounds, as arrowheads were found embedded in his sternum and ribs.
The Blue Stones were placed in a double circle around the Sarcen horseshoe and more Sarcens: 30 upright with 30 lintels were positioned around the Blue Stones.
All respect the NE/SW axis.
Four more Sarcens become the Station Stones.
By 2200 BC, Thuban is drifting well away from the pole star position.
2280-2020 BC.
Stonehenge is once again subject to reconfiguration.
Just to compare star positions.
Here is the position of Polaris, now.
Thank you for that explanation and all the illustrations. I had realised a pole star is a position in the sky aligned to the axis of the earth. I'm asking loads of questions of many people as I am writing a novel based in this period. The Amesbury Archer features in it.
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