Stonehenge Aotearoa
Encyclopedia
Carterton, New Zealand
Carterton is a small town in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and the seat of the Carterton District. It lies in a farming area of the Wairarapa in New Zealand's North Island. It is located southwest of Masterton and northeast of Wellington...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
is a modern adaptation of the Stonehenge
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
ruins on the Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in central southern England covering . It is part of the Southern England Chalk Formation and largely lies within the county of Wiltshire, with a little in Hampshire. The plain is famous for its rich archaeology, including Stonehenge, one of England's best known...
of England.
The henge contains 24 pillars and is 30 metres (98.4 ft) in diameter and about 4 metres (13.1 ft) high. The pillars are capped with lintels, completing the circle, and a 5 metres (16.4 ft)-tall obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
marks the center of the henge.
The modern henge was designed to demonstrate how ancient peoples used such constructions to understand astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
. Since Stonehenge Aotearoa is at a different latitude and longitude than the original Stonehenge, it is not an exact replica—some measurements had to be changed to preserve certain astronomical properties.
Its design was inspired not only by the original Stonehenge, but also by navigational and astronomical techniques of Polynesia
Polynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
and of the New World. Stonehenge Aotearoa also differs from its Salisbury cousin in construction; the pillars, lintels and central obelisk are not hewn stone, but are hollow structures with concrete molding forming their exterior.
It was intended to generate revenue for The Phoenix Astronomy Society to raise money for the Matariki Research Observatory.