It has long been known that ancient sites were directed towards prominent landscape features and/or important phases of celestial objects such as the Sun and Moon. In-fact, it is rare today to find a site that wasn't orientated towards something important. Although by no means exclusive, it is evident that orientation was an integral part of almost all ancient constructions, endowing them with properties which presumably re-enforced the function(s) of these structures.

 

Objects of orientation:

Cardinal orientation: The pyramids of Giza were orientated to the cardinal points (N, S, E and W).

Solar orientations: It is common to find funerary structures from around the ancient world orientated to important phases of the Solar cycle. For example, the Hypogeum on Malta contained the remains of approximately 7,000 humans, and both the entrance and the 'Holy of holies' within the underground necropolis were found to be orientated to the winter solstice. Similarly, the West Kennet long-barrow is orientated to the rising Sun. This connection between death and the orientation to the Sun is repeated around the ancient world.

Lunar orientations: The hundreds of recumbent 'circles' in Scotland are orientated to certain phases of the lunar cycle.

Pleiades (The Seven Sisters): Some sites have been determined to have been orientated towards the seven sisters, the rising of which signified the beginning of the agricultural year throughout the ancient world. (Pleiades sit at the centre of our galaxy).

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The objective(s) of orientation:

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