The orientation of rondels of the Neolithic Lengyel culture in Central Europe

Abstract

The rondels – circular earthworks of late Neolithic Europe – have a repeated form highly suggestive of deliberate design and symbolism. The concentric ditches are cut by two, three or most often four causeways at right angles. Here the authors investigate the orientation of the causeways in 51 rondels belonging to the Lengyel culture and conclude that they correlate well with the sunrise. The idea of a solar cult receives some corroboration from patterns on contemporary pottery.

The significance of the Sun, Moon and celestial bodies to societies in the Carpathian basin during the Bronze Age

“…The investigation of more than 50 roundels of Hungary, Low Austria, Moravia and South Slovakia supports this argument. Beside the orientation other archaeological material and characteristic features also support a possible Sun worship of the farming community during the late Neolithic Period (Pásztor, Barna and Roslund 2008).…”

“…The investigation of these causewayed enclosures proves that they were built according to a common set of geometrical and astronomical rules (Barna & Pásztor 2010;Pásztor and Barna 2011). The actual direction of the rising Sun offers a good interpretation for the orientation of the regular ground plans with the symmetrically arranged causeways.…”

Confirmation of the first Neolithic rondel-type enclosure in Poland

“…A subset of the latter model envisages them as celestial observatories, based on the putative astronomic orientations of their entrances-a construct influenced by interpretations of the layouts of much later British henges (e.g. Pásztor et al 2008). The quantities of wild animal bones suggest feasting at the threshold between wild and domestic space, and enclose a microcosm radically different to the domestic context in which they are embedded.…”

Monumental ditched enclosures in southern Iberia (fourth–third millennia BC)

“…In the last 25 years, studies on British and Irish causewayed enclosures, French enceintes fossés, Central European unterbrochene erdwerke and rondels and Nordic indelukke have flourished (e.g. Burgess et al 1988;Andersen 1997;Thomas 1999;Darvill & Thomas 2001;Varndell & Topping 2002;Kovárník et al 2006;Pásztor et al 2008;Whittle et al 2011). Numerous research projects, surveys and excavations have been undertaken in areas such as southern England, the Paris Basin and the Jutland Peninsula, amongst others, considerably increasing the quantity and quality of available empirical information.…”