Stonehenge Aotearoa
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Stonehenge Aotearoa, located near Carterton, New Zealand is a modern adaptation of the Stonehenge ruins on the Salisbury Plain of England. The henge contains 24 pillars and is 30 m in diameter and about 4 m high. The pillars are capped with lintels, completing the circle, and a 5m-tall obelisk marks the center of the henge. The modern henge was designed to demonstrate how ancient peoples used such constructions to understand astronomy. 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 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.
The name Aotearoa is the original Māori name for New Zealand. Aotearoa means 'Land of the long white cloud' in reference to New Zealand's southern alps.
- Stonehenge Aotearoa is at coordinates Coordinates:
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