First astronomical theories

The view of a possible astronomical use of the facility opened in the early 20th First century, the astronomer Joseph Norman Lockyer (1836-1920). He believed - as Stuckeley a century before him - the pursuit of the plant to the point of the summer solstice, but you recommend speculating about the use of the stone circle as an astronomical calendar to determine sacred Celtic festivals.
Among the archaeologists of his time, Lockyer's theory was not appreciated, as its calculation basis of it inaccurate and were arbitrarily chosen partly in order to achieve the desired results from it. Stonehenge is therefore of the archaeological experts continue to be "considered only" as a prehistoric cult or shrine.

The astronomer Gerald Hawkins was trying to change that image, when in 1965 he published his book Stonehenge Decoded. With the help of detailed measurements of the monument and complicated calculations Hawkins tries to prove that Stonehenge served as a sort of Stone Age computer by its designers, it would have been possible to predict lunar eclipses, for example, quite reliable.
As was John Aubrey's "Celtic thesis was" now also Hawkins' theory enthusiastically taken up by the general public. The professional world, however, tore his research: the archaeologist Richard Atkinson showed, for example, that Hawkins had included in his argument also parts of the plant, which had been shown were built at different times, and could therefore not be part of the same plant.