International Journal of Geometric Archaeology and Ancient Civilization

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The Bush Barrow Gold Lozenge, the Solar Hexagon, and the Polar Threshold: A Formal Astronomical Comparison

Hrvoje Zujic, M.Sc.E.Eng

Volume 1, Issue 1

Published: June 10, 2026

DOI: 10.65157/IJGAAC.2026.002

Abstract

The Bush Barrow gold lozenge, excavated in 1808 from an Early Bronze Age burial near Stonehenge, has been interpreted either as a solar-observation instrument tuned to the southern British horizon or as a calendrical tally. This paper tests an alternative hypothesis: that the artefact preserves a six-point solar hexagon defined by the four solstitial extremes plus two cardinal eastern and western points, and that this geometry contracts toward a quasi-rhombic form in the polar-threshold zone. We conduct a latitude sweep from 51° N (Stonehenge) to 71° N and examine the hexagon at two critical thresholds: polar-day onset (PDonset, φ = 65.504° N) and polar-night onset (PNonset, φ = 66.638° N). At PDonset, the W/E vertex angle is 98.71°, close to Thom’s ~99° obtuse angle. At PNonset, using the disk-centre horizon criterion (h₀ = −0.566°), the polar-day interval terminates on the thirty-sixth calendar day (day 1 to day 36), matching the lozenge’s thirty-six perimeter zig-zag units (nine per side). These three primary correspondences — quasi-rhombic form at PNonset, ~99° vertex angle at PDonset, and thirty-sixth-calendar-day alignment at PNonset — do not establish polar manufacture or use. They do indicate a structured convergence, raising the possibility that a British Bronze Age object encodes a high-latitude solar geometry whose closest formal and numerical counterparts lie near the Arctic Circle.

Keywords

Bush Barrow Lozenge; Solar Hexagon; Archaeoastronomy; Polar Day; Polar Night; Stonehenge; Stonehenge Gold; Zig Zag; Zig-Zag; Arctic Circle

Corresponding Author

Hrvoje Zujic, M.Sc.E.Eng, Independent Researcher, Croatia.

Citation

Zujic, H. (2026). The Bush Barrow Gold Lozenge, the Solar Hexagon, and the Polar Threshold: A Formal Astronomical Comparison. Int. J. Geom. Archaeol. Anc. Civ., 1(1), 01-23.

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