Goseck

The Goseck circle (German: Sonnenobservatorium Goseck) is a Neolithic structure in Goseck in the Burgenlandkreis district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Its construction is dated to approximately 4,900 BC, and it seems to have remained in use until about the 4,700 BC. It may thus be the oldest and best known of the circular enclosures associated with the Central European Neolithic.

The site consists of an approximately circular ring trench with a diameter of approx. 71 m. In the two palisades there are three access routes, which are aligned to the north, southwest and southeast. The gates of the inner palisade, about 49 m in diameter, are narrower than those of the outer palisade, which has a diameter of about 56 m.

The circular ditch enclosure is together with the finding place of the Nebra sky disk, the circular ditch enclosure of Pömmelte, the megalithic tomb Langeneichstädt and the Halle State Museum of Prehistory a station on the tourist road Himmelswege (Celestial Pathways).

The site is located on the northwest outskirts of Goseck, there is a car parking and an access path in the north of Gosek.

In the castle of Gosek there is an interesting exhibition on the Gosek circle and other circular ditch enclosures.

Visited April 2019