Along some of its length, the avenue is aligned with the sunrise of the summer solstice,[3] suggesting a time of most frequent use.

[5] Natural ice age grooves called periglacial stripes[6] are present in the ground underneath the avenue.

[7] Mike Parker Pearson of the Stonehenge Riverside Project believes that the avenue was inspired by, and built over the top of, this existing natural formation of parallel rills which had a significant astronomical alignment.

[8] The presence of ridges and gullies that happened to line up with the solstice directions may have been venerated, leading the Neolithic people to later build Stonehenge at this particular site.

[6] The avenue, along with Stonehenge itself, is a scheduled monument, first designated in the 1882 act which was the earliest legislation to protect British archaeological sites.