Archaeologists have discovered a
huge 1.2-mile-wide ring of Neolithic shafts near Stonehenge in southern
England.
Experts led by the U.K.’s
University of Bradford report that the shafts are up to 32.8 feet wide and 16.4
feet deep. The structures have been carbon-dated to 2500 B.C.
Up to 20 shafts have been
identified, but archaeologists think that, originally, there may have been more
than 30.
on Walls, a much larger
Neolithic monument than Stonehenge. Super henge is located about two miles from
Stonehenge and is 15 times larger than its famous counterpart, according to
LiveScience.
Woodhenge, a prehistoric
monument once composed of six rings of wooden posts enclosed by an earth
embankment, is also within the ring formed by the shafts.
“The area around Stonehenge is
among the most studied archaeological landscapes on earth and it is remarkable
that the application of new technology can still lead to the discovery of such
a massive prehistoric structure which, currently, is significantly larger than
any comparative prehistoric monument that we know of in Britain, at least,”
said Professor Vince Gaffney of the University of Bradford, in a statement.
The discovery was made as part of the
Stonehenge Hidden Landscape Project. Experts from the Ludwig Boltzmann
Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology in Austria
also participated, as well as the U.K.’s Universities of Birmingham, St
Andrews, Warwick, the University of Wales Trinity Saint Davids, and the
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre at the University of
Glasgow.
“When these pits were first
noted it was thought they might be natural features – solution hollows in the
chalk,” Gaffney added. “Only when the larger picture emerged, through the
geophysical surveys undertaken as part of the Stonehenge Hidden Landscape
Project, could we join the dots and see there was a pattern on a massive
scale.”
The research is published in the
journal internet archaeology.
Stonehenge continues to be a
source of fascination. Parts of it bear a resemblance to ancient "Lego,"
according to a recent report by English Heritage, which oversees the famous
site in southern England.
In 2018, experts said that the
famous ancient site may have been built using Greek philosopher Pythagoras’
famous theorem two millennia before the mathematical equation was developed.
Last year a missing piece of
Stonehenge was returned 60 years after it went missing during an archaeological
excavation.
The first monument at the site,
an early “henge” monument, was constructed about 5,000 years ago. The
world-famous stone circle was built around 2,500 B.C. during the late Neolithic
period.
The World Heritage site is known
for its alignment with the movements of the sun – thousands travel to the site
near Amesbury in Southern England to mark the solstices in summer and winter.