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Archaeologists ‘may have found UK’s largest Neolithic site’

A stone row has been found around Stonehenge using hi-tech methods. (Ludwig Boltzmann Institute)

Archaeologists have found a number of stone monoliths, which they believe to be part of the largest neolithic monument built in Britain.

Researchers used ground-penetrating radar to image about 30 intact stones dating back to 4,500 years ago and measuring up to 4.5 meters tall. 

“What we are starting to see is the largest surviving stone monument, preserved underneath a bank, that has ever been discovered in Britain and possibly in Europe,” said Lead researcher Vince Gaffney, of the University of Bradford. “This is completely new and the scale is extraordinary."


The fragments of 60 more buried stones, or the massive foundation pits in which they stood were also found at Durrington Walls "superhenge," near the Stonehnge prehistoric monument.

The pits seem to form an astronomical arrangement.  On a midsummer’s day, the eastern pit’s alignment with the rising sun and the western pit’s alignment with the setting sun intersect where Stonehenge was built.

The stones are believed to have been erected to form the southern edge of a ritual arena, surrounding traces of springs and a dry valley leading into the River Avon.

Archaeologists believe the newly discovered stone row could have been put in place at the same time or prior to the time when the Stonehenge sarsen circle was built.

 

 


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