TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Giant circle of shafts discovered close to Stonehenge
Archaeologists have discovered a wide circle of deep shafts surrounding an ancient settlement close to Stonehenge, opening up new lines of investigation into the origins and meaning of the mysterious monument.
Change Size
A couple take a selfie as they pass near by the Stonehenge stone circle, where official Summer Solstice celebrations were cancelled due to the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), near Amesbury, Britain, on June 20, 2020. (REUTERS/Toby Melville)
A
rchaeologists have discovered a wide circle of deep shafts surrounding an ancient settlement close to Stonehenge, opening up new lines of investigation into the origins and meaning of the mysterious, prehistoric monument.
The stone circle at Stonehenge, whose purpose remains unknown to scientists despite decades of research, is one of Britain's most famous landmarks and a draw to tourists and people in search of spiritual connections with nature.
The new discovery, described as "astonishing" by a team of archaeologists from multiple universities who took part in the project, shows a circle of shafts, 2 kilometers in diameter, surrounding the settlement of Durrington Walls.
The site is located about 3 kilometers northeast of Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain, and evidence suggests the shafts date back to the same period, some 4,500 years ago.
"This is an unprecedented find of major significance within the UK," said Vincent Gaffney, one of the archaeologists leading the project.
Read also: Archaeological discoveries are happening faster than ever before
"Key researchers on Stonehenge and its landscape have been taken aback by the scale of the structure and the fact that it hadn't been discovered until now so close to Stonehenge," he said.
Gaffney said the circle of shafts, each about 10 meters wide and 5 meters deep, demonstrated the desire of Neolithic communities to record their belief systems in ways and at a scale that researchers had never anticipated.
The discovery was made without the need for excavations, using remote sensing technology and sampling.
"I can't emphasize enough the effort that would have gone into digging such large shafts with tools of stone, wood and bone," said Gaffney.
