Standing stones found buried near Stonehenge could be the “largest” intact prehistoric monument ever built in Britain, archaeologists believe.
Using ground-penetrating radar, some 100 stones were found at the Durrington Walls “superhenge”, a later bank built close to Stonehenge.
The Stonehenge Living Landscapes team has been researching the ancient monument site in a five-year project.
Finding the stones was “fantastically lucky”, researchers said.
The stones may have originally measured up to 4.5m (14ft) in height and had been pushed over the edge of Durrington Walls.
The site, which is thought to have been built about 4,500 years ago, is about 1.8 miles (3km) from Stonehenge, Wiltshire.
The stones were found on the edge of the Durrington Walls “henge”, or bank, an area which had not yet been studied by researchers.
Lead researcher, Vince Gaffney said the stones were “lost to archaeology” but found thanks to modern technology.
National Trust archaeologist Dr Nick Snashall said: “In the field that lies to the south we know there’s a standing stone which is now the only standing stone, now fallen, that you can go up to and touch in the whole of the Stonehenge landscape,” he said.
“It’s called the Cuckoo Stone.
“If there are stones beneath the bank... they’re probably looking at stones of pretty much the same size as the Cuckoo Stone.”
Dr Snashall added there was a “sense” of one area set aside for the living and another for the dead at Durrington Walls – and that had changed over time.
The findings are being announced later on the first day of the British Science Festival being held at the University of Bradford.
Fascinating stuff - what a find! Makes you wonder what else is out there waiting to be discovered?
Yup fascinating, will it change the reams of writing on the subject of Stonehenge, who knows? ;)
This sounds like a terrific find.
But doesn't this sentence make you want to cry?
"In the field that lies to the south we know there's a standing stone which is now the only standing stone, now fallen, that you can go up to and touch in the whole of the Stonehenge landscape,"
Agreed TSC. What harm is there in touching a stone?
It makes you wonder what lies underground elsewhere in other areas if as much money and resources were spent to carry out all these massive surveys as they are at Stonehenge.
Mike Parker Pearson; “The smart money is that the stones are not actually stones”
sarsen.org/2015/11/durrington-walls-superhenge-mike-parker.html
Archaeologists are a very argumentative lot ;) .....
Interesting thought though........is it REALLY important that we get a physical interpretation of this quickly? The Chinese authorities frequently hold back for decades on digging known key sites until they believe they've got the technology to interpret them properly.