A major discovery
happened recently – a
4 500-year-old megalithic
super-henge was found
buried just 2kms from
Stonehenge.
A
n enormous row of 90 megalithic stones has
or even earlier,' said Professor Gaffney.
been found buried beneath the prehistoric
The row of megalithic stones formed the southern
super-henge of Durrington Walls earthworks,
arm of a c-shaped ritual enclosure, which faced directly
nearly 2kms from the world-famous site of Stonehenge
towards the River Avon, the rest of which was made up
in Wiltshire, England. The huge line of megalithic stones
of an artificially made natural elevation in the ground.
lies a meter underground and has just been discovered
The monument was later converted from a c-shaped to
through the use of sophisticated radar equipment. The
a roughly circular enclosure, now known as Durrington
finding is believed to have been a huge ritual monument.
Walls – Britain’s largest pre-historic henge, roughly 12
'We’re looking at one of the largest stone monuments
times the size of Stonehenge itself.
in Europe and it has been under our noses for
Durrington Walls measures around 500m in diameter
something like 4
000 years… It’s truly remarkable.'
and is surrounded by a ditch of up to 16m wide and a bank
said Professor Vince Gaffney, from the University of
just a meter high. It is built on the same summer solstice
Bradford and co-director of the Stonehenge Hidden
alignment as Stonehenge. The enormous structure is
Landscapes Project, which made the discovery. 'We
believed to have formed a gigantic ceremonial complex
don’t think there’s anything quite like this anywhere else
in the Stonehenge landscape.
in the world. This is completely new and the scale is
extraordinary,' he added.
The discovery was announced at the opening of
the British Science Festival in Bradford, and has been
described as the most exciting finding of Neolithic Britain
for many years.
The Irish Times reports that the giant monoliths are
up to 4.5m tall, and are believed to be sarsen stones –
sandstone blocks which were also used for the heelstone
and circle uprights at Stonehenge. The stones are
lying horizontally and archaeologists believe they were
deliberately pushed over and covered with earth.
'Not only does the new evidence demonstrate
a completely unexpected phase of monumental
architecture at one of the greatest ceremonial sites in
prehistoric Europe, the new stone row could well be
contemporary with the famous Stonehenge sarsen circle
'It was probably for a ritual of some sort or it could
have marked out an arena,' said Professor Gaffney.
'These monuments were very theatrical. This a design to
impress and empower.'
One theory is that the row of megaliths marked a
ritual procession route.
'These latest results have produced tantalising
evidence of what lies beneath the ancient earthworks
at Durrington Walls,' Dr Nick Snashall, National Trust
Archaeologist for the Avebury and Stonehenge World
Heritage Site, said 'the presence of what appear to
be stones, surrounding the site of one of the largest
Neolithic settlements in Europe adds a whole new
chapter to the Stonehenge story.' O
From Ancient Origins.
All pictures by Ludwig Boltzmann Institute.
ODYSSEY 17
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DIGIMAG