Newly discovered ‘superhenge’ dwarfs Stonehenge

Prehistoric monument would have had stones higher than double-decker bus.
Researchers have discovered a major prehistoric stone monument three kilometres away from the famous Stonehenge standing stones.  The enormous Durrington Walls “superhenge” dwarfs Stonehenge and may have as many as 90 large standing stones associated with it.


Artist’s impression of the Durrington Walls superhenge and the nearby timber circle Woodenhenge. Image: Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute

Built about 4,500 years ago it has remained hidden for millennia. The use of non-invasive geophysical technologies including ground penetrating radar have begun to reveal the superhenge’s secrets.
Details of the work by the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project were revealed today, on the first day of the British Science Association’s annual festival of science. The festival is hosted this year by the University of Bradford.
Durrington Walls is one of the largest known henge monuments yet discovered. It has a 500m diameter and a 1.5km circumference. Massive effort would have gone into its construction, as it is surrounded by a ditch up to 17.6m wide.
This can be seen, in part, on the ground, but what lies beneath is more surprising. Technology has allowed scientists from the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and the University of Bradford to look back through time and see the original monument.
They discovered a row of up to 90 buried standing stones, some of them 4.5m high, taller than a double decker bus.
Many survived because they were pushed over before being buried under the superhenge. Others have disappeared but underground evidence provided by radar and other equipment revealed the pits in which they once stood.
The scientists suggest the stones and henge formed a C-shaped arena. None of the stones have yet been excavated but it is expected they will match the sandstones used to build Stonehenge.
Previous surveys of the surrounding terrain had led scientists to assume only Stonehenge and a smaller henge nearby possessed significant stone structures.
This new survey reveals however that Durrington Walls also had a large row of standing stones. Its dimensions and construction are unique to British archaeology the scientists say.
“This discovery . . . has significant implications for our understanding of Stonehenge,” said Prof Vincent Gaffney of Bradford, who co-leads the project.

The Irish Times will provide daily coverage from the UK festival of science, which continues until Thursday.

IRISH TIMES: Dick Ahlstrom Bradford

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4,000-year-old skeleton found near Stonehenge

A 4,000-year-old Bronze Age skeleton of a child has been discovered in the foetal position near Stonehenge.


The Bronze Age skeleton was found with a necklace (Picture: PA)

The kid, found wearing an amber necklace, was unearthed by a team from the University of Reading, who are excavating Wilsford henge in the Vale of Pewsey, Wiltshire.
It is believed the skeleton will help shed light on the lives of those who lived and worshipped at nearby Stonehenge.
Efforts will now be made to determine the age and gender of the child and where they were from after the find was made on Tuesday.

The Vale of Pewsey, situated between Stonehenge and Avebury, is the subject of a three-year dig but over the last six weeks, archaeologists have focused on Marden henge and Wilsford henge.
Built in 2400 BC, Marden henge is the largest henge – a prehistoric monument – in the country.
Dr Jim Leary, from the University of Reading’s department of archaeology, described the skeleton as a ‘wonderful discovery’.

He said: ‘Finds from the first five weeks of the dig were exciting – but as so often during excavations the best is revealed last. The skeleton is a wonderful discovery which will help tell us what life was like for those who lived under the shadow of Stonehenge at a time of frenzied activity.
‘Scientific analysis will provide information on the gender of the child, diet, pathologies and date of burial. It may also shed light on where this young individual had lived.’

Read full story at the Metro

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Stonehenge's sun-disc revealed: Rare 4,500-year-old gold decoration found in grave near sacred site goes on display

• The 4,500 year old thin disc of gold is decorated with a cross and circle
• It is one of just six sun-discs to have been found in Britain and may have belonged to a chieftain of a tribe living in the area around Stonehenge 
• The golden disc is one of the earliest known pieces of metalwork in Britain
•  It was found in a burial mound at Monkton Farleigh in Wiltshire in 1947

This sun-disk is made from a thin sheet of gold that has had the design of a cross and circle beaten into it. The indentations decorating each are thought to be intended to catch the sunlight. It is one of only six sun-disks to have been found in Britain and has now gone on display to the public for the first time at the Wiltshire Museum

One of the earliest known pieces of metalwork in Britain, found just a few miles from Stonehenge, has gone on display to the public for the first time.

The gold sun-disc, which was forged around 4,500 years ago at around the same time the main circle of Stonehenge was erected, was discovered in the Bronze Age burial mound of a local chieftain.

Thought to represent the sun, the thin sheet of embossed gold features a cross at the centre surrounded by a circle. Each is decorated with dots that glint in the sunlight.

The disc, which is one of only six sun disc found in Britain, may have once formed part of a headdress or garment.

Experts believe the disc, which is around two inches (5cm) wide, may have been made with gold imported to England from Ireland, where there is evidence that gold was being mined at the time.

However, new research has raised the prospect that it could be made of Cornish gold as rich deposits in the area were being exported to Ireland and elsewhere at the time.

The mysterious sun-disc, which was discovered alongside the remains of a skeleton of an adult male at a burial mound at Monkton Farleigh in 1947 , is now on public display for the first time at the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes, Wiltshire to mark the summer solstice.

David Dawson, director of the Wiltshire Museum, said: 'This is an incredibly important object as it was one of the earliest pieces of metal to appear in Britain.

'Gold is precious to us, but to people at the time they had not seen metal at all and it would have been completely new and something far out of their experience.

'We think it was owned by a local chieftain and was buried with him when he died. His family clearly valued it enough to put it into his grave so he could carry it with him to the afterlife.'

The discovery of the sun-disc in the grave at Monkton Farleigh has helped to shed light not only on the wealth of people living at the time but also their relationship with death.

Sun worship is thought to have been common in the early bronze age and the highly reflective golden metal disk would have had special significance in that culture.

Stonehenge has long been associated with the sun as many of the stones appear to be aligned with phases of the sun. 

Thousands of people still descend on the ancient monument each year to watch the sun rise on the summer solstice.

At the time when the sun-disc found at Monkton Farleigh was made, the sarsen stones at Stonehenge had just been erected.

Read the full story here:

By RICHARD GRAY FOR MAILONLINE

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