New 'Superhenge': Ancient Remains Discovered Near Stonehenge

Archaeologists have discovered that there's more to Stonehenge than meets the eye. They've found the remains of a massive stone monument buried just two miles from Stonehenge.

"Our high-resolution ground penetrating radar data has revealed an amazing row of up to 90 standing stones, a number of which have survived after being pushed over, and a massive bank placed over the stones," said Wolfgang Neubauer, director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology, in an interview with CNN. "In the east up to 30 stones, measuring up to sizes of 4.5 x 1.5 x 1 meters, have survived below the bank whereas elsewhere the stones are fragmentary or represented by massive foundation pits."

The hidden, 90 huge standing stones formed part of a C-shaped Neolithic arena that bordered a dry valley and faced directly toward the river Avon.

"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 Vince Gaffney, an archaeologist at Bradford University who leads the Stonehenge Hidden Landscape project, in an interview with The Guardian. "This is archaeology on steroids."

The archaeologists believe that the stones originally stood upright and that they were pushed over when the site was redeveloped by Neolithic builders. Then the stones became lost beneath a huge bank and were then incorporated as a southern border to the otherwise circular "superhenge," known as Durrington Walls.

The new remains were probably erected at the time of Stonehenge or even earlier. This actually rewrites the history of the area, and tells researchers a bit more about this ancient time period.

Related Stories

Aztec Human Skull Rack Reveals History of Sacrificing Rival Warriors (VIDEO)

Ancient, Wooden Sea Monster Raised from the Depths of the Baltic Sea (VIDEO)

For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).