Surprising companion to the famous Stonehenge revealed
All archaeological endeavours, while unique and individual, can be counted on to be surprising. A four-year mapping project in the approximately 7.25 square kilometer vicinity of the famed Stonehenge has unveiled seventeen other similar Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments, the most surprising and exciting of which appears to be another henge-like structure.
Vince Gaffney, co-director of the investigation, has informally called this discovery “Superhenge.” This Superhenge is located near Durrington Walls, about three kilometers northeast of Stonehenge, and would have been comprised of about 60 massive stone or wooden pillars; the structure is indicated by both remaining pillars and still-buried holes which appear on the detailed 3D site plan.
The new monument, likely the largest of its type in the world, is more than 1.5 km in circumference. Gaffney described ‘Superhenge’ as “a big prehistoric monument which we never knew anything about,” and predicts that it will guide future excavations.
The massive geophysical survey is equally remarkable for its methods and results. It has revealed both new monuments and new types of monuments. Investigators from Birmingham, Bradford, St. Andrews, and Nottingham Universities in the UK collaborated with the University of Ghent in Belgium and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute in Vienna to gather the information. Researchers used a combination of ground-penetrating radar, remote sensing techniques, and surveying methods to create the detailed map of the heretofore hidden landscape. The survey has given information to a depth of approximately four meters and is the largest survey of its kind ever carried out in the world.
While the 17 additional monuments, several large prehistoric pits, and other miscellaneous evidence indicating Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman settlements are interesting individually, their most important function is what they tell archaeologists when considered as a whole. It is often assumed that individually beautiful artefacts are most significant to the archaeologist, but even the most fragmentary and seemingly mundane object can provide abundant information when considered in context. It is possible that Indy’s performance in Raiders of the Lost Ark,in which he makes off with the Chachapoyan idol and destroys the entire temple in which it was found, has lent something to this popular misconception.
Researchers are still not entirely certain as to the precise function of Stonehenge, “Superhenge,” or the other surrounding monuments, but they appear likely to have served a ritual purpose. This theory is further supported by the surrounding discoveries, many of which appear along astronomical alignments. Gaffney has theorized that Stonehenge may have been used as one of the first places for liturgy or ceremonial procession.
“Despite Stonehenge being the most iconic of all prehistoric monuments and occupying one of the richest archaeological landscapes in the world, much of this landscape in effect remains terra incognita,” stated Gaffney. “This project has revealed that the area around Stonehenge is teeming with previously unseen archaeology and that the application of new technology can transform how archaeologists and the wider public understand one of the best-studied landscapes on Earth.”
Context is imperative for the academic who seeks truths amid fragments of the past. As archaeologists continue to analyse the new data, we can all look forward to new theories and potential truths about the iconic henge which, until now, has always appeared an isolated and mysterious structure.