Experts found 15 previously unknown Neolithic monuments underground when Stonehenge project used magnetic sensors to scan landmark in Wiltshire
Sites suggest that Stonehenge was not an isolated monument in an unspoilt landscape, but that there was lots of human activity nearby
Study revealed a large gap in the Cursus barrier, indicating it acted as a gateway for ‘worshipers’ as well as a marker for the passage of the sun
Cursus is a strip of land which ran east to west for around two miles (3km)
Two pits at either end of the Curcus could have been used for ritual fires
Expert thinks Stonehenge was built to ‘monumentalise’ a procession.
Archaelogist Vince Gaffney, of the University of Birmingham, is involved in the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project – a four year collaboration with the Ludwig Boltmann Institute Prospection and Virtual Archaeology in Austria. The team has conducted the first detailed underground survey of the area surrounding Stonehenge, covering around four square miles (6km), journalist Ed Caesar reported for Smithsonian. They discovered evidence of 15 unknown and poorly-understood late Neolithic monuments, including other henges, barrows, pits and ditches, which could all harbour valuable information about the prehistoric site.
via Archaeologists discover 15 Neolithic monuments buried near Stonehenge | Mail Online.