Bradford professor helps uncover major prehistoric stone monument near Stonehenge

Using cutting-edge sensory technology, scientists working on the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project, including Professor Vincent Gaffney, of the University of Bradford, have uncovered evidence of what they believe was a ritual arena of up to 90 standing stones buried beneath the bank of the Durrington Walls ‘super-henge’.

The findings were announced today to coincide with the first day of the British Science Festival in Bradford which is being hosted at the university.

Previous intensive studies of the area had led archaeologists to believe that only Stonehenge and a smaller henge at the end of the Stonehenge Avenue possessed significant stone structures.

The latest surveys now provide evidence that Stonehenge’s largest neighbour, Durrington Walls, had an earlier phase which included a large row of standing stones, with the preservation of the stones said to be "exceptional", and in a configuration unique to British archaeology.

Durrington Walls is one of the largest known henge monuments, measuring 500m in diameter, and is thought to have been built about 4,500 years ago.

It surrounds several smaller enclosures and timber circles, and is associated with a recently excavated later Neolithic settlement.

Using non-invasive exploration techniques, the team discovered evidence for a row of up to 90 standing stones, some of which may have originally measured up to 4.5m in height.

Many of the stones are said to have have survived due to being pushed over, with the massive bank of the later henge raised over the recumbent stones or the pits in which they stood.

Prof Gaffney, chairman in landscape archaeology at the University of Bradford, said: "We're looking at one of the largest stone monuments in Europe and it has been under our noses for something like 4,000 years. It's truly remarkable.

"We don't think there's anything quite like this anywhere else in the world.

"This is completely new and the scale is extraordinary.

"This discovery of a major new stone monument, which has been preserved to a remarkable extent, has significant implications for our understanding of Stonehenge and its landscape setting.

"Not only does this 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 or even earlier."

The international project was carried out in conjunction with the National Trust and English Heritage, with Paul Garwood, senior lecturer in archaeology at the University of Birmingham, acting as principal prehistorian.

"The extraordinary scale, detail, and novelty of the evidence produced by the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project, which the new discoveries at Durrington Walls exemplify, is fundamentally changing our understanding of Stonehenge and the world around it," he said.

"Everything written previously about the Stonehenge landscape and the ancient monuments within it will need to be re-written."

Dr Nick Snashall, National Trust archaeologist for the Avebury and Stonehenge World Heritage Site, added: "The Stonehenge landscape has been studied by antiquaries and archaeologists for centuries but the work of the Hidden Landscapes team is revealing previously unsuspected twists in its age-old tale.

"These latest results have produced tantalising evidence of what lies beneath the ancient earthworks at Durrington Walls.

"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."