Vast 5,600-year-old religious centre discovered near Stonehenge

A reconstruction of part of a Neolithic causewayed enclosure at Windmill Hill, which would have been similar to the complex discovered near Stonehenge Historic England Archive/Judith Dobie

 
The centre was built more than 1,000 years before the stones of Stonehenge were erected

A huge, prehistoric religious and ceremonial complex has been discovered near Britain’s most famous prehistoric temple Stonehenge.

Its discovery is likely to transform our understanding of the early development of Stonehenge’s ancient landscape.

Built about 5,650 years ago – more than 1,000 years before the great stones of Stonehenge were erected – the 200m-diameter complex is the first major early Neolithic monument to be discovered in the Stonehenge area for more than a century.

The newly discovered complex, just over a mile and a half north-east of Stonehenge, appears to have consisted of around 950m of segmented ditches – and potentially palisaded earthen banks – arranged in two great concentric circles.

So far, archaeologists have located and excavated around 100 metres worth of the outer ditch. It is not yet known how much, if any, of the rest of the monument has survived. [...] The Independent


Actualización: Descubren centro religioso más antiguo que Stonehenge

Un inmenso complejo religioso prehistórico, erigido más de mil años antes que Stonehenge, ha sido descubierto cerca de ese famoso monumento de piedra, en el Reino Unido.

Se estima que la estructura de más de 200 metros de diámetro fue construida hace cerca de 5.650 años, lo que convierte a ese centro religioso en el primer monumento del inicio del período neolítico descubierto en el área de Stonehenge en más de un siglo, afirmó The Independent.

El hallazgo del centro religioso, a menos de un kilómetro de distancia de las famosas piedras de Stonehenge, demuestra que, cientos de años antes de la construcción del famoso monumento, la zona era aún más sagrada y ritualmente activa de lo que los arqueólogos habían pensado anteriormente.

Hasta ahora, los arqueólogos de Wessex Archaeology han excavado alrededor de unos 100 metros, lo que probablemente representa cerca del 17% del área exterior del monumento religioso. Lo que ha sido descubierto hasta ahora es suficiente para tener una idea de los tipos de rituales que se llevaron a cabo allí.

El complejo prehistórico fue hallado durante la fase inicial de la construcción de casas para acomodar al personal del ejército británico que regresa de Alemania.


Actualización: Prehistoric burial ground unearthed at UK army garrison site (PHOTOS) — RT UK News

 

15 Oct, 2017. Archaeologists have uncovered prehistoric remains at the site of a large garrison which is being built to house British troops who are returning from Germany.

The bodies were found by workers carrying out excavations as part of the building of Larkhill Garrison in Wiltshire in southern England. They were found underneath where a football pitch is being laid.

One of the bodies belonged to an infant while another is believed to be a teenage male aged between 15 and 17...


Actualización: Prehistoric Larkhill community may have been architects of the Stonehenge landscape | Wessex Archaeology
02/01/2018. The community that built the Neolithic causewayed enclosure at Larkhill which has been dated to between 3650 to 3750 BC, pre-dating Stonehenge by 600 years may have been the architects of the Stonehenge landscape that we see today.

The causewayed enclosure was uncovered in 2016 after Wessex Archaeology were commissioned by WYG on behalf of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) to undertake excavations on land adjacent to Royal Artillery Larkhill in Wiltshire. The land, on the very edge of Salisbury Plain and, immediately north of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site, has been earmarked for the provision of service family accommodation under the Army Basing Programme.

Project manager Si Cleggett now believes that the community who built the causewayed enclosure may have been more closely involved in the planning of Stonehenge than previously thought...


Actualización: Los arqueólogos pueden haber encontrado el campamento de arquitectos de Stonehenge
Un equipo de arqueólogos cree haber descubierto el lugar donde se reunían y acampaban algunos de los arquitectos de Stonehenge.
El equipo ha estado investigando un recinto circular rodeado de zanjas y empalizadas (causewayed) que se cree fue un antiguo lugar de reunión o centro de comercio en Larkhill, cerca de Stonehenge.
Los arqueólogos encontraron en el mismo una alineación de postes que coinciden con la orientación del círculo de piedras de Stonehenge, lo que lleva a la teoría de que Larkhill podría haber sido una especie de modelo previo de aquél...