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Stonehenge twin discovered stone's throw away Wiltshire

Submitted by coldrum on Friday, 17 December 2010  Page Views: 13692

Neolithic and Bronze Age

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Country: England County: Wiltshire Type: Henge

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Great Cursus Barrows, Stonehenge
Great Cursus Barrows, Stonehenge submitted by AngieLake : The west end of the chain of cursus barrows on the ridge near the Great Cursus. The Old and New King Barrows are visible in the distance, amongst the trees. (Vote or comment on this photo)
New wooden henge, a circular ditch that aligns with world-famous monument, deemed site's most exciting find in a lifetime. Without a sod of earth being dug up, a new henge, a circular ditch which probably enclosed a ring of timber posts and may have been used for feasting, has been discovered within sight of Stonehenge.

Professor Vince Gaffney, of Birmingham university, described the discovery of the new monument, only 900 metres away and apparently contemporary to the 5,000-year-old stone circle, as the most exciting find at Stonehenge in a lifetime.

"This finding is remarkable. It will completely change the way we think about the landscape around Stonehenge.

"People have tended to think that as Stonehenge reached its peak, it was the paramount monument, existing in splendid isolation. This discovery is completely new and extremely important in how we understand Stonehenge and its landscape.

"Stonehenge is one of the most studied monuments on Earth but this demonstrates that there is still much more to be found."

Midsummer revellers coming to Stonehenge for the solstice have probably trampled unwittingly across the grass hiding the henge.

The henge was revealed within a fortnight of an international team beginning fieldwork on the three-year Stonehenge Hidden Landscape project, which aims to survey and map 14 sq km of the sacred landscape around the world's most famous prehistoric monument, which is studded with thousands more monuments from single standing stones to ploughed out burial mounds.

Amanda Chadburn, the archaeologist responsible for Stonehenge at English Heritage, said: "This new monument is part of a growing body of evidence which shows how important the summer and winter solstices were to the ancient peoples who built Stonehenge. The discovery is all the more remarkable given how much research there has been in the vicinity of Stonehenge, and emphasises the importance of continuing research within and around the world heritage site."

The survey suggests that the henge was on the same alignment as Stonehenge, and comprised a segmented ditch with north-east and south-west entrances, enclosing internal pits up to a metre in diameter believed to have held massive timbers.

Read more in The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/jul/22/stonehenge-new-discovery

Interactive Guide: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/interactive/2010/jul/22/stonehenge-sacred-landscape-archaeology?intcmp=239

Note: Update - The Daily Mail gets a bit over excited and Mike Pitts tries to calm things down, see the latest additions to this page
Contributor Bio for coldrum: Based in Milkyway, contributing since 2002. Favourite site: Avebury.

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"Stonehenge twin discovered stone's throw away" | Login/Create an Account | 21 News and Comments
  
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The Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project (Short Report) by Andy B on Tuesday, 24 March 2015
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The Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project (Short Report)

Over the centuries many archaeologists have investigated the site of Stonehenge and we now know a great deal about the phasing and nature of the site. However, the area around the henge, while containing many symbolic and ritual elements, is curiously ‘blank’. The Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project aims to place the site and its development through time within a landscape context using fast and accurate ground-based geophysical techniques. The project has developed a rapid strategy to map, visualize and interpret landscape-scale data and is applying the strategy to the area known as the Stonehenge ‘envelope’. The data are interpreted within a data rich three-dimensional data cube that has provided new insights regarding the apparent blank areas surrounding Stonehenge. It is an aim of the project to discover more about Stonehenge by looking out from the site rather than looking at it.

https://www.academia.edu/1751987/The_Stonehenge_Hidden_Landscapes_Project
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Re: Stonehenge twin discovered stone's throw away by h_fenton on Friday, 23 December 2011
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English Heritage has published this site as being Barrow 50.

Stonehenge World Heritage Site Landscape Project
The Cursus Barrows and Surrounding Area
Archaeological Survey Report
by Lynn Amadio and Sharon Bishop
(Research Department Report Series 85-2010)
specifically see pages 20, then 22 onwards

http://services.english-heritage.org.uk/ResearchReportsPdfs/085_2010WEB.pdf

so that would be Grid Reference: SU 1147 4267

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Re: One of the greatest discoveries of archaeology...or a simple farmer's fen by frogcottage42 on Saturday, 18 December 2010
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Let's just dig a couple of discreet test pits and be done with it!
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Re: One of the greatest discoveries of archaeology...or a simple farmer's fen by AngieLake on Friday, 17 December 2010
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.. and Mike Pitts on the controversy here:
http://mikepitts.wordpress.com/2010/
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Is this one of the greatest discoveries of archaeology...or a simple farmer's fence? by davidmorgan on Friday, 17 December 2010
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The discovery of a wooden version of Stonehenge – a few hundred yards from the famous monument – was hailed as one of the most important archaeological finds for decades.

But now experts are at loggerheads after claims that what was thought to be a Neolithic temple was a rather more humble affair – in fact the remains of a wooden fence.

One leading expert on Stonehenge criticised the announcement of the ‘remarkable’ find in July as ‘hasty’ and warned it could become a ‘PR embarrassment’.

The discovery of what appeared to be a previously unknown ‘henge’, or earthwork, by a team of archaeologists conducting a multi-million-pound study of Salisbury Plain was widely reported amid great excitement.

The team said they had found evidence of a ring of 24 3ft-wide pits that could have supported timber posts up to 12ft tall, surrounded by an 80ft-wide ditch and bank.

They explained that, just like Stonehenge, the entrances to the site were aligned so that on the summer solstice...

Read the rest of this post...
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    Re: Is this one of the greatest discoveries of archaeology...or a simple farmer's fen by frogcottage42 on Saturday, 18 December 2010
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    'Quote'
    ‘The poles that would have stood in them would have been more like telegraph poles. You would not use them to build a fence.’

    Actually it was common practice for the military in the west country to use 'telegraph poles', around WW2 all of their major sits had them erected for carrying camouflage nets and many still stand at sites like Monkton farleigh and Corsham.
    The idea that these would not have been used is a bit daft when you consider they may have been attempting to keep out trainee tank drivers!
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      Re: Is this one of the greatest discoveries of archaeology...or a simple farmer's fen by davidmorgan on Saturday, 18 December 2010
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      Yes, and you'd need strong poles for a circular fence because there will be stress inwards.
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Archaeologists Turn Back Clock at Stonehenge by Andy B on Monday, 02 August 2010
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University of Birmingham Press Release, 5th July:

Archaeologists at the University of Birmingham are heading to Stonehenge to lead the world’s biggest-ever virtual excavation. The Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project, which starts today (Monday July 5), will use the latest geophysical imaging techniques to visually recreate the iconic prehistoric monument and its surroundings.

‘We aim to unlock the mysteries of Stonehenge and show people exactly what the local area looked like during the time the monument was created,’ explains project leader Professor Vince Gaffney, of the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity.

The multi-million-Euro study is funded by the new Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology in Vienna and the University of Birmingham and is assisted by the National Trust and English Heritage. It will bring together the most sophisticated geophysics team ever to be engaged in a single...

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A new henge discovered at Stonehenge by Andy B on Monday, 02 August 2010
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The University of Birmingham press release, with a photo of the archaeological team on site at Stonehenge
http://www.newscentre.bham.ac.uk/press/2010/07/Stonehenge_Press_Release_22_07_10.shtml

History is set to be rewritten after an archaeology team led by the University of Birmingham and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology in Austria discovered a major ceremonial monument less than one kilometre away from the iconic Stonehenge.

The incredible find has been hailed by Professor Vince Gaffney, from the University’s IBM Visual and Spatial Technology Centre, as one of the most significant yet for those researching the UK’s most important prehistoric structure.

The new henge was uncovered this week, just two weeks into a three-year international study that forms part of the multi-million Euro international Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project.

The project aims to map 14 square kilometres of the Stonehenge Landscape using the...

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Stonehenge secrets to be revealed by geo-scanning by Andy B on Monday, 02 August 2010
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[I presume this is the same project being reported from a more techno-oriented angle by the IET's magazine - MegP Ed]

What's claimed to be the world's most extensive 'virtual excavation' has begun at the Stonehenge prehistoric monument in Wiltshire. The Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project is using advanced geophysical imaging technology to survey the 14 sq km site over approximately nine weeks spread over a three-year period.

The project will be the first time that Stonehenge has been subjected to such a detailed archaeological survey, with every inch of the targeted terrain scanned to a depth of three metres using high-frequency ground-penetrating radar (GPR) systems from Swedish firm MAL' Geoscience. The survey is scheduled around the needs of farmers and small-holders whose lands abut the Stonehenge site.

Led by the University of Birmingham's Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity, the project brings together a 12-member multi-disciplinary team that includes...

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Stonehenge 'Twin' found by Andy B on Monday, 02 August 2010
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Stonehenge 'Twin' found

A second ceremonial monument has been discovered at Stonehenge, scientists said today.

Archaeologists have found a circular ditch surrounding a smaller circle of deep pits that would have once contained wooden posts at the World Heritage site.

The discovery of the henge, which would have been built more than 4,200 years ago, has been hailed as the biggest find in 50 years.

A henge is a circular monument dating to Neolithic and Bronze Ages.

It is about half a mile from the world-famous stones on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire.

Birmingham University’s Professor Vince Gaffney, who is leading the survey, described the find as ‘exceptional’.

It would have been almost the same size as the circle of standing stones at Stonehenge itself and would have been visible from its more famous relative.

Images show it has two entrances on the north-east and south-west sides and inside the circle is a burial mound on top which appeared much later.

Profes...

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Re: New Henge Updates & by AngieLake on Monday, 26 July 2010
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It looks as if I've written the article above, but it's just a credit for the photo at top of page!

[My friend] Alex Down has responded to seeing this photo with my comment, via a link to Meg P, earlier on Eternal Idol:
"Angie, my guess is that you were standing relatively close to the end of the Cursus barrows, judging by the angle subtended by the end fence. Probably less than 50m away, while the New Henge is almost certainly 150-160m away, though on the same sort of line. Not sure whether that counts as “pretty close”. ;-)"

Alex did a great report on Dennis Price's Eternal Idol website, and comments are always being added.
There are actually two threads currently running on the front page of EI, regarding the new henge: http://www.eternalidol.com/

Between those two is an article that Alex wrote on Marden Henge headed up with a photo I took of him on 4th May, when we explored the west end of the Cursus. We went on to look at Fargo Henge's site in the woods later,...

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“Hillside Henge”, or New Henge Update by Andy B on Sunday, 25 July 2010
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Alex Down visited and took a look around, he's located the site as roughly on the Coneybury alignment, 900m from Stonehenge, close to Barrow 51
http://www.eternalidol.com/?p=7495
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Re: Stonehenge twin discovered stone's throw away by Anonymous on Friday, 23 July 2010
the negotiating Avebury Project did Avebury from 1999 to 2005 resulting in the book Landscape of the Megaliths.
The Silbury book is due out in October 2010
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Re: Stonehenge twin discovered stone's throw away by Anonymous on Friday, 23 July 2010
I wonder if the same agencies would be willing to take on the site at Avebury, with ground penetrating radar, to see how much more it may offer to our knowledge.
I always feel that Avebury gets the short schrift in exploring it's ultimate possibilities.
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Re: Stonehenge twin discovered stone's throw away by Anonymous on Friday, 23 July 2010
The Thornborough of the South. The 3 close henges look strikingly similar to the layout of the 3 Thornborough henges.
The 3 are :the new henge, Stonehenge and Coneybury Hill Henge.

Discuss
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    Re: Stonehenge twin discovered stone's throw away by Anonymous on Friday, 23 July 2010
    and bluestonehenge and woodhenge and durrington walls....
    [ Reply to This ]
      Re: Stonehenge twin discovered stone's throw away by Anonymous on Friday, 23 July 2010
      only the above three do not look anything like Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka (Orions belt) so what's your point?
      [ Reply to This ]
        Re: Stonehenge twin discovered stone's throw away by Anonymous on Friday, 23 July 2010
        the point is that picking and choosing three henges in a row and ignoring the rest shows the Orion theory to be complete rubbish.
        Oh yeah, Robin Hoods ball is not far away either but I suppose you can ignore that as well.
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Re: Stonehenge twin discovered stone's throw away by Anonymous on Friday, 23 July 2010
Sounds like it could be the Stonehenge of the South . . .
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Re: Stonehenge twin discovered stone's throw away by canucklehead on Friday, 23 July 2010
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This discovery is another proponent for the employment of non-invasive imaging technology (eg. GPR) over large areas surrounding previously discovered sites of "vast importance".
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