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Ring of Ancient Pits Near Stonehenge Confirmed as Britain's Largest Prehistoric Structure
A ring of 20 massive pits, each up to 10 meters wide and 5 meters deep, was built over 4,000 years ago as a large prehistoric monument, researchers said.
- After initial research a few years ago, the new Internet Archaeology journal study concludes the Durrington Walls pits near Stonehenge are almost certainly man-made and more than 4,000 years old.
- After surveying 12 sq km of the Stonehenge landscape a few years ago, researchers combined geophysical survey methods with narrow boreholes and sediment cores using optically stimulated luminescence and sedaDNA to analyze the large features.
- Measurements show the pits are ten metres across and more than five metres deep, forming a sweep of 20 pits around Durrington Walls with 16 analysed features and animal remains identified from sedaDNA.
- Professor Vincent Gaffney, University of Bradford, said the pit circle could be `one of the largest prehistoric structures in Britain, if not the largest prehistoric structure`, requiring major effort to dig two storeys deep in chalk.
- Luminescence dating showed the time of construction, the researchers' observation that the sequence 'spans changing cultures', and the horseshoe-shaped pits link to the Larkhill monument.
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Huge Neolithic pits have been found near the archaeological site, and researchers say the discovery sheds new light on the mystery of Stonehenge.
·Budapest, Hungary
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Humans Carved Huge Pits Near Stonehenge
The presence of an extraordinary circle of yawning pits created by Neolithic people near Stonehenge has been proved thanks to a novel combination of scientific techniques, a team of archaeologists is claiming. The architects of Stonehenge may have had the heavens in mind when they built the great stone monument in Wiltshire, but the team believes the makers of the Durrington pit circle were more interested in an underworld.
·Washington, United States
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources16
Leaning Left1Leaning Right4Center1Last UpdatedBias Distribution66% Right
Bias Distribution
- 66% of the sources lean Right
66% Right
L 17%
C 17%
R 66%
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