Survey reveals Neolithic shrines under Stonehenge
QMI AGENCY
First posted: Wednesday, September 10, 2014 12:40 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, September 10, 2014 12:58 PM EDT
A new survey of Stonehenge has revealed at least 17 previously unknown Neolithic shrines under the monument, British researchers say.
Over the course of four years, researchers from the University of Birmingham and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archeological Prospection and Virtual Archeology in Austria used ground-penetrating radar to map the area.
Among the findings were dozens of burial mounds. One mound dates to before Stonehenge and includes a timber building, likely used for the ritual inhumation of the dead — burying a corpse straight into the ground — after excarnation — a burial practice that involved removing the flesh and organs.
The new survey also found the Durrington Walls "super henge" located nearby had an early phase where the monument was flanked with massive stones.
"This project has revealed that the area around Stonehenge is teeming with previously unseen archeology," project leader Vincent Gaffney said in a press release Wednesday.
The research will be presented in a BBC series called Operation Stonehenge: What Lies Beneath.
Survey reveals Neolithic shrines under Stonehenge | World | News | Toronto Sun
QMI AGENCY
First posted: Wednesday, September 10, 2014 12:40 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, September 10, 2014 12:58 PM EDT
A new survey of Stonehenge has revealed at least 17 previously unknown Neolithic shrines under the monument, British researchers say.
Over the course of four years, researchers from the University of Birmingham and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archeological Prospection and Virtual Archeology in Austria used ground-penetrating radar to map the area.
Among the findings were dozens of burial mounds. One mound dates to before Stonehenge and includes a timber building, likely used for the ritual inhumation of the dead — burying a corpse straight into the ground — after excarnation — a burial practice that involved removing the flesh and organs.
The new survey also found the Durrington Walls "super henge" located nearby had an early phase where the monument was flanked with massive stones.
"This project has revealed that the area around Stonehenge is teeming with previously unseen archeology," project leader Vincent Gaffney said in a press release Wednesday.
The research will be presented in a BBC series called Operation Stonehenge: What Lies Beneath.
Survey reveals Neolithic shrines under Stonehenge | World | News | Toronto Sun