Over 400 pits, each over 2 meters wide, have been unearthed by scientists around Stonehenge. These mysterious pits discovered near Stonehenge appear to be man-made, as per a new study.
Despite the years devoted by experts researching the origins of Stonehenge, one of the most enigmatic English landmarks remains shrouded in mystery.
An archaeological “biopsy” of Stonehenge discovered several strange pits around the stone circle, which researchers believe are man-made.
Stonehenge was examined by scholars from the University of Birmingham and Ghent University in Belgium. The study used a variety of geological approaches, including “the first extensive electromagnetic induction survey, 20 targeted archaeological excavations, and computer-generated analyses of thousands of subsurface features.”
Over 400 similar pits, each over 2 meters wide, have been unearthed by scientists around Stonehenge. The significance of these pits, which were thought to be built by humans, was not instantly apparent. The researchers proposed that they may be employed for “utilitarian functions” and be related to Stonehedge’s “long-term ceremonial structuring.”
“By combining new geophysical survey techniques with coring, and pinpoint excavation, the team has revealed some of the earliest evidence of human activity yet unearthed in the Stonehenge landscape. The discovery of the largest known Early Mesolithic pit in northwest Europe shows that this was a special place for hunter-gatherer communities thousands of years before the first stones were erected,” said Dr Nick Snashall, Archaeologist for the Stonehenge & Avebury World Heritage Site.
The pits dated from the Early Mesolithic period (c.8000 BCE) to the Middle Bronze Age (c.1300 BCE).
“From early Holocene hunter-gatherers to later Bronze Age inhabitants of farms and field systems, the archaeology we’re detecting is the result of complex and ever-changing occupation of the landscape,” said Paul Garwood, Senior Lecturer in Prehistory at the University of Birmingham.