Long thought to be an assortment of mysterious holes near Stonehenge, researchers have now used new technologies to better understand the culture that dug a circle of ditches around the monument in southern England.
Were the monumental stones of Stonehenge part of a wider ceremonial space marked by geometrically arranged shafts?Image: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
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Some 4,500 years ago, people dug a series of deep, wide pits in the area near Durrington Walls in southern England. They were gemometrically arranged, forming a 2-kilometer (1.2-mile) wide circle that enclosed over three square kilometers (1.16 square miles).
Long mistaken for naturally occuring features, the circle of human-made shafts has now come to be understood as a colossal project that lends new dimensions to the Stonehenge landscape.
An invisible ring around Durrington Walls
Durrington Walls is just a stone's throw from the small English town of Amesbury, and just three kilometers, or about half an hour on foot, from Stonehenge. Each pit or shaft is approximately 10 meters (32.8 feet) wide and 5 meters deep.
Of the 20 pits discovered so far, a new study suggests that at least 15 form a huge, even circle around the henge of Durrington Walls. A henge is a type of prehistoric earthwork consisting of a ring-shaped bank, fortified with an inward ditch, encircling a flat circular area.
They were likely used for ceremonial purposes, to congregate or perform rituals. At the center of Durrington Walls used to be a circular structure of wooden posts, driven deep into the ground and surrounded by a settlement.
The pit structure forms a ring around Durrington WallsImage: Environment Agency 2024
The pits were discovered years ago, but the newest research is just now uncovering more details, and providing deeper understanding. Scientists have now been able to date the structure to about 2480 BCE using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL).
The OSL method is a fairly precise way of pinpointing a sediment's last exposure to light — and by extension, the last time it was covered or buried — by measuring the natural radiation captured in certain minerals like quartz and feldspar. This technique relies heavily on the quality of the sample and has a margin of error of about 5-10%.
The recent study shows that the circular structure did not accidentally form over centuries, but was the result of intentional efforts in a planned, momunental project. The pits were actively used as part of the cultural landscape — and traces of humans, plants and animals indicate deliberate coordination.
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A 'sacred boundary' mapped with astounding precision
None of the shafts examined can be attributed to natural erosion of the chalky landscape — the pits' sheer size and number clearly suggest they were dug by humans. They form a near-perfect circle, and are spaced at even intervals. The width and distance of the pits follow a clear pattern.
This means that the humans involved were able to mark distances, count steps or measurements, and work out a coordinated plan — all before they started digging. And so, what at first glance seemed like an assortment of strange holes became a rare testament to the fact that numbers, measurements, and large-scale planning were already part of the daily lives of Neolithic people living in the area.
Exhibition: The world of Stonehenge
Stonehenge in southern England is unique — but the stone circle is too big to fit in a museum. An exhibition at the British Museum gives it a new context, with hundreds of spectacular finds from the Bronze Age.
Image: Richard Gray/EMPICS/DPR/picture alliance
Stonehenge — 2,500 B.C.
One of Britain's most iconic monuments — Stonehenge — has inspired an intriguing exhibition by the British Museum. Tracing 3,000 years of European prehistory, from the hunter-gatherers of the Mesolithic period to the artists and astronomers of the late Bronze Age, it reveals people’s changing ideas, skills and beliefs.
Image: Toby Melville/REUTERS
'Seahenge' — 2,000 B.C.
4,000-year-old wooden posts formed a circle on a beach in Norfolk, at a ritual site built 500 years after the Stonehenge stone circle. The formation was dubbed "Seahenge." The 54 split oak posts stand up to three meters high and once encircled an upturned oak tree root. The British Museum is currently exhibiting Seahenge and other exhibits from the Bronze Age.
Image: Richard Gray/EMPICS/DPR/picture alliance
Nebra Sky Disk — 1,600 B.C.
The Bronze Age is full of treasures, some of which are now on display at the British Museum. One of the world-famous objects includes the Nebra Sky Disc, the oldest known surviving map of the cosmos. It was discovered in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, and it is on loan to the British Museum from a museum in Halle an der Saale.
Image: Alastair Grant/AP Photo/picture alliance
Bone necklace — 2,100-1,900 B.C.
Four thousand years ago, a man wore this necklace made of animal bones. It was found in 2002 near Stonehenge in the grave of the "Amesbury Archer," who was nicknamed so because he was buried with 16 arrowheads among other things. The archer came from a region on the border of what is now Germany and Switzerland. As early as the Bronze Age, people and goods moved across Europe.
Image: Alastair Grant/AP Photo/picture alliance
Sacrificial ox — 3,300-3,000 B.C.
Recent research has repeatedly confirmed that people in the Bronze Age were eager to travel and migrate. That is why the British Museum is displaying countless pieces from countries including Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Denmark and Switzerland. The remains of this ox, which was offered as an animal sacrifice 5,000 years ago, come from Saxony-Anhalt in Germany.
This unusual tall hat made of gold, which was presumably used as a ceremonial hat for sun rituals, also comes from an area in what is now Germany. It was discovered by a worker in 1835 in a field near Schifferstadt. Therefore, it is also known as the "Golden Hat of Schifferstadt."
Image: Alastair Grant/AP Photo/picture alliance
Spiritual warriors — 11,00-500 B.C.
These wooden figures with large eyes and sexual organs were found in Yorkshire in England. They are carved from the wood of yew trees, which in some ancient mythologies mark the entrance to the underworld. Yew trees can live for over 1,000 years. The oldest specimens today are found in Britain.
This golden brooch was discovered in the English county of Shropshire on the border with Wales. Many finds from the Bronze Age have sun motifs. Major ritual sites like Stonehenge and Seahenge are aligned according to the position of the sun on Midsummer's Day — proof of the astronomical knowledge and accurate observation skills people had in the Bronze Age.
Image: Alastair Grant/AP Photo/picture alliance
Gold necklace — 800-700 B.C.
This necklace was found in Ireland, which also has impressive prehistoric and early historic sites, including Newgrange, a ritual site aligned with the position of the sun on Midsummer's Day. "The World of Stonehenge" exhibition at the British Museum showcases treasures from the Bronze Age from February 17 to July 17, 2022.
Image: Alastair Grant/AP Photo/picture alliance
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A portal to the underworld?
The authors of the recent study believe this mathematical design directly related to people's beliefs about the world at the time. The researchers suggest that each pit marks not only a point in the circle, but also a symbolically lowered space — a kind of underworld — to deposit animals, sacrificial offerings and cult objects.
Archeologists interpret the ring of shafts as a kind of "sacred boundary" marking the area around Stonehenge and Durrington Walls. It could have been used to guide peoples' movements — or even entire processions.
Visitors looking out over the flat plain today cannot make out this boundary.
Neolithic monuments across Europe
Neither Durrington Walls nor Stonehenge are isolated structures. They belong to a network of Neolithic monuments spanning the British Isles, from the stone circles and circular ditches of Salisbury Plains to other henge formations with pits and ditches as far as Ireland and Scotland — and further still.
Similar discoveries show that around 2700 BCE and 2200 BCE, prehistoric groups from southern Britain, northern Europe, central Germany and the Iberian peninsula were in active exchange.
From Stonehenge to Carnac: 10 megalithic sites
Witnesses of a bygone era, these mighty stone circles and colossal statues erected thousands of years ago still spellbind visitors.
Image: picture-alliance/A. Gusev
The mystery of Stonehenge
This place radiates a magical energy to many. It is still unclear why people erected the structure some 4,500 years ago: Was it a temple, a coronation site or an observatory for the sun? Stonehenge continues to cast its spell, with tens of thousands of visitors making the pilgrimage to the site every year, especially for the winter solstice.
Image: picture-alliance/Mary Evans Picture Library/Historic England Archive/James O. Davies
The Ring of Brodgar, Scotland
About 500 years before Stonehenge was even erected, people built the Ring of Brodgar on the Orkney Islands, around 3200 B.C. The site features a huge stone circle that is 104 meters in diameter. Today, 27 of the original 60 boulders are still standing. Did these ancient builders later export their knowledge to Stonehenge? And was this ring also used as an astrological facility? No one knows.
These megaliths were also placed on one of the Orkney Islands around 3100 B.C. Archaeologist Nick Card believes that this was "an important site" some 5,000 years ago. He and his team have been excavating sites on the islands for years, and have now reconstructed 20 houses that once stood there. Card believes that people did not live here permanently, but came to hold festivities together.
Image: picture-alliance/Robert B. Fishman ecomedia
The Carnac stones, France
The Carnac stones are 7,000 years old and continue to fascinate people today. About 3,000 standing stones ranging from 0.5 to four meters in height have survived for centuries. It is said that even Caesar's legionaries were amazed by the structure that stretches out for four kilometers. Did they serve as a place of assembly? Or was this a place of pilgrimage? That remains a secret.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Destoc
Ales Stenar, Sweden
This complex near Kaseberga is often called "Sweden's Stonehenge." However, this constellation of stones is not actually a circle: 59 stone blocks are aligned here in the shape of a ship hull that is 67 meters long and 19 meters wide. Archaeologists assume that Ales Stenar served as an ancient burial place some 1,400 years ago. The site attracts about 700,000 visitors every year.
Image: picture-alliance/dap/M. Fludra
Bohuslän, Sweden
Near the Swedish village of Bohuslän, there are another 100 or so stone circles and graves that were first laid out during the Iron Age. From this burial ground, you get a broad view over the nearby North Sea. Researchers believe that the site was still in use as recently as the Middle Ages, as a meeting place.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Rentsch
Katun Valley, Russia
These stone relics of an earlier culture were uncovered in the remote Katun Valley of Russia's Altai Mountains. Some of the rocks feature prehistoric engravings. Scientists suspect that this was a sacred place of worship, which — similarly to Stonehenge — was probably also used for astronomical purposes.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/E. Strigl
Boitin stone circle, Germany
There are four stone circles in the middle of the forest near the German village of Boitin. According to a legend, a wedding took place here once upon a time. The party went a little out of hand, with the wedding guests treating their food without respect, throwing bread and sausages around in their merriment. The gods then turned them into rocks.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/T. Roetting
Megalith Route Altmark, Germany
These six preserved megalithic tombs near Lüdelsen in Saxony-Anhalt date back to the Neolithic period. Together with about 50 other preserved megalithic tombs in the region, there are plans to build a 40 kilometer-long "Megalith Route Altmark" to attract tourists.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K-D. Gabbert
Easter Island, Chile
Residents of Chile's Easter Island, which is located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, call these statues Moai — which translates as "stone figure." Researchers date the 900 monuments back to between the years 1250 and 1500, and many assume that they represented chiefs or ancestors, who were believed to act as a link between this world and the next.
What's known as the bell-beaker culture, with its eponymous bell-shaped ceramic vessels, even established a transregional network of trade and exchange, as the archeologist Franziska Knoll of the State Office for Heritage Management and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt told DW.
Knoll has been investigating the circular sanctuary of Pömmelte just south of Madgeburg in central Germany. Here, too, are circular structures that echo those of Durrington Walls — although, at just 2 meters deep, they do not match the scale — with cattle bones, ceramics, stone axes and other objects intentionally deposited within.
The pits in Durrington Walls will not be excavated in the near future for financial reasons. But Knoll hopes to soon find out what exactly was deposited in the British shafts. Although she was not involved in the present study, she says she's like to learn more about when exactly the pits were dug.
