The Land of the Dead- Stonehendge

Although we will probably never know the full extent of what Stonehenge was used for, what we can say is that the stone structure and the surrounding area appears more like a proverbial 'land of the dead'. More so, it appears that Stonehenge is a part of a far larger ritualistic structure. As reported by the New Scientist.

The landscape around Stonehenge has yielded hidden treasure: 17 previously unknown ritual monuments, a "house of the dead" predating the stone circle, and what appears to be a ceremonial route around Stonehenge itself.

Instead of today's solitary monument, Stonehenge was the focus of "a completely theatrical arrangement," says archaeologist Vincent Gaffney of the University of Birmingham in the UK.

Gaffney and his colleagues have produced a detailed map covering 12 square kilometres around Stonehenge. No excavation was involved. Instead, Gaffney's team spent four years surveying the landscape with magnetometers, radar, electrical resistance measurements and lasers, creating a detailed picture of what lies below the visible landscape. They unveiled the map this week at the British Science Festival in Birmingham.

A hidden world

One of the most striking discoveries was also one of the oldest: a long burial mound dating from before Stonehenge was built between 5000 and 4000 years ago. The mound was built over the remains of a huge, 6000-year-old timber building thought to have been a "house of the dead", used to store bodies that had been ritualistically defleshed and disassembled. The building has a slightly trapezoidal shape, similar to much older buildings on mainland Europe, although those were always in or near settlements.

The survey turned up 17 small ritual monuments, many of them circular, thought to be contemporary with Stonehenge's busiest period. Gaffney suggests they were the equivalents of small "chapels".

(Image: LBI ArchPro, Mario Wallner)

The nearby Durrington Walls "super-henge" holds even more secrets. At almost 500 metres across, it is one of the biggest earthworks of its kind. Gaffney's team has found evidence that early in its history it was flanked by a row of around 60 huge stones or posts up to 3 metres high. Some of them may remain intact beneath the banks of the monument.

The map also shows many linear features, which Gaffney says suggest that the land was divided up at some point, perhaps into fields or proto-estates.

The remainder of the article can be found here.