REUTERS/Kieran Doherty
Stonehenge has a (smaller, largely eroded) twin.
Archaeologists announced the discovery of a second henge — an ancient, circular monument — only a few hundred feet away its more famous larger brother. The only problem? The original monument was constructed of wood, meaning little evidence of the monument survived into the modern era.
“When you see that as an archaeologist, you just looked at it and thought, ‘that’s a henge monument’ – it’s a timber equivalent to Stonehenge,” Vince Gaffney, a professor at the University of Birmingham who headed up the discovery, told the BBC. (See pictures of the summer solstice at Stonehenge.)
The discovery was made as a part of an effort to map how the land around the Stonehenge monument, which dates back some 4,500 years, was used. Scientists say it’s the first monument of its kind discovered in the last 50 years. (via BBC)