New Stonehenge discovery made recently may just solve the great mystery behind the famous landmark standing in the middle of an open field north of Salisbury, England. Perhaps the most studied structure to remain unsolved from the ancient world, the new Stonehenge discovery may just have put an end to scientists' efforts.
For centuries, scientists have made great efforts at decoding the mysteries that lay with the landmark located in Wiltshire, England, and still no study has indefinitely explained its origins. With the new and literally deep discovery, scientists have come closer to understanding its mysteries.
According to the Huffington Post, the new Stonehenge discovery came from a first-of-its-kind study. The study has revealed 15 more ancient, previously undiscovered or poorly understood monuments lying underneath the grassy plains surrounding Stonehenge itself.
The previously undiscovered or little known Neolithic monuments buried just below the surface is the new Stonehenge discovery, according to British and Austrian researchers Wednesday, as they revealed in a study.
According to Smithsonian Magazine, the new Stonehenge discovery has several manmade features including henges, pits, ditches and barrows, which are mounds of earth and stone used to mark a grave or graves.
The International Business Times reports that Vince Gaffney, a professor at the U.K.'s University of Birmingham and lead researcher of a recently completed four-year survey of Stonehenge, telling Smithsonian Magazine, "This is among the most important landscapes, and probably the most studied landscape, in the world."
He added, "The area has been absolutely transformed by this survey. [It] won't be the same again."
He also acknowledged that until holes are dug, "you just don't know what you've got."
Researchers reportedly used a variety of techniques which led them to the new Stonehenge discovery. Some techniques included ground-penetrating radar, 3D laser scanning and other 21st Century technology. These methods, said the Huffington Post, created a highly detailed subsurface map of the entire Stonehenge area.
A release from the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology, one of the partners in the study, detailed that the technologies used for the study are noted for their being much less destructive than traditional, digging-based exploratory techniques.
The project which led to the new Stonehenge discovery is known as "The Stonehenge Hidden Landscape Project." It spanned a total of four years and it debunked theories about Stonehenge previously suggested by other studies. With the "Hidden Landscapes Project", Stonehenge is revealed to have more than what meets the eye.
The new Stonehenge discovery of the 15 ancient monuments shows them lining up with the rise and setting of the sun at various times of the year.
According to The Inquisitr, the position of the newly discovered monuments provide Stonehenge with the appearance of an ancient "cathedral," where people from miles could have possibly come to worship, rather than a place where only priests can go to for their sacred and mysterious rituals.
One of the new findings includes an ancient trough bisecting an East-West ditch known as a "Cursus," Gaffney told The Smithsonian.
According to Gaffney, cursuses' purpose has long been debated, but scientists have been suggesting them as serving the purpose of processional routes. Cursuses also follow astronomical alignments at times, such as with the Stonehenge cursus. They reportedly trace the sunrise on the Spring and Fall equinoxes.
The Huffington Post reports that Gaffney has said that he believes the Stonehenge's cursus monument to be serving the purpose of aligning with the sunrise on the Spring and Fall equinoxes. He also believes that the new Stonehenge discovery of the trough could mean that ancient beings could have used it to channel worshippers by the dozens directly into the center of what is now called Stonehenge.
The new Stonehenge discovery, according to the IBT, is the latest in a series of recent findings about the world famous heritage. Scientists have previously thought it to be up to 5,000 years old, when in fact, scientists found evidence last October that the area may have been occupied for more than 10,000 years.
The October discovery made the area around Stonehenge the oldest continually occupied region in Britain, reports The Huffington Post. According to the scientists behind that study, the place where Stonehenge was constructed could have been occupied since 8820 B.C.
Another recent discovery was that the stones used to build the heritage were taken from a quarry not even two miles away from the Stonehenge site, rather than from hundreds of miles away.
In a nutshell, the new Stonehenge discovery of the 15 hidden monuments suggests that the site wasn't only a place visited on special occasions, but it was once used as a place for all kinds of events.
Gaffney told Smithsonian, "The perceived wisdom was driven by the monuments we knew about. We've put in the data between the monuments."
New Stonehenge discovery, however, does not mean that the team of archaeologists is done with the digging in Stonehenge. Gaffney said that the process to unearth the new findings could take years.
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