SCIENTISTS say they have uncovered evidence Stonehenge once stood as part of a larger network of chapels, burial mounds, pits and shrines.
It is now believed that up to 60 stones might once have stood at the site and formed what scientists are describing as a “super henge”.
The find was discovered after the area around the stones was digitally mapped for the first time by scientists from the University of Birmingham.
The results of the survey, unveiled in full at the British Science Festival, include 17 previously unknown ritual monuments dating to the period when Stonehenge achieved its iconic shape.
Dr Nick Snashall, National Trust archaeologist for the Avebury and Stonehenge World Heritage Site, said: “Using 21st-century techniques, the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes team have transformed our knowledge of this ancient, precious and very special landscape.
“Their work has revealed a clutch of previously unsuspected sites and monuments showing how much of the story of this world-famous archaeological treasure house remains to be told.”
The work was non-invasive and according to Professor Wolfgang Neubauer, director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute: “Stonehenge may never be the same again”.
He said: “No landscape deserves to benefit from a study at this level of detail more than Stonehenge.
“The terabytes of digital survey data collected, processed and visualised by LBI ArchPro provide the base for the precise mapping of the monuments and archaeological features buried in the subsurface or still visible in the landscape surrounding Stonehenge.
“After centuries of research, the analysis of all mapped features makes it possible, for the first time, to reconstruct the development of Stonehenge and its landscape through time.”
In the year marking the centenary of the First World War, the survey has also produced detailed maps of the practice trenches that were dug for the soldiers to prepare for the western front.
The find will be featured in a new BBC Two show titled Operation Stonehenge: What Lies Beneath which starts tommorrow at 8pm.
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