The researchers found signs in at least one of the pits suggesting it had been "recut" after the initial excavation, "suggesting that some of these features could have been maintained through to the Middle Bronze Age." That means the site may have remained relevant as humanity transitioned from the Neolithic period - the Stone Age - into the era of metalworking and the birth of large urban civilizations. While the nature of the site is shrouded in mystery, there's evidence that it may have remained important to humans in the region for thousands of years. Professor Vincent Gaffney, one of the leading archaeologists on the Hidden Landscapes team, told The Guardian that the pits were "an unprecedented find of major significance within the U.K.," saying experts on Stonehenge and the surrounding landscape were, "taken aback by the scale of the structure and the fact that it hadn't been discovered until now so close" to the iconic stone circle. A digital artwork reconstruction shows the settlement at Durrington Walls near Stonehenge in about 2500 BC, shown in midwinter, looking west towards the southern and northern timber circles, with the River Avon in the foreground. "The degree of similarity across the 20 features (pits) identified suggests that they could have formed part of a circuit of large pits around Durrington Walls," the paper says. The newly discovered structure is more than a mile wide, and its relation to the other structures in the area from the same time period indicate, "an even more complex society than we could ever imagine," according to one of the scientists who led the research. The "Late Neolithic Pit Structure" appears to have encircled the smaller Durrington Walls"superhenge" site, which is still a large structure compared to the familiar circle at Stonehenge. The pits, or shafts, were each about 20 yards across and five yards deep, according to the team's research, which used a combination of high-tech imaging and traditional excavation techniques. The Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes team, a cooperative archaeological effort by a handful of British universities, found 20 of the pits altogether, forming most of a circle around the already-known, smaller Neolithic circular site known as Durrington Walls. (Nat Geo News) Use our resources to learn more about stone quarries, or test yourself on your knowledge of Stonehenge with today's 5-question Quick Quiz. Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes/InternetArchaeology SCIENCE New findings have shed light on how some of Stonehenge’s monoliths were extracted and transported. An image created by the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes archaeological team for a paper published by Internet Archaeology shows the location (red markers) of 20 late Neolithic period pits around the Durrington Walls site in southern England, just a couple miles from Stonehenge, which is visible in the upper left. As with Stonehenge itself its purpose remains a mystery, but the mere detection of the 4,000-5,000-year-old structure, on such a vast scale and so close to one of the world's most recognized prehistoric sites, has left scientists in awe. Archaeologists have discovered a massive series of Neolithic-era pits very close to the Stonehenge site in southern England.
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