Massive 4,000-year-old pits near Stonehenge were carved by neolithic humans

[Buster's Uncle]

Jerusalem Post
Massive 4,000-year-old pits near Stonehenge were carved by neolithic humans, archaeologists say
JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Sun, December 7, 2025 at 2:09 PM EST
2 min read



Sheep grazing near Stonehenge. (photo credit: Tim M at Shutterstock)


Research published in the Internet Archaeology Journal found that the pits are man-made and were constructed during the late Neolithic period, making them over 4,000 years old.

A circle of massive Neolithic pits near Stonehenge has been confirmed to have been created by early humans, archaeologists announced in late November.

The Durrington Circle comprises some 20 pits that, together, stretch for over a mile, with the Neolithic Durrington Walls and Woodhenge standing at its center. The pits, discovered in 2020, are 10 meters in diameter and more than 5 meters deep.

Research published in the Internet Archaeology Journal found that the pits are artificial and were constructed during the late Neolithic period, making them over 4,000 years old.

According to The Guardian, given the size of the circle of pits, the early humans would have had to keep track of their positioning during the building since the structure was too large for them to see it all at once. The research team believes this to be an early example of use of a numerical system.

"The circle is pretty accurate. It suggests that people were pacing the distances out to make sure that the pits were aligned at the same distance all the way around, as the distance from the henge to the earlier enclosure," Professor Vince Gaffney, the lead of the study and archaeology professor at the University of Bradford, told the BBC.



Stonehenge village (credit: AP / National Geographic)


He added that the pits were “one of the largest prehistoric structures in Britain, if not the largest prehistoric structure.”

“The exceptional size of the pits demanded a novel strategy to explore them without the need for a major, and very expensive, excavation,” Gaffney told The Guardian.

“As no single technology can answer all the questions; multiple types of geophysics equipment was used to establish the size and shape of the pits.”

Gaffney and his team also found that repeating patterns in the soil at different parts of the site prove that humans must have been involved.

“They can’t be occurring naturally. It just can’t happen,” Gaffney said, as reported by The Guardian. “We think we’ve nailed it.”

While the exact reason the pits were dug will never be fully known, the researchers believe they were dug as part of a Neolithic ritual belief linked to the underworld.

“Now that we’re confident that the pits are a structure, we’ve got a massive monument inscribing the cosmology of the people at the time onto the land in a way we haven’t seen before," Gaffney added. "If it’s going to happen anywhere in Britain, it’s going to happen at Stonehenge.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/massive-4-000-old-pits-190904791.html