Archaeologists have uncovered what could be an early version of Stonehenge just a few miles from the world-famous monument. The ancient structure was discovered near Bulford in Wiltshire, approximately three miles from Stonehenge, and has been dated to roughly 3000 BC. Experts believe it is the earliest known solstice-aligned structure in the Wiltshire landscape and one of the oldest examples found anywhere in Britain.
The find was made by a team from Wessex Archaeology during excavations carried out before the construction of new Ministry of Defence housing. Unlike Stonehenge, which is famous for its giant standing stones, this newly discovered structure was made from two large wooden posts. The posts stood around 120 metres apart and would have been between three and four metres high.
Alignment with the Solstices
Wessex Archaeology believes the wooden monument was carefully positioned to align with the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset. Phil Harding, who led the excavation and is a former presenter of the television programme 'Time Team', said the significance of the discovery was not immediately obvious. 'The thing that struck me as soon as I saw that was that [the line was] about 50 degrees off the direct north, which was pretty much the line of the midsummer sunrise. And so I got really, really excited about that,' he stated.
Further analysis by skyscape archaeologist Fabio Silva confirmed that the alignment matched the position of the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset around 2950 BC. Researchers say the monument may have helped pave the way for the later solar alignments seen at Stonehenge.
Religious Significance
Archaeologists also uncovered a smaller pit aligned with the posts which contained a rare disc-shaped flint knife. Experts believe the object may have been designed to represent the sun. Matt Leivers, senior research manager at Wessex Archaeology, commented: 'What we're seeing here is the religion of the stone age made manifest in the ground.' He added: 'Obviously we have no understanding of precisely what any of it meant, but the fact that time and again, over thousands of years, people are coming back to [the Stonehenge landscape] to build and rebuild and mark and remark this set of substantial events – it gives us an indication that this is religion. This is how they are understanding their place in the cosmos, how the universe works, what their deities are.'
Mr Leivers continued: 'We don't know what the sun meant to them. We don't know whether they personified it as a deity. But the amount of effort that's directed toward marking it and its movements leaves us in no doubt at all that this is a major religious event that's inscribed over the whole landscape over millennia.'
Connection to Stonehenge
The expert also believes there may have been a direct link between the newly discovered site and Stonehenge itself. He said: 'If you had a time machine and went back, I wouldn't be at all surprised if what we have found is one of the campsites of the builders of the first phase of Stonehenge. I think that's entirely plausible.' Mr Harding described the discovery as one of the most important of his career. 'Sites like this come along once in a lifetime, sometimes they don't come along at all. It doesn't matter whether you are a resident of Wiltshire or a resident of the Earth - everybody knows about Stonehenge. And to be able to contribute something to expanding our knowledge of Stonehenge is an incredible privilege,' he said.
