Mile-wide circle of pits close to Stonehenge 'made by humans'

The presence of an extraordinary circle of pits created by Neolithic people near Stonehenge has been proved thanks to a novel combination of scientific techniques, a team of archaeologists has claimed.

- Steven Morris

The architects of Stonehenge may have had the heavens in mind when they built the monument in Wiltshire, but the team believes the makers of the Durrington pit circle were more interested in an underworld.

The Durrington circle is thought to be a sweep of about 20 pits more than a mile across, with the Neolithic Durrington Walls and Woodhenge sites at its centre. Some pits are thought to be 10 metres wide and 5 metres deep, and digging them out of the chalky landscape would have required determination and engineering skills.

The pit circle's apparent existence was first revealed in 2020, with some describing it as the biggest prehistoric structure ever found in Britain.