Archeologist previously believed that only Stonehenge and smaller henge at the end of Stonehenge Avenue possessed significant stone structures. However with a recent finding of The Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project, it was known that a major prehistoric stone monument lies beneath Durrington Walls super-henge.
With the use of non-evasive geophysical prospection and remote sensing technologies, the team of researchers discovered evidence of an existence of 90 standing stones measuring 4.5 metres in height beneath earth. This new discovery of the researchers serves as an evidence that Durrington Wall had earlier phase which included "a large row of standing stones probably of local origin and that the context of the preservation of these stones is exceptional and the configuration unique to British archaeology."
This new discovery helps in understanding more about Stonehenge and its unique landscape setting. It serves as evidence which demonstrates the early phase of Europe's prehistoric ceremonial site. Professor Vincent Gaffney of University of Bradford, in his statement emphasized the implications of this new discover, according to him;
"This discovery of a major new stone monument, which has been preserved to a remarkable extent, has significant implications for our understanding of Stonehenge and its landscape setting. Not only does this new evidence demonstrate a completely unexpected phase of monumental architecture at one of the greatest ceremonial sites in prehistoric Europe, the new stone row could well be contemporary with the famous Stonehenge sarsen circle or even earlier."
The implications of this discovery does only resonates within scope of Stonehenge alone, for as to the words of Paul Garwood, a Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Birmingham, and the principal prehistorian on the project, he said that "the extraordinary scale, detail and novelty of the evidence produced by the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project, which the new discoveries at Durrington Walls exemplify, is changing fundamentally our understanding of Stonehenge and the world around it. Everything written previously about the Stonehenge landscape and the ancient monuments within it will need to be re-written."
