Archeologists Find Ancient Henge Near StonehengeS

A group of British archeologists has discovered a neolithic henge at the site of the famous Stonehenge monument. What, you mean you don't know what a "henge" is?

A "henge," as practically everyone knows, except for you, is a "a circular monument dating to Neolithic and Bronze Ages." This particular henge, which consists of a circle of deep pits about a yard wide surrounded by a larger ditch, was found during an excavation of the plain surrounding Stonehenge. It's very exciting, if you are the kind of person who gets excited about these things (and you should, because these things are cool):

"When you see that as an archaeologist, you just looked at it and thought, 'that's a henge monument' - it's a timber equivalent to Stonehenge[," says Professor Vince Gaffney, the leader of the expedition.]



"This is really quite interesting and exceptional, it starts to give us a different perspective of the landscape."

The new henge, about a half mile from Stonehenge, has two entrances and a burial mound (which was built much later). It doesn't have a name yet, but since Stonehenge is made of stone, and this henge is made of wood, we propose "the wooden Stonehenge."

[BBC; pic via Getty]