Archaeologists say they now have strong evidence that huge pits forming a vast circle near Stonehenge were dug by Neolithic people more than 4,000 years ago.
The feature, known as the Durrington pit circle, is thought to consist of around 20 enormous pits spread across more than a mile, centred on the ancient sites of Durrington Walls and Woodhenge. Some pits measure up to 10 metres wide and 5 metres deep, suggesting remarkable engineering effort.
First revealed in 2020, the formation was initially controversial, with some experts arguing the pits could be natural. A new study published in Internet Archaeology concludes they are human-made, using a combination of advanced techniques including electrical resistance imaging, ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry, sediment coring, light-based soil dating and environmental DNA analysis.
Researchers found repeating patterns in the soil across different pits, which they say could not have formed naturally. Prof Vincent Gaffney from the University of Bradford described the structure as “extraordinary” and said the evidence was now compelling.
The team believes the pits date to the late Neolithic period and may have been linked to beliefs about an underworld, forming a massive ritual landscape unlike anything previously known in Britain.
