{"id":602,"date":"2011-11-29T13:23:41","date_gmt":"2011-11-29T13:23:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.technogypsie.com\/science\/?p=602"},"modified":"2011-11-29T13:23:41","modified_gmt":"2011-11-29T13:23:41","slug":"bbc-news-archaeologists-make-new-stonehenge-sun-worship-find","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technotink.net\/science\/bbc-news-archaeologists-make-new-stonehenge-sun-worship-find\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC News – Archaeologists make new Stonehenge ‘sun worship’ find"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Stonehenge\"
\nThe pits are positioned on celestial alignment at the site
\nand may have contained stones<\/p>\n

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Two previously undiscovered pits have been found at Stonehenge which point to it once being used as a place of sun worship before the stones were erected.<\/p>\n

The pits are positioned on celestial alignment at the site and may have contained stones, posts or fires to mark the rising and setting of the sun.<\/p>\n

An international archaeological survey team found the pits as part of the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project.<\/p>\n

The team is using geophysical imaging techniques to investigate the site.<\/p>\n

The archaeologists from the University of Birmingham and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection in Vienna have been surveying the subsurface at the landmark since summer 2010.<\/p>\n

Procession route<\/span>It is thought the pits, positioned within the Neolithic Cursus pathway, could have formed a procession route for ancient rituals celebrating the sun moving across the sky at the midsummer solstice.<\/p>\n

A Cursus comprises two parallel linear ditches with banks either side closed off at the end.<\/p>\n

Also discovered was a gap in the northern side of the Cursus, which may have been an entrance and exit point for processions taking place within the pathway.<\/p>\n

These discoveries hint that the site was already being used as an ancient centre of ritual prior to the stones being erected more than 5,000 years ago, the team said.<\/p>\n

Archaeologist and project leader at Birmingham University, Professor Vince Gaffney, said: “This is the first time we have seen anything quite like this at Stonehenge and it provides a more sophisticated insight into how rituals may have taken place within the Cursus and the wider landscape.”<\/p>\n

Continue reading the main story<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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