back to article Huge SUPERHENGE erection found near Blighty's Stonehenge

For years, archaeologists and tourists in Britain have stood enthralled by the great stone circle at Stonehenge, a relic of a lost culture about which we know very little. Now researchers say that Stonehenge was once dwarfed by a nearby, much bigger rock-hard erection. In order to make this discovery with as little disruption …

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    1. Martin Budden Silver badge

      Re: "One of the largest neolithic sites"

      Firstly: you'd expect "one of the largest neolithic sites" to be one of the easiest to find. Stonehenge and the surrounding barrows, ditches, walls etc are easy to find. And large. So the claim seems reasonable.

      Secondly: The parts of the North Sea that were once dry land, e.g. Doggerland, were flooded recently by geological standards but too early for complex structures of the same kind as Stonehenge: Doggerland was flooded 8000 years ago, Stonehenge was built only 4000 years ago (very approximately).

      Thirdly: They don't claim it is "the largest", they claim it is "one of the largest". Which it is.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "One of the largest neolithic sites"

        "but too early for complex structures of the same kind as Stonehenge:"

        That was basically my question. Ggantija is perhaps a thousand years older than Stonehenge. How far into the past does the megalithic culture go?

      2. Alan Brown Silver badge

        I am reminded

        "....but too early for complex structures of the same kind as Stonehenge"

        90% or more of current civilisation is built within 300 feet of sea level - which coincidentally is more-or-less how much sea level has risen since the end of the last glaciation.

        We already know there are remains of villages at the 300-foot mark under the Black Sea and there are bits and pieces known along various shorelines (yes, I know that some are the result of land sinking, but not all of them). I'd be interested to know how intensively continental shelves have been scanned out to the 300-foot mark for signs of past habitation...

        1. Tom 7

          Re: I am reminded

          We've got a lot evidence from Doggerland (fnar fnar) but my hunch is that people hung around estuaries where it is easy to grow crops in the mud after spring floods and most of the evidence of them was washed away every year and the stuff that wasn't would be buried under further silt deposits from the still running rivers, assuming winter storms didnt bash the living shit out of it.

  2. Anonymous Custard
    Joke

    Failsafe backup

    OK, so Stonehenge is really just the (slightly) offsite redundant failsafe backup machine for the real ancient astronomical calculator that they've only now discovered? So is Woodhenge really just a UPS?

    That's what I call disaster management planning!

    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
      Happy

      Re: Failsafe backup

      Gods! Upgrade that old thing? What hat wearing oxen-herders installed that for you then? [sucks biro] Nah. You don't want to do that. These old 96 kilolith models are obsolete, you see. Positively neolithic! I know that a pointed stick was good enough for great uncle Ugg, but this is the modern age now. You don't want this slow old rubbish, you need to be measuring speed in megaliths.

      Take old Fred, his henge is one of the brand spanking new types. Why not get one like that? Just dump this old lot here, and we'll build you a new one just down the road. I know a bloke who's got some old bluestone going cheap over in Wales. I could do you a deal on it, special like, and we could be up and running in, ooooh, well there's parts, logs, druids... Say 150 years do ya? Now I can't say fairer than that can I?

      'Ere, I'm gasping. You couldn't manage a brew could you?

  3. Zog_but_not_the_first
    Alien

    Hmmmm...

    Time to ask the mice

  4. Christoph

    Small circle feeding into a much larger circle nearby?

    They've discovered PaleoCERN.

  5. Graham Marsden
    Coat

    But...

    ... have they found the Pandorica in the Underhenge yet?

    Mine's the one with the bow tie in the pocket. Bow ties are cool...!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Meanwhile, on a continent far, far away...

    ...Africans were building this. Stonehenge is so overrated.

    1. phil dude
      Boffin

      Re: Meanwhile, on a continent far, far away...

      To be a bit more specific, Egyptians surely?

      P.

      1. Alan Brown Silver badge

        Re: Meanwhile, on a continent far, far away...

        "To be a bit more specific..."

        Egypt is in africa.

        And there are a bunch more pyramids further south which are unlikely to be egyptian

    2. kiwimuso

      Re: Meanwhile, on a continent far, far away...

      @ Mahatma Coat

      But, but........

      Everyone knows the pyramids were built by aliens - don't they?

  7. x 7

    whats the chances that if they looked at Avebury in the same way they'd find something even bigger?

    1. Roq D. Kasba

      Or maybe they've discovered that stonehenge is just a frilly detail on a circle the size of the Avebury one. Either way, it is very very cool

  8. Martin Summers Silver badge

    I'd love to think it was just someone with a sense of humour put a load of stones standing up and thought "That'll fox 'em". Stonehenge could even have been the main stage at their equivalent of Glastonbury and they've just now found what was the beer tent.

    1. Martin Budden Silver badge
      Go

      If I ever become a bazillionaire I'm going to build a huge stone henge (not the same as Stonehenge, mind you) for the sole purpose of confusing archaeologists in 5000 years time.

      1. Yugguy

        I don't think it would cost a lot, relatively speaking, to build Stonehenge today. The wonder of it is how they managed to get the stones from hundreds of miles away and then set them upright without cranes and lorries etc.

        1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
          Happy

          Who said they didn't have cranes and lorries? Haven't you seen that fly-on-the-wall documentary about the stone age family? The Flintstones wasn't it? They had cars and everything. He even worked as a crane driver.

    2. Richard Wharram

      Actually no one knows who they were or what they were doing

      1. kryptonaut

        "Actually no one knows who they were or what they were doing"

        ...but their legacy remains, hewn into the living rock of Stonehenge

        1. x 7

          what does this phrase "living rock" mean?

          I've never seen a stone with blood, or with a heartbeat.

  9. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
    Coat

    prospection

    Is "prospection" a word? My spill-chucker thinks not. Geophysical prospecting sounds more righter.

    The woolly mammoth hide one ----------------->

    1. Pompous Git Silver badge

      Re: prospection

      Clearly your "spill-chucker" can't be the OED ;-)

      "The action of prospecting for gold or the like: see prospect v. II.

      1908 Westm. Gaz. 31 Mar. 11/3 The directors authorised‥the prospection of the swampy land‥with a view to ascertaining the possibility of working this."

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological what?

    Is 'prospection' really a word?

    And should Austrians of all people be inventing English vocabulary? They can't even speak German properly.

    1. Bernard M. Orwell

      Re: The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological what?

      Alas, "Prospection" is indeed a real word.

      Whilst not in common use on this side of the pond, it is more commonly found these days in US academic circles. It is listed in both Webster and the OED.

      1.The action of looking forward into the future. Formed by analogy with retrospection. Not in common use, but there is some modern use and the OED gives citation back to the 19th and 17th centuries.

      2.The act of prospecting for minerals. Also not in common use.

      3.A search for archaeological remains, usually using modern technology, for example ground penetrating radar.

    2. kiwimuso

      Re: The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological what?

      "Is 'prospection' really a word?"

      Prospecticating - shirley! Or alternatively prospectication.

      Prospectinization.....pros....

      Wanders off muttering under breath.

  11. Dave 126 Silver badge

    Just a mix up...

    over ' feet and " inches.

    Still, we can always redo the choreography.

  12. Bunbury

    Fossil Furtlers

    Bet the archeologists were miffed when the paleontologists took over...

  13. Yugguy

    He said Penetrating

    Hehe hehehe hehehehehehe.

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