Archaeologists find 5,000-year-old wooden post site near Stonehenge

Archaeologists believe they have found an earlier, simpler version of Stonehenge about 3 miles away from the monument.

All that remains of the older structure are two holes in the ground. The team says the holes once held wooden posts that lined up with the Sun on the summer and winter solstices, the same way the stones at Stonehenge do.

The site, in the village of Bulford, has been dated to about 5,000 years old, which makes it 500 years older than Stonehenge. Artefacts found there, including pottery, flint tools and animal bone, suggest prehistoric people held gatherings at the location.

Phil Harding of Wessex Archaeology led the excavation. He said the find ranks among the best of his career.

"Two post pits tell me more about the people 5,000 years ago," Harding said. "This tells me about the whole community, this tells me about how they were thinking, how they were behaving, how they were revering the heavens."

The two posts stood about 120 metres apart and were estimated to be between 2 and 4 metres high. They have long since rotted away.

Harding noticed the alignment while digging. He said he drew a line between the holes and saw they pointed toward sunrise on the summer solstice.

The traces were first uncovered a decade ago when the ground was cleared for new army housing. A detailed study of the alignment was completed only recently. Archaeoastronomer Fabio Silva of Bournemouth University and the Skyscape Academy said the posts line up exactly with the summer solstice sunrise and the winter solstice sunset when the sky of 5,000 years ago is reconstructed.

Dozens of other holes around the posts contained artefacts that helped date the site. The team used radiocarbon dating on material including an antler pick, carved animal bones and decorated pottery fragments. A rare Neolithic flint knife, shaped into a disc, was also recovered.

Harding called the knife the star find of the dig. He said the careful workmanship stood out and noted that the tool had been placed upright, possibly for symbolic reasons.

The Bulford monument dates to the same period as the first earthworks at Stonehenge. Jennifer Wexler, curator of history at English Heritage, said the discovery suggests the people who built the earliest phase of Stonehenge may have lived in or gathered at Bulford.

Wexler said the builders were early farmers whose lives depended on the seasons. She said winter may have been especially important because it marked the return of longer days and the growing season ahead.