High-tech survey looks beneath Stonehenge, finds previously unknown monuments

LONDON – A high-tech survey reveals that there is more to Stonehenge than meets the eye, finding previously unknown monuments.

Researchers have produced digital maps of what’s beneath the World Heritage Site, using ground-penetrating radar, high-resolution magnetometers and other techniques to peer deep into the soil.

Birmingham University said Wednesday that the project produced detailed maps of 17 previously unknown ritual monuments and a massive timber building which is thought to have been used for burial ceremonies.

The project leader, Professor Vincent Gaffney of Birmingham University, says the findings included types of monuments previously unknown to archaeologists.

Professor Wolfgang Neubauer of Germany’s Ludwig Boltzmann Institute says the new maps make it possible at last to reconstruct the development of Stonehenge over its 11,000-year history.