”It is one of the greatest marvels of prehistoric Britain, the largest stone circle in Europe and a sacred meeting place for our ancestors which may even be aligned with the stars.
But a new archaeological survey at Avebury in Wiltshire suggests the Neolithic monument had far odder beginnings.
In fact, the huge circle started out life as a 100ft square, archaeologists now believe, after discovering a mysterious box-shaped enclosure of giant stones in the middle of the henge…
Dr Joshua Pollard from the University of Southampton said: “Our careful programme of geophysical survey has finally completed the work begun by Keiller.
“It has shown the line of stones he identified was one side of a square of megaliths about 30m across and enclosing the Obelisk.
“Also visible are short lines of former standing stones radiating from this square and connecting with the Southern Inner Circle…” – Avebury stone circle was once a ‘weird’ square, archaeologists find
Dr. Troglodyte