<div>Researchers have discovered what may be the largest surviving Neolithic stone monument in the UK - an enormous 'superhenge' with as many as 100 large standing stones - about three kilometres away from the famous Stonehenge.<br /><br />The remains of the stone monument are buried under a thick, grassy bank and are thought to have been hauled into position more than 4,500 years ago.<br /><br />The hidden arrangement of nearly 100 huge standing stones formed part of a C-shaped Neolithic arena that bordered a dry valley and faced directly towards the river Avon.<br /><br />Researchers used ground-penetrating radar to image about 30 intact stones measuring up to 4.5 metres tall.<br /><br />The fragments of more buried stones, or the massive foundation pits in which they stood, show the full extent of the monument, the Guardian reported.<br /><br />"What we are starting to see is the largest surviving stone monument, preserved underneath a bank, that has ever been discovered in Britain and possibly in Europe," said Vince Gaffney, an archaeologist at Bradford University who leads the Stonehenge Hidden Landscape project.<br /><br />The recumbent stones were lost beneath a huge bank and were incorporated as a somewhat clumsy linear southern border to the otherwise circular "superhenge" known as Durrington Walls.<br /><br />Over one and a half kilometres in circumference, Durrington Walls is one of the largest known henge monuments. It is surrounded by a ditch and a 40 metre-wide, one metre-tall outer bank.<br /><br />The stones are believed to have formed the southern edge of a ritual arena centred on a natural depression.</div>
<div>Researchers have discovered what may be the largest surviving Neolithic stone monument in the UK - an enormous 'superhenge' with as many as 100 large standing stones - about three kilometres away from the famous Stonehenge.<br /><br />The remains of the stone monument are buried under a thick, grassy bank and are thought to have been hauled into position more than 4,500 years ago.<br /><br />The hidden arrangement of nearly 100 huge standing stones formed part of a C-shaped Neolithic arena that bordered a dry valley and faced directly towards the river Avon.<br /><br />Researchers used ground-penetrating radar to image about 30 intact stones measuring up to 4.5 metres tall.<br /><br />The fragments of more buried stones, or the massive foundation pits in which they stood, show the full extent of the monument, the Guardian reported.<br /><br />"What we are starting to see is the largest surviving stone monument, preserved underneath a bank, that has ever been discovered in Britain and possibly in Europe," said Vince Gaffney, an archaeologist at Bradford University who leads the Stonehenge Hidden Landscape project.<br /><br />The recumbent stones were lost beneath a huge bank and were incorporated as a somewhat clumsy linear southern border to the otherwise circular "superhenge" known as Durrington Walls.<br /><br />Over one and a half kilometres in circumference, Durrington Walls is one of the largest known henge monuments. It is surrounded by a ditch and a 40 metre-wide, one metre-tall outer bank.<br /><br />The stones are believed to have formed the southern edge of a ritual arena centred on a natural depression.</div>