What Is The Giant Neolithic Circular Structure Near Durrington Walls Henge?

Conny Waters - AncientPages.com - During a geophysical survey conducted around the Durrington Walls Henge in Wiltshire, UK, scientists identified a substantial Neolithic pit structure. Situated to the north of Stonehenge, this site is part of a landscape distinguished by its notable Neolithic monuments.

Durrington Walls. Credit: Midnightblueowl - Public Domain

The initial discovery suggested that this may be the largest structure of its kind in Britain. Researchers from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at St Andrews examined the ancient formation and determined that these pits are almost certainly man-made and date back more than 4,000 years.

One Of The Largest Prehistoric Structures In Britain

In their recent study published in Internet Archaeology, the research team confirmed that Durrington Walls Henge—one of Britain’s largest prehistoric enclosures—was encircled by at least 16 massive pits, each measuring up to 10 meters in diameter and up to 5 meters deep.

None of these significant features exhibits characteristics indicative of natural chalk solution processes; rather, current evidence strongly suggests they were excavated and subsequently filled during the later Neolithic period. Notably, optically stimulated luminescence analyses now indicate an approximate construction date around 2480 BC.

A lidar view of Durrington Walls and Woodhenge. Credit: Dr John Wells - CC BY 4.0

"The new dating evidence, coupled with the remarkably consistent geochemical signature seen within the fills at the pits provides definitive evidence that they were constructed by people living at the site over a very short time period.

The synchronous timing of this could only have been achieved by a dedicated and coordinated action," Dr. Tim Kinnaird, who conducted these analyses at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences Dating Laboratory at the University of St Andrews, said.

Composite image of 14 magnetic anomalies documented in the study. Credit: V. Gaffney et al., Internet Archaeology (2025)

Sedimentary DNA studies have yielded important new insights into the plants and animals that once inhabited the chalk landscape around these features. Notably, even in a landscape as remarkable as that near Stonehenge, this research finds that these pits form a unified structure. This suggests they are an extension of the Durrington Walls monument complex, constructed on an unexpectedly large scale.

Skilled Neolithic Builders

"The skill and effort that must have been required not only to dig the pits, but also to place them so precisely within the landscape is a marvel. When you consider that the pits are spread over such a large distance, the fact they are located in a near perfect circular pattern is quite remarkable," Professor Richard Bates from the University of St Andrews, who was part of the geophysical investigation team, said.

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"While the size and scale of the pit circle at Durrington might, initially, be considered surprising, the alignment is set within a landscape that is testament to the capacity of prehistoric communities to invest in the construction of large, and frequently unique, monuments. The construction of a pit circle, even at the scale demonstrated at Durrington, was clearly not an exceptional act for communities that could erect Stonehenge," the scientists write in their study.

The study was published in the journal Internet Archaeology

Written by Conny Waters - AncientPages.com Staff Writer