Overview
- The findings appear in Internet Archaeology in a paper titled The Perils of Pits, which reports results from 16 investigated features.
- Researchers used electrical resistance tomography, ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry, sediment cores, OSL dating and sedDNA to characterise the pits.
- The ring comprises roughly 20 pits over more than a mile, with individual shafts about 10 metres wide and five metres deep.
- Dating places the features in the Neolithic more than 4,000 years ago, reinforcing their role in the wider Stonehenge landscape.
- The study addresses scepticism dating back to the 2020 announcement by concluding the pits are human-made, while the purpose remains uncertain.