Crop Circle Ceremonial Complex

When an array of circles popped up in a rural farm near the village of Damerham, the U.K. government’s historic preservation society English Heritage investigated. They found that the circles are the result of buried archaeological structures interfering with plant growth and not the vast designs created by flattening crops. That fact however does not diminish the remarkable discovery. Within the 500-acre site are remains of wooden temples and two great tombs topped by huge mounds (made shorter by centuries of plowing) called long barrows. They are estimated to be about 6,000 years old and pre-date Stonehenge by about 1,000 years. For such a site to remain hidden for so long is incredible considering the great many tomb raiders who in the 18th and 19th centuries targeted Bronze Age burials for their ornate graves.

Image: "heavens open over Stone Henge.jpg" by nickyfern on Flickr courtesy of Creative Commons Licensing.