English Heritage (EH) has started a six-week archaeological excavation at one of Britain's most important but least understood prehistoric monuments, Marden Henge in Wiltshire.
Henge monuments are features of late Neolithic Britain - between 2400 BC and 2000 BC - and comprise enclosures formed of banks and ditches. Most experts now believe that significant ceremonial or ritual activity occurred within them.
Unlike the nearby Stonehenge and Avebury sites, Marden Henge no longer has any surviving stone settings. Consisting of a substantial bank with an internal ditch that defines and encloses an area of around 10.5 hectares (26 acres) in a central Wiltshire valley, it is one the largest Neolithic henges in Britain.
The excavation by EH hopes to find out more about a huge mound at the centre of the henge which was flattened during the early 19th century, as well as a circular feature in the southern half of the site, which comprises a large circular depression surrounded by a bank and gullies.
Jim Leary, EH archaeologist, said: "Marden Henge deserves to be understood more partly because of its size, but also due to its proximity to the more famous stone circles at Avebury and Stonehenge. The relationship between the latter two sites is of immense interest.
"How Marden relates to them is another layer of interest which we want to study. We are potentially looking at a much more intricate system of Neolithic ritual sites in this part of the world than we previously thought."
