Professor Vince Gaffney is one significant man behind the new revelations at ancient Stonehenge; He is Chair in Landscape Archaeology and at the University of Birmingham, the director of the IBM Visual and Spatial Technology Center.
"The Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project where he leads the UK team creating 3D and virtual imaging of the landscape from an extensive program of geophysical survey of the largely unmapped landscape."
This four year long collaboration has been investigating what lies beneath the monuments to reveal further information to understand its environmental surroundings.
According to Huffington Post, "For the study, researchers used a variety of techniques -including ground-pentrating radar and 3D laser scanning-to create a highly detailed subsurface map of the entire area."
The advances in technological methods have received interesting results without obstructing the existing markers, with essentially no digging involved as of now. Researchers have identified new stone structures that rest under the surface, either classified as "henges, barrows, segmented ditches, or pits."
The findings lead to a more developed possibility that activity around these parts existed earlier than we have previously researched, being that this is the first underground study produced around the four square miles of Stonehenge.
Gaffney told the Smithsonian, "This is among the most important landscapes, and probably the most studied landscape, in the world. And the area has been absolutely transformed by this survey. Won't be the same again."
As more findings unravel, more theories develop and the curiosities in each of us will continue to be mesmerized by these rings that align in our solar system.
For further information on the latest update of "The Stonehenge Hidden Landscape Project", visit Smithsonian.
