MAGIC CIRCLE
Lost Bronze Age stone circle used for ancient rituals uncovered in Gloucestershire by laser scanning
A LASER scan has revealed a previously unknown Bronze Age monument lurking in the woods in Gloucestershire.
The stone circle in the Forest of Dean is thought to be a ritual structure known as a cairn ring.
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Experts think the cairn ring dates back to about 2,000BC.
It's made up of small limestone standing stones that have been placed on a raised circular bank.
Archaeologist Jon Hoyle discovered the ring by accident whilst surveying the Forest of Dean with a special laser technique known as LiDAR (light detection and ranging).
He told the : "It was very exciting. I was expecting to find quite a lot of new sites with the LiDAR, but nothing as interesting as this."
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LiDAR is used by archaeologists to create 3D images of what a landscape would look like without trees.
Removing the trees allows them to spot any unusual patterns or structures on the ground that may have previously been hidden.
Hoyle spotted the "extremely circular" monument and thought it could be a World War Two gun emplacement – a concrete structure used for positioning sitting weapons.
However, when he went to investigate the mysterious circle, at a secret location near Tidenham village, he realised it was far older.
The discovery is being hailed as very significant as this is Gloucestershire's only known Bronze Age ring cairn.
Hoyle told the : "Nobody knows precisely what they were used for. Some have been found in association with burials, and often there appear to be residues of charcoal in places like this, suggesting rituals that involved fire."
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Circular structures like this are thought to have been common in other areas such as Derbyshire and Wales.
The Gloucestershire ring cairn is about 80 feet wide and the circle rubble bank around it is 16 feet thick.
At least 10 white limestone standing stones have been observed standing on top of the ring and they are no more than one metre high.
This makes them much smaller than the standing stones at Stonehenge.
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Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, was constructed between 3000 and 2000 BC and has a ring of standing stones that measure around 13 feet high and seven feet wide.
However, Hoyle highlighted that not all Bronze Age stone rings used large stones and that Gloucestershire's suspected ritual circle may have had a greater emphasis put on its rubble bank.
Mr Hoyle describes his discovery further in his new book Hidden Landscapes of the Forest of Dean.
What was the Bronze Age?
Here's what you should know...
- The Bronze Age was the period of time between the Stone Age and the Iron Age
- It is characterised by the common use of bronze at the time and also the start of some urban civilisations
- In Europe, the Bronze Age occurred from around 3200 to 600 BC
- During this time period, ancient empires started to trade luxury goods
- Some civilisations also developed writing
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