FOR centuries Stonehenge has mystified and enraptured archaeologists and visitors.

    So maybe it is not surprising that another monumental wonder from prehistory has been overlooked for so long — even though it is just one mile (1.6 kilometers) away.

    Experts have discovered an “extraordinary” line of giant stones that date back more than 4,500 years.

    The area around Stonehenge is littered with prehistoric sights but the 90 or more stones, lying 3 feet (91 cm) underground, have only just been discovered by sophisticated radar equipment towed by quadbikes.

    The buried monoliths are each up to 15 feet tall. Instead of being arranged in a circle as they are at Stonehenge, it is thought they once formed a long standing line.

    “We’re looking at one of the largest stone monuments in Europe and it has been under our noses for something like 4,000 years,” said Professor Vince Gaffney, from the University of Bradford, one of the archaeologists leading the research. “It’s truly remarkable.

    “We don’t think there’s anything quite like this anywhere else in the world. This is completely new and the scale is extraordinary. We presume it to be a ritual arena of some sort. These things are theatrical … designed to impress.”

    The stones were placed along the southeastern edge of what later became the Durrington Walls “superhenge” — a circular settlement ringed by a ditch and bank that, at a third of a mile across, is the largest earthwork of its kind in the U.K.

    Who toppled them and whether the arena was a rival attraction to Stonehenge or part of the same complex of sacred sites is unknown. (SD-Agencies)