巨石阵地下惊现15处未知遗址

来源：ancient-origins

作者：April Holloway

时间：2014.09.04

译者：Yuki

校对：色君

编辑：Leek

链接：//www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/fifteen-previously-unknown-monuments-discovered-underground-stonehenge

史密森尼学会（Smithsonian Institute）新近发表了最新一份史无前例的勘测报告。，报告指出，通过对巨石阵和其周边地区的勘测，考古学家发现了15处新石器时期地下遗址，此次勘测是史无前例的。由此可见巨石阵还有很多不为人知的地方。

众所周知，巨石阵并非这片广阔平原上一处的孤立独立的遗址，而是它属于一片更大的建筑群。这从因为在著名大名鼎鼎的环形石阵周围零星分布的着土丘、，沟渠、，坟冢和其他显而易见的遗迹中可见一斑，如木柱阵(Woodhenge), Coneybury, 卡萨斯遗址（the Cursus monument）, 和埃姆斯伯里长冢（Amesbury Long Barrow）。目前现在，一项新的研究计划正在通过使用磁传感器探测威尔特郡（Wiltshire）的地标性建筑，，该研究发现了更多人类活动的痕迹，它们已经这些蛛丝马迹已在地下深藏隐藏数千年了。

巨石阵隐藏遗迹研究计划（The Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project）使用探地雷达和GPS磁强计绘制了一幅约四平方英里范围内的3D地图。图片来源：Henrik Knudsen，同时感谢国民信托（National Trust，英国保护名胜古迹的私人组织）

巨石阵隐藏遗迹研究计划（The Stonehenge Hidden Landscaped Project）是奥地利与路德维希-玻尔兹曼学院考古勘测及虚拟考古研究所（the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology）发起开展的一项为期四年的考古项目合作，该学院位于奥地利，主攻考古勘探（Archaeological Prospection）和虚拟现实考古（Virtual Archaeology）。考古专家团队研究团队已经对巨石阵周边地区进行了首次精细的地下勘测，勘测范围达4平方英里(约6平方公里)，并有了惊人发现。

通过专家们使用目前最先进的设备，专家组发现了远古时期挖掘和建筑物的痕迹，包括这包含其他新的环阵、坟冢、坑洞和沟渠。专家相信，这些史前遗迹都被认为包含中保存了极具价值的信息。

“这是最重要的遗址之一，也可能是目前世界上目前为止被研究最多的一个遗址。”伯明翰大学（University of Birmingham）考古学家文斯.加夫尼教授（Vince Gaffney）在接受史密森尼杂志（Smithsonian Magazine）采访时说道，。“这项研究改变了人们对这片区域一贯的理解和认识这片区域因为该研究发生了巨大转变，和当初大不相同了。”

至目前为止根据巨石阵隐藏遗迹研究计划（The Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project）的研究成果绘制的完整地图将被以图示的方式在英国科学节展示，本次科学节将在9月9日于英国伯明翰举行。 图片来源：David Preiss

此次勘探的发现之一其中一项发现是对鉴定位于卡萨斯遗址一道巨大裂缝的鉴别。，Cursus遗址包含此裂缝处有一条处长3公里，宽100米的沟渠以及巨石阵附近的一些土方隆起的土垒。卡萨斯土垒（Cursus barrier）的修建可以追溯到公元前3500年，它被粗略地由东到西排列大致呈东西走向，并指向春分与秋分这一天日出的方向。该遗址中有一处较大缺口，这被认为是意味着这里是当时人们进出遗址的通道。关于为何修建卡萨斯巨石阵，科学家们仍然没有无法定论。，但加夫尼教授（Gaffney）认为，它既是祭祀者信徒进出的通道，也是太阳运行轨迹的标记。

另一处惊人发现是位于卡萨斯狭长地带两端的地下坑洞。，坑洞深约1米位于地下一米左右，直径约为4.5米。加夫尼教授（Gaffney）告诉史密森尼杂志（Smithsonian），在一年中最长的一天，两个坑洞与巨石阵会形成一个三角形，标记日出和日落。加夫尼教授（Gaffney）他推测它们曾被用于宗教点仪式性点火或者作为某种记号。虽然目前坑洞仅仅刚通过只运用扫描技术被识别到。对坑洞进行考察，但终有一天希望有朝一日，通过对它们的彻底能够得到发掘，而我们也将因此得到更多揭示其用途的线索。

文斯.加夫尼（Vince Gaffney）教授（位于特效来自电影‘巨石阵帝国’（ Stonehenge Empire）中的特效场景）站在卡萨斯西侧的谜样坑洞上。 图片来源：史密森尼频道十月电影（October Films for Smithsonian Channel）

先前的对巨石阵周边的研究表明，巨石阵周围此地早在1万多年前就有人类居住。这意味着，，说明这片区域先于早在出现巨石阵和其他遗址建造的数几千年前就已至关重要就有重要意义，亦或是巨石阵比预想的更为古老。

对于已有几千年来，历史的壮观的人们无时不惊叹于巨石阵的鬼斧神工遗址。，人们无不为之惊叹，考古学家，地理学家，以及天文学家也已对它进行了数十年的研究，但这神秘石环阵最初的建造目的至今仍是个未解之迷。从我们目前掌握的从已有的信息中可知来看，这片区域曾经是墓地，这些石头的排列具有天文学意义，当时人们会从很远的地方来到此地迁移至此，但无人知晓个中因由其原因。

正如史密森尼杂志（Smithsonian）的Ed Caesar所写：几千年前，这些巨大的石头，矗立在了索尔兹伯里平原的某个洼地中心，呈成同心圆排列。，几千年前由某些人这样的精心布置摆放至此，这一定有其深意的特殊意义。但没人知晓究竟是什么。当然也不完全如此，只是这些已知线索始终无法满足我们的好奇心。每一次考古学的进展都带来更多疑问，使更多理论得出更多有待验证的理论。我们对巨石阵的了解正逐步加深，但已知的资料领域和那些永远无法知晓的信息未知领域相比实在相形见绌。

无论如何，正如最新研究成果显示的那样，巨石阵仍有诸多谜团尚未解开。，随着考古学在这个领域的技术的发展，或许有朝一日能帮我们揭开它神秘的面纱。

文章开头图片：巨石阵及周边地区原貌假想图。W. Robinson绘于1922年。

作者：April Holloway

原文：

A groundbreaking new survey of Stonehenge and its surrounds has revealed fifteen previously unknown Neolithic monuments underground according to a new report released by the Smithsonian Institute. The results show that there is a lot more to Stonehenge than meets the eye.

It has long been known that Stonehenge was not just an isolated monument in an unspoilt landscape but was part of a much bigger complex. This is evidenced by the scattering of mounds, ditches, burials, and other significant monuments, such as Woodhenge, Coneybury, the Cursus monument, and Amesbury Long Barrow, all within a short distance of the famous stone circle. Now a new research project using magnetic sensors to scan landmarks in Wiltshire have found even more evidence of human activity which have lain hidden underground for thousands of years.

The Stonehenge Hidden Landscaped Project is a four-year collaboration with the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology in Austria. The team has conducted the first detailed underground survey of the area surrounding Stonehenge, covering around four square miles (six kilometres). What they discovered was startling.

Using the latest in high-tech equipment, the team of experts detected evidence of ancient digging and buildings, including other henges, barrows, pits and ditches, which are believed to harbour valuable information about the prehistoric site.

“This is among the most important landscapes and probably the most studied landscape, in the world,” archaeologist Vince Gaffney of the University of Birmingham told the Smithsonian Magazine. “And the area has been absolutely transformed by this survey. It won’t be the same again.”

One of the findings was the identification of a large gap in the Cursus monument, which is a 3 kilometre long and 100 metre wide ditch and earthworks in the near vicinity of Stonehenge. Dating back to around 3,500 BC the Cursus barrier is roughly aligned east-west and is orientated toward the sunrise on the spring and autumn equinoxes. The discovery of a large break in the monument, suggests an area used by people to enter and exit the monument. While scientists are still unsure of the true purposes of the Stonehenge Cursus, Professor Gaffney believes it acted as a gateway for worshipers as well as a marker for the passage of the sun.

Another significant discovery was two pits at either end of the Cursus strip, located around 1 metre underground and measuring 4.5 metres in diameter. Professor Gaffney told Smithsonian that on the longest day of the year, the pits form a triangle with Stonehenge, marking sunrise and sunset. Gaffney speculates that the pits may have been used for ritual fires or as markers of some kind. Since the pits have only been identified using scanning technology, it is hoped that they will eventually be excavated, which will provide further clues as to their use and purpose.

Previous studies of the Stonehenge environs have revealed that the landscape has been inhabited for some 10,000 years, meaning either the area was of considerable significance for thousands of years before Stonehenge and other monuments in the region were built, or Stonehenge is much older that currently believed.

Humans have marvelled at the majesty of Stonehenge for thousands of years, and archeologists, geologists, and astronomers have been studying it for decades, but the original purpose of the enigmatic stone circle as remained a mystery. It is known that the area was used for burials, that the stones are aligned in astronomically important ways, and that people travelled great distances to be there, but no one knows with certainty why.

As Ed Caesar from Smithsonian writes:

Those vast stones, standing in concentric rings in the middle of a basin on Salisbury Plain carefully placed by who-knows-who thousands of years ago, must mean something. But nobody can tell us what. Not exactly. The clues that remain will always prove insufficient to our curiosity. Each archaeological advance yields more questions, and more theories to be tested. Our ignorance shrinks by fractions. What we know is always dwarfed by what we can never know.

However, as this latest research project has shown, Stonehenge has not yet given up all its secrets, and the development of technology in the field of archaeology may one day help to finally solve the mystery.

Featured image: An illustration of how Stonehenge and the surrounding landscape would have once looked by W. Robinson (1922). Image source.

By April Holloway