Here\u2019s what you\u2019ll learn when you read this story:<\/p>\n
A new discovery at an English farm may offer insight into the histories of two monumental creations.<\/p>\n
Amateur archaeologists discovered a burial from the Bronze Age, but may have also uncovered a henge from deeper into history.<\/p>\n
Those working on the site called the henge \u201ctotally unprecedented in this part of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amateur archaeologists happened upon a 4,500-year-old Bronze Age burial site<\/a> outside of Manchester. Soon, though, they discovered they may have something far older to excavate: a potential Neolithic Age henge<\/a>.<\/p>\n The enthusiasts\u2014members of the Wigan Archaeological Society\u2014were excavating the site in Aspull, near Wigan between Manchester<\/a> and Liverpool<\/a>, following the discovery of human remains. Early in the process, the team believed they\u2019d found a Bronze Age burial site, roughly 4,500 years old. But it now seems there may be more to the site than they first thought.<\/p>\n \u201cWe think [the burial site has] been repurposed from an earlier monument\u2014a Neolithic henge\u2014because the size of the ring ditch around it is so big and it\u2019s oval in shape, with an entrance at one side,\u201d said William Aldridge, a member of the society, according<\/a> to GB News. \u201cBronze Age people didn\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Aldridge calls the possible henge\u2014defined as a prehistoric circular monument<\/a> consisting of stone or wood, often with an earthen embankment on the outside and a ditch on the inside\u2014\u201ctotally unprecedented in this part of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n If found to be a Neolithic\u2014or even Stone Age\u2014henge, it may date to roughly 10,000 B.C.E.<\/p>\n The society has been at the site outside of Wigan since 2022, and has so far used radiocarbon dating (with the help of universities) to confirm that the burial findings at least are from the Bronze Age. The team located funeral pyres and a Bronze-Age cremation urn with fragments of human bones still inside.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone we know in the archaeological world has been amazed at what we\u2019ve found because it was so unexpected,\u201d Aldridge told<\/a> Manchester World. \u201cWhen we first found evidence of human bones, we had to call in the police and the coroner to ensure that the remains were not recent or evidence of a crime. It took some time for it to be established that the remains were thousands of years old, so we could carry on with what we are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n Aldridge said that Wigan has a rich history of fascinating finds. Ten years ago, construction in the town center uncovered a Roman bathhouse, and three years later, archaeologists discovered a fort. The site was likely a significant Roman settlement<\/a> known as Coccium at one time.<\/p>\n